John Lescroart

How did you become a writer?

I guess the simple answer is that I became a writer during my junior year at UC Berkeley, when after about a thousand sketches of one thing or another, I decided to write a novel-length work. So I started trying to put down a page or two a day, and within about four months, I’d finished my first book. It wasn’t very good, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I had written — and gotten to the end of — a book! So, published or not, I was a writer!

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

My first writing influence was Ernest Hemingway. I loved his voice and his style and also, to be fair, his life story, tragic though it may have been. But I really can’t blame it all on Hemingway — I was a voracious reader from an early age, and by the time I was in college, I’d found dozens of great writers to enjoy and sometimes try to emulate: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Albert Camus, Lawrence Durrell, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rex Stout, Elmore Leonard, Patrick O’Brian, and a host of others. I read everything I could get my hands on.

When and where do you write?

I’ve been incredibly fortunate in having a career that’s gone on for so long, 29 books (including next January’s) and counting, and most of those have been written under contract. This has allowed me to treat my writing as a “day job” now for many years. So I’ve got a regular office (actually, a small house!) that I go to every day to put in my pages. I usually get into “work” at around 10:00 or 10:30, then I answer my emails and phone messages, basically doing all that I can to put off putting my ass in my chair and starting to write by about 1:00 o’clock. Once I get going, I tend to keep at it until around 5:00, and hopefully I’ll have pages I can live with by then. 

What are you working on now?

Just last week, I finished the copy-editing on my next book featuring Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky, and the gang. Entitled THE RULE OF LAW, this book comes out, as mentioned above, in January of 2019. So . . . what I’m working on now is not writing anything for a while. I’ve not even gotten to the galleys of THE RULE OF LAW, so I’m taking a little break at the moment, and enjoying it immensely. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

The best definition of writer’s block that I’ve ever heard is that it’s a “failure of nerve.” It’s basically something that real writers have to learn to cope with, often by simply not acknowledging its existence. After all, plumbers don’t get “plumber’s block.” What writers have to do is come into work and put down pages on a regular basis. It often helps to consider yourself a genius during this phase, and not be too critical of the work you’re creating. You can fix any errors on the next draft. Meanwhile, keep writing and if writer’s block rears its ugly head, don’t give into the temptation to whine about how hard it all is, just swat it down . . . hard!

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

When I first started trying to write, I wanted to make sure my characters were interesting and multi-faceted, with all kinds of personal stuff — demons, habits, fears, foibles — to make them come alive. All of this was well and good as far as it went, but unfortunately it didn’t do much about plot. When I was just beginning to work on my first Dismas Hardy story, I knew that I had quite a well-rounded character, but there still seemed to be a large element that was missing. At about this time, I went to a Mystery Writers meeting in Los Angeles and Jon Kellerman happened to be the guest speaker, talking about . . . guess what? Plot. It was all very simple, he said. You’ve got to have great characters, yes, but just as important, you’ve got to have them do something. You have to have action. Character is revealed through action (which includes dialogue)! And beyond that, it’s the only way that character is revealed. And, as an added bonus, it turns out that (in the words of Andre Malraux), character is fate. That was all I needed . . . the best bit of advice I’ve ever heard about writing. Thanks, Jon.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Believe. It can happen. Pardon the language, but don’t let the bastards bring you down. There will always be people who criticize your work, but if you continue to believe, improve and produce, you will win out in the end. 

John Lescroart is co-President (with Heather Graham) of the International Thriller Writers ("ITW") and the author of twenty-nine novels, eighteen of which have been NY Times Bestsellers. Libraries Unlimited has named him among “The 100 Most Popular Thriller and Suspense Authors.” With sales of over twelve million copies, his books have been translated into twenty-two languages in more than seventy-five countries, and his short stories appear in many anthologies. His short story “The Adventure of the Giant Rat of Sumatra” was selected for the 1998 edition of Houghton Mifflin’s THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, edited by Sue Grafton. Additionally, his short story "Dunkirk" appeared in the 2015 Anthony and Silver Falchion Award winning anthology, IN THE COMPANY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. John and his wife, Lisa Sawyer, live in Northern California.

Andrew Shaffer

How did you become a writer?

I've just always known. It's funny—we're all "writers" as children. We all play with Barbies or Transformers, and create our own stories. Most of us grow out of playing make-believe. I never did.

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

I've had a lot of great teachers over the years, especially at the University of Iowa. Chris Offutt, Daniel Alarcón, Alan Drew, and Deanna Fei all provided invaluable instruction and encouragement. As far as influences go, Stephen King is right up there at the top. Also Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block, and Donald E. Westlake. Since everyone always recommends Stephen King's On Writing—for good reason—I'll recommend instead Block's trio of books for writers (Writing the Novel from Plot to Print to Pixel, Write For Your Life, and The Liar's Bible).

