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Probably the question I get most of all

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when I'm out on tour and from writers,

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where do you get your ideas from? And

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the answer is not simple, but it can be

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a little made a little more simple by

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what I'm about to tell you. You have to

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Writing isn't a job or an occupation or

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a hobby. It's a lifestyle. So for all of

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you out there, it has to be something

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you incorporate in your life as you go

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through your daily routine. I get ideas

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from waking up in the morning and

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walking out the door and I look at the

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world through a writer's prism as I call

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it. It's sort of cocked a little bit and

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I see everything that everybody else

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sees, but what I look through and I look

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at the potential of what could be out

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there if I sort of add a little pixie

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dust, fictional pixie dust to something.

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You can't just see what's out there in

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black and white. That's what everybody

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else does. And those people are not

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going to be writing novels or

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screenplays or anything. They just see

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the world and they forget it and move

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on. Your job is to see the world and

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then realize the potential of what is

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out there every single day, every single

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minute of every single day. If you just

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look at the world, twist your prism a

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little bit and think if I combine a

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couple of elements of my imagination, I

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can make the scene of a plane flying

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over and a truck passing by and a guy

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looking out a window, I can make that

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into a compelling story. All I need to

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do are connect the dots. You just have

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to see the world and feel the world in a

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way that is so visceral that 99.9% of

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the rest of the population are totally

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oblivious to. I'll give you a couple of

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real life examples. I wrote a book years

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ago called One Summer and it was not a

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thriller and uh it came about because my

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son was having being confirmed in the

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Catholic church and my wife said get to

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the church early because we're it's

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going to fill up. We got a lot of

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friends and family coming in. So I went

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there and it was just me and the priest

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who I'd known for a long time and then

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he left and it was just me and some

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personal things in my life. My dad had

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died, my mom was probably going to pass

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away pretty soon. My son, my youngest

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was being confirmed and you know you

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have your own sense of mortality. At

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least when I go to mass, I sort of sense

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my own mortality coming at me. And I

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just sat there thinking about those

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things. And this idea for one summer

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came, which is about a family drama. The

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guy, the husband is terminal. He's

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saying goodbye to his family. His wife's

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going to be the remaining parent to care

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for the three kids. But as it turns out,

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the husband turns out to be the

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surviving parent, which is kind of the

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twist. I would never have written that

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story, never envisioned it except I went

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to the church and kind of looked around

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in my own inner experience and at the

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church what it meant to me and through

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the writer's prism this idea unspooled

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while I was waiting for the mass to

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start. Another another experience was I

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was on NPR and it was a roving NPR

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interview. was live being broadcast and

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we were walking down by the White House

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and the anchor and presenter was asking

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me I've heard that you will walk down

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the street sometimes and ideas will come

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to you and I said yeah that happens to

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me a lot because I look at the world a

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little bit differently and he said great

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so we're alive right now so do it you

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know just come up with an idea right now

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for our live radio audience and we were

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outside of the White House and you know

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the big iron bars and the fence and all

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that and there were all the tourists

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that are always plastered against the

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fence taking pictures at least they were

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back then. And inside uh there was a

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National Park Service and they take care

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of the landscaping, the grounds around

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the White House. And there was a team in

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there replacing a tree that had died.

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They'd removed the tree and they brought

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a new tree in. I said, "Okay, what's

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happening here is not what you think is

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happening." That tourist over there with

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the camera is not really a tourist.

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She's a North Korean spy. The guy inside

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is an inside guy. He's been working in

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the White House for 20 years. He's also

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works for North Korea. He's a

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clandestine spy. And they're not taking

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a picture. He's not removing a tree.

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they're actually signaling to each

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other. And I actually went on about four

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years later uh to use that plot idea in

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a book called The Target. I think if

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you're a writer, you have to be

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receptive to what the world gives you.

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And then you have to run it through your

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filter of creativity and out the other

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end comes an original idea. So if you

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get up every day and walk at the door,

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you will never run out of ideas because

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all those ideas for stories are right

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out there in front of you if you take

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the opportunity to to grasp them.

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My wife likes to tell people that he

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he's looks very nice. He's a very nice

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guy. He's a very calm guy. Um, but he

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has a dark side to him. The building

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that I'm in right now is kind of cool.

