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My first novel was Absolute Power. I was

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working, you know, full-time as a

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lawyer. I I had a family. I couldn't fly

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off and, you know, go somewhere to do

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anything. I just couldn't do it. What

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did I need to know about? Okay, I need

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to know kind of how the Secret Service

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did their thing. My office was near the

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the White House back then. I think

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George Bush 41's president back then.

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And I would walk past the White House.

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You'd see some of the Secret Service,

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uniform Secret Service. They didn't have

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the um the barricades up. They put those

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barricades up after Oklahoma City. So

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you could walk up to the white, you

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could drive your car in front of

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Pennsylvania Avenue back then. What I

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would do is I would, you know, anybody I

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would meet along the way, you know, it

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could be at a meeting with different

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lawyers, it could be at a party or

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whatever. I would talk to people about

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the background and stuff. And that

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really what I was trying to dig was

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anybody here know a secret service

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agent, you know, married to one, father

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is one, knew one in high school or

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whatever. So, and that's the way I did

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it. I just kind of dug into people that

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I knew, you know, that my my surrounding

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of friends and acquaintances and because

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I lived in Washington DC, you know,

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eventually somebody knew a secret

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service agent and I was able to contact

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the person and they agreed to meet with

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me. Um, and not everybody can do that.

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Not everybody lives in Washington DC,

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but you can use your periphery of

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friends and acquaintances. And nine

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times out of 10, you're going to get a

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connection somewhere.

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Once you have a contact, um, don't just

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go in cold turkey with that person. Uh,

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I'll give the example of the Secret

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Service agent again. I knew going in um

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that I didn't want to waste their time

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and I wanted them to show I wanted I

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wanted them to know that I respected

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what they did. And the best way to show

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that you respect what these people do is

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to learn about them before you go in to

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talk to them. So I wasn't going to go in

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and ask stupid questions to the Secret

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Service. You know, what kind of a gun do

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you carry? How do you get to be a Secret

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Service agent? You know, and all that.

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What do you are you just, you know, you

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protect the president, right? No, most

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agents are doing dealing with computer

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and financial crimes, you know, and uh

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um and money laundering and things like

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that. It was it used to be part of the

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US Treasury Department. Um and that's

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what they did after a Abraham Lincoln

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was shot. That's when it became a

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protection detail. So I I wanted them to

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know that um the questions I asked are

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based on a lot of homework that I did

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before I even sat down in front of them.

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One, you gain their instant respect. And

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because you they you have their in

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respect. They will tell you things they

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would not have otherwise told you. And

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then when you go in, I don't have these

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static questions that I want to ask

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them. I have a series of things that I

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would like to discuss with them. If you

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ask static questions, you can ask static

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answers back. Yes, no, I don't know. Um,

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but if you have a dialogue, you know,

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you ask these sort of broad open-ended

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questions, then all of a sudden you get

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sort of broad open-ended answers back

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that again feeds more questions for you

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to to ask about.

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You know, I've been interviewed by a lot

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of journalists over the years and um I

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see how they approach their work and

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I've tried sort of tried to mimic what

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they do too. So, for instance, you go

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into a room and I don't care who you're

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meeting with. It could be somebody from

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NSA, it could be your next door

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neighbor. Um and courtesy is sort of

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key. I will always ask, you know, if I

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pull out a recorder, do you mind if I

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record this? if they I don't want it

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recorded, recorder goes away and that's

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just the way it is. Um then I just open

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my my notebook and I got my pen or my

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pencil and off we go. And and you really

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do have to play fair. I would never

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dream of recording someone without their

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permission. It's just not the way I

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would do something. And I would

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encourage any of you to do that. Don't

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because that will destroy any

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relationship of trust you might have

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otherwise have with that person. So, if

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you are lucky enough as a as a

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first-time writer to be able to talk to

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somebody who works at the NSA, for

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instance, or the CIA, which would be

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really kind of cool, uh, don't go in

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there expecting that they're just going

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to open their hearts to you and tell you

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everything you need to know. Um, but

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they will be be able to give you a

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flavor for the work they do, the agency

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that they work for, their backgrounds,

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and how they approach their work. Um,

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and they may throw a few nuggets in

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there that most people don't know about,

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but it's not like it's classified

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information either, particularly with

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people who work for the government. And

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this is not something that maybe not be

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so apparent to a lot of people.

