Classic #Writing Advice from NYT Bestselling Author Tess Gerritsen

Originally posted in 2009. Used with permission

Tess Gerritsen left a successful practice as an internist to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. She gained nationwide acclaim for her first novel of medical suspense, the New York Times bestseller Harvest. She is also the author of the bestsellers Life Support, Bloodstream, Gravity, and The Surgeon. Tess lives with her family in Maine. (PHOTO CREDIT: Paul D'Innocenzo) --as appeared her blog.

Motivation...Doing It 

A reader/writer asked:

I was wondering if you would discuss on your blog what your process is, from starting a book through your final edits. Do you write a certain number of words per day? Do you write your books straight through, or do you skip around? Do you put it away for a while after you finish your first draft?

The writing process is something every writer evolves on her own. After having completed this 22 times, I’ve grown to learn what works for me.

First, above all, comes the idea. It’s amazing how often aspiring authors tell me they’ve got a great idea for a novel, and my reaction to it is “ho-hum.” Great ideas aren’t easy to come up with. Just saying “my book is about sex trafficking of Russian girls” isn’t really what launched VANISH. What really launched it was the idea that Jane Rizzoli is in labor and gets taken hostage. The sex trafficking angle occurred to me later. Notice where I found the excitement — in the predicament of the character, not in the machinations of the plot.

For ICE COLD (THE KILLING PLACE in the UK), the idea I had was this: Maura gets trapped during a snowstorm in a remote Wyoming village where everyone has vanished, leaving behind dead pets and uneaten meals. The explanation for why it happened is where the plot takes her, but the thing that really grabbed me was the idea of being trapped. In a blizzard. And every attempt at escape ends up in worsening horror.

So my number one piece of advice for a writer is, find an idea that focuses on a character’s predicament. Not on generalized concepts like sex trafficking or serial killers or global catastrophe. Start your story in a very personal place, with a character who is facing a crisis.

Once you’ve got that, your story will follow what happens to that person. My next job is to find out why is it happening? Maura’s in a weird little town, trying to get out, and she doesn’t understand what happened there. That’s where the plot and detective work comes in. What clues will she find? What worse things will happen? And meanwhile, how will Jane Rizzoli try to find her missing friend?
During my first draft phase, I try to write about four pages a day. I know that I’ll get through a first draft in about eight months, on that schedule. 

I don’t stop to revise — I just forge ahead, through thick and thin, and through some really rough work. Some of it is horrible. That’s okay — I’ll come back and fix those scenes. Since I don’t outline ahead of time, I don’t always know the solution to the mystery. So I’ll wander in the wilderness along with my characters, until I get about 2/3 of the way through and I’ll be forced to find answers. And then I can finally write to the end.

May I repeat: I don’t stop to revise during the first draft. Because it’s all going to be changed anyway, when I finally figure out what the book is about.
The second draft is pure hell. It involves going back, seeing how horrible the first draft is, and re-writing the entire thing. But by then, I know where the story is going. I know where the solution lies, and I know who my secondary characters are.

The third draft starts to look a little better. Here’s where I try to hone the logic and the motivations, where I try to make the dialogue more subtle. My first draft dialogue tends to fall like a sledgehammer. Characters say exaggerated things, or have exaggerated responses. That’s because I’m painting with broad strokes, just to help define the emotions. The later drafts are about keeping those emotions intact, but allowing the characters to express them in less overt ways.

When I finally get to around draft four or five, I don’t let it sit around and season, because I’m usually bumping up against a deadline. Besides, by then I’m sick of the whole thing and don’t want to look at it again. So, for better or worse, it usually goes off to the editor. And then comes the wait as she comes up with the editorial letter suggesting changes.

Every book is different. Every book has given me high anxiety. Every book has been agony to write, and has made me question why I’m in this profession.

Ronie Kendig is an award-winning, bestselling author who grew up an Army brat. After twenty-plus years of marriage, she and her hunky hero husband have a full life with their children, a Maltese Menace, and a retired military working dog in Northern Virginia. She can be found at www.roniekendig.com, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/rapidfirefiction), Twitter (@roniekendig), Goodreads (www.goodreads.com/RonieK), and Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/roniek/)!

