Bookreporter.com - THE ART OF SUSPENSE

THE ART OF SUSPENSE
A dialogue between authors Stephen White and Lisa Gardner

June 20, 2003

When the multi-million-copy bestselling author of WARNING SIGNS and all the Alan Gregory novels asks the questions, and multi-million-copy bestselling author Lisa Gardner answers, there's no doubt that you'll learn more than you ever knew about how writers work, think, plan, get inspired, and in particular, what readers can expect from her new novel, THE KILLING HOUR.

Stephen White: From experience, I know that this is a question that writers dread but readers adore, so let's start there: Where do the ideas for the books come from?

Lisa Gardner: That evil little place in your mind that causes you to laugh when people slip and fall on the ice even when you know you shouldn't --- that's where suspense novels come from. Either that or it's all the true crime I read. That probably helps as well.

Stephen White: Is there a model for your villain? For your primary investigator? Do you find yourself combing the newspapers to find a new variety of criminal or crime? Do you store away ideas in a particular fashion? What is the strangest source of one of your books?

Lisa Gardner: It's funny you should mention this, because lately I've been getting a little bored with the run-of-the-mill psychopathic serial killer. Seems very been there, done that. Thus, for my latest novel, THE KILLING HOUR, I literally went crime shopping. I already knew the heroine for the story --- Kimberly Quincy from THE NEXT ACCIDENT, who I felt had a good story to tell. And I knew the location --- the FBI Academy at Quantico, which I thought would be very neat. But what type of villain? I wanted someone really chilling and diabolical. Someone unique.

Basically, I spent the spring researching crimes. I read books, watched TV, dug into history, and then ran across a creepy little story that clicked everything together in my mind, courtesy of the French. Who knew? But apparently, in between making champagne and baking croissants, they ran a truly evil penal colony. And that became the basis for a whole new kind of horrible act.

Stephen White: Did you always want to write? Do you have more than one story going at any time? What research techniques do you use? Can you share some of the special efforts that went into the background for THE SURVIVORS CLUB and THE KILLING HOUR?

Lisa Gardner: I've definitely always wanted to be a writer. I don't think it's something you do, but someone you are. In my case it was always a little strange, as I was raised by two accountants to pursue the practical things in life. Starving for your art, living beneath the poverty line --- not very practical in an accountant's world. So I confess, I did the conservative thing and became a business consultant first. But writing continued to call to me, and I found I spent more and more time on various planes writing books than preparing presentations. So I finally gave in and took the plunge. I have to say, becoming a full-time writer is the best thing I ever did.

In terms of developing novels, I'm strictly a one-idea-at-a-time sort of girl. I generally have enough subplots and characters running around to give me schizophrenia as it is. Research remains my favorite part of writing. For THE SURVIVORS CLUB, I spent an extensive amount of time with the Rhode Island State Police, learning their training methods, their organization, and their investigative procedures. It was so much fun. What a great group of people, and oh, the stories they can tell. Half the cases worked by the average detective are stranger than anything a writer could devise. Really, truly strange.

Another neat perk of interviewing law enforcement officials, I've discovered, is that they're really good at committing crimes. For example, I needed a sniper sequence for the opening of THE SURVIVORS CLUB. No problem. The RI State Police put me in touch with one of their snipers, I showed him the building in question, and he walked me through exactly how he'd set up the shot. For my second novel, THE OTHER DAUGHTER, I needed a good healthcare-fraud scam. The Boston FBI healthcare-fraud squad had so many ideas that I finally had to cut them off. No more committing crimes, I told them. Now we have to choose once and solve it. I think they were honestly disappointed.

For THE KILLING HOUR, I spent several days at Quantico getting to know the FBI Academy. I also converted a team of U.S. Geological Survey members to evil. Yep, I met one on the plane, told him I needed all sorts of geological information to commit a series of murders, and he gleefully lined up a team of experts to assist me. People really are nice … in a crafty sort of way.

Stephen White: How is THE KILLING HOUR different from your other suspense novels? Did you always mean to bring a character from THE NEXT ACCIDENT back as a lead investigator in this new book?

Lisa Gardner: I never intend half of the stuff I do in my novels. That's part of the magic of writing. Kimberly really grew on me while I was writing THE NEXT ACCIDENT, so I decided she needed her own story. In that way, THE KILLING HOUR is unique. It's truly about Kimberly's journey. I've crafted the plot as a sort of Kimberly Quincy boot camp --- to break her down and build her up again as a better, truer person. This is a woman who lost half of her family to violent crime. She's young in years but old at heart. She feels most comfortable when armed, and hopelessly vulnerable when not. I've given her a villain who's just as bad as she always imagined. But then I've also given her a partner who's nothing like she expected. Special Agent Mac McCormack is warm, funny, and sexy --- basically everything Kimberly's never known how to handle. He sees her as a woman, whereas she's only ever seen herself as a law enforcement machine. We'll see how Kimberly does with both of her challenges, but I'm counting on her not to disappoint.

Stephen White: Do you have a favorite novel, or character, or plot twist? Why?

Lisa Gardner: I'm a sucker for survivors. I like people who've gone the distance. People who've been pushed, challenged, and nearly annihilated, and yet still pick themselves up to go another round. What makes one person triumph and another crumble? What makes one person rise to the occasion and another turn and run? Heroism still exists in this day and age. It just has different forms and faces. I like to push my characters to find the strength they didn't even know they had.

