Jeffery Deaver - live webchat

Jeffery Deaver is one of America's bestselling crime writers and he joined us here on Tuesday 27th January in a live web chat - and you can read the full transcript of the Q&A with readers below. His latest book is The Bodies Left Behind.
 
A spring night in a small town in Wisconsin...A call to police emergency from a distant lake house is cut short...A phone glitch or an aborted report of a crime? Off-duty deputy Brynn leaves her family's dinner table and drives up to deserted Lake Mondac to find out. She stumbles onto the scene of a heinous murder...Before she can call for backup, though, she finds herself the next potential victim. Deprived of her phone, weapon and car, Brynn and an unlikely ally -- a survivor of the carnage -- can survive only by fleeing into the dense, deserted woods, on a desperate trek to safety and ultimately to the choice to fight back. The professional criminals, also strangers to this hostile setting, must forge a tense alliance too, in order to find and kill the two witnesses to the crime...

The author of more than twenty bestselling novels, Jeffery Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. In 2004, he was awarded the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Garden Of Beasts and the Short Story Dagger for "The Weekender". Translated into 35 languages, his novels have appeared on a number of bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the London Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Read more about Jeff on his author page

Buy the book

Comments

[Jeffery Deaver]

Think I better head off and get back to work on my next project--the Lincoln Rhyme novel for 2010. Thanks to Waterstone's and all of you for sharing the time with me. We authors truly appreciate hearing from fans! Cheers, and hope to see you all when I'm over there in July.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Thanks, Karen. I appreciate your interest; hope you enjoy!

[Karen Sykes]

Thank you very much for taking the time to come and chat and answer our questions, I certainly have found it very interesting to hear about your approach to your work and your views on other things. As the parent of teenagers I look forward to seeing your teenage work on the shelves soon and I am inspired to go and search out one of your adult works to get started on right away!

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Lynsay--I can't imagine not writing. I would have to be involved in some creative field, and one in which I worked for myself (I'm a very bad employee!). I actually never had a single "big break." My book sales have grown steadily with each book, in general, selling more than the preceding one. I look back fondly on that day about twenty years ago when I started writing full time. Terrifying and wonderful simultaneously!

[Lynsay Lambert]

Hi again -

What do you think you would be doing just now as a profession if you were not a successful writer? and how did you get your 'big break'?

[Jeffery Deaver]

You bet, Stevo--I'll be on tour in July through England, Scotland and Ireland. Check my website--jefferydeaver.com--or with your local Waterstone's for details.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Joanne and Vicki--
Thanks for all your support! While I'm not in a reading group myself, I do many events at book clubs--readings and discussions. I love the community aspect of sharing ideas about books. As for other genres, I've read a lot of literary fiction and read a great deal of nonfiction. Like a lot of authors, I have a very active curiosity and truly love learning about things. For instance, I'm right now reading The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson and a book about the fall of Enron.

[Stevo]

Great call. Love that movie.

Any plans to head over to the UK this year?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Lynsay. Great to hear you like my writing! Actually, I don't read much crime fiction anymore, since I'm a bit of a sponge and don't want to soak up other people's styles. I read more nonfiction nowadays. And, yes, I'll be writing more short stories, though this year I decided to release two novels instead: The Broken Window and The Bodies Left Behind. Oh, for more hours in the day . . . or the energy of youth!

[Joanne & Vicki]

As two of your biggest bookselling fans, we have chosen your titles frequently for our store bookclub.
Do you belong to a reading group and apart from crime fiction, what other genres do you like to read?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Dave, and thanks. My books are by their nature very cinematic, since I was influenced by film as much as by books. They take place over a short period of time, they involve cross cutting between scenes and shifting points of view, they are dialog oriented. So I don't intentionally add anything that would make them more cinematic to catch a producer's attention. I would love more movies to be made from my books, but I don't think much about it, to be honest.

[Lynsay Lambert]

Hi Jeffrey - I'm a massive fan!

I would like to know if you normally stick to reading crime fiction for your own pleasure, or are there other genres that you particularly enjoy?

And are you going to release any more short stories? I enjoyed Twisted and More Twisted a lot, I love how you can think you know how a story is going to end, then it all changes suddenly!

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Iain. Some of the actors I admire and would love to see interpret my books are are Guy Pierce, Cate Blanchette, Uma Thurman, Hayden Christensen, Kate Winslet--and Leo too, of course.

