Novelist Robert Liparulo Gives it Away

Robert Liparulo is an award-winning author of over a thousand published articles and short stories. He is currently a contributing editor for New Man magazine. His work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Travel & Leisure, Modern Bride, Consumers Digest, Chief Executive, and The Arizona Daily Star, among other publications. In addition, he previously worked as a celebrity journalist, interviewing Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Charlton Heston, and others for magazines such as Rocky Road, Preview, and L.A. Weekly. He has sold or optioned three screenplays. Robert is an avid scuba diver, swimmer, reader, traveler, and a law enforcement and military enthusiast. He lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.


What new project would you like to tell us about?

My latest novel is called Germ. It’s about a designer virus that’s encoded with a specific person’s DNA. It travels from human to human as a cold until it finds the DNA that matches the strand within it. Then it becomes Ebola and kills the victim. A group of unlikely comrades—a CDC/FBI agent, a physician and a pastor—come together to figure out why assassins are trying to kill them, and ultimately to try to stop the creator of the virus from releasing it on the world. He’s already targeted ten thousand people as a show of his power.

You caused a bit of controversy with your debut novel, Comes A Horseman. Did you get a lot of feedback on the severed head and other violence portrayed?

Surprisingly, no. A lot of people said they hesitated toward the beginning because of the violence, but once they got further into it, they realized how necessary those scenes were. They also appreciated that the violence wasn’t overly described, but were only briefly depicted. I used Gladiator as my example. The violence in that movie was always cut off a few frames sooner than in most other movies. We got the idea, but didn’t have to dwell on it. I think most people realize that violence is part of our world, and for a story to examine good and evil, it often needs to show the violence that evil produces.

Were you surprised at the great reviews and Christy nomination of that book?

I was very pleased. I wrote Comes a Horseman mostly to entertain. It’s a high-concept, commercial piece of storytelling (though I didn’t write it to be commercial, only to be appealing to people who like “big” stories). Critics and people who give out awards tend to like smaller stories, more literary compositions. The reviews and the nomination made me feel that people won’t automatically discount a novel just because it’s the kind of story you could see as a movie staring Bruce Willis.

What do you know now that your second novel is released that you didn't know before you had a novel published?

That a writer’s work doesn’t end with the writing. There’s so much more to getting your story published and read. You have to do book tours, interviews, website designs, conventions, and on and on. It’s a lot of work. I like meeting readers and booksellers, but sometimes all I want to do is hole up and write.

You've been writing for a long time. Tell us about your writing history and why it took you so long to give us our first taste of Liparulo book length fiction.

I wanted to be a writer since I was in fifth grade. I started writing several novels in my teens. I wanted to make a living writing, so I got into journalism. I wrote and published short stories, newspaper articles, celebrity profiles. I edited an entertainment magazine for a couple of years. I got married young and worked to support a family. Time slipped away. Before I realized it, I wasn’t so young anymore and I hadn’t done what was always in my heart to do—write novels.

I couldn’t take the time out of my workday to write something as speculative as a novel, so I started getting up at three or four in the morning to do it. Pretty soon I had enough of a novel to shop around. I showed it to an editor at WestBow and they bought it.

How did your inclusion on James Patterson's short story compliation, Thriller, come about?

I had met David Morrell years ago at a writer’s conference. I’ve been a fan of his since First Blood in the early seventies. I think I was about twelve when I first read it. I pulled him aside and spent about two hours talking to him about writing. He was very gracious and generous with his time and advice. So later, when I was working on Comes a Horseman, I sent him a few chapters. He said he liked them and offered to look at the entire novel. Then he said he was part of a group of suspense authors who had started an organization called the International Thriller Writers, and would I like to join. Of course, I did. About a year later, the group decided to put together an anthology of short stories that would demonstrate the eclectic nature of thriller stories and how thrillers differ from mysteries. They put out a call to the ITW membership for submission. I sent my story in—it’s called “Kill Zone”—and it was accepted.

Did you get to talk with James Patterson about this project?

Yes, he was the editor. He and Steve Berry were responsible for helping shape the stories and writing the biographies. Most of my communication with him was via email.

Did you find anything about him surprising?

He’s very soft spoken and kind. I sort of expected this literary titan who was used to getting his way. You know, “Here’s what I need and when I need it.” Click. But he likes to praise other writers and listen to their ideas. He’s humble and kind.

There's been some criticism in the Christian fiction community about some CBA novels that have seemingly no Christian elements in them. What are your thoughts on that?