Ronie's upcoming release, Falcon, received 4.5 stars from RT Book Reviews: Kendig blows away fans...Falcon is a must-read!  

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What Does it Take to Write A Story Set in Space?

by Tess Gerritsen

Those of us who make our living as writers know the basics of storytelling: plot, character, conflict, build-up, crisis, resolution. With those tools in our kit, we can tackle any project. So telling a story that just happens to be set in space should be a piece of cake. Just move your usual characters onto a spacecraft or space station, pit them against an antagonist, and churn out your story. Easy, right?

Well, maybe if you’re writing a space opera in which real science and technology 

takes a back seat. In space opera, a writer’s only limit is his imagination. 

Space stations with artificial gravity? No problem. Spacecraft that travel at warp speed? 

No problem. 

Transporters and death rays? Old hat. Readers aren’t going to question the technology because they understand it’s all speculative. Readers are willing to suspend disbelief and accept that the Starship Enterprise and the Millennium Falcon are possible because they understand that technology isn’t the point. The story is, and any writer can tell a story.

But what if you are writing a space story set in the present or near future, a story told within the confines of real science, and your story is about the technology? That challenge requires far more than just a writer’s imagination; it requires a working knowledge of what’s possible and what’s not. Suddenly you’re not just writing a story — you’re also writing about, and translating, science. This is something you don’t pick up by just surfing the internet. It requires months, if not years, of specific research. Even with my advanced degree in science, the prospect was more than just daunting — it was frightening.

But that was precisely my challenge a decade and a half ago, when I wrote my book GRAVITY. In a 1999 interview with Barnes and Noble, I described how I approached the research. Here’s an excerpt from that interview:

Barnes & Noble.com: Tess, thanks for taking the time to share with us some of your thoughts and experiences with regard to your latest thriller, Gravity. The concept you’ve created here is both fascinating and horrifying and utilizes science from the fields of molecular biology, virology, medical technology, space exploration, and marine biology, to name a few. It appears you’ve done a great deal of homework researching both the facts and the possibilities. Without giving away the true horror behind the menace in Gravity, can you speculate on just how feasible the scenario you created might be in real life?

Tess Gerritsen: When I wrote Gravity, my No. 1 goal was to create a scenario that was completely plausible. With that in mind, I made certain that everything that goes wrong aboard the space station actually could go wrong in real life, from the escape of the organism into the space station’s air to the series of disasters that befall the station and later the orbiter, to the political crisis that envelops NASA as a result…

The details about NASA, the shuttle, and the space station were all based on months of research and conversations with NASA sources. The space station in Gravity is based on the blueprints of the actual International Space Station, which is now being launched in increments. The details about environmental control, orbital docking, commercial rockets, EVA’s are all based on fact. The book has since been read by a NASA engineer and a flight surgeon, and both of them have told me how amazed they are that I managed to get it right. As the engineer said about my scenes in Mission Control, “I’ve been there, done that, and that’s how it is!”

bn.com: It’s certainly effective! You’ve combined some very graphic horror — such as dead bodies, blood and guts, and a few hair-raising descriptions of some pretty nasty ways to die — with cerebral horrors like the anticipation of certain death, isolation, loneliness, helplessness, and fighting an enemy one can neither see nor understand. So what scares Tess Gerritsen?

TG: Airplanes! Heights! I’m definitely a land-based humanoid.

bn.com: Several of the characters in Gravity have had a lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut and traveling the stars. Would you go to space if you were given the chance?

