Crime Fiction Dossier

Interview with literary agent Simon Lipskar

Simon Lipskar, a literary agent at Writers House, is one of the top agents in the business. He represents a wide range of writers, including major authors in literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction and young adult fiction. He graciously agreed to answer some questions.

Q. What's the best way for an unpublished writer to get an agent?

This is going to sound agonizingly reductive, but the answer is to worry less about finding an agent and more about writing the best possible book.  If the book is great, old-fashioned queries (though hopefully with less paper waste via email submission) are the best way to garner interest.  But don't bother looking until you're confident your book is as good as it can be.  I guess part of the question you're asking is if going to conferences and meeting agents on the prowl will help; my basic feeling is usually not.  What you're selling is on the page: if it's there, it's there, if it's not, it's not.

Q.  What do you look for in a prospective client?

More reductiveness: a great writer.  A determined writer.  A writer who's willing to work as hard on her craft as her career (and vice versa).  Recognizing that writing is a solo act but publishing is a team effort is helpful, but I'll represent a raging egomaniac who is a brilliant writer -- the work always comes first, period.

Q. What are publishers buying right now?

The further adventures of reductiveness: books they can sell.  What that is precisely changes from time to time, of course.  In terms of thrillers, which are your primary area of interest, editors are looking for thrillers that aren't like all the others.  Sure, there's still money to be made writing Da Vinci Code knockoffs, but that's growing staler by the moment.  Originality and freshness seem to be the watchwords on everyone's lips.  I should also add that there's a pretty sour vibe in publishing these days about the marketplace, even more so than usual; nobody is feeling all that great about the health of the bookselling market, and that makes for nervousness all around.

Q. Does it make any sense for writers to try to write to the market or is that a futile enterprise?

Almost invariably futile.  I know one or two cases in which writers wrote books specifically to catch a particular wave in which this gambit worked, but usually this just serves to waste vast amounts of precious time.  Writers should write the books they love.  That way, no matter what the market says, their time wasn't wasted.

Q. What's the one thing that you think all writers should know about the publishing business but don't?

That most of us (publishing folks) really love books.  That most of us really care about publishing books well, that we take it personally. This is not a business for folks who are just looking for a job to pass the time -- it's well beyond 9-5 for most of us, and it usually doesn't compensate the average editor or agent nearly well enough given the amount of time, dedication and passion he or she gives.  So often I get the sense that writers think we really couldn't give a damn about books and publishing them well -- and that's just a profound misreading of this business and the people who work in it.

Otto Penzler speaks

Otto Penzler, the famed (and irascible) bookseller, critic and editor, is the subject of Elaine Flinn's latest interview over on Evil E. I wanted to share two of his responses, both dealing with Ross Thomas. (The questions were asked, in order, by myself and Jason Starr.)

DAVID:  I know you’re a great admirer of the work of the late Ross Thomas, as am I.  Is there anyone writing today whose work you’d compare with his?

OTTO:  No.  The spectacularly gifted Ross Thomas was in a class by himself.  The closest I’ve ever read is Thomas Perry, whose Metzger’s Dog was so Ross Thomas-like that I almost thought Ross had written it under a pseudonym.  Perry’s later books retain the similar, clear prose style, but the plots are not as varied as Thomas’.  If you ever read someone as good as Ross Thomas, please let me know immediately.

JASON: What are the three most memorable books that you’ve edited?

OTTO:  The Dark Fantastic by Stanley Ellin, a book about a racist that his regular publisher for more than 20 years, Random House, and the legendary editor, Robert Loomis, didn’t have the guts to publish.  Out on the Rim by Ross Thomas, the first of a three-book contract for which he was paid a million dollars.  I begged him to bring back Artie Wu and Quincey Durant, the stars of Chinaman’s Chance, and he did.  Then, in the original version of the manuscript, he killed Georgia Blue, a character with whom I’d fallen head-over-heels in love.  He allowed me to browbeat him into saving her life.  Blood on the Moon by James Elroy.  It was titled L.A. Death Trip and had three times as much violence as the published version, still one of the most violent books one is likely to read.  Rewritten several times over an 18-month period, it was the first hardcover book of Elroy’s career and the beginning of a long friendship.

The whole interview is fascinating, so hop on over and check it out.

Interview with Robert Ferrigno

John J. Miller at National Review Online interviews Robert Ferrigno about his new book Sins of the Assassin (one of my favorite books of the year so far).

For anyone afraid that this book might be too politically-charged (it's not), Ferrigno says not to worry. It's "an entertainment with some meat to go along with it" and if it "doesn’t work as an edge-of-the-seat thriller, then I’ve failed as a writer."

Needless to say, he definitely has not failed.

Outtake from Yorba Linda Star interview

Here is a question from the interview I did with Patti McCoy Jacob that was cut for reasons of space. I thought it might be interesting to some.

PMJ: Any advice for someone interested in reviewing books but unsure how to begin?

DJM: Read, read, read. Read everything you can get your hands on, including reviews. Find critics whose work speaks to you and study their reviews. Figure out what they're doing and how they're doing it. Then experiment with expressing your own thoughts about a book; what was good, what was not-so-good. You not only have to be able to form interesting insights about the book, you have to be able to express them in an interesting way. It's something few people seem to be able to do well.

I would also advise people that the only reason to write reviews is because you love books and have thoughts about them you want to share. Don't do it because you think there's money in it. There isn't.

Interview with me, part 2

Since it can't all be about Guyot, here is part 2 of the interview I did for the Yorba Linda Star. (Many thanks to Patti McCoy Jacob for doing such a great job.)