Stephen White: What inspired you to leap from writing more romantic tales into this very intense brand of suspense?

Lisa Gardner: Money. Wait, am I supposed to say that out loud? Ummm, I've always loved suspense and I'm so pleased that I can spend each and every day thinking of more interesting ways to kill people. Does that sound better?

Stephen White: Is it exciting to see the books in so many retail outlets? What do you think/feel when you see your name on covers out in the "real" world?

Lisa Gardner: Oh wow, there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you see a finished novel in print. Really, truly, I'm shocked and thrilled by how warmly and enthusiastically readers have embraced my books. Frankly, every time I encounter a complete stranger reading one of my novels, I'm surprised all over again. And the notes I get from readers are so encouraging. It's neat to think that the characters who are so near and dear to my heart have come to mean so much to my readers as well.

Stephen White: THE PERFECT HUSBAND touched on perhaps the most intimately frightening idea: that the person you love, and with whom you live, is not at all who you believe him to be. How did you explore this? What inspired you to create this character?

Lisa Gardner: I have to confess that the idea for THE PERFECT HUSBAND came straight from Ted Bundy. Ann Rule documents in her novel, THE STRANGER BESIDE ME, that Ted Bundy had many long-term, "normal" relationships with women, and actually ended up getting married. Basically, he could be a supportive companion to one woman, while simultaneously stalking and killing others. That notion fascinated me. What made him see some women as potential partners and others as potential targets? And what degree of compartmentalization must it have taken to go from killing a college co-ed to helping put together dinner at night? Worse, what would it be like to be one of the women who loved him and lived with him, once you found out what he'd really been doing? I found the whole notion very frightening, and things that frighten make for good novels.

Stephen White: THE OTHER DAUGHTER explored amnesia and the issue of identity, but very differently from THE PERFECT HUSBAND. It also looks at the question of what makes people who they are and what forces shape us. Is this a theme that draws you? What do you believe changed or influenced you most directly?

Lisa Gardner: THE OTHER DAUGHTER is definitely about identity, as well as sociology. Are killers born or made? And what does it mean if you're the daughter of a convicted killer? I grew up with some friends who were adopted and I know they wrestled with this question of identity --- what matters more, nature or nurture? I basically stole that concept, married it with an absolutely worst-case scenario, and ended up with a fairly chilling psychological thriller where the heroine is never sure if she's the next victim or the next killer.

Now, is the question of identity a theme in my life? Questions in general are a theme in my life. I've always been curious about what makes people tick. Fortunately, these kinds of questions don't make for easy answers, so I should have plenty of novels in my future.

Stephen White: THE THIRD VICTIM contains a twist that we don't want to reveal here. Its heroine is a conflicted character, grappling with her personal darkness and attempting to resolve questions of morality and justice. How do personal experiences change the way your characters react to the events around them?

Lisa Gardner: THE THIRD VICTIM is another one of those novels that surprised me; I didn't expect the heroine to be as dark as she turned out to be. At a certain point, Rainie just sort of took control of the novel, and the tragedy of her past grew in proportion with her own conflicted personality. In my own opinion --- and this goes back to the question raised in THE OTHER DAUGHTER --- we are all part nature and part nurture. In THE THIRD VICTIM, we have a heroine who is a good person who did a bad thing. Because she does have a conscience, her own immoral act takes a huge toll on her. She's the opposite of Ted Bundy. She can't compartmentalize. So instead, a single act from her childhood ends up defining her entire adult life, and not in a happy way.

But again, I like to push characters to find their inner strength. So ultimately THE THIRD VICTIM isn't about one woman's mistake --- it's about her journey to own up to that mistake so she can finally get on with her life.

Stephen White: THE SURVIVORS CLUB grapples with justice --- both in the courtroom and out of it. What is justice to you? Why is this question important today? Without implying that we lack faith in the judicial system, is the legal system too filled with loopholes?

Lisa Gardner: Actually, I beg to differ with you on this question, Stephen. In my opinion, THE SURVIVORS CLUB is about closure, not justice. In the beginning, the women in the novel believe that justice will give them closure. But as they learn along the way, that's too big a burden for the legal system. Even when their suspected rapist dies, closure is denied as his murder raises more questions than answers. Surviving a violent crime, healing, getting on with your life, these are important steps that every survivor must take. Unfortunately, the legal system isn't about that process. It's its own beast that must be fed. Instead, the women learn that true closure must come from inside, from facing down their own demons and taking control of their lives again. Only then can they really find some measure of peace.

Stephen White: What would you say is the theme of THE KILLING HOUR?

Lisa Gardner: Killing. And Kimberly. Isn't that enough?

Stephen White: And lastly, what is the most memorable thing a reader or another author has said to you about your books? Why?

Lisa Gardner: I always love it when a reader tells me he's missed work the next day because I've kept him up all night. Or once I had a very nice woman accuse me of child abuse because she was so deeply engrossed in my novel, she forgot to feed her kids dinner. That sort of thing makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. It means the book worked. I transported the reader from the humdrum reality of everyday life to a whole new world. And that gets me excited enough to write a whole new story.