[Dave]

Hi
How much (if at all) do you think about a potential movie adaptation of your tales? You must be tempted just occasionally to throw in some filmic moments...

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Ian. I've written a law book, and published poetry, but I have no interest in writing a novel outside the genre of crime. I would like to write a nonfiction book at some point, like a biography or one of those beststellers you hear about every once in a while that look at some historical phenomenon: "Cod." Or "Salt." But all the good people and commodities seem to have been taken!

[Xavier]

Mr D.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. As a reward I would like to recommend Stuart MacBride's 'Cold Granite'. I'd say it was right up your street.

Xavier

[Iain]

Are there any particular actors/actresses that you'd like to see cast in TV/film adaptations of any of your books?

[Ian C]

Have you ever tried to write a book that wasn't crime?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Weez--No, I've never been inspired by my fiction to consider a piece of music (I haven't written songs seriously for many years). But I do like to work my love of music into the books (Kathryn Dance, for instance, is a "song-catcher" in her spare time). Occasionally I'll write lyrics and put them into the book for added effect (see Hell's Kitchen). I wrote a short story not long ago that included an original song of mine, compiled in A Merry Band of Murderers.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Lynn--I wanted to create a hero who had to rely on a brilliant mind to solve the crimes, not karate kicks or gunplay. Rhyme, for those who don't know him, is a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. He has to outsmart the criminals. Though the books are set in the modern day, he really is one of my all time heroes: Sherlock Holmes.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, thryn--Thanks for your interest. Please you'll be taking a chance on my writing. I would recommend the beginning books in either of my series: The Bone Collector (the Lincoln Rhyme books) or The Sleeping Doll (Kathryn Dance). Rhyme is a forensic scientist (like "CSI") and Dance is a cop who specializes in body language and interrogation.

[Weez \\m//]

Hey Jeffery,

Have you ever been writing a chapter of one of your books and it inspired you to write a piece of music or vice versa?
Since you enjoy writing music that is of a concise structure, have you ever thought of writing music to accompany your books?

All the best,

Weez

[Lynn]

How did you come up with the ideas for the Lincoln Rhyme series?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Stevo--Thanks for the support! As for your question: No debate--The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. (And, no, not the dreadful remake of a few years ago.)

[thryn]

Hi Jeff, I'm new to the world of crime books and unlike Stevo above haven't read any of your books (yet!) can you recommend which one I should start with?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Xavier--
If you mean by damaging leading someone to commit crimes I have several comments on that subject. First, with regard to youngsters in early developmental stages, they should not be exposed to visual depictions of violence; it's not only upsetting but it can have the effect of inuring them to the consequences of harmful acts. Reading has less of these effects but still should be limited. As for adults, I don't believe thriller fiction motivate an otherwise nonviolent person into acts of violence. One thing I won't write about, however, is specific techniques that someone could use to create a weapon, for instance (not that that inforamation isn't all over the internet anyway!).

[Stevo]

Hey Jeffrey,

I've read all your books and I loved the movie adaption of The Bone Collector. Made me think, whats your favourite movie based on a novel in the world of crime thrillers?

Cheers,

Stevo.

[Xavier Jones-Barlow]

What would you say to the argument that Crime Fiction could potentially be as damaging as violent TV programmes?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Matt--

I thought the film adaptation was pretty good. I'm an author, though, who doesn't have any interest in being involved in the creation of a film based on his or her books. Making movies is very hard, and I don't have any skill in the art. I'll leave that to the expert and concentrate on my role--cashing the check from the studio! Warner Brothers has bought The Sleeping Doll, and we're still trying to get a Lincoln Rhyme TV show off the ground.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Tom, and thanks. I use a formula for keeping the suspense going: a short time frame for the story, lots of twists, a series of terrible incidents that have to be avoided or prevented, several surprise endings. As for characters, yes, your hero must be essentially a good guy, though he or she can have flaws, in the same way that the villain must be bad, but also have a good side. And on the dark side issue, an author shouldn't cross the line so that the readers are repulsed. These books are supposed to be enjoyable--like the roller coaster I mentioned earlier. That means, for instance, striving for suspense, not graphic depictions of gore.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Karen--Not at all! I'm absolutely delighted to have readers enjoy my books wherever they get them. Libraries, sharing, book clubs . . . Some authors don't like the "remainder" or "overstock" sales of their books at discount; I think anything that gets your words into the hands of people is great. Of course, I was once told by a book store manager that mine were among the most shoplifted--I felt complimented, in a perverse sort of way!

