| 00:00:08 | >>From the Center for the Study and Teaching of |
| 00:00:09 | Writing at The Ohio State University, this is |
| 00:00:11 | Writers Walk. |
| 00:00:12 | I'm Doug Dangler. |
| 00:00:14 | Tess Gerritsen is the internationally |
| 00:00:16 | best-selling author of medical thrillers. |
| 00:00:18 | Her books have been translated into thirty-seven |
| 00:00:20 | languages and sold over twenty million copies. |
| 00:00:23 | The Silent Girl is the ninth novel in the series |
| 00:00:25 | that pairs homicide detective Jane Rizzoli with |
| 00:00:28 | medical examiner Maura Isles. |
| 00:00:31 | The series inspired the Rizzoli and Isles |
| 00:00:33 | television show that recently began its second |
| 00:00:35 | season on the TNT network. |
| 00:00:37 | Welcome to Writers Talk. |
| 00:00:39 | >>Thank you. |
| 00:00:40 | >>Well, on your Facebook page you claim multiple |
| 00:00:45 | abilities: "I'm a thriller writer, a fiddle |
| 00:00:47 | player, a doctor, a mom, and a French fry lover." |
| 00:00:50 | So let's start with the most obviously |
| 00:00:53 | important...French fries. |
| 00:00:54 | >>I'm addicted to them, everywhere |
| 00:00:56 | I go I try new ones. |
| 00:00:57 | And I'm always cultivating new recipes. |
| 00:00:59 | >>So you don't make them yourself though, you |
| 00:01:01 | have to go out for this? |
| 00:01:03 | >>I eat and make them. |
| 00:01:05 | >>OK, good. |
| 00:01:06 | Does that make you popular at home, |
| 00:01:07 | making the fries? |
| 00:01:07 | >>Yeah. When the kids come over. |
| 00:01:09 | >>Ok. Cool. |
| 00:01:11 | Now am I correct that the fiddle playing is |
| 00:01:13 | related to your having a tiger mom and dad? |
| 00:01:15 | You've mentioned this in a recent interview with |
| 00:01:17 | the Columbus Dispatch, that you had "tiger |
| 00:01:19 | parents" - the Asian parents that |
| 00:01:21 | pushed you to excel. |
| 00:01:23 | >>I think it's very common among |
| 00:01:25 | Chinese-American children that their parents |
| 00:01:27 | expect them to play either the piano or the |
| 00:01:29 | violin or some sort of a |
| 00:01:30 | classical musical instrument. |
| 00:01:34 | In my case I learned the piano and the violin |
| 00:01:36 | classically, but as I got older and got exposed |
| 00:01:38 | to Irish music I became a fiddle player. |
| 00:01:42 | >>Okay, I was going to say, you're moving away |
| 00:01:43 | from the classical training by |
| 00:01:44 | calling it a fiddle. |
| 00:01:46 | >>Right. It's all in the music you play. |
| 00:01:49 | >>Right. Ok. Good deal. |
| 00:01:50 | You know I confess when I read that I pictured |
| 00:01:52 | you mulling over a plot point and playing the |
| 00:01:54 | fiddle like Sherlock Holmes does. |
| 00:01:56 | Right when he's stuck he'll play the fiddle. |
| 00:01:58 | He's in your genre of thrillers. |
| 00:02:01 | So you began writing when you were on maternity |
| 00:02:03 | leave, right? |
| 00:02:05 | >>Not quite. |
| 00:02:06 | >>Not quite? Before then? |
| 00:02:07 | >>I started writing when I was seven years old, |
| 00:02:08 | that was my first book. |
| 00:02:11 | I guess that doesn't count. |
| 00:02:12 | >>Well, no, we'll count it. |
| 00:02:13 | What was it about? |
| 00:02:14 | >>It was about my dead cat. |
| 00:02:16 | >>I'm sorry, your...? |
| 00:02:18 | >>My poor cat that had just died and I wrote a |
| 00:02:19 | whole novel, I think it was more of a like a |
| 00:02:21 | biography of my dead cat. |
| 00:02:24 | >>Oh ok. |
| 00:02:26 | >>But I told my father then that I wanted to be |
| 00:02:27 | a writer. |
| 00:02:28 | And he said there is no career to be made in the |
| 00:02:30 | arts, you had better choose something much more |
| 00:02:33 | practical - being the Chinese-American |
| 00:02:35 | father that he was. |
| 00:02:37 | And that's how I got steered into medical school. |
| 00:02:40 | >>You're the second person today |
| 00:02:41 | that has said that. |
| 00:02:43 | I was asked earlier by someone on a radio show |
| 00:02:45 | that I was a guest on "Is there a career in the |
| 00:02:48 | arts?" And with a PhD and a Masters in English, |
| 00:02:52 | which is I guess is part of the arts, I had to |
| 00:02:55 | say I really don't know. |
| 00:02:56 | I don't know what to tell you |
| 00:02:57 | about the humanities. |
| 00:02:58 | I may do the same thing with my children that |
| 00:03:01 | you're doing with yours and say maybe you should |
| 00:03:02 | consider something outside the |
| 00:03:03 | humanities and the arts. |
| 00:03:07 | So you started off at seven, you wrote about your |
| 00:03:08 | dead cat - which wasn't a medical thriller... |
| 00:03:11 | >>No, but it wasn't too far from |
| 00:03:12 | the genre, was it? |
| 00:03:16 | >>You didn't dissect the cat or anything before |
| 00:03:17 | you wrote it? |
| 00:03:18 | >>No, I didn't but I did dissect a lot of dead |
| 00:03:20 | animals that I found in the nearby canyon. |
| 00:03:22 | I was already cutting things open and looking |
