Carter Wilson's Making It Up

"If I'm writing strong, I walk away for the day so I can come back tomorrow and take off immediately. Once that energy starts flowing, it carries right through into the next scene." — Mike Papantonio  Mike Papantonio is an American trial lawyer, television presenter, radio talk show host, and author. He is a senior partner with Levin Papantonio, one of America’s largest plaintiffs’...

"I'm going to write what I want to write, because that's what I'm going to write best—what makes me feel passionate. It’s all about messed up people doing messed up things." — David Ellis  Welcome to Episode 250 of Making It Up! Our 250th episode features David Ellis, a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling boo...

"The difference between a professional writer and an amateur is that the professionals get to the end and write 'The End.' And the thing that helps with that is we have contracts. But I've always found the pressure of a monthly mortgage a very good way of focusing concentration on actually doing your word count for the day." — Robert Thorogood  Robert Thorogood is an Engli...

"Once upon a time when I was young, I wanted to be an actor. And I think writing in first person is like being an actor—you’re climbing inside this role and it gets you outside of yourself. Third person just felt like a middle-aged suburban dad telling a story." — Joe Moldover  Joseph Moldover is the author of the Young Adult novels Every Moment After and Just Until. His adult debut, To...

"Publishing is very married to the idea of you as a writer having a brand... I have ADHD, I get really bored writing the same thing over and over again—I actually can't do it. My brand is just women with mental health issues; it doesn't matter what genre or time period it's in." — Maria Dong  Maria Dong is the author of Aviary , Psychopomp , and Liar, Dreamer, Thief. Her s...

"I wrote the story that I thought I would want to read... I tell people, this was like a love letter to those years that I got to spend in a completely different part of the world... I met so many fascinating people who opened their hearts and told me their stories." — Radha Lin Chaddah  Born in London, Radha grew up in Kenya, the UK, and the US and majored in Biology at the University o...

"I'm constantly thinking that I'm the total underdog here... I sent off like half a dozen applications, and three days after an agent told me I'd never be published, I had offers from two of the biggest agencies in London. I thought, 'Okay, nobody knows anything in this business." — Steve Cavanagh  Steve Cavanagh is the multi-million bestselling author of the Eddie Fl...

"Everything that I do between directing, acting, producing, being an author… it's all storytelling. And that's the one piece of confidence that I've always had clarity on. I'm a storyteller." — Eriq La Salle  Actor, director, producer, and masterful storyteller Eriq La Salle is best known to worldwide television audiences for his award-winning portrayal of Dr. Peter B...

"Anyone who's ever taught writing has said it wasn't the young 'genius' in the room who ended up making it as a writer... It's about stamina. It's about becoming really good at learning—an autodidact who's like, 'I'm just going to keep learning. I'm going to figure out how to do this." — Andromeda Romano-Lax  Andromeda Romano-Lax worked a...

"A lot of it is learning to trust your reader too. I feel like I'm tempted to do a lot of handholding when I write... and you have to go through with a red pen after and say, 'Okay, what is really not needed? What can the reader figure out on their own?' ... You're not writing books for idiots, so don't act like they're idiots." — Corinne Sullivan  Corinne S...

"The mom guilt—you hit the nail on the head. I’m like, 'Sorry guys, mommy’s writing a murder chapter right now, somebody’s getting murdered.' But at the end of the day, writing is a passion... and it makes me a better mom." — Rachael Ramas  Rachael Ramas is a multi-faceted storytelling force whose creative pursuits span novels, screenwriting, and film production. As both a publ...

"I don't like when violence is trivialized in any genre... someone's dead, like the little jokes or the puns or the whatever, it doesn't work for me... I can't buy into that atmosphere. There has to be… it's not even a ripple effect. It's a freaking tsunami when there's a violent death. So let the storm come, you know, I want to see it. I want to feel it.&qu...