TG: Okay, I confess. Despite my fear of heights, I wanted to be an astronaut! I think most of us have had that dream, especially those of us who spent many happy hours as children watching Star Trek… I can also say that the risks would make me think long and hard about it. Space is not a place for amateurs and certainly not a place for starry-eyed novelists. It takes training and skills to be an astronaut. To say that anyone can just strap himself or herself in and lift off is like saying anyone can perform brain surgery in ten easy lessons. Space travel, as it now exists, is a job for professionals.

bn.com: By placing a lot of your action on a space station where help and rescue are days away, escape is impossible, and the lack of gravity adds a new layer of terror to some of the more graphic scenes, you add a whole new dimension to the “ordinary” horrors of medicine and science run amok. Where did you get the idea to combine all these elements?

TG: I’ve always been fascinated by the space program. I vividly recall hearing the broadcast of Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon, and even now, just thinking about that moment can still bring tears to my eyes. Then, about two years ago, I was traveling in Europe when I heard news about the collision between Progress and Mir. I remember thinking: Three men are about to die up there. And it occurred to me that that must be the ultimate horror, to be facing the prospect of your own death, trapped in space, while the whole world can follow the final moments of your life. With more research came more elements of horror: What is it like to die of explosive decompression? How do you deal with a medical emergency in weightlessness? What happens to blood as it pours out of an exsanguinating body in a space station? Earthbound horrors are magnified in the hostile environment of space.

bn.com: They certainly are! Your descriptions of the way things behave in a weightless environment (some of them things we wouldn’t want to encounter in any environment!) were very vivid and often quite spooky. What sort of research did you do to create those scenes?

TG: I read everything there was to read about life in microgravity. I read astronauts’ accounts, NASA reports, space medicine textbooks. I combed research publications about microbial and tissue culture behavior in space. I spoke to flight surgeons about emergency medicine in orbit. After a while, I actually began to dream about weightlessness (those were amazing dreams, too!), and when writing a scene that takes place aboard the station, it became second nature to me to envision everything without gravity. After I finished the book, it took months for those dreams of weightlessness to go away.

bn.com: Obviously there was a lot of hard work and lengthy research that went into the writing of this book. What parts of the writing process were the most fun? And which parts were the most drudgery?

TG: The research for Gravity was absolutely the most fun part of creating the story. Since I have such a deep interest in the space program, digging into the details of NASA was like playtime for me. Getting the inside tour of Mission Control, having the chance to talk to people at Johnson Space Center — these are the sorts of experiences that remind me how lucky I am to be a writer!

For those of you who are interested in science-y novels like GRAVITY, I can recommend a particularly fun book that recently came out: THE MARTIAN, by Andy Weir. While it is speculative (it’s set in the future, when we have manned missions to Mars) and it proposes certain technological advances, all those advances are theoretically possible, and the research that went into Weir’s storytelling shines through on every page.

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Tess Gerritsen on The Writer's Life

As appeared on Novel Rocket in 2012 Our regular columnist for today is teaching at a writers conference. 
Tess Gerritsen left a successful practice as an internist to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. She gained nationwide acclaim for her first novel of medical suspense, the New York Times bestseller Harvest. She is also the author of the bestsellers Life Support, Bloodstream, Gravity, and The Surgeon. Tess lives with her family in Maine. (PHOTO CREDIT: Paul D'Innocenzo)

The amazingly multi-talented Steve Martin (actor/writer/comedian/musician) doesn't need me to leap to his defense. But that's what I felt like doing, claws bared, when I read this article in the New York Times. 

In the history of intellectual chatter, the events of Nov. 29, 2010, at the 92nd Street Y will be archived under disaster. Or comedy.

That night, a conversation between Steve Martin, the writer and actor, and Deborah Solomon, who writes a weekly interview column for The New York Times Magazine, resulted in the Y’s sending out a next-day apology, along with a promise of a refund.

Mr. Martin, in Miami for a book event, said in an e-mail on Wednesday that Ms. Solomon “is an outstanding interviewer,” adding that “we have appeared together before in Washington, D.C., in a similar circumstance to great success.”

But Sol Adler, the Y’s executive director, saw it differently. “We acknowledge that last night’s event with Steve Martin did not meet the standard of excellence that you have come to expect from 92nd St. Y,” he wrote in an e-mail to ticket holders. “We planned for a more comprehensive discussion and we, too, were disappointed with the evening. We will be mailing you a $50 certificate for each ticket you purchased to last night’s event. The gift certificate can be used toward future 92Y events, pending availability.”