| 00:03:25 | inside and trying to understand |
| 00:03:26 | what made them tick. |
| 00:03:29 | And I think that that part of my personality |
| 00:03:30 | persists. |
| 00:03:32 | It probably expresses itself in one of my |
| 00:03:36 | characters, Dr. |
| 00:03:37 | Maura Isles, and I like to think that there's a |
| 00:03:38 | logical explanation for everything. |
| 00:03:44 | My room probably wasn't very nice to visit cause |
| 00:03:47 | I had a lot of sliced open dead animals in it... |
| 00:03:50 | >>Did you preserve these animals or was this an |
| 00:03:52 | abattoir, I mean, what was going on in this room? |
| 00:03:55 | >>They were already dead. |
| 00:03:56 | >>They were already dead? |
| 00:03:57 | But they do rot at some point. |
| 00:03:59 | >>Well they do rot yes, and I think I probably |
| 00:04:00 | kept them till the point they were unpleasant |
| 00:04:02 | then finally went and buried them. |
| 00:04:04 | >>Awesome, that's...for all you listening |
| 00:04:06 | outside, this is going to be |
| 00:04:08 | that kind of interview. |
| 00:04:10 | Well I mean that's actually true in your books |
| 00:04:12 | though, I mean there's some |
| 00:04:14 | gruesome detail in the books. |
| 00:04:15 | In the most recent one, The Silent Girl, for |
| 00:04:17 | example, there's some dismemberment. |
| 00:04:20 | But you've got the background |
| 00:04:22 | to get this medically accurate. |
| 00:04:24 | >>Yes, as I say, they are anatomically correct. |
| 00:04:28 | And there is some gruesomeness involved but I do |
| 00:04:32 | draw a line and I try not to show |
| 00:04:33 | violence on the page very often. |
| 00:04:35 | I don't like it myself and most of the time the |
| 00:04:38 | gore that you see will be in the process of |
| 00:04:42 | either the police or the medical |
| 00:04:43 | examiner doing their jobs. |
| 00:04:45 | To me that's a lot less upsetting because you're |
| 00:04:47 | seeing somebody coming in and having a |
| 00:04:48 | responsibility and doing the right thing and |
| 00:04:51 | trying to do the right thing. |
| 00:04:52 | You don't see the suffering on the page. |
| 00:04:55 | >>So do you keep up with that? |
| 00:04:56 | Do you keep up with medical journals now to see |
| 00:04:59 | if there are any new forensic techniques? |
| 00:05:01 | You talk about, I think it's called luminal in |
| 00:05:03 | the book, which seems to have been a new |
| 00:05:04 | technique from the time that one murder occurred |
| 00:05:07 | to the time that it's reinvestigated. |
| 00:05:10 | >>Yes, I'm a subscriber to the |
| 00:05:12 | Journal of Forensic Sciences. |
| 00:05:14 | I do attend forensic pathology meetings. |
| 00:05:19 | We have a very good one up in Maine. |
| 00:05:22 | And I have a huge library of textbooks. |
| 00:05:25 | Plus I have friends that I can always call. |
| 00:05:27 | >>So this is just the adult version |
| 00:05:29 | of the room with the decaying cats. |
| 00:05:31 | >>Yes, it smells much better. |
| 00:05:36 | >>So how long did you go that your |
| 00:05:38 | writing...that you're a practicing physician? |
| 00:05:43 | Were you a medical examiner in the |
| 00:05:44 | same way that Isles is? |
| 00:05:46 | >>No my specialty was internal medicine. |
| 00:05:47 | So I was dealing with living patients. |
| 00:05:50 | >>One hopes. |
| 00:05:51 | >>One hopes yes. |
| 00:05:53 | But as a medical student, I mean just learning |
| 00:05:55 | when you get to your medical degree you have |
| 00:05:57 | probably witnessed about a dozen |
| 00:05:58 | or more autopsies during your training. |
| 00:06:00 | So the autopsy room is not unfamiliar to me. |
| 00:06:04 | I can say that cutting open dead animals who you |
| 00:06:06 | don't know is one thing, but watching an autopsy |
| 00:06:11 | of say one of your patients who you failed, who |
| 00:06:14 | died, that's a very, very upsetting |
| 00:06:16 | experience that's quite different. |
| 00:06:19 | It's one of the things that made me think I don't |
| 00:06:21 | think I have the heart to be a forensic |
| 00:06:24 | pathologist. |
| 00:06:27 | >>Ok, well that's interesting. |
| 00:06:29 | I didn't know that physicians would |
| 00:06:31 | attend the autopsies of their own patients. |
| 00:06:33 | >>Well we were encouraged to because we were |
| 00:06:35 | told that if your patient dies, you |
| 00:06:37 | want to know what happened. |
| 00:06:38 | You want to know what you missed. |
| 00:06:40 | >>But you could get that from the report. |
| 00:06:42 | >>You can, but we were always encouraged to see |
| 00:06:45 | first hand the pathology?the disease process. |
| 00:06:47 | >>That's a tough medical school right there. |
| 00:06:49 | >>I think it's very tough because you may have |
| 00:06:51 | been talking to that person 24 hours earlier. |
| 00:06:56 | >>Yeah. Well, do you miss that? |
| 00:06:57 | Do you miss the hands on medical... |
| 00:06:59 | >>I miss that part of it, what I don't miss are |
