Interview with John Lescroart

When is the last time you took a chance and stepped out of your comfort zone? It's hard to do, isn't it? We seem to be so set in our ways that we forget what it's like to experience that exhilarating feeling when we stumble upon something new. Whether it pertains to your personal or professional life, stepping out of the box entails an element of risk that we all too often try to avoid.

As many of you know, I am a romance writer, reader, and lover! If a book doesn't have an element of romance somehow intertwined in the plot, I'm really not interested. So it goes without saying that when John Lescroart's latest release, BETRAYAL, came across my desk, I was this close to passing on it. Luckily for me, I gave it a second glance.

I must admit, I have the privilege of working with some of the most talented marketing and publicity people in this business who consistently challenge me to take my column to the next level. This month's jewel epitomizes my journey. Who would have thought that a military suspense novelist would wind up becoming a Jen's Jewels?

To say BETRAYAL is a page-tuner would be an understatement. Not only was I blown away by John's multi-faceted layering in his writing, but also I loved the way in which he brought an element of romance to the plot. This novel is a shining gem.

So without further ado, please go grab yourself something warm to drink and get to know my new friend, John Lescroart. And, don't forget to look for the trivia question at the end of the interview. Dutton has generously donated books for five lucky readers. Good luck!

Jen: Your path to becoming a writer took many side trips before your big break. In addition, you are well-known not only for your writing, but also for your musical talent. Please give us a brief overview of your educational and professional background.

John: I'm afraid that I had that most difficult of upbringings for a would-be artist -- a happy and extremely "normal" childhood. Of course, coming of age in the ‘60s, "normal" would not exactly apply today -- I was far freer and more unsupervised than most young people are today, and this extended to my internal life. I went to Serra High School (alma mater of Barry Bonds and Tom Brady -- but also I was a classmate, good friend, and Model UN teammate of Bill Keller, Pulitzer Prize winning Managing Editor of the NY Times). My college years were challenging. I started at UC Santa Cruz in the second year of its existence and had to leave after only one quarter due to lack of money. I then went to the College of San Mateo for a semester, transferred to the University of San Francisco for my sophomore year, and then to UC Berkeley for the last two -- I finally graduated with a BA in (what else?) English Literature.

After school, I went to work at the phone company graveyard shift, writing short stories, sketches, and songs (all unpublished). I also sang in clubs in the San Francisco bay area, both solo and in various groups. After two years, realizing I wasn't really cut out to be a junior executive, I quit the phone company and took off for Europe, paying my way by singing and guitar playing. Three years of that, during which I also wrote what eventually would be Son of Holmes, and I went to LA to make it large in music. When that didn't happen, I returned to the Bay Area and formed Johnny Capo and His Real Good Band, and we gigged regularly all over the place.

At thirty, I gave up the active music career, and wrote Sunburn, which won the Joseph Henry Jackson Award for Best Novel by a California author. But it didn't get published, so I started the "day job" routine -- i.e. work that would keep me alive and allow me to write. Bartender, moving man, house painter, occasional music sideman, office worker, fundraiser, technical writer, logistics consultant, word processor and then WP supervisor at a law firm. That took up about fourteen years. Then, at age 46, I had a hit with The 13th Juror, and have been writing full-time ever since.

Jen: Many authors have that "Ah! Ha! Moment" when the stars are finally put into alignment and their career is launched. Please tell us about that journey and especially the significance of your body-surfing experience at Seal Beach.

John: During the years in LA, I was working three jobs: writing from 6-8 in the morning, word processing from 9-5, then doing pick-up word processing at law firms in downtown LA from 7-11. Long days. But I was getting published, so wasn't too unhappy, although frustrated with the lack of commercial success. One day, I went bodysurfing at Seal Beach and -- as always happens -- got a good wipeout or two with a lot of seawater getting into my sinuses and eustachian tubes. The next night, I had a fever of 104 and Lisa, my wife, took me to the emergency room, where they told us I had spinal meningitis. The prognosis was death in about two hours. Obviously, that didn't happen, although I was mostly unconscious in the ICU for eleven days, and then took another month before I could function normally. During that recovery time, and returning to the day job later, I decided that it was time to do either make it or break it as a writer. This was the "Ah! Ha!" moment. Working eighteen hour days just wasn't cutting it anymore. So we moved from LA (too expensive and crazy) to Northern California, and I wrote full time for the very first time in my life, pouring everything I had into a legal thriller (although I was not a lawyer) called Hard Evidence. That book, amazingly to me, had strong foreign sales, and prompted my publisher to get excited about the next book, The 13th Juror, which became my first NY Times Bestseller.