What was Steve's big mistake that night? What terrible misbehavior did he engage in to so enrage his fans? Simply this: he had the audacity to be himself and talk about his latest book -- which is about art. The audience came expecting to hear the wild and crazy guy they knew from his film and TV career. They wanted to hear tales of glitz and glamor and movie stars. They wanted their trained monkey. They didn't want the Steve Martin who talks about art, which is what he is clearly passionate about, and what his book is about.

When he didn't deliver exactly what they expected, this audience was so disappointed, so incensed, that they pitched a tantrum worthy of spoiled brats and demanded their money back.

Now, if this were an audience who paid big bucks to hear Lady Gaga sing in concert, and instead had to watch her read the Manhattan phone book in a monotone, I could understand their disappointment. When you pay for music, you expect music. When you pay for dinner, you expect food.

This audience came to hear an interview with Steve Martin, and they got an interview. But the man is known to have many facets; he is not just a wild and crazy guy, but an author who wanted to talk about his latest book. A book about a serious topic. Over the years, through his comedic movies, Steve Martin has been branded as a funny guy. But that branding has locked him into such a tight cage that if he dares step one foot out of that cage, the public cracks their bullwhip to drive the prisoner back to where he belongs. In the cage for wild and crazy movie stars.

This, fellow authors, is the downside of branding. Every time you write a book that reinforces your brand, you have welded in another bar of your cage. Once that cage is locked and sealed, you're going to have a hard time getting out of the thing again.

Only a few authors have been able to do it successfully. John Grisham has managed the feat, occasionally releasing a sentimental novel between his usual legal thrillers. Stephen King has escaped branding, too, partly because he has regularly produced non-horror, literary fiction throughout his career.

For most of us, though -- writers who aren't as prolific as King, or who don't wield the clout of Grisham -- a large part of our success is tied up in branding ourselves. We start off wanting readers to think of us as the crime thriller or romance go-to gal. It's only later, when we get a hankering to try something else, or when our chosen genre starts to lose its audience, that we realize that being branded isn't always such a good thing.

My own brand has skittered around through my career. First I wrote romantic thrillers, then medical thrillers, then science thrillers, then crime thrillers. With an historical thriller thrown in. The one part of the brand that's stayed constant is the "thriller" part, and that's allowed me a bit of leeway. Readers will forgive you for moving between sub-genres. But try making a really big leap -- say, from serial killer novel to sweet sentimental novel -- and your audience is going to howl. The way they howled at Steve Martin.

If you truly want to slip out of that cage, you may have to do it in disguise with a pseudonym. Which means starting over again as a newbie writer trying to find your first audience. Or you'll have to find an understanding publisher. Or you'll have to publish it yourself as an E-book, an option that more and more authors seem to be leaning toward.

Good luck to you. May you escape the wrath of fans who'll never forgive you for craving a little variety in your art.

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Tess Gerritsen on E-Readers

Tess Gerritsen is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University. Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, and was awarded her M.D. in 1979. After completing her internal medicine residency, she worked as a physician in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1987, Tess's first novel was published. CALL AFTER MIDNIGHT, a romantic thriller, was soon followed by eight more romantic suspense novels. She also wrote a screenplay, "Adrift," which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson. Her thriller, Harvest was released in 1996, and marked Tess's debut on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list. Film rights were sold to Paramount/Dreamworks, and the book was translated into twenty foreign languages. Now retired from medicine, Tess writes full time and lives in Maine

~Used with permission~

WHAT I WANT IN AN E-READER

I came late to being an e-reader convert, but yes — I did eventually come around to appreciating the devices. I own a Kindle, and now a Cool-ER, although they will never co-opt the affection I’ll always feel for the good old-fashioned book. But when I do sit down with an e-reader, there are several features I demand. These are just my own preferences, and others may disagree. But if any manufacturers out there are paying attention, and you’re wondering what we readers want, here’s my list.