| 00:07:01 | the hours, incredible sense of responsibility, |
| 00:07:05 | the feeling that if you make a mistake |
| 00:07:06 | someone's life will be lost. |
| 00:07:09 | That is not easy to deal with. |
| 00:07:12 | A lot of people cannot handle that. |
| 00:07:14 | >>So tell me about the switch then. |
| 00:07:16 | Is that when you were then on maternity |
| 00:07:18 | leave and started writing more? |
| 00:07:21 | Less about the dead cats, more about people? |
| 00:07:23 | >>Well I went on maternity leave because I was a |
| 00:07:27 | new, you know, newly married |
| 00:07:29 | and we wanted children. |
| 00:07:30 | My children, my two sons, to my great |
| 00:07:31 | delight were both very good nappers. |
| 00:07:35 | So I would put them down and they would |
| 00:07:36 | sleep for three hours straight. |
| 00:07:38 | And I thought, now's my chance to go back to do |
| 00:07:40 | what I really wanted to do, which was tell |
| 00:07:41 | stories. |
| 00:07:43 | >>How long did you do that before you decided to |
| 00:07:45 | make the break and become the author? |
| 00:07:48 | And then I guess my follow-up is going to be did |
| 00:07:50 | you have to tell your parents that? |
| 00:07:52 | >>Well as far as my parents knew, |
| 00:07:54 | I was just on maternity leave. |
| 00:07:56 | But I think it was after I sold my first book and |
| 00:07:58 | I realized I can make some money at this. |
| 00:08:01 | I can stay home for a while. |
| 00:08:03 | The other issue was that it was very |
| 00:08:05 | hard juggling two careers. |
| 00:08:08 | My husband is a doctor as well, and there were |
| 00:08:11 | times we would both be called into the hospital |
| 00:08:12 | late at night. |
| 00:08:13 | What do you do with your sleeping 2-year-old? |
| 00:08:15 | >>What do you do with your sleeping 2-year-old? |
| 00:08:16 | >>You bring them to the hospital with you. |
| 00:08:18 | You pull them out of their cribs, you bring them, |
| 00:08:21 | you hand them hopefully to a nurse and say "will |
| 00:08:23 | you watch my son while I go in and see this |
| 00:08:25 | patient?" That after a while became so anxiety |
| 00:08:28 | provoking that we made a family decision that I |
| 00:08:31 | would stay home for a while until the kids |
| 00:08:34 | got to kindergarten at least. |
| 00:08:35 | >>You said "after a while," I would think that |
| 00:08:37 | would be immediately anxiety provoking. |
| 00:08:39 | >>There were about two years there where we were |
| 00:08:41 | still juggling things and I understand completely |
| 00:08:43 | the stresses of working women. |
| 00:08:47 | >>Then did you have to actually inform your |
| 00:08:49 | parents at some point you decided to do |
| 00:08:51 | what they didn't want you to do? |
| 00:08:54 | >>It's funny, I think my parents both felt it |
| 00:08:56 | was okay because I had the degree, and I had the |
| 00:08:58 | job, and I could go back to it at any time. |
| 00:09:01 | >>So that's the point at which you said "I'm now |
| 00:09:03 | a writer, I'm not a physician I'm a writer." How |
| 00:09:05 | long did that switch take or was it immediately |
| 00:09:07 | upon the sale of the first book? |
| 00:09:09 | >>It was when I got my first |
| 00:09:10 | advance check I think. |
| 00:09:12 | >>Signing your name, comma "writer" and that |
| 00:09:15 | replaces "MD." Before your best-selling medical |
| 00:09:20 | thriller Harvest you wrote romantic |
| 00:09:21 | suspense novels, right? |
| 00:09:24 | Tell me about writing in that genre because I'd |
| 00:09:26 | like to contrast that to writing into the sort of |
| 00:09:30 | murder genre, the medical thriller genre. |
| 00:09:33 | >>All genres are difficult. |
| 00:09:34 | And it annoys me sometimes when people sort of |
| 00:09:37 | laugh scornfully at romance novels. |
| 00:09:39 | My books were fifty percent romance |
| 00:09:40 | and fifty percent mystery. |
| 00:09:43 | So it was that balance that you were always |
| 00:09:46 | trying to keep exciting. |
| 00:09:48 | The wonderful thing about romance writing is that |
| 00:09:50 | it teaches you immediately to focus on character. |
| 00:09:52 | That is really where romance is all about. |
| 00:09:54 | And who is this man, and who is this woman, and |
| 00:09:57 | why do they fall in love? |
| 00:09:58 | So you need to know who these people are. |
| 00:10:02 | That I think gave me a very good foundation for |
| 00:10:03 | the genres that I would write later. |
| 00:10:05 | >>You say who is this man and who is this |
| 00:10:06 | woman, so it's the explanation/ |
| 00:10:07 | exploration of character. |
| 00:10:11 | But what as a writer did you...how did you have |
| 00:10:13 | to change? |
| 00:10:14 | Is it just, "okay, I'm going to write about the |
| 00:10:16 | character" and imagine why this character |
| 00:10:18 | has this background? |
| 00:10:20 | How did that play out for you? |
| 00:10:22 | >>You know, developing characters is a very |
| 00:10:24 | mysterious process for me and it's difficult no |