Jen: We live in a society obsessed with instantaneous gratification and I think even some aspiring authors expect their careers to just happen. Yours took twenty years in the making. What was the most valuable piece of advice you ever received and why?

John: The best advice I ever had came, I suppose appropriately, at my lowest point. I had already written Hard Evidence, although my publisher's enthusiasm for the book was such that he didn't even pay me when I handed in the manuscript. I was 44 years old. I didn't even have a day job. Lisa was supporting the family working as an architect at $10/hour. I figured I was done. Then my father-in-law, Bob Sawyer, took us on a vacation to Maui. As we were barbequing on the first night there, I asked him what he thought I should do. (Remember, I'm his son-in-law who isn't doing too good a job bringing in money as his daughter's partner.) He asked me if I still loved writing, and I told him I did. He said, "Just keep doing what you love. The rest will work itself out." Upon our return that very week, I learned that Hard Evidence had gotten a starred review in PW, my publisher sent me my Delivery & Acceptance check (or most of it, anyway), and I started The 13th Juror.

Jen: My readers expect me to step out of the box at times and bring them authors they never would have discovered on their own. My audience is primarily romance readers, so your genre of suspense is definitely not the norm for them (or me!). I was so impressed with your writing style, your in-depth character development, and for lack of a better term, meaty storyline. Please take us through your writing process. Plot first? Outline? Characters? Approximately how long does it take from conception to completion for you to write a novel?

John: Jen, these are great questions. I've been extremely fortunate to have been working under contract for many years, the last ten or so with Dutton, which has been a tremendously supportive publishing company. So my process has become a bit standardized: I hand in an outline in September, write the book between then and June, and the book then comes out early the next year. Sounds straightforward, I know, but the reality is a bit less cut and dried. I begin with a simple short outline and, hopefully, a title -- I don't know why, but that seems to get things going. But then the writing begins and usually the outline proves inadequate in many ways. Within a month or two, I've usually abandoned a decent part of it -- this is, I think, because my characters begin to live and breathe and think of more interesting things to do than I'd originally envisioned. I try to write organically, which means I get in a certain zone where I'm not too interested in plot anymore, except as it applies to how my characters react. This always leads me into new and unexpected territory, and I've learned to trust that instinct. Then, usually, by about February or March, I've got a critical mass of plot/character/theme, and the book starts writing itself. This has always happened, and I can't explain it very well, except to say that it must be a function of putting myself in a position where good things that happen, and then recognizing them when they kick in.

Jen: Your recurring lead character in your books is Dismas Hardy. I just have to ask, why the name Dismas? What are your character's strengths? His weaknesses?

John: The name Dismas Hardy came to me when I was very young, perhaps 18 or 19. I first heard the name Dismas because I was raised Roman Catholic and knew that St. Dismas was the Good Thief crucified on Jesus' right hand on Calvary. And Hardy just seemed to roll off the tongue after Dismas. Now it turns out, rather coolly I think, that St. Dismas just happens to be the Patron Saint of thieves and murderers, and so there was a terrific thematic fit with my hero, who is after all a defense attorney. His strengths are his prodigious memory and logic skills, dart throwing, and a fierce loyalty combined with an equally developed sense of right and wrong, of justice. His weaknesses are an almost pathological impatience with stupidity, perhaps a tendency to overwork, and then to over-lubricate with alcohol, especially when he's under pressure.

Jen: Your latest release, BETRAYAL, takes place in Iraq and it's what I would classify as a military thriller. Do you have a military background? From the military to the courtroom, approximately how much research went into this book? Was there any section that was most challenging to write and how so?

John: BETRAYAL was my most challenging book since The 13TH Juror. In the first place, I have no military background at all. Secondly, I hadn't been to Iraq. But I knew I had to write this story. So I did what I always do -- research. I started by talking to many people who'd been over there, checking out their photo albums, getting a feel for what was really going on (much of which has since been coming out in the news). Those discussions led me to my basic plot idea, but then I needed more facts about Iraqi culture, security firms hired by the government, and so on. So I read several non-fiction books and talked to a few of those authors. From there, I started writing, but still found the opening Iraq section of the book to be extremely challenging. Every page seemed to bring me to something else I didn't know, from military ranks in the various services, to the exact ordnance used in HUMVEEs, to the "feel" of neighborhoods and patrols, etc.

Jen: I think the love triangle in the novel is brilliant because it captures those of us who want that romance aspect while softening the sections of blood and guts needed to propel the story along. What was going through your mind as you created Tara Wheatley? I ran the gamut of emotions concerning my likes and dislikes of this character, which ultimately means that you expertly portrayed the many faceted layers of her personality. Well done!