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Don't assume that you can just ask them

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questions and send it to their

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government email about stuff. You know,

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if I send somebody a question who worked

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at the CIA and said, you know, that we

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were talking about killing the guy last

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week. Here's a few follow-up questions I

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had. Not good. Not good for me. not good

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for that person either. Um, so I will

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ask them, do you have a private email

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you you would prefer me to send it to?

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Would you prefer just to call on your

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cell phone? I would never call you at

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work, obviously. Um, because I don't

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want to put you in in a different

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position. People who work for these

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government agencies, their computers,

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their government phones are monitored,

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email accounts are monitored. Every

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keystroke they write and every keystroke

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they receive is is known by the agency

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they work for. Treat them the way you

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would like to be treated with courtesy,

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disclosure, transparency. Um and I think

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in turn that will be reciprocated to you

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and just be professional about it. And

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always at the end of an interview don't

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assume anything. Just in interview

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always ask you know if I have any

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follow-up questions there might be some

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of the stuff you told me would it be

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okay if I uh talked to you again.

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I take the world as we know it and um I

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build up the facts that I need and all

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that. And then after that, I have a

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whole layer of creative liberty that

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allows me to do whatever I want to do.

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As a novelist, my rule of thumb is I'm

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only bound by plausibility. Um if it

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could happen, not that it has happened

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or that it, you know, if it could

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happen, if it can happen, I can write

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about it. The great thing about, you

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know, writing about the world that I

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write in, military, government

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organizations, politics, police, and all

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that, they're made up of people. You

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know, I don't care how many rules you

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have in in an organization, people make

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mistakes. People who are given really

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important positions screw up. Um, and no

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one would find that implausible because

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history will dictate and tell us that

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it's happened all the time over the

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course of our history that people do bad

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things, people go against the rules.

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People make mistakes, they fall down.

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I'll give you one one last piece of this

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that both I felt liberated by and scared

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the hell out of me. I had was writing a

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book one time dealing with the

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intelligence field and I thought I had

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pushed beyond the bounds of possibility.

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I just thought it's crazy. It's nuts.

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So, I had a friend of mine who worked in

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intelligence field called him up said,

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"Hey, you know, can I can I email you

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these pages? I'm writing this scene. I

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just think this is nuts. Never could

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happen, and I just want you to kind of,

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you know, vet it for me." He said, "No,

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you know, I don't have to read it." I

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said, "No, I just, you know, just this

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few pages, read it, and let me know. And

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I think I've, you know, I've gone right

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through the envelope. I just This is not

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He goes, I don't have to read it." I

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said, "Why won't you read my pages?" He

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goes, "Because if you can imagine it,

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we've already done it."

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So, ever since the guy told me that, I

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was like, I can write about any damn

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thing I want to write about. And I could

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just point to people and say, you know

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what, they've already done it.

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Writers can be really great

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procrastinators. And one way to convince

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yourself you're actually working hard on

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the book is to just go too heavy in the

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research. You know, you're out there.

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Yeah, it's going to take me a few months

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to do this research and I'm I'm having a

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good time doing it. Oh, maybe it's going

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to take me an extra month because you

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really don't want to sit down and write

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the story. Research is fun. It's hard

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work, too. No research is as hard as

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actually writing the story. It's not

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even close. That's why I like to do not

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a huge block of research ahead of time

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and then write and that's it. I like to

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do write a little bit of research,

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right? A little bit of research, right?

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a little bit of research and that breaks

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it up. You will get to the point where I

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think it's more instinctual or not that

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you realize research is done. I've got

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the whole world I need to write this

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book and if I'm getting near the end,

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there's another question that pops up, I

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can always go and get that answer. I can

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talk to somebody or go visit a place.

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Um, but just balance that. I know it

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it's just so attractive to just keep

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researching. It's almost like being a

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permanent student going back to college.

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You got 16 degrees because you don't

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really want to work in the real world.

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So at some point mom and dad like no you

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know you got to you got to grow up just

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as a writer just realize you got to grow

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up and uh stop the research and write

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the