| 00:10:25 | matter what I write. |
| 00:10:28 | And I still have the issue of trying to |
| 00:10:30 | understand who these people are. |
| 00:10:32 | Very often I...well I think of it the way I do |
| 00:10:36 | meeting somebody I've never met before. |
| 00:10:37 | For instance I'm meeting you now. |
| 00:10:39 | And what do I know about you beyond your general |
| 00:10:42 | physical appearance, your gender, your race, your |
| 00:10:48 | approximate age? |
| 00:10:50 | >>He's twenty-six, I'm pretty sure. Go on. |
| 00:10:52 | >>But if I were to spend time with you months |
| 00:10:54 | and months and months with you and have more |
| 00:10:55 | conversations I would get to know you |
| 00:10:56 | eventually as a person. |
| 00:10:57 | As who you really are, who you present |
| 00:10:59 | yourself to be anyway. |
| 00:11:01 | That's the way it is with a book character. |
| 00:11:04 | I know the basics about them and it's only after |
| 00:11:06 | I've written that first draft that I ever really |
| 00:11:08 | get to know them. |
| 00:11:10 | So the first draft is my exploration of |
| 00:11:12 | who these people are. |
| 00:11:15 | >>So let's walk through, say, Rizzoli. |
| 00:11:17 | You have somebody here, the character, who is a |
| 00:11:19 | policewoman, and in the books I think you've said |
| 00:11:22 | that you take sort of pains to not have |
| 00:11:24 | made her a beautiful person. |
| 00:11:27 | And then she gets cast with Angie Harmon. |
| 00:11:32 | Which you said in a recent interview, how |
| 00:11:33 | do you not make her beautiful? |
| 00:11:36 | But you went to these pains to say this character |
| 00:11:38 | is defined in part by her physicality, |
| 00:11:39 | by who she is. |
| 00:11:42 | And she's also defined by her gender because she |
| 00:11:43 | talks in this book about being a female in a |
| 00:11:46 | largely male-dominated area. |
| 00:11:49 | And I think actually both characters go through |
| 00:11:51 | that if I'm not mistaken in this book. |
| 00:11:54 | So how did you write into that in the beginning? |
| 00:11:56 | What were the traits that you said "this is what |
| 00:11:59 | I'm going to hang my hat on" and say |
| 00:12:01 | that's what defines her? |
| 00:12:03 | >>My first impression of Jane Rizzoli, and I |
| 00:12:05 | have to admit I didn't spend a lot of time |
| 00:12:07 | thinking about her because I've thought of her as |
| 00:12:09 | a sacrificial victim. |
| 00:12:10 | She was going to die before the end of that first |
| 00:12:12 | book, that was my plan for her. |
| 00:12:15 | And I think my short hand for Jane when she |
| 00:12:18 | walked on was "outsider." She's the outsider. |
| 00:12:22 | And she's struggling and she's been |
| 00:12:23 | struggling all her life to be accepted. |
| 00:12:25 | Number one because she isn't attractive, and for |
| 00:12:29 | women I think physical attractiveness, how we |
| 00:12:31 | look to the world, is very important to us. |
| 00:12:34 | So that would be an integral part of her |
| 00:12:36 | personality that she feels unattractive. |
| 00:12:38 | And the other part is that she's |
| 00:12:39 | working in a boy's profession. |
| 00:12:41 | She's the only woman in the homicide unit. |
| 00:12:43 | That's what I thought about Jane from the |
| 00:12:44 | beginning and I thought an outsider and |
| 00:12:46 | probably angry. |
| 00:12:48 | She has a lot of anger in her in that first book, |
| 00:12:50 | which comes out as bitchiness. |
| 00:12:53 | A lot of people don't like Jane, a lot of readers |
| 00:12:55 | don't like Jane, but I understood |
| 00:12:57 | where that came from. |
| 00:12:59 | It was all anger. |
| 00:13:00 | >>You say you understood where that came from |
| 00:13:02 | because being in a medical field, a lot of times |
| 00:13:05 | that's a male-dominated...was that something that |
| 00:13:08 | you had experienced or is that a difference of... |
| 00:13:11 | >>No I think the outsider status that I |
| 00:13:13 | understand comes more from my race. |
| 00:13:15 | >>Okay, from being, as you said, |
| 00:13:16 | the only Chinese student? |
| 00:13:18 | >>The only Chinese kid in my elementary school |
| 00:13:20 | and not being what was considered the classically |
| 00:13:22 | beautiful, or what was accepted as beauty in |
| 00:13:24 | American culture, which is, you know, |
| 00:13:26 | Caucasian features. |
| 00:13:29 | So I've always felt the outsider in terms |
| 00:13:32 | of what Jane feels. |
| 00:13:33 | Um, physically maybe overlooked. |
| 00:13:35 | And maybe not considered the girl that you would |
| 00:13:37 | ask out for a date because I wasn't like |
| 00:13:39 | everybody else. |
| 00:13:40 | So I was just tapping into my own childhood |
| 00:13:44 | experiences when I wrote her and maybe that's why |
| 00:13:47 | she came across so vividly and so easily for me. |
| 00:13:52 | >>It's funny that you say that because a couple |
| 00:13:53 | times as I was reading this I thought, boy this |
