Surrounded by shelves of fiction and nonfiction books arranged to look like a well-stocked home library, two well-known, highly acclaimed mystery writers – Hank Phillippi Ryan and Joseph Finder – engaged in an hour-long discussion about the way they create their gripping, widely read novels. About thirty people – some of them authors – were their audience and were invited to join in the discussion. Newtonville Books, in Newton Center, sponsored the event to mark the release of One Wrong Word, the fifteenth thriller by Newton resident and WHDH investigative reporter, Hank Phillippi Ryan. Her colleague, Joseph Finder, a Back Bay resident, is creator of the Nick Teller series. Two of his mysteries — Paranoia and High High Crimes – became successful movies.
Ms. Ryan told her audience she wants her books to be so gripping that readers “miss their T stops.” One Wrong Word has three principal female characters, each with an imperative agenda involving “gaslighting and mind-manipulation,” the author favors in telling her stories. The title was suggested by a fictional character in one of her previous books, she said. Mr. Finder noted there are “so many twists in your book.” Although her book is not based on her life, it developed from an incident with a would-be employer early in her career. Underlying this “cat-and-mouse” thriller is the author’s message to be courageous, “to live without fear.” Women have to decide whether to be a victim or take back their lives and be triumphant, she said.
An Indianapolis native, Ms. Ryan is in her early seventies and started writing when she was fifty-five and an established television reporter – a career she started in 1976. She told Mr. Finder that she does not base her books on her career as a reporter, but as a reporter, she is always exploring “the real truth.” At the same time all her books – One Wrong Word is her fifteenth – are Boston-based. Each book teaches her something. “I know I am fifteen books better than the first,” she told Mr. Finder. She has won many awards for her mysteries and 37 Emmys for her television work.
She explained that she does not develop a story outline when she begins a new book, but she has a clear picture of “the last frame.” For every character, she asks, “what does this character want and what will he or she do to get it?” She begins her novels by writing the first chapter and then develops the story from that point. Some days she works so fast she does not remember what she has written, and some days she thinks she has written “the worst sentence ever written.” Both writers said that when they are stuck, taking a break works. Mr. Finder said that in such situations, he goes to bed and often wakes up with the answer.
Mr. Finder, sixty-five, is a New York Times best-selling writer. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale and studied at Harvard’s Russian Research Center, planning an academic career in Russian studies. He was recruited by the CIA but decided to abandon Russian studies and life as a spy, choosing instead to write fiction and nonfiction books, some influenced by his comprehensive knowledge of Russia. Unlike Ms. Ryan, he does use what he describes as a “macro outline,” and keeps a compendium of plots and details from his Nick Teller series to be sure that there are no factual lapses in subsequent stories. He observed that both publishers and people love series characters. Although he writes spy-thrillers, his series character cannot die, he explained.
Ms. Ryan told the audience that she has completed her sixteenth book, which will be released next year. Mr. Finder’s fifteenth book, The Oligarch’s Daughter, will also be published next year.
Ms. Ryan asked the program organizer, Jean Stehle, to recommend a local bakery because she wanted to offer guests cookies and champagne. Ms. Stehle, who is a librarian at the Oak Hill Middle School, turned to Give A Cake Bakery, run by Newton South High School student Julia Conroy with the help of Sofia Kekalainen and others. They baked delicious heart-shaped cookies for the event. (Give a Cake partners with local philanthropic and community groups to provide cakes for underserved residents. Fig City News will feature the volunteer enterprise next week.
