How did you become a writer? 

First I was an avid reader. I was crazy about Nancy Drew mysteries, and by the age of 7, I knew I wanted to write stories as well. My parents weren't convinced that was a viable choice of career, and my father insisted I go into the sciences. I took a detour to medical school, worked as a doctor for about 5 years, but never stopped nurturing the hope that I'd write novels someday. When I went on maternity leave for my first child (who was a very good napper!) I'd write whenever he was asleep. That's how I wrote my first novels -- on maternity leave. A few years later I sold my first romantic thriller to Harlequin, and that's how I first broke into publishing.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

Number one influences were the books I loved in my childhood, by Tolkien, Asimov, Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie. And I had wonderful teachers in high school who kept encouraging me to write -- and who knew I'd be a novelist long before my parents did. 

When and where do you write? 

I have a home office overlooking the sea. That's where I do all my writing, usually with pen and paper for the first draft.

What are you working on now? 

I've just finished writing a thriller novel in collaboration with Gary Braver, a project where he wrote the male POV and I wrote the female POV. And now I'm working on the next Rizzoli & Isles novel, tentatively titled MRS RIZZOLI.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Every single time. It's a consequence of my plotting process, which involves no planning whatsoever. I start writing, get stuck midway through when I don't know whodunnit or whydunnit and I have to stop and figure out the last third of the book. I have to walk away from it, spend a lot of time walking or driving or staring up at the ceiling. But I always manage to solve the problem.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

My literary agent once told me: "Readers want to know secrets. They want to learn how insiders (in whatever profession) think." So I try to open the door to the medical world, and reveal how doctors or pathologists would approach a problem.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don't get hung up on the first draft. Don't worry if it's flawed. Just keep writing till the end and don't stop to revise. Don't feel you have to know everything about a character, or everything about your plot, before you can start writing. Sometimes the best plot twists happen on the fly.  

Trained as a medical doctor, Tess built a second career as a thriller writer. Her 28 novels include the Rizzoli and Isles crime series, on which the TV show "Rizzoli & Isles" is based. Among her titles are HARVEST, GRAVITY, THE SURGEON, PLAYING WITH FIRE, and THE SHAPE OF NIGHT. Her books are translated into 40 languages and more than 30 million copies have been sold. She lives in Maine.