| 00:13:55 | is a really spikey character. |
| 00:13:58 | There are some of the exchanges where they're |
| 00:13:59 | just really spikey and I thought that's an |
| 00:14:02 | interesting take because a lot of times in the |
| 00:14:03 | books the...in some genre novels, and I don't |
| 00:14:09 | mean that in a dismissive way I just mean that |
| 00:14:10 | there are certain things you sort of expect in |
| 00:14:15 | this, um, that they're going to be a little bit |
| 00:14:16 | more likeable as a character and they're going to |
| 00:14:18 | be a little bit more playful or fun, which no |
| 00:14:22 | disrespect intended to the TNT, but they've |
| 00:14:25 | lightened up the characters I think. |
| 00:14:26 | >>Yes, they have. |
| 00:14:28 | >>And, you know, which is probably |
| 00:14:30 | necessary for television. |
| 00:14:32 | >>Yes, I think so. |
| 00:14:34 | >>So tell me then about your reaction to that as |
| 00:14:38 | an author. |
| 00:14:39 | On the one hand you sit back and say it's going |
| 00:14:42 | in a different medium, let it do what it does. |
| 00:14:44 | And on the other hand you say these are my |
| 00:14:46 | babies. |
| 00:14:47 | >>Yes. |
| 00:14:49 | Well my babies are very dark. |
| 00:14:51 | In the books they're very dark. |
| 00:14:52 | One is Jane, who is a bitch, or at least has a |
| 00:14:54 | chip on her shoulder, and the other is Mora who |
| 00:14:56 | has some very deep, dark secrets and is quite a |
| 00:14:59 | gloomy character. |
| 00:15:02 | So the change into television, well it |
| 00:15:04 | took me a while to get used to it. |
| 00:15:05 | First of all, Angie Harmon's beauty goes against |
| 00:15:09 | the outsider status but what they have done with |
| 00:15:12 | her though, is I think they chose Angie partially |
| 00:15:14 | because she has the right personality |
| 00:15:16 | for that part. |
| 00:15:18 | She captures that grittiness of Jane Rizzoli |
| 00:15:21 | perfectly, we just have to overlook the |
| 00:15:22 | fact that she's beautiful. |
| 00:15:25 | What they've done most in changing |
| 00:15:28 | the story is more Isles. |
| 00:15:31 | They have made her much more innocent, certainly |
| 00:15:33 | a lot sunnier character, a lot softer character |
| 00:15:35 | because their intention from the beginning, and I |
| 00:15:38 | was told this by the producers, they |
| 00:15:41 | wanted to focus on this friendship. |
| 00:15:43 | They wanted these two women to bond. |
| 00:15:45 | They do bond in the books, but it takes them a |
| 00:15:47 | good four or five books before they |
| 00:15:48 | become friends. |
| 00:15:50 | >>And even in this book... |
| 00:15:53 | I walked into this having heard about Rizzoli and |
| 00:15:54 | Isles the TV series first and I thought oh cool, |
| 00:15:56 | I'll read the book. |
| 00:16:00 | I was surprised, I've got to say. |
| 00:16:04 | I had more like a buddy picture in mind |
| 00:16:06 | when I went into the books. |
| 00:16:09 | I went, oh you know, they get along, |
| 00:16:11 | but they also you know, fight. |
| 00:16:13 | There are problems. |
| 00:16:15 | Of course these characters seem to fight quite a |
| 00:16:17 | bit with most people around them. |
| 00:16:19 | As you say they're a little bit dark, with the |
| 00:16:20 | exception of maybe Rat, for example, although |
| 00:16:22 | he's not a particularly soft character, |
| 00:16:25 | he softens up Dr. Isles. |
| 00:16:28 | >>Yes, I think that the friendship that you see |
| 00:16:32 | in the book is very layered and very complex |
| 00:16:36 | because these two women are so different. |
| 00:16:39 | Jane is a blue-collared cop person and Maura |
| 00:16:42 | comes from a wealthier family, she comes from a |
| 00:16:44 | higher educated family. |
| 00:16:49 | Her educational CV comes from mine. |
| 00:16:51 | We're both anthropology students in Stanford who |
| 00:16:54 | went on to medical school in San Francisco. |
| 00:16:56 | You would not expect these two women to be |
| 00:16:58 | friends normally. |
| 00:17:00 | They are thrown together because of their jobs, |
| 00:17:02 | because of the stresses that they |
| 00:17:04 | have to deal with. |
| 00:17:06 | Their friendship grows out of mutual respect for |
| 00:17:08 | each other's skills. |
| 00:17:11 | It does not come out of instantaneous chemistry, |
| 00:17:14 | which makes their friendship very raw at some |
| 00:17:17 | times because it's easy to split that apart. |
| 00:17:20 | It doesn't take much. |
| 00:17:21 | In The Silent Girl, there is a conflict that |
| 00:17:24 | arises because of professional issues. |
| 00:17:27 | I can see these two women flying off |
| 00:17:29 | in different directions, possibly. |
| 00:17:32 | >>When you say something like that to your |
| 00:17:36 | publisher do they flinch in their chair? |
| 00:17:40 | Do they say wait, they're going off in different |
| 00:17:42 | directions? |
| 00:17:44 | What, are we going to just have a |
