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In this Month’s Issue:
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- The Reader Survey: What Are You Waiting For?
- Off to Thrillerfest
- The Secret List of Thrillers to Learn From
- Hail, Britannia!
- I Get Dissed (and Other News from the Virtual World)
- Stay Tuned - You Could Be a Winner
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The Reader Survey: What Are You Waiting For?
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It's not too late! If you're a U.S. reader, you still have about 24 hours to respond to my readers' survey - and enter to win a brand-new iPod Nano, the one with the video camera, FM radio with Live Pause and nine color options. It's a win-win: I'm asking for your opinion in exchange for a chance at a really cool prize. Even my daughter doesn't have one of these yet . . . but you can, if you're the winner of a random drawing after the survey closes on June 30.
All you have to do is complete the reader survey. It won't take much of your time, and you won't just be helping me - you'll be helping a lot of kids, too. To say "thank you" for completing the survey, I'll donate $1 for each completed survey to Reach Out and Read, the nonprofit organization that prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.
Thanks for your help!
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Off to Thrillerfest
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Going to Thrillerfest? I am. I never miss it. If you're there, too, I hope you'll seek me out to say hello.
Thrillerfest, July 7-10, is the annual meeting of the International Thriller Writers. Last year's ThrillerMaster, David Morrell, will confer this year's title on the legendary Ken Follett; spotlight guests include my friends Harlan Coben, Gayle Lynds, and Lisa Scottoline; Mark Bowden will receive this year's "True Thriller;" and the great Linda Fairstein will receive this year's Silver Bullet Award.
I'm deeply honored that VANISHED has been nominated for this year's Best Novel Thriller award, a field that also includes LONG LOST by Harlan Coben, FEAR THE WORST by Linwood Barclay, THE NEIGHBOR by Lisa Gardner, and THE RENEGADES by T. Jefferson Parker. The awards will be announced at the Thrillerfest banquet on Saturday night. Nervous? Me? Um. . .
Before that, though, I'll be part of two panels. On Friday afternoon, I'll discuss "How Can We Innovate More?" - about the future of publishing and what authors and publishers can do about it - along with a panel of authors and publishers: Tom Doherty, Libby McGuire, Mark Nichols, Barbara Peters and Daniel Slater. M.J. Rose will moderate. The next day I'll be with Laura Caldwell, Stephen Coonts, Linda Fairstein, John Gilstrap and Chris Kuzneski, as writer-reviewer Jeff Ayers moderates a discussion on "How Do You Make Your Career a Thriller?"
Thrillerfest always starts with a program called Craftfest (Wednesday afternoon/Tuesday morning), where bestselling authors share their knowledge with aspiring writers. I've been part of the faculty in previous years, and am sorry that my schedule wouldn't let me do it this year. This year's instructors include Lisa Gardner, David Morrell, Douglas Preston, Lisa Scottoline and R.L. Stine. On Thursday afternoon, the companion program, Agentfest, offers a unique opportunity to pitch your book to agents. If you're writing a novel, or if you've written a novel and want to know what to do with it, Craftfest and Agentfest are two of the smartest investments you could make in a writing career.
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The Secret List of Thrillers to Learn From
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Although I won't be teaching at Craftfest this year, I did get the chance to give a presentation on "Ten Elements of a Great Thriller" at Grub Street's "Muse & the Marketplace" conference in Boston last month.
Writers learn by modeling their own work on the best in the field, so I gave my "students" a list of books every aspiring thriller author should read. I got so many e-mails asking for a copy of the list that finally, last month, I sent it to my "Writing Tips" newsletter subscribers. Here it is, my list of the thrillers you need to read if you're an aspiring thriller writer (or just want to read some great suspense novels):
- Peter Abrahams, The Tutor. Mom and Dad hire an SAT tutor for their slacker son. Turns out he's the tutor from hell. Abrahams is one of the best writers around.
- James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice. Sounds old-fashioned, right? Nope. Apart from some dated slang, the language is crisp and timeless, and the story is fast and furious and unfolds like a Greek tragedy.
- Lee Child, Persuader. Reacher is a great series hero, and Lee Child's dry, crackling prose is among the best in the business. The opening to Persuader is one of the best, most cleverly worked out thriller openings I've ever read.
- Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park and Disclosure. Two very different books of his: I've always admired the way he incorporates research and complicated technical detail without slowing down the pace; on the contrary, all that stuff heightens the intrigue.
- Harlan Coben, Tell No One. Irresistible hook, great voice, twist after twist after twist.
- Nelson DeMille, The Gold Coast. One of my favorites. More of a straight "novel" than a thriller, but this, along with all of DeMille's books since then, is a model of how to incorporate humor and attitude into your storytelling without diminishing the suspense.
- Ken Follett, The Eye of the Needle. Hits on all cylinders: plot, pacing, love story, narrative momentum, and characters - especially a great, interesting villain.
- Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal. I think I've gone through three paperback copies already. Forsyth is no great stylist, but that's not a disadvantage here: it reads like a documentary in novel form. Plausible, realistic, authoritative, really exciting. Wonderfully executed. A classic.