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You can see the backdrop and it reminded

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me of like Gotham City with kind of the

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sinister thriller thrilleresque thing.

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But I I like the idea. There's so many

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parked trailers in the front of the road

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and as I was walking in, I had my own

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trailer today which is kind of cool. you

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know, now I can say I'm I'll be in my

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trailer. You know, I can't take this

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anymore. Um, but all the trailers parked

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along there. Wouldn't it be really cool

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if there were six trailers there, five

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were supposed to be there, but one

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wasn't, and nobody noticed, and there

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was something going on in that last

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trailer that has nothing to do with what

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we're filming about today, but might

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have an effect on everybody who's

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sitting in this room right now. You

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know, this could be a great hostage

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scenario if you think about it. Uh, as a

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thriller writer, my job is to look out

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into the real world and see the dark

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side, see the problem side. I create the

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problems then during the course of the

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novel. I've solved them. It's just

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really a part of how I'm wired. It's in

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my DNA. But it also it's it doesn't

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necessarily have to be something you're

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born with. You can develop that skill

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over time. And I think a lot of that

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came from me. You can do the same thing.

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I read a lot of books in that genre. And

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I found that I really liked that type of

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storytelling. I like the high stakes. I

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like the action. I like sort of the

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banter back and forth. And I like the

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puzzles because thrillers and mysteries

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are very similar in the fact that

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there's a puzzle to figure out. I love

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mysteries because you have to take these

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little clues, get really into the weeds,

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and then have it resolved in a really

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clever way. It tests your wit. It tests

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your cleverness. And I like that

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challenge.

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I have in throughout the course of most

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of my books written about and used real

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world issues, current events in my

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novels. I do it for a couple of reasons.

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One, I think it's a great way for the

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writer to connect with readers because

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they understand that these events are

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happening in their lives uh with the

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Amos Decker character. Uh he was a

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former football player and I've been a

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football fan my whole life. I have to

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admit that my enthusiasm has been

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dampened ever since the concussions and

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the CTE and and football players who I

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grew up watching now are either dead or

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have serious dementia because of the of

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the the punishment they took as football

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players. So I was interested in that. So

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it served a twofold purpose. I could

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write about a story that was very

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current that people could understand and

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relate to because they see it in the

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news all the time. Put it into a story

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in a in a different format. I like to

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entertain, but I also like to inform. So

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when I write about these current events,

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I'm trying to tell people, you know,

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this is happening. Here's here are the

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facts as I know them. I'm not trying to

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give an opinion on them. I'm trying to

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tell you on my soap box preaching to

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you, this is how you should come out on

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this issue. That's for you to decide.

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Just that it's an important issue. And I

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did the same thing with the opioid

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crisis. Um when I was writing about the

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fallen, another Amos Decker book, I was

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think I knew it was going to be drug

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involved. And I was trying to think

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about where do I want to set this place

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because I was also dealing with

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automation and these fulfillment

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centers, these big warehouses or you

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know a lot of people working these days

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and it's been in the news a lot. So a

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rust belt town sort of hit me because

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that served both of my purposes. As you

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as you read in the news, rust belt towns

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have a lot of opioid addiction crisis

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because people have lost their jobs or

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homes, a lot of hopelessness. They call

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it the drugs of despair. And also a lot

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of these fulfillment centers are going

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there because they get cheap labor and

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the land is cheap. and they put up these

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three million square foot facilities and

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throw people in there to, you know, to

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run a marathon every day for $9 an hour.

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So that for me allowed me to know the

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perfect place to set it in a rust belt

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town in western Pennsylvania talk about

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two issues that I really cared about and

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I wanted readers to know more about

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which was the CTE and football and all

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and the opioid crisis as well. And also

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this idea of automation is one of the

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character Amos Deckers talks about in

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the fallen. That's great. you're gonna

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have robots doing all this work then and

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nobody has any jobs. So, who's gonna buy

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all the crap on the shelf? You know, has

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anybody thought about that? And I said

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that question in particular because I

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wanted readers to sort of ask themselves

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the same question. Yeah. Who's going to

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buy all this crap on the shelves? So, I

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love books that I read where I come away

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really entertained and that was a cool

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story, but I love it when I close the

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book and I feel a little bit smarter

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than when I open the book.