| 00:17:46 | Rizzoli book and an Isles? |
| 00:17:49 | How are you going to do that? |
| 00:17:50 | >>No I don't mean that they'll go off in |
| 00:17:51 | different directions and just have |
| 00:17:53 | one or the other. |
| 00:17:54 | They may have a falling out for a while but I |
| 00:17:56 | think that the fact that they respect each other |
| 00:17:57 | as coworkers is always going to bring them together. |
| 00:18:00 | >>So that suggests to me that, unlike some |
| 00:18:02 | authors who have this arc, they know the |
| 00:18:04 | beginning, the middle, the end. |
| 00:18:06 | You don't necessarily have that |
| 00:18:08 | arc for these characters. |
| 00:18:09 | >>I never had an arc. |
| 00:18:11 | I never had a plan. |
| 00:18:12 | I never know what's going to happen to them until |
| 00:18:14 | I sit down and write the book. |
| 00:18:16 | As I said, Jane was supposed to |
| 00:18:17 | die in that first book. |
| 00:18:19 | >>Now what happened? |
| 00:18:20 | What was the reprieve? |
| 00:18:22 | >>The reprieve was that I got to know her. |
| 00:18:24 | By the end of the book I understood |
| 00:18:25 | why she was a bitch. |
| 00:18:27 | >>Did you kill somebody else to make up for it? |
| 00:18:29 | >>No I actually just didn't kill her. |
| 00:18:31 | She survived to the scene where |
| 00:18:32 | she was supposed to die. |
| 00:18:34 | It was towards the end and I think that most |
| 00:18:35 | people will know when they read it. |
| 00:18:37 | >>Right because she carries on with the scars.. |
| 00:18:43 | >>Right, and I found that I identified with her. |
| 00:18:48 | Maybe it was more on a conscious level. |
| 00:18:51 | I realized who she was. She was a version of me. |
| 00:18:54 | She had some of my characteristics and I liked |
| 00:18:56 | her. |
| 00:18:59 | >>How many characters have you had that where |
| 00:19:01 | you thought, okay this is a version of me or this |
| 00:19:04 | is a splinter of my personality |
| 00:19:06 | that I'm going to amplify. |
| 00:19:09 | Is that how characters arise? |
| 00:19:10 | >>It's funny, these two women are probably two |
| 00:19:13 | aspects of my character; probably |
| 00:19:16 | much more like me than Jane. |
| 00:19:18 | Jane encapsulates some of the anger I had when I |
| 00:19:20 | was a child, or certainly growing up as an |
| 00:19:22 | adolescent and Mora is the logical scientific |
| 00:19:25 | side of me that I think is in control right now. |
| 00:19:28 | When you're writing you never know what part of |
| 00:19:31 | your id is going to come out laughs. |
| 00:19:33 | >>When you showed the books to people you knew |
| 00:19:35 | after you wrote them did they comment on them? |
| 00:19:37 | >>No, nobody has. |
| 00:19:41 | Although people do guess that I am Maura Isles. |
| 00:19:43 | >>Right. |
| 00:19:44 | That one seems obvious. |
| 00:19:48 | I'm curious to follow that down some more. |
| 00:19:51 | She's working class, you say you don't identify |
| 00:19:54 | with that aspect, you identify |
| 00:19:56 | with the anger aspect. |
| 00:19:58 | How long do you think that continues to resonate |
| 00:19:59 | for you as you still working through it? |
| 00:20:01 | >>I'm still working through this and if people |
| 00:20:03 | read the series they'll notice that once Jane |
| 00:20:09 | gets married [in the books] and |
| 00:20:12 | has a child she becomes happier. |
| 00:20:16 | That anger that started her off, that promoted |
| 00:20:19 | her to the stratosphere of her career has |
| 00:20:22 | dissipated somewhat but it's always |
| 00:20:24 | going to be a little engine in there. |
| 00:20:25 | In certain situations it's going to come out. |
| 00:20:27 | >>Now in the new book, you introduce a |
| 00:20:29 | Chinese-American detective, Johnny Tam. |
| 00:20:32 | You've said that this is more personal for you |
| 00:20:35 | because it reflects your Asian American heritage. |
| 00:20:37 | This is a character with secrets that are hinted |
| 00:20:43 | |
| 00:20:44 | pretty heavily at the end. |
| 00:20:47 | Is this a character that you're |
| 00:20:49 | going to be exploring? |
| 00:20:51 | >>I would like to. |
| 00:20:52 | Johnny Tam says the things that I think. |
| 00:20:54 | There are a couple of conversations that he has |
| 00:20:55 | with Jane which reveal that he |
| 00:20:57 | feels the same way I do. |
| 00:20:59 | He feels like the outsider. |
| 00:21:00 | He feels like he's stereotyped. |
| 00:21:02 | He gets tired of being called a geek. |
| 00:21:05 | I can hear Johnny Tam saying, "You know, we're |
| 00:21:07 | not all geeks. Some of us are stupid!" |
| 00:21:10 | So I think that he is able to express the |
| 00:21:14 | experiences of being a very visible minority. |
| 00:21:17 | The sense of collective guilt, of collective |
| 00:21:20 | shame we have when somebody of our community |
| 00:21:23 | commits a crime; we all feel like we're guilty... |
| 00:21:27 | which is completely unreasonable but there it is |