[Matt - Waterstone's Portsmouth]

Hi,

What did you think of the film adaptation of 'The Bone Collector' and are there any more plans to film your work?

Matt, Portsmouth.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Cheers, Joe--I think Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stephenson was among the first. I also remember reading Jack London's Call of the Wild. Shortly thereafter I started reading crime fiction, Christie, Doyle, Fleming and the American writers.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Lynne-

Yes, my favorite book is Garden of Beasts, my historical thriller set in Berlin in 1936. I like it because I managed to work a very fast-paced thriller into a momentous time and place--the Nazi Olympics. I think if any book outlasts me, it will be this one.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Pallavii--

Yes, I've done what I call my high-tech crime trilogy. The Blue Nowhere was the first--a standalone. Then last year was The Broken Window, about data mining, the loss of privacy and identity theft. It's Lincoln Rhyme novel. And this year we'll have Roadside Crosses, a Kathryn Dance novel. This is about blogs, social networking and cyberbullying.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Angie--

Thank YOU for spending time to write. As far as my work hours, I treat writing like any other job. I work aobut 8-10 hours a day, five or six days a week. To do this full time for a living (how lucky is that!), you can't wait for inspiration.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Simon--

There was no one book that inspired me to write, but I remember being very inspired by Agatha Christie's and Conan Doyle's stories, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming, Robert Lewis Stevenson--all good storytellers. I recall thinking--I want to do that too!

[Tom]

Hi Jeffery

I have a few questions for you:

One of the reasons your novels are so popular is because they are really gripping. How do you manage to maintain the suspense throughout a novel?

In your opinion should the main character always be sympathetic? How do you like to go about creating your 'heroes'? And likewise how do you go about creating your 'baddies'? I think in books and films generally heroes are usually not as interesting as the bad guys - how do keep your heroes interesting?

Crime is all about the dark side - in a genre where almost every twisted scenario has been explored, is there a line that you would stop at?

Thanks
Tom

[Karen Sykes]

I love to buy books, but I also love to swap with friends and use the library. I could never afford to buy all the books that I read, given that you have to make a living from your work, is it a problem for you that not everyone who reads your work buys a copy of the book?

[Joe]

Hi Jeffery,

Bit of a standard question, I suppose, but I love hearing anybody's response to it - what was the first book you remember reading that you really loved?!

Joe, Yorkshire

[Lynne Farrow]

Among the books you have written, do you have one that you are especially pleased with and for what reason.

[Pallavii]

hi jeffery, I am so glad you wrote on cyber crime. i love blue nowhere. anymore scheduled like this ?

[Angie]

Hi Jeff,

Do you have certain times of the day when you sit down to write, or is it more when inspiration strikes?

Thank you for taking time out to chat to us!

Angie

[Simon]

Hi Jeffery,

Love your books. The Devil's Teardrop is still one of my all-time fave thrillers after 10 years!

Just wondered whether there was a particular book or author - Crime or otherwise - that inspired you to take up writing?

Simon

[Ian Canning]

Hi Jeffrey. Have you ever considered writing a book of a different genre rather than crime?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Kirsty. I mentioned some of my favorite authors above, but you question gives me a chance to add that, sadly, I can't read other people while I'm writing--I get too influenced. I remember reading a British author a few years ago while writing, and I went back and reread my prose. It sounded like Father Ted meets Basil Fawlty.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Thanks for the question, Andy. Actually, writers don't look at fellow writers as competitors. We all have a unique voice and, despite the melt-down in the economy, most fans are able to afford books by a number of different authors throughout the year (it'd be different if we were making Mini Coopers or Jaguars).

[Jeffery Deaver]

Thanks, Tia--Look forward to seeing you! (And by the way the Nottingham Waterstone's is one of my favorites--it has a beautiful event room on the top floor (and, no, they're not paying me to say that!)).

[Pallavii]

I love Lincoln Rhyme. Infact you are the only crime author I read ! Any plans to get more of the Lincoln Rhyme movie's made ... like bone collecter ?

[Jo]

That's true what you say about fear being best left to the imagination - most of the scariest moments are ones that you are left to visualise on your own. Do you ever write a scenario and then think woa, no - that's too scary, I'd better pull that back a bit? Do you think you can go too far?

