PAST COFFEE CHATS Tess Gerritsen Sandra Brown Jennifer Apodaca Lorenzo Carcaterra MJ Rose Peter Abrahams Nancy Cohen Janet Evanovich Martha Lawrence Evan Hunter/Ed McBain William Lashner Lisa Gardner Gillian Roberts Clive Cussler Carol Higgins ClarkDavid BaldacciLawrence Block Stella Cameron Sara Paretsky Stuart Kaminsky Stephen Coonts Nelson DeMille Stephen White Nevada Barr Jerry B. Jenkins Michael Connelly Stuart Woods John Saul Lisa Scottoline Barbara Delinsky Gayle Lynds Brad Meltzer Jeffery Deaver Perri O'Shaughnessy James W. Hall John Katzenbach Steve Martini Sidney Sheldon Earl Emerson James Grippando D.W. Buffa Anne Perry Jayne Anne Krentz Rochelle Krich Melissa Senate James Lee Burke Rick Layman Robert Crais Kevin Young

Author Phillip Margolin Rob Holden: Phillip Margolin, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you with us here today! Phillip Margolin: Thanks for having me. This is the first time I've done an on-line chat and I'm looking forward to it. Rob Holden: I would like to start this chat off with your latest novel, Lost Lake. Can you tell our readers a bit about it. Phillip Margolin: The book takes place initially on two coasts. In Washington, D.C. we meet Vanessa Kohler, an ex-mental patient who is a reporter for a supermarket tabloid that reports alien abductions. She works for Exposed because no reputable newspaper will hire her. Vanessa is obsessed with proving that her father, Morris Wingate, a presidential candidate, was the head of a secret operation during Vietnam and after that conducted all sorts of criminal activities. The problem is that she also claims that he was involved in JFK's assassination and she has no proof. Meanwhile, in Oregon, Ami Vergano, a single mother and attorney rents an apartment to Daniel Morelli, an itinerant carpenter, who takes a liking to Ami's young son, ten year old Ryan, who plays Little League baseball. Something goes horribly wrong at one of Ryan's Little League games and Morelli is arrested for attempted murder. In Washington, D.C. Vanessa see a clip about the Little League massacre on the TV news containing a picture of Morelli. She believes that he is the key to proving that her theories about her father are not paranoid delusions. The problem for the reader is to decide whether Vanessa and Morelli are telling the truth or if they're both crazy, and you don't find out until the very end of the book. Rob Holden: Which is actually what makes the book so much fun! I would like to talk about Vanessa for a moment. She is such a unique and complicated character -- did she present any particular difficulties for you as a writer? Phillip Margolin: I really enjoyed creating Vanessa. The trick was presenting a person who has obvious mental problems in a way that the reader doesn't know whether anything she says is the truth. I think she makes the book work because she has such frenetic energy because of her paranoid personality. Rob Holden: She is very clearly drawn, and quite believable as a character. Did you need to do much research into her personality type to get her "right"?

Phillip Margolin: No, I just made her up as I went along.

Rob Holden: I would like to move back a book now to Sleeping Beauty -- which I believe is due out in paperback soon. Can you tell our readers a bit about that novel?

Phillip Margolin: I love Sleeping Beauty, which is out in paperback right now. The really neat thing about the book is that it takes place in one hour in a bookstore where an author of a true crime thriller, Sleeping Beauty, is doing a reading and signing. The book in my book is an account of an attack on the author's sister by a serial killer that put the sister in a coma (thus the title) and the plight of Ashley Spencer, a high school soccer star, whose parents are also victims of the killer. The book goes back and forth in time and has a lot of action. There's a murder trial and Ashley is on the run as she tries to outwit the killer.

Rob Holden: One of the very unique things about Sleeping Beautyi IS the fact that it takes place in such a short period of time. Did that present any special difficulties for you?

Phillip Margolin: The hard part was moving the reader from the bookstore back in time and then back to the store smoothly. I work from an extensive outline so I worked most of the mechanics out before I started writing.

Natalie R. Collins: The cover of Sleeping Beauty is one of the best I've ever seen. Do you have a lot of input on your covers?

Phillip Margolin: Thanks. HarperCollins put a lot of effort into the hardcover and paperback covers. I agree. They're both terrific. The people at Harper do consult with me about the covers. They send me mockups and ask for comments. I don't have a degree in art or advertising, though, so I always leave the final decision up to the marketing people.

Rob Holden: I'd like to talk about your career prior to you becoming a writer full time for a moment. Like many writers in your genre, I believe you were a lawyer?

Phillip Margolin: I practiced criminal defense in Oregon for twenty five years and had a very exciting practice. I handled thirty homicide cases, including twelve death penalty cases, I argued at the US and Oregon Supreme Courts and was involved with a lot of high profile cases.

Rob Holden: A question we ask virtually all the lawyers-turned-writers we have chatted with is to what extent you feel your career in the law has effected your work as a writer, and how has it done so?