When and where do you write?

When I'm working on a project, I write every day. Usually at a coffee shop—not to be pretentious, but because it's easy to nap at home or find something else to fill my time with. I order a coffee, turn on the Freedom app to block social media on my computer, and do writing sprints of 30 minutes until I hit my word goal for the day (usually between 1,000 and 3,000 words, depending on my deadline). I follow the same process when editing or revising, just without a set word count every day.

What are you working on now?

I'm currently working on Hope Rides Again, the sequel to my instant New York Times bestseller Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery. I completed a fair amount of the book before going on my current book tour, but it's been a struggle to write on the road. I can't wait to get back home and finish the first draft. That's when the fun begins: edits.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

If we're talking about the dread you get when staring at a blank page (or blank Word doc), then yes. I might put off beginning a story for days or weeks as I research a project. Some research is necessary, but at a certain point it becomes its own form of procrastination. Best to just sit down at the computer and break in that blank page.

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

"Kill your darlings." I first heard this phrase from Stephen King, but it's been floating around the writing community for well over a hundred years (sometimes attributed to Chekhov, sometimes to Oscar Wilde). Basically, it means you need to be ruthless with revisions. No matter how much you love a turn of phrase or scene, if it doesn't serve the work, it needs to go. I stenciled this advice on my wall as a teenager. It troubled my mother. I don't know if she believed it had to do with writing, seeing how it was sandwiched in between pictures of Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson.

What’s your advice to new writers

I regularly mentor beginning and intermediate-level writers, and the number-one thing I see—consistently, across the board—is a lack of awareness of genre. Are you writing literary fiction? A thriller? Young adult or middle grade? It's important to know where your book would be shelved in a bookstore. (Don't say, "With the bestsellers.") Even if you're not going the traditional publishing route, you'll need to know the genre so you can find bloggers and readers willing to take a chance on a book by a new author. Don't let this advice limit you, though: Let your imagination go where it wants. Have fun. Write without boundaries. But when you're finished, take a serious, detached look at what you've written.

Andrew Shaffer is the New York Times bestselling author of Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery, the parody Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, and numerous other humorous works of fiction and nonfiction. He attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and studied comedy writing at Chicago's famed The Second City. An Iowa native, Shaffer lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife, novelist Tiffany Reisz. He teaches and mentors writers at Lexington's Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Riley Sager

How did you become a writer?

Like pretty much every writer, I started out as a reader. As a child, I always had my nose in a book. At some point in high school, I started writing, mostly out of curiosity. I wanted to see what it was like to create a story rather than consume it. That curiosity remained all through college, which is when I made my first attempt at writing a full-length book. Never did I think it would become my career. It was more of a challenge to myself -- write a book. Once I did that, the challenge changed to trying to get published. Even now, I continue to set challenges for myself. It keeps me motivated. 

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

Well, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Roald Dahl was the first book I can remember sinking into so deeply that the real world just fell away. The same thing happened with Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Stephen King was definitely a huge influence, as was my English teacher my senior year of high school. Kind and wonderful Mrs. James, who encouraged me to keep writing.

When and where do you write?

I can't for the life of me write at a desk. I just can't do it. So now most of my writing is done in a plush chair in what I call my book nook. It's a small room at the top of the stairs of my townhouse filled with bookshelves and comfy furniture. I try my best to write in the afternoons, even though I've always been a night writer. I tend to do my best work in the darkness and quiet of the middle of the night.

What are you working on now?

I'm nearing the end of my next psychological thriller, which I can't say too much about at the moment. But it's a little bit of a departure from my previous books. I'm simultaneously nervous and excited about how it will be received when it's done.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Definitely. There's always a point in every book where I hit a wall and just have no idea how to continue. But I always find my way out of the weeds somehow. The key is to just work through it. 

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

There's a quote attributed to E.L. Doctorow that I've always loved. "Planning to write is not writing." And it's so true. I spend so much time thinking about my book that it borders on the ridiculous. I always have to remind myself that thinking doesn't get words on the page. Nor, quite frankly, does it pay the bills. Only finished books can do that.

What’s your advice to new writers?

There's so much advice out there that I'm reluctant to add to it. I guess it would be to ignore what others are doing. Their success or failures don't matter to you and your writing career. Everyone works at a different pace. Everyone has a different idea of success. Identify your goals first and then figure out a method for achieving them that works best for you.

Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name. Now a full-time author, Riley's first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Hardcover Novel. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries, and a film version is being developed by Universal Pictures. His latest novel, THE LAST TIME I LIED, was a New York Times bestseller. A television adaptation is being developed by Amazon Studios. A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.