| 00:21:31 | >>I was reflecting on that as I read the book |
| 00:21:34 | because there's a Chinese character that commits |
| 00:21:38 | a crime and the whole community feels shame for |
| 00:21:40 | it and I thought that was really fascinating |
| 00:21:43 | because that doesn't translate |
| 00:21:45 | to many other cultures. |
| 00:21:47 | Say if there was a white character that commits a |
| 00:21:49 | crime the white community |
| 00:21:52 | doesn't take on that mantle. |
| 00:21:54 | What it makes me think of is that you're being |
| 00:21:56 | translated into 37 languages, you know? |
| 00:21:59 | >>How is that going to play in China? |
| 00:22:00 | >>How does this play in other places? |
| 00:22:02 | Do you have discussions with your readers to say, |
| 00:22:05 | what did you think of this? |
| 00:22:07 | >>I don't know, it hasn't been |
| 00:22:08 | translated yet, still just in English. |
| 00:22:11 | But I am curious about how Chinese will feel. |
| 00:22:14 | I think it has more to do not with the Asian |
| 00:22:15 | culture, but with the minority culture. |
| 00:22:18 | I have talked to African Americans who say when a |
| 00:22:22 | terrible crime is committed they will all squint |
| 00:22:24 | their eyes and say, "please don't let him be |
| 00:22:25 | black." We all feel that something that one of us |
| 00:22:30 | does reflects on the rest of us. |
| 00:22:34 | >>In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch you |
| 00:22:40 | said, [of aligning yourself with yourself with |
| 00:22:42 | medical examiner Isles] |
| 00:22:45 | "We're both pretty reserved. |
| 00:22:47 | I would be happy sitting in my office never |
| 00:22:49 | talking to anybody." Now I see that |
| 00:22:52 | as a useful trait for an author. |
| 00:22:54 | I also see that as a problem for an author |
| 00:22:56 | because when you develop these characters they |
| 00:22:58 | can't all be splinters of yourself. |
| 00:23:00 | For example there's an alcoholic cop that they go |
| 00:23:03 | to every now and then for, sort of guidance. |
| 00:23:05 | I'm not sure if you can call it that, |
| 00:23:07 | but at least for information. |
| 00:23:10 | For that sort of reticence to be in public in |
| 00:23:14 | some way seems to be at odds for being a writer. |
| 00:23:17 | >>I think that there's a difference between real |
| 00:23:20 | interactions with real people and sitting in your |
| 00:23:22 | office having interactions with imaginary people. |
| 00:23:25 | That's comfortable. |
| 00:23:28 | I think that a lot of writers, deep down are |
| 00:23:31 | actors in some ways. |
| 00:23:33 | We are able to crawl into the |
| 00:23:35 | minds of our characters. |
| 00:23:37 | It's fun to explore and meet people who don't |
| 00:23:38 | exist but who are completely different from us. |
| 00:23:40 | >>So are you the kind of author that you write |
| 00:23:44 | and then you perform it back to the screen? |
| 00:23:45 | >>I do. I perform it back to myself. |
| 00:23:51 | >>So when you go into the room of one's own it |
| 00:23:53 | has to be soundproofed? |
| 00:23:55 | Or are they used to it in your family? |
| 00:23:56 | >>I don't want people nearby because they will |
| 00:23:58 | hear me talking to myself. |
| 00:24:01 | >>Okay, what are you working on now? |
| 00:24:03 | >>I'm working on the next series of the Rizzoli |
| 00:24:05 | & Isles series. |
| 00:24:07 | It takes place at a very weird |
| 00:24:09 | private school in Maine. |
| 00:24:12 | >>Are there any normal private schools? |
| 00:24:14 | There was the private school here that wasn't |
| 00:24:16 | necessarily weird but it was kind of the locus, |
| 00:24:19 | in some ways, of problems. |
| 00:24:21 | >>Yes. |
| 00:24:22 | >>So private schools are a problem for you. |
| 00:24:25 | >>Well this one is going to be where the teenage |
| 00:24:27 | boy Rat is attending and Mora goes to visit him. |
| 00:24:30 | She feels almost like his adoptive mother. |
| 00:24:34 | When she gets there she realizes that things are |
| 00:24:38 | bad that are happening up there in the Eden Zone |
| 00:24:40 | school. |
| 00:24:43 | >>So it's going to be Rizzoli and Isles and Rat? |
| 00:24:44 | >>[laughs] and Rat. |
| 00:24:46 | And a crew of adolescents. |
| 00:24:49 | >>Now you got a blurb on this |
| 00:24:51 | one from Lee Child. |
| 00:24:53 | It says, "Suspense doesn't get any |
| 00:24:54 | smarter than this. |
| 00:24:56 | Not just recommended but mandatory," |
| 00:24:58 | which is very nice. |
| 00:24:59 | He's a former Writers Talk guest, |
| 00:25:01 | by the way.... Writers Talk. |
| 00:25:04 | Is he somebody you follow? |
| 00:25:07 | Is Lee Child somebody who you read his book as |
| 00:25:09 | soon as they come out and say, "okay here's an |
| 00:25:11 | interesting thing he did here, I might..." |
| 00:25:13 | >>You know there are such a large number of writers. |
| 00:25:17 | I think that all of us writers follow |
| 00:25:19 | each other very closely. |