[Karen Sykes]

Hello Jeffery

I am an avid reader and will try my hand at most things but my "comfort" reads are always crime or mystery thrillers. Having said that although I have seen your books many times in bookstores and on library shelves I have not yet read any of your work. Do you have any recommendations as to where I should make a start?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Katherine--

No, actually I've never done a ride-along, nor do I have much interest in doing so. Research is important, but I'm not a law enforcer; I'm a novelist. The details have to serve my story. I find if an author does too much research it tends to bleed into the story and slow it down. Everything in my books is accurate, but I don't want to overwhelm my readers with digression--that's a sin. As far as advice goes, I'd say three things: 1. Write what you enjoy reading. 2. Consider readers your marketplace and craft a product that fills their needs. And 3. Remember that rejection is merely a speed hump, it's not a brick wall.

[Tia]

Do people try and give you ideas for books???

Also do you base the characters on people you know (secretly of course??)

[Jeffery Deaver]

Sorry, I mean "Chantelle."

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hello, Chatelle--

The titles come to me at some point during the outlining of the book generally. I always create my own titles and I try to come up with one that has a double meaning. For instance, the title of my most recent book from Hodder & Stoughton, "The Bodies Left Behind," has three different meanings. On the puzzle issue, I'm no expert at them, but I try to model my books along the lines of puzzles so that when readers have a chance to figure out the surprise if they want to. About favorite authors, I have so many . . . John Connolly and John le Carre leap to mind immediately. I like Michael Connolly in this country. Andrea Camilleri in Italy is a wonderful writer too. I could on and on. . . .

[Jo R]

Hi Jeffery, Can I just ask if you always wanted to be a crime writer? Thanx

[Kirsty Whittingham]

Hi, do you read in your spare time (if you have any!) and who would you say are YOUR favorite authors?

Kirsty, Derby

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, James. Actually I've been approached to do graphic novels, and I find them fascinating--my colleague Brad Meltzer does some wonderful work in that genre. I, however, feel more comfortable when I control the totality of the story--painting the visuals with words, if you will. And I have no talent at art whatsoever.

[Andy]

Hi Jeff,

Just wondering, who do you see as your closest rivals in crime fiction?

Andy

[Tia]

I am glad to her you are not sick and twisted... I got to meet you in Nottingham, Uk and you seemed quite normal!!!

When is your next Lincoln Rhyme or Kathryn Dance book planned??

[Jeffery Deaver]

Lynne--

Thanks so much for your comment. Yes, many people love The Vanished Man, the book about a psychotic illusionist. It was great fun to write. And thanks for reminding me about "shameless self-promotion." In July of this year Hodder & Stoughton is publishing the second in the Kathryn Dance series, entitled "Roadside Crosses," about cyberbulling and blogs. Then in July of 2010, they'll publish the next Lincoln Rhyme novel, as yet untitled.

[CHANTELLE ROBERTS]

Hey Jeff, When you name your books does the tiltle come to you automatically or do you plan the title?

In some of your books you use Lateral Thinking Puzzles (which I love) where did that idea orginally come from?

Who are your favorite writers if you have any?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Tia, and thanks!
I'm not as sick and twisted as my books would lead one to believe, but I am rather manipulative--in the same sense that a roller coaster designer is manipulative. When I sit down to write a book I simply look for scenarios that will allow me to keep my readers' hearts pounding throughout the book. By the way, be a little skeptical when authors say "Oh, it was so traumatic; I had to dwell in the soul of darkness while I was writing my thriller." Come on, we make this stuff up then go to the bar for a pint or throw the ball for our dogs. We thriller writers are astonishingly ordinary!

[James]

There are quite a few authors these days branching out into comic books and graphic novels, have you ever considered trying to write a pulpy crime thriller or serial killer thriller into comic book form, or even tackle some of the heroes from the DC or Marvel universe?

[Lynne Farrow]

Hello Jeffrey.
I'm a big fan of the Lincoln Rhyme series with The Vanished Man my favourite. I told a friend and she loved it and then read all the others! Do you have an idea when we can look forward to the next featuring Lincoln.
Hopefully.
Lynne.

[Katherine]

Hi Jeffery,

In the course of researching your books have you been involved in 'ride-alongs' with police and visited actual crime scenes to understand what you need to describe. Also what one piece of advice would you give someone who wants to become an author?