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Writing anything is a long hard slog.

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It's going to take you a while. You're

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not going to finish a novel over a

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weekend. It's just not going to happen.

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So, you have to set yourself up for

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success and not failure. And how do you

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do that? Well, make sure that this long

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road that you're going to start off on

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is something you're actually interested

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in and have a passion about. So if a lot

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of the books out there that have been

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successful, you see like Michael Kiteon

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who wrote about dinosaurs. He had an

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interest in that stuff. He had an

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interest in science. He had interest in,

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you know, whether [ __ ] Japan was going to

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rise up and overtake the the American

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economy when he wrote Rising Sun or Dan

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Brown with code books or John Gisham

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with the legal world. But they had a

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fascination and an interest for that

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stuff. And if you do, trust me, one,

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your research will be better. Two, your

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plots will be better because you'll

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invest more time because that focus is

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there. because this I want to be in this

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moment. I want to write this stuff not

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because I'm chasing a trend because

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something is hot and all of a sudden

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everybody's writing code books or

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dinosaur books. Trust me, when Jurassic

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Park came out, everybody was writing

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dinosaur books and dinosaur scripts. You

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could have romantic comedy and a T-Rex

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was going to run right through the

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dining room. Just that's just the way it

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was back then. But half the time people

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didn't finish the books because they

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really weren't interested in it and they

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weren't really good anyway because there

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was no passion there. So set yourself up

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as a writer for success. make sure you

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know what I this could take me a year,

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two, three, four, five years to do. I'm

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going to hang in there because you know

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what? I'm actually interested in what

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I'm writing about.

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Early on in my career, and I will I will

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confess to this freely, and you and all

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of you will probably make the same

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mistakes that I made. You'll jump into

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something too fast. So, you come up with

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an idea and you think, "Okay, this is

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cool. I think I can do this." and you

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sit down, you write a 100 pages and you

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run out of gas because you just didn't

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not that you didn't think of everything

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you needed to know in the book because I

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never do that but you just ran out of

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gas because you really weren't

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interested in the stuff and you didn't

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allow yourself the flexibility, the

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breadth of material and the breath of

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story you needed to actually write a

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four or 500 page book. It just wasn't

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there. So over time what I've done as a

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writer is I think of an idea that I

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might be interested in. I don't

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immediately sit down to kind of outline

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it or write it. I let it percolate in my

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head. I might walk around for a few

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weeks with this idea germinating. But

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it's almost like a little computer in

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your head. You're sitting there and

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you're walking down the street and you

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got this core idea and then the threads

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start coming out. Okay, what are the

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characters going to be? You know, who's

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the protagonist? Who's the antagonist?

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What could the plot twist be? Where am I

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going to set it? You know, what is the

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dial dialogue going to feel about? What

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sort of research do I need to know? How

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much do I need to know in order to write

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this book plausibly and authentically?

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And that takes time to sort of get grips

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with that in your head. So, my advice to

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all of you would be let the idea

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percolate for a little bit. Jot down

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some story ideas, jot down some plot

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lines that maybe you can have fun with,

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try filling in the blanks as you go

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along. Don't jump head over heels into a

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story idea the minute you come up with

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it because you might run a 100 pages

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down the road, run out of gas, and

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everybody gets disappointed, and that's

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not a good thing.

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I did a writer's workshop for Iowa High

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School back in Richmond, Virginia long

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time ago. Kids there wanted to learn how

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to write as well. So I said, "Here's a

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newspaper.

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Here's a story on the front page. Read

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that story. Here's an unrelated story on

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the back page. Read that story. Then

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write a story combining both of those

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stories together in a plausible way."

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And that forces you to think at a level

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that you probably didn't think you could

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think at, but you actually can if you

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try. It's almost the same exercise as

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going out in the world and you see a

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person walking down the street and you

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see a car driving by. They're going in

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separate directions, but I want you to

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connect them up somehow in a way that

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seems plausible and likely and not

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coincidental. And then all of a sudden,

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you feel like your creative juices

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really are firing. But those types of

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exercises, it takes you out of your

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comfort zone. So you got to take two

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disperate sort of elements and combine

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them together. Not only is it

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instructive, at least it is for me,

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sometimes it's fun.