Phillip Margolin: Being a lawyer helps me as a writer in many ways. The most obvious way is that it gives me material for my novels. For instance, The Burning Man, my fifth novel, was based on a murder case I handled in the mid-eighties. Less obvious is the benefit my legal training is in editing. Lawyers are trained to look at problems objectively and unemotionally. If you want to be a good writer you can't have any ego involvement in your work. My legal training helps me to read my drafts with a very critical eye and assists me in getting rid of really good writing if it's hurting the book and helps me recognize bad writing so I can junk it.

Rob Holden: Since we announced this chat, we have received a number of questions from our readers. Would you answer a few of them for us now?

Phillip Margolin: I am completely self taught so I always wished I had a chance to ask questions of a published author. Fire away. I love answering questions about writing.

Natalie R. Collins: Martin Q., Redmond, WA: You didn't write your first story until later in life, and you say on your Web site that you are self taught. What drove you to write that first story, and when you were finished, what kept you going?

Phillip Margolin: I started writing because I could not figure out how anyone could fill up 400 pages with words. In my last semester in law school I started writing a novel just to see if I could write something more than 25 pages long. I finished the book two years later and found out that I really liked writing, even if I wasn't very good at it.

Natalie R. Collins: Alison R., Rincon, GA: Do you have a favorite out of your books, and if so, which one is it and why?

Phillip Margolin: Gone But Not Forgotten is my favorite for several reasons. It was my break through book -- my first best seller. Second, to my delight, it scares the hell out of people. Three, the heroine, Betsy Tannenbaum, is modeled after my wife.

Natalie R. Collins: Kevin P., Deer Park, TX: Which do you like writing more? Short fiction or long fiction?

Phillip Margolin: Definitely long fiction. I have a tough time with short stories and have only written three of them. I find short stories too limiting. Whenever I get an idea for a short story I want to turn it into a novel so I can develop the plot and characters.

Natalie R. Collins: Alex P., New York, NY: Can you tell me more about the filming of one of my favorite books written by you, Gone but Not Forgotten. Was that a good or bad experience? Where can I see the filmed version?

Phillip Margolin: I've had two books made into movies. I was very involved in The Last Innocent Man, and even had a part. It was filmed in Portland and I was consulted about legal matters and took part in some story conferences. I had no involvement with the filming of Gone. The producer is very nice and he sent me the script but the mini-series was filmed in Sacramento. The good news is that I've seen the four hour mini-series and they did a good job with the material. I don't know where or when it will be shown yet, but I will post the information on my website as soon as I find out.

Rob Holden: And our final reader question ....

Natalie R. Collins: Nicholle R., Park City, UT: If you had your life to live over again, would you have started writing earlier? Or do you believe you would still have become a lawyer, and practiced law?

Phillip Margolin: I published my first two books between 1978 and 1981 and then had a 12 year gap before writing Gone But Not Forgotten, my first best seller. I have always been very grateful that I did not hit it big in my thirties when I started writing because the money I make as a best selling author would have made it very tempting to give up my law practice. Instead I've had the best of both worlds -- an extremely exciting and rewarding career as a lawyer and an equally rewarding and exciting career as a writer.

Rob Holden: Thank you for answering those. One of the questions our readers who are also writers like us to ask our guests is about their work habits and schedules. Do you try for a page/word count per day? Do you write at specific times, etc?

Phillip Margolin: I have an office in my house but I write in my downtown law office on weekdays. I get into the office at seven in the morning and write until eleven. Then I work out. After lunch I do more work. I usually quit between three and four because I get tired. I don't have any word limit. Four pages is a good day's work. When I edit my manuscript I usually work at home where there are no interruptions.

Rob Holden: So, what is next -- book wise -- for Phillip Margolin?

Phillip Margolin: I'm already 130 pages into my next novel. It's about an evil forensic expert and I'm bringing back Amanda and Frank Jaffe, who starred in Wild Justice and Ties That Bind.

Rob Holden: And your fans can keep up to date on the progress of that -- as well as the rest of your career at your website. Can you give us the address?

Phillip Margolin: www.phillipmargolin.com

Rob Holden: Finally Phillip -- what would you like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?

Phillip Margolin: I honestly never thought I'd ever publish any work of fiction when I started. Even after I was published it never occurred to me that someday I would be the author of eleven bestsellers. So I really appreciate how lucky I am and I doubly appreciate the fact that people actually read my books and like them. The whole thing is like living a fantasy. For those people who read this and are trying to write but are un-published, I advise you to not give up no matter how many rejections you get. Writing is loads of fun and it makes a great hobby. Being published is just gravy.

Rob Holden: Phillip Margolin, thank you for joining us here today, and best of luck with Lost Lake, and all your future works!

Phillip Margolin: This has been great fun. Thanks for having me on.




Copyright 2004 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.