John: Thank you. While I wanted to tell a political/moral/military story, I knew it wouldn't have much emotional resonance if I treated it almost as a non-fiction piece. My goal was to make the issues of the war personal to individual with whom we could relate. Right from the beginning, I wanted a love triangle to be at the center of the book, and Tara -- an idealistic young woman trying to live a good life and be a good woman -- became the linchpin surrogate, in a way, for all the "folks back home," who are torn by conflicts arising from the war. For Tara, this all becomes extremely personal. The issues she confronts are complex -- support the troops, hate the fighting, deplore the fact that we need warriors, etc. I hope that we come to understand her confusion, her loyalties, and her ultimate decision. As you say, it's at the core of the book.

Jen: I was intrigued with the fact that you chose to incorporate a fictitious American security company over in Iraq into the storyline. Were there any concerns on your part that you may have touched upon a sensitive issue or did it just make for a good plot?

John: I wanted to touch upon this sensitive issue. In my research, I was struck time and again by the greed, greed, greed of some of these companies, their no-bid contracts for mega-millions, as well as by the lack of oversight given them by anyone in the military or in the administration. Though I went to great lengths to keep this book from having a political leaning, I think events have proven that companies such as Blackwater were allowed to get away with great evil in the name of national security. So, yes, it made for a good plot, but in a larger sense, it's really what the book is all about.

Jen: One of the secondary characters, Mary Patricia Whelan-Miille, steals the show at times with her strong persona and take-no-prisoners attitude. Is she modeled after anyone in particular? What do you like best about this character and why?

John: The real Mary Patricia Whelan-Miille, is a neighbor of mine. She "bought" the character name in this book through a charity auction for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Yolo County, a cause that I have been happy to support as well for several years. Mary Patricia herself is quite the pistol, and although I didn't model the book's character specifically after her personality, I believe some of it must have crept in. But as always, when I first envisioned her, she had nothing like the role in the book that she wound up with -- once the character with her name hit the page, though, she just wouldn't leave, and I had no choice but to let her run.

Jen: We all know someone like Evan Scholler, one of your main characters in BETRAYAL. He is the boy-next-door as well as the brave soldier who will fight for our freedom. As you were writing the novel, did he take on a life of his own? Did you feel as if he became a part of you?

John: Evan is both a hero and is, I hope, emblematic of many of the conflicts of people who volunteer to fight and who, once in the mission, lose a little sight -- perhaps -- of why they went, of the need to carry on. And then, in spite of those doubts, continue to do as they must. Evan is a big ball of conflict, with many weaknesses, and yet he's out leading his convoy every day until the duty nearly kills him. I believe he may be the most conflicted character I've ever written -- I hope people will identify with him as a kind of everyman. I know that I did.

Jen: Will Dismas Hardy make it to the big screen one day?

John: I would very much like to see that happen, but in spite of a couple of options over the years, and eleven NY Times bestsellers in a row, Hollywood has been reluctant to bite. I can't figure it out, but life is good anyway, and I don't worry about it. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen in its own time.

Jen: Are you currently at work on your next novel? If so, what can you tell us about it?

John: I'm currently about 75 pages into my next novel, and about all I can say at this point is that it's a Hardy/Glitsky book and its theme is human frailty.

Jen: Please tell us about your website. Do you participate in author phone chats? And if so, how would my readers go out scheduling one? Do you have email notification of upcoming releases? Do you blog? Any scheduled appearances and/or book signings?

John: I'm very much involved with my website. I update the homepage regularly, and try to keep my appearances and other author events easily accessible. I've got all my books and my music and everything going on there. Plus, I encourage my readers not only to visit the website but to write me directly through it. And I answer all the email -- believe it or not -- myself. It's a great way to stay in touch with readers! Come on by and say hello!

Jen: Thank you so much, John, for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with my readers. Thanks, too, for allowing me to step out of my comfort zone to connect with a talented military suspense writer such as yourself! It's been an absolute pleasure. Best of luck in 2008!

John: Thanks, Jen. As I said, these were great questions, and I hope you've enjoyed my responses to them.

I hope you have enjoyed my interview with John. I encourage you to pick up a copy of BETRAYAL at your local bookseller or library today! Then after you have read it, please visit my website, www.jennifervido.com, and let me know if you, too, think BETRAYAL is a definite 10!

Now, here's your chance to win your very own copy courtesy of Dutton Books. Enter to win my Jen's Jewel Contest. Correctly answer the following question:

What is the title of John's first New York Times Bestselling novel?

Next month, I will be bringing to you an interview with one of my favorite Southern belles, Mary Kay Andrews! You won't want to miss it!

Until next month...Jen