| 00:25:21 | We know each other very well because we see each |
| 00:25:22 | other at the same conferences or we |
| 00:25:24 | have the same editor or agent. |
| 00:25:26 | Lee is one of those people. |
| 00:25:29 | I know you've had some other authors here who I |
| 00:25:31 | also follow, Kristen Hannah, Lisa Gardner. |
| 00:25:34 | Not only are we friends, we are professional |
| 00:25:35 | admirers of each other. |
| 00:25:38 | >>Not professional jealousy to say, oh that one |
| 00:25:40 | went pretty well, how do I... |
| 00:25:42 | >>Well you know it's not jealousy so much as to |
| 00:25:44 | say, whoa, I am really admiring of that. |
| 00:25:47 | I wish I could have done that. |
| 00:25:49 | I find myself saying that quite a bit when I read |
| 00:25:51 | something exceptionally good. |
| 00:25:53 | >>Okay. |
| 00:25:55 | So what's on your nightstand right now? |
| 00:25:56 | >>On my nightstand right now? |
| 00:25:58 | I'm reading a book that's called Turn of Mind. |
| 00:26:01 | I'm sorry, I forget the name of the author. |
| 00:26:04 | It was handed to me by a bookstore owner who |
| 00:26:06 | said, "Here, you have to read this." It's about a |
| 00:26:08 | woman who may have committed a murder, but she |
| 00:26:11 | has Alzheimer's and can't remember. |
| 00:26:15 | >>Okay, so that might show up later on. |
| 00:26:17 | Is it a medical thriller? |
| 00:26:19 | >>I think I would call it more literary. |
| 00:26:21 | It's the most terrifying book I've ever read |
| 00:26:23 | because of the Alzheimer's issue. |
| 00:26:24 | I think we're all terrified of losing our |
| 00:26:26 | capacity and that plays into every fear. |
| 00:26:28 | >>The last question is, you've published a new |
| 00:26:31 | book every year. |
| 00:26:33 | What constitutes a good day of writing for you, |
| 00:26:38 | besides talking back to the screen? |
| 00:26:40 | >>A good day of writing is four |
| 00:26:42 | pages of brand new prose. |
| 00:26:47 | I think what makes me a little different from |
| 00:26:50 | other authors is the process. |
| 00:26:52 | I don't outline, I don't know where |
| 00:26:54 | the story is going. |
| 00:26:58 | I know where it starts. |
| 00:26:59 | I write my first drafts always |
| 00:27:01 | with pen and paper. |
| 00:27:02 | >>I was going to ask longhand or computer. |
| 00:27:04 | Four pages longhand? |
| 00:27:05 | >>And it must be on unlined typing paper. |
| 00:27:07 | >>Why unlined typing paper? |
| 00:27:09 | >>I find the lines distract me. |
| 00:27:11 | It's really funny but process is so important and |
| 00:27:14 | once you get something that works stick with it. |
| 00:27:16 | I like the unlined typing paper because I can |
| 00:27:19 | write big or small or sideways... |
| 00:27:21 | >>Now wait a minute, if you write big, you get |
| 00:27:23 | out four pages and write very large and say, I'm |
| 00:27:25 | done for the day. |
| 00:27:28 | >>I know I'm sort of making that |
| 00:27:29 | calculation in my head. |
| 00:27:33 | It almost as if when the writing's going really |
| 00:27:36 | well and really fast I'm writing bigger because |
| 00:27:39 | it's just so flamboyant when |
| 00:27:41 | things are working well. |
| 00:27:45 | When you're writing small it seems to be more |
| 00:27:47 | thoughtful, something that takes me a while. |
| 00:27:50 | >>I think we need to have examples of your |
| 00:27:52 | drafts to follow this through. |
| 00:27:55 | You know, say "Oh, she's writing small here, must |
| 00:27:56 | have been difficult." |
| 00:27:58 | >>I know, luckily no one |
| 00:28:00 | can read my handwriting. |
| 00:28:01 | >>Well you're a doctor, right? |
| 00:28:03 | So it's like prescription pads everywhere. |
| 00:28:06 | When you do that, though do you have |
| 00:28:08 | to hand it off to somebody? |
| 00:28:10 | >>I type it myself. |
| 00:28:12 | >>You type it yourself? |
| 00:28:13 | >>Because nobody can read my handwriting. |
| 00:28:15 | >>It seems... |
| 00:28:17 | somewhat inefficient. |
| 00:28:18 | >>Absolutely! |
| 00:28:20 | It's totally inefficient and |
| 00:28:21 | I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. |
| 00:28:23 | After 23 books I've tried typing first drafts. |
| 00:28:25 | >>Clearly successful. |
| 00:28:27 | >>I find that putting the first draft on a |
| 00:28:29 | computer screen compels me to rewrite and rewrite |
| 00:28:32 | and rewrite the first paragraph |
| 00:28:35 | and I never get past that. |
| 00:28:38 | It's important to not see the flaws of your |
| 00:28:40 | manuscript until you've finished |
| 00:28:42 | the entire first draft. |
| 00:28:45 | Only then do I know what the story's about. |
| 00:28:46 | >>Excellent advice. |
| 00:28:48 | Tess Gerritsen, thank you very much |
| 00:28:51 | for being here on Writers Talk. |
| 00:28:52 | >>Thank you. |
| 00:28:53 | >>And for the Center for the Study and |
| 00:28:54 | Teaching of Writing, this is Doug Dangler. |
| 00:28:55 | Keep Writing. |
Note : Transcripts are compiled from uncorrected captions