In case you're too lazy to read it, here is the last question, which might be of interest:

PMJ: Finally, who are your favorite mystery/thriller writers?

DJM: Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Laura Lippman, Barry Eisler and Robert Ferrigno. Those are my picks for today...

All Guyot, all the time

Screenwriter Paul Guyot is interviewed today in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Here is the question I found most interesting:

Q. What was it like when you lost that big bet with renowned critic David J. Montgomery?

A. It was devastating. It was bad enough to be publicly humiliated like that. But then Montgomery came over to my house and did a dance on my face, just to rub it in. I still have the scars...mostly on the inside, but they're there.

Check out the whole interview for more startling revelations.

Interview with me

Patti McCoy Jacob interviews me this morning in the Yorba Linda Star. Among the topics discussed are what influenced me to become a critic, what I like about it, how I choose books for reviews and a few others. (Note that the address of my website is wrong. The site mentioned is the one you're reading here.)

Tales of the Teapot

Who says we don't give any love to the cozies on CFD?

Author Julia Spencer-Fleming, a favorite of mine and a current nominee for the Gumshoe Award for Best Mystery, conducted interviews with her fellow nominees for the Agatha Awards.

Authors Earlene Fowler, Jacqueline Winspear, Nancy Pickard and L.C. Hayden, discuss their lives, books and craft.

Check it out.

10 Questions with Philip Hawley, Jr.

Author of Stigma (2007)

February 26, 2007

By David J. Montgomery

Philip Hawley, Jr. is a pediatrician in Los Angeles who drew on his experience volunteering among remote Indian tribes in Central America to writes his debut novel, Stigma. He is also one of the most-promising new thriller writers to come along in quite a while.

Q. You already have a successful career as a pediatrician at a prestigious children's hospital in Los Angeles. What made you want to be a writer? Temporary insanity?

A. Looking back, yes, there was a moment of insanity. It came when I was re-reading Robert Ludlum's The Matarese Circle and I thought, "Hey, I can do this. I can write a thriller novel!" Of course, the naiveté and ignorance that allowed me to so grossly underestimate the Mr. Ludlum's accomplishment also protected me from giving up when a rational and well-informed appraisal of the soul-smothering challenge that lay ahead might have caused me to quit before writing the first paragraph.

Q. So after you made the decision to write a book, why did you choose a thriller?

A. The literary arc of a thriller – especially the classic scenario of a lone hero in peril, battling to restore order in a chaotic world besieged by malevolent forces – offers a fertile and seemingly limitless canvas for storytellers. When done well – that is, when the novelist tells a dramatic and suspenseful story and introduces me to characters I care about – the thriller, I think, is the ideal literary form.

Q. Stigma contains detailed information on black ops-type stuff: tactics, weapons, equipment, etc. Did you do a lot of research – or is there something in Phil Hawley's past that we should know about?

I've been threatened by a knife-wielding man in a hospital emergency room, twice accosted by armed gunmen on the streets of Los Angeles, and once fired upon. Each of these had only to do with random chance, and my red belt in Tae Kwon Do didn't once prove useful! Only in my boyish imaginings were there high-stakes global issues at play in these events. In other words, I have to rely on my overactive imagination – and a modicum of research – when writing about black ops.

Q. How much of you is there in the character of Luke McKenna (the protagonist of Stigma)? Do pediatricians often pack heat?

A. Despite rumors started by Paul Guyot, I don't pack heat. It may surprise your readers to learn that very few baby doctors carry concealed weapons.

Q. Stigma probes some interesting moral and ethical questions, particularly with regards to setting limits on medical science. Did you have these questions in mind when you began to write the story?

A. One question that has concerned me for some time is this: As science makes possible previously unimaginable medical interventions, where is the boundary beyond which we should not travel? I didn't set out to write a novel exploring this question, but, clearly, the issue crept into the story through my subconscious.

I don't have any special insights concerning this issue, nor do I offer any solutions. But one thing seems clear – in the very near future, these issues will force themselves on a global human society that seems reluctant to deal with them.

Q. What was the most exciting part of having your first novel published?

A. That's an interesting question, because like many writers I'm not comfortable in the limelight. Even the small amounts of attention that come my way are somewhat daunting. The "excitement" of publishing is not something I seek.

However, there have been many pleasurable moments along the way, and most are quiet ones. Writing "The End," which I did not do until I'd finished the final rewrites of Stigma, was one of the high points of this journey.

Without a doubt, the most blissful moments come when I talk with readers who are genuinely touched by my story – readers who speak of the story's characters as if they're real people. For me, nothing else comes close to that experience.

Q. Have you had any thoughts of retiring from medicine to write full-time?

A. No. I love both careers, and in that sense I'm very lucky. The most difficult challenge is finding the time to give each career what it demands.

Q. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

A. I'm still shocked when asked this question. After all, I've walked only a few paces along the literary path.

Having acknowledged that, the best advice I've heard is: Write every day and read good books.

Beyond that simple counsel, I'm not certain there are any universal truths. As Somerset Maugham once said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

Q. What's the last book you read?

A. Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas – what a wonderful character!

Q. What's next for you?

A. Completing book two, which is a sequel to Stigma. Don't ask me how it ends, though! My stories seem to write themselves in the subconscious, and I rarely see more than a few scenes ahead.

On the Bubble with Elain Flinn

As part of her contributions to the new Murderati blog, mystery author Elaine Flinn does a series of interviews called "On the Bubble." Her most recent victim was none other than me.

Check it out.

p.s. Yes, I paid her to say those nice things about me.