First, here are the features that are ABSOLUTELY necessary. If the e-reader doesn’t have these, it’s a deal-killer for me:

PORTABILITY. I want my e-reader to be lightweight and easy to slip into my purse. Which is why I prefer a 6-inch screen, about the size of a paperback novel. Any larger, and you defeat the whole purpose of an e-reader — and that’s to take it on vacation, or on a plane. One of the hottest new models I saw at CES is a combination e-reader and electronic writing tablet. It weighs several pounds. Sorry, but I am not going to buy that monstrosity. If I want to take notes on something I’m reading, I’ll just bring an old-fashioned steno-pad. Here is where an e-reader like Interead’s super-portable Cool-ER has a huge advantage. The mantra for manufacturers should be lighter, lighter, lighter!

SIMPLICITY OF USE. I am not a techie genius. Don’t make me puzzle over a thousand different menus. Make the e-reader as easy to use as a plain old book — that is, so easy that any child can use it. Think of me as a middle-aged child. Who just wants to read the darn book without a struggle.

EASILY ADJUSTABLE FONT SIZE. I am of an age where I haven’t yet accepted the fact I need reading glasses. Help me maintain my delusion. Give my an e-reader that, with a mere click of a button, can instantly enlarge the font. And give me a larger font option than the current e-readers do. The print needs to be even bigger! (And for my mom, who has macular degeneration, HUGE font would be great!)

SUPER-LONGLASTING BATTERY LIFE. Luckily, the current e-readers seem to satisfy this particular demand. The Kindle lasted on one charge throughout my entire Turkey vacation. The Cool-ER has an 8,000-page-turn battery life. I don’t want to be in the middle of Africa and suddenly have my battery run out, with no possibility of a re-charge. What this means is that color-screen e-readers are not going to be on my shopping list anytime soon. Their battery lives are way too short. I’d much rather have a plain old B&W screen that lasts me throughout a two-week camping trip.

NON-PROPRIETARY FILE ACCESSIBILITY. Here’s where I have a beef with my Kindle. Sometimes I want to read material that’s not Amazon-mediated. I want to read another author’s galley. Or I want to read a scientific article I’ve got on my home computer. Or my own manuscript in progress. I want to be able to upload that file directly onto my e-reader without having to go through Amazon (and pay for that privilege.) My Cool-ER allows me to do that, as long as I convert my doc file to pdf. I understand that the Sony e-reader also allows this, which is a huge plus.

Now — here are features that are nice, but which I don’t consider necessary for me to consider a purchase:

WI-FI ACCESSIBILITY. I know this is the hot thing, being able to download newspapers and books wirelessly. But right now, with my Kindle, I get no Whispernet accessibility where I live, and it doesn’t bother me all that much. And when I’m traveling, if I want to read, say, the New York Times, I’ll just buy a paper copy. If I’m in an area where I can’t buy the NYT, it’s usually also an area where I can’t get Whispernet either. Besides, Wi-Fi usage really drains that battery fast.

AUDIO. Yes, I know, it’s nice to be able to hear an audiobook on your e-reader. But isn’t that what an iPod is for? (And much smaller, too.)

TOUCHSCREEN. Well, this would be cool. And I would love it. It may be one of those features that I soon consider necessary.

HUGE FILE STORAGE SPACE. The Cool-ER can take up to five gigabytes of data. That’s way more than I’ll ever be able to read. I mean, how many thousands of books do you need to carry on vacation? The current e-readers all have plenty of storage space, so adding additional thousands of books on my device isn’t really a big selling point for me.

WRITING PAD/EMAIL CAPABILITY/BLAH BLAH BLAH. By now, you’re talking about so much weight that you might as well bring your laptop computer. This is no longer e-reader territory.

In short, what I want in an e-reader is the equivalent of a good, old-fashioned BOOK. Something for recreational reading. In the end, there is no device as simple, as uncomplicated, as a book. Give me that old-fashioned experience. Don’t load it up with doo-dads which I don’t need.

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