Jeffery Deaver

“I was editor of my high school literary magazine and a reporter for the school newspaper.”

“I spend about eight months researching and outlining my book.”

“I liked old time music but what i meant by that was the period from the 1930s through the 60s, nothing before and little after. Performers like fats waller, Sinatra, billie holiday, louis armstrong, rosemary clooney, ella, sammy Davis Jr, dean martin... If the lyrics weren't stupid. Words were important.”

“The best way to learn about writing is to study the work of other writers you admire.”

“Rule one: Write about settings you're familiar with.”

“God don't give out certain.”

“In other words, the people who populate my books are more than caricatures.”

“So I work hard to present the human side of my characters while not neglecting the plot.”

“When it comes time to write the book itself I'll shut the lights out, picture the scene I'm about to write then close my eyes and go at it. Yes, I can touch type.”

“Hardcover books are fairly expensive these days and to read one requires a significant commitment of time in our busy society. So I want to make sure that when readers buy one of my books they get something they're familiar with.”

“The recent fascination, I think, reflects the shift in approach by law enforcement officials to embrace technology as wholeheartedly as the rest of the world.”

“For me a thriller is a very carefully structured story.”

“The outline is 95 percent of the book. Then I sit down and write, and that's the easy part.”

“But one does not make living writing poetry unless you're a professor, and one frankly doesn't get a lot of girls as a poet.”

“Trying to write books with a subject matter or in a genre or style you're not familiar with is the best way to find the Big Block looming.”

“I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose.”

“I like the way words go together and I like the gamesmanship of writing poetry. It is such a challenge.”

“Of course, I write crime stories, and I have to describe violence and the aftermath of violence.”

“It means working harder to do the research but I don't really mind - I don't think I have what it takes to chase criminals through back alleys and wade through blood at crime scenes.”

“I liked the challenge of writing in a very concise structure in which both meaning and form are important.”