God works in many and mysterious ways. I struggled with how much spirituality I should put in my stories. I felt the desire to write to entertain, not to preach, but I wondered if that’s what God wanted from me. I prayed about it and read a lot about vocations and using one’s gifts. I woke up one morning with the image of a mountain in my head. I felt God telling me, “Is my name on that mountain?” No, not literally. “But am I there?” Yes, of course. “I will be in your stories the way I am in that mountain.”

So I don’t try to put Him in my stories; He’s there.
I think He’s there more powerfully than if I tried to put Him there my way—by overtly writing Him into my stories. That’s not they way it should be for every writer or every story, but I believe that’s how God wants to work through
me.

What is your purpose in writing fiction? Is it simply to entertain, to make a living, or is there more?

The gift of writing that God put in me was meant to bless other people. It’s not just for me. If I fail to “give it away,” then I’m withholding blessings that God wants other people to have.

So, I want people to read what I write, because I believe that’s what God wants. That also means that I should be able to make a living at it, since it’s what God wants me to do. But because of what I said before about God being in my writing even though I’m not overtly putting Him there, I do write to entertain.

At the end of the day, I think, “Is what I wrote
entertaining? Will people enjoy the time spent reading it?” That’s how I measure whether I’ve done my job, and I think that’s okay with
God.

What makes for a good thriller in your opinion?

Thrillers have to thrill. They should be like other things that thrill: a rollercoaster ride, a haunted house. There’s something breathtaking about them.

Is there a difference between suspense and a true thriller?

There’s less difference between thriller and suspense than there is between thriller and mystery. True mysteries are “who dun it?” But where a suspense story can keep you on edge without necessarily taking your breath away, I think thrillers do both.

It’s in the pacing, the speed at which the author hurls you through a story. Along the way, the reader should feel tension—that’s the suspense—but also he or she should cut his fingers turning the pages so fast—that’s the thriller part.

Is there an upcoming author you're particularly excited about?

There are quite a few. Some general market authors who are not really new, but are just now getting the recognition they deserve—people like Jeff Abbott and Greg Hurwitz.

I’m really excited about what a handful of new authors who are also Christians are writing. Chris Well, Robin Parrish, Creston Mapes, Eric Wilson, Mark Andrew Olsen, Brandylin Collins, TL Hines, Kathy Mackel, Tim Downs—they’re all writing what I would call cutting-edge suspense from a Christian perspective.

Success is said to change a person. Are you finding that of yourself?

I’m a little more confident. I don’t think a person really believes he can write a novel that’s accepted by readers until he does it (that’s a generic “he”). So it lets me think less about the process and more about the story. I hope that translates into better stories.

As far as my personal life, I think I’m pretty much the same person. I have the same values. I love God and my family. I love my job. I’m anxious about my family’s health and well being and meeting deadlines. Maybe God waited to give me some success in this business until I could handle it. I might have grown a big head if I got it in my twenties.

What's next for you?

Right now, I’m finishing up Deadfall for publication next October. It’s a action-suspense story that takes place entirely in the Canadian wilderness. I can’t say much more about it just yet, but people who liked Comes a Horseman and Germ will get a kick out of it, I’m sure, even though it doesn’t encompass the globe, as those stories did. It’s more intimate, but very bit as scary and breathtaking.

After that one, I’ll work on the script to Germ. Whether my version makes it to the screen or not, who knows? But at least I’ll get a crack at it.The book after Deadfall had an interesting genesis. Mike Medavoy, who used to run Universal Studio and started both Tri-Star and Orion (he now heads up Phoenix Pictures) read Comes a Horseman and apparently liked it.

He called my agent and set up a meeting with me. He explained that he’s had an idea for a political thriller for years, but couldn’t get it off the ground as a screenplay. He asked if I’d write a novel, based on his idea. It was literally a one-line premise; that gave me lots of latitude in developing the story and characters, so I agreed. I’ll start writing it in February for a July, 2008, release. Phoenix Pictures has pre-purchased the movie rights to the novel.

Parting words?

For the writers reading this, I want to encourage you to never stop pursuing your dream. God does not frustrate us. He would not put the desire to write in you if He wasn’t going to see it through. He doesn’t simply pick us up and put us in the territory He’s staked out for us. He makes us walk to it, sometimes through terrible wilderness, but always for good reason. If you keep walking, you’ll reach it. Guarantied.