[Tia]

I absolutely adore your books. However where do you get your ideas from for the murders - some are very gruesome!!!!

[Jeffery Deaver]

Good question, Jo--I feel very strongly that creative material for youngsters must be censored. My approach to young adult fiction (I've got several books outlined) is to focus on suspense, not violence. Frankly, I prefer that in adult fiction too; you'll note from my books that that while there is some loss of life, there's very little on-the-page gore and violence. It's suggested, not seen.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Thanks for posting, Lesley--I do know both Jim and Harlan, along with another of other authors, though geographic circumstance doesn't permit socializing much with either of them (they're nice guys, by the way!). But we authors do get together for a pint or a bit of whisky (sometimes more than a bit, okay). We don't discuss our own writing, though. That falls into the trade secret world. We do love to gossips, however!

[Jo]

A few crime and thriller writers are branching out into writing for the teenage market. Does the trend of teenage violence worry you, and would you be concerned that writing books that include violence for the teenage market might influence children at an impresionable age?

[Lesley Dennis]

Do you know James Paterson and Harlan Coben? If so do you all go down the pub to discuss character ideas over a pint of ale?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Jo--I have to say in all honesty (and with no hidden agenda!) that there is a deeper passion for reading in the U.K. I have proportionately more fans there and in general they seem to be more involved with my characters than in the U.S. Regarding the split personality issue--I think crime writing and comedy are closely related. It's all about the unexpected and juggling multiple lines. I like to think of my books as Seinfeld with blood and guts!

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Jon--Yes, I'm delighted at how popular U.K. authors have become in the U.S.--and how appreciated we are in your country. Some of the writers on this side of the pond that I enjoy are Dennis Lehane, Joe Finder, John Gilstrap, S.J. Rozan, Lisa Scottoline, Tess Garritson.

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Michael and Helen--I tend to be a bit shy about it, actually. I get recognized some, of course, particularly in the U.K., where my books are well received, and, in that case, I'll chat up the fan and get their impressions. And I want to hear the bad as well as the good. How do we improve if we don't know what the marketplace wants, right?

[Jeffery Deaver]

Jo, thanks for the comment. No. As one of my favorite literary philosophers once said (Clint Eastwood, as Dirty Harry), "A wise man knows his limitations." I'm comfortable and competent writing thrillers and I'll stick to that. Though I would like to branch out into young adult fiction at some point soon (crime, oriented, of course).

[Jo]

Hi Jeffrey

A couple of questions for you:
1) I know you come over to the UK quite a bit on book tours. How different are the English audiences to the American ones, and do you get asked different sorts of questions over here?
2) One of my favourite crime writers is Mark Billingham, who's 'other' life is as a comedian. It seems remarkable to me that someone who makes a living out of being funny should also harbour such dark and frankly psycopathic thoughts. Do you have the same split personality? Do you find murderous thoughts intruding at inappropriate moments (family parties, etc)?

Thanks
Jo

[Jeffery Deaver]

Hi, Iain--Briefly, I spend eight months outlining my story in excruciating detail before I begin to write. The structure is as important a part of the book as the characters. You absolutely have to structure highly plotted stories, like mine. And I create the outline from all my main characters' POVs. So when I sit down to write, it's easy for me to pound out many pages a day, since I know where the story's going. As for getting the details right--I bang out the first draft very fast and then tidy up.

[Jon]

Hi Jeffrey,
Crime writing is hugely popular in the US and the UK, and lots of our writers are popular in the States and vice versa. But every time I visit a US bookstore I see loads of writers that I've not seen in print in the UK. Have you any favourite American writers that we might want to discover?
Thanks

Jon

[Michael & Helen Waterstone's Bolton]

Have you ever approached anyone reading any of your books and asked them what they thought of it? Or would you?

[Jo]

Have you ever thought of diversifying into other genres?

[Iain Martin]

When you're planning a new story, do you plan out the structure of the plot from the POV of the villain first?

Before you begin writing, how detailed are your plans - do you begin with a few tatty sheets of A4 with the plot broadly outlined or do you have a nicely typed 1000-word synopsis of each chapter for reference?

When you were starting out, how did you become comfortable writing about crime and police procedure, and of course psychopathy? Were you hamstrung by a desire to "get the details right" or were you not very worried by experts nit-picking over details?