- William Goldman, Marathon Man. This is the one that has influenced more thriller writers working today than any other, whether they admit it or not. Why? The voice - slangy, casual, intimate, fresh. The twists you don't see coming. Fast, stripped down, elegant, powerful.
- John Grisham, The Firm. A great hook, told with economy and relentless pace.
- Robert Harris, The Ghost. It's all in the telling - Harris, an elegant writer, ratchets up the suspense with hardly any violence or bloodshed. Also a great book about writing.
- Thomas Harris, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs. Red Dragon is one of the scariest books you'll ever read, and Silence of the Lambs is more than Hannibal Lecter. Harris is also a wonderful writer who knows how to do exposition and incorporate detail in a completely natural way. Check out the brilliantly choreographed escape sequence, chapters 36 to 38.
- Anthony Hyde, Red Fox. For some reason, this is all but forgotten. But it's excellent - spare prose, linear story line, with each revelation leading to the next, and extremely atmospheric.
- John le Carre, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. A simple, fable-like story, told with grace and power. It reinvented the spy novel.
- Ira Levin, Rosemary's Baby and The Boys From Brazil. As far as I'm concerned, nobody in my line of work ever did it better. Very different plots, but each is the work of an unsurpassed, understated, yet incredibly elegant prose writer. No wonder Stephen King said of Levin: "Every novel he has ever written has been a marvel of plotting. He is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; he makes what the rest of us do look like those five-dollar watches you can buy in the discount drug stores."
- David Morrell, First Blood. Forget whatever you think about Sly Stallone and Rambo. This book is a now-classic chase novel, a mano à mano confrontation between a damaged Vietnam vet and a sheriff, and you won't be sure whom to root for.
- Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent. Amazing: melancholy, atmospheric, a first person unreliable narrator, a plot that unspools masterfully.
- Donald Westlake, The Hook. Classic tale of two writers in NYC, one "literary" and one "commercial," and a murder that involves them both.
And a few non-fiction titles; most "how to" books aren't much use, but I've found these helpful:
- Stephen King, On Writing.
- Robert McKee, Story. This is directed at screenwriters, but it'll teach a novelist a useful and whole new way of looking at story structure.
- Al Zuckerman, Writing the Blockbuster Novel. Some of Zuckerman's examples are out of date, but the basics remain, and it's very smart.
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Hail, Britannia!
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Two years ago I had the honor of being invited to speak at the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, known to its fans simply as "Harrogate." It's a conference that brings authors and readers together in a beautiful setting - the legendary Crown Hotel, Harrogate, England - for four days of talk about crime fiction. This year I've been invited back, which I'm excited about - and I even get to chair a panel. And teach a class! Harrogate runs from July 22 to 25. The program often sells out, but tickets may still be available; check here for information about single-day or full-event packages. This year's headliners include Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyre, Jeffery Deaver, Joanne Harris, Jeff Lindsay, and Karin Slaughter, so I'm especially flattered to be in that company.
If you're going, you can catch me at one of three panels or workshops:
Thursday, July 22
"Creative Thursday," a day-long crime fiction creative writing workshop.
1:45 p.m. - I'll be conducting a two-hour intensive writing workshop on "Suspense: How to Create and Maintain It".
Friday, July 23
10:30 a.m. - "A Scotsman, an Englishman, an Irishman and a Welshman walk into a bar . . ." I'll be moderating a discussion of regional noir, as four top U.K. authors argue the relative merits of Tartan Noir (Scotland), Emerald Noir (Northern Ireland), Dragon Noir (Wales) and Larger Noir (England). The panelists are Caro Ramsay, Jason Goodwin, Bateman, and Robert Lewis; my cool American head is supposed to keep it a fair fight. (Yeah, right.)
Saturday, July 24th
5:00 p.m. - "Britannia Rules The Page." The premise of this panel is, "The UK produces the best crime fiction in the world; discuss." I'll be defending the superiority of the United States against James Twining, arguing that British crime fiction is better; Michael Robotham, making the case for Australia and New Zealand; and Chris Carter, representing both South America and Italy. N.J. Cooper will keep us all in line as moderator.
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I Got Dissed (and Other News from the Virtual World)
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In case I was getting delusions of grandeur, the author Lauren Baratz-Logsted put me through her Disrespectful Interview last month. I hope I gave as good as I got.
If you prefer more polite conversation, tune into a discussion I had with Sheila English of Romantic Times magazine and author Andrew Peterson.
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Stay Tuned - You Could Be a Winner
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Since this is a bonus newsletter, no prizes to report - yet. But let me remind you again: you still have time to complete the Reader Survey, for your chance at the new iPod Nano! We'll announce the winner in the August newsletter.
You still have the whole month of July to answer the trivia question on my website: The unthinkable happens at the corporate retreat Jake Landry attends in POWER PLAY. What was the name of the remote luxury lodge? Send your response through the website contact form by July 31 for a chance to win one of three signed copies of COMPANY MAN.
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Thanks, as always, for your interest and your time. Hope to see you during this month's travels, or you can always check in with me online via Facebook, Twitter, or my website. Have a great summer!
All the best,
Joe Finder
P.S. And please, spread the word by forwarding this newsletter to friends you think might be interested.
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