"I remember rereading it and being like, 'This is what I have been looking for... through all of these jobs and career to careers, that thing that brings me happiness on a day-to-day level.' And also that macro level satisfaction of like, ‘I'm kind of proud of what I created,’ you know? It's those two levels that I think are really, really hard to find. And I think it&apos...

"Since so many thrillers are based around some kind of crime—which is a break in our social order—it is the perfect vehicle to explore the human condition... Thrillers and crime fiction really allow for an under the microscope, us looking at what happens when the social order breaks down." — Lauren Nossett  Lauren Nossett is a professor turned novelist and the award-winning author of the...

"Problem solving is done in the woods a lot of times for me... or doing dishes, you'll have an aha moment, right? It's the magic—you can't beat it into fruition... magically, it just shows itself. It's quite fun." — Katrina Denza  Katrina Denza’s stories have appeared in Nelle, Slippery Elm, and Jabberwock Review, among other places. Her work has received a scholarshi...

"Tenacity is essential. Bullheadedness is essential. You have to be really, really stubborn about it... You have to stick in there until your shot comes up. That's all it is." — Tracy Clark Tracy Clark is the author of the award-winning Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series and the Detective Harriet Foster series, featuring Harriet Foster. A multi-nominated Anthony, Lefty, Macavity, Ed...

“I learned a very important lesson from Janet Ivanovich. She said I want readers to forget they’re reading. I want them to be so lost in what they’re doing… they forget there’s a page. You want the writing to disappear… I want them to get sucked into just being lost in the book.”   Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee and the #1 New York Times bestselling author...

"I loved it... Cosmo was a fabulous job in every sense of the word. It was like being on a television show everyday... but I could start to see, wow, this is all collapsing... I'd already written eight of my thrillers and mysteries while I was at Cosmo. I thought I'm going to get out while I still have the chance." — Kate White  Kate White is the New York Times and USA Today be...

"I’ve really been able to lean into that Southern Gothic with a touch of horror... It’s that concept of… is it a ghost or is it the guy? There is always that element in my books. Is it real, is it not real, is it an unreliable narrator having psychosis or is it truly something supernatural?" — Emily Carpenter  Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes...

“Writing is so personal. And when you're writing a character, things come out that I know most writers, including myself, are unaware of when they're writing it... they're writing about things you're trying to work out. It's so deeply personal if you're writing honestly.” — Jeffrey James Higgins  Jeffrey James Higgins is a retired supervisory special agent who writes...

“Almost anytime somebody gives you a generalization, there's about 17 other examples that break that rule. Some of the greatest books of all time break those rules.” — Dan Miller  Daniel G. Miller is the USA Today bestselling author of the Orphanage By The Lake mystery-thriller series and the Tree of Knowledge adventure series. His books have been described as "irresistible" by thri...

“I think that when you don't have an abundance of time, you cherish the time you have more. So that goes for my kids and for writing. I take it very seriously and I do cherish it. It doesn't feel like a job. It doesn't feel like work… But then the same with them, because I'm getting pulled in two different directions. I cherish the time when I can just focus on them more. I thi...

“I think people think that the first publishing contract is a windfall... But for most of us, it's the beginning of the story. All it is, is an open door to the writing life. And if you want to succeed... you're going to roll up your sleeves and get to work like everybody else who wants to do anything well in this life.” — Lisa Unger  Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally...

“What I noticed was that I started writing stories and just doing things like, ‘oh, wait, when I write, I don't need other guys. And I don't need a sound man. And I don't need a stage. And I don't need gear.’ It was so nice to be able to make something without all the crap associated with it.” — Michael Kardos  Michael Kardos is the author of the novels Fun City Heist , Bluff,...

“What I’ve always been really focused on is trying to figure out what is it in any book—and it's different in different genres—that makes you keep turning the page. That's always been my goal: to get people to keep turning.” — Amy Meyerson  Amy Meyerson is the acclaimed author of the internationally bestselling books The Bookshop of Yesterdays, The Imperfects , and The Love Scribe . Her...