“Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.”
“I love sports, as all Bostonians seem to. I love books and movies, as all writers seem to.”
“I am interested in computers and technology, and art, photography, and design.”
“I can’t say that I ever actually decided to become a writer. It kind of snuck up on me.”
“When I was 30 or so – by that time I had become an assistant D.A. – I decided I would try to write a novel. To be clear: I did not decide to become a novelist. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that I could actually earn a living as a professional novelist.”
“I don’t ever write with a particular audience in mind. I just write books that please me.”
“Crime and legal stories, broadly speaking, are just where my interest happens to lie.”
“You can write a great book and be ignored. Literary history is full of classics that were under-appreciated in their own time.”
“I’m a bit of a tech geek myself.”
“Genes are not simple triggers. No one is hardwired to commit murder or any other crime. Our actions are always the result of stupendously complex gene-environment interactions, and environment is likely to remain the more important influence by far.”
“Well, I outline fanatically. I am a long thinker and a slow writer, though I am trying to get faster.”
“Probably careful plotting reflects my personality. I am meticulous by nature. I can’t imagine speed-writing anything that happens to pop into my head.”
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