WARNING! PLEASE READ ABOUT THIRD PARTY ADS: Authorlink encourages writers to thoroughly investigate third-party ads on this or any other site offering free and easy publishing help. We subscribe to the highest standards of the traditional publishing industry, and do not necessarily endorse any advertiser on our site. Also, Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site enabling display of ads based on user visits to our site and to others on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy. Authorlink guidelines, #7 includes more on our own policies
New York Times Bestselling Author
Encourages Other Writers to Go for It
an Exclusive Authorlink Interview with Lisa Scottoline
whose latest novel,
Killer Smile (HarperCollins, June 2004),
ranks #14 on
The New York Times bestseller list.
July 2004
Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline
Buy This Book via Amazon.com
Lisa Scottoline's 11th novel, KILLER SMILE, released by HarperCollins in June 2004, has been called her most serious and heartfelt book to date, ranking #14 on
THENEW YORK TIMES bestseller list at this writing.
Main character Mary DiNunzio is a Philadelphia lawyer who represents the estate of an Italian-American interned in a Montana camp during World War II. The immigrant subsequently commits suicide. Years later, Mary wants to know why he died so mysteriously and puts her own life at risk when she discovers that the suicide is really a murder.
Scottoline—in addition to her wit, legal acumen, and portrayal of smart, gutsy female attorneys—illuminates a little-known chapter of American history, the internment of 10,000 Italian-Americans and scores of other immigrants by the U.S. government during World War II. And she shares her own personal family history too, revealing that her real-life Italian grandfather was among the interned.
Here, Lisa talks about her career as a bestselling author, shares her thoughts on building suspense in a novel, and encourages others who want to write.
"The idea came
from a personal event."
—Scottoline AUTHORLINK: Where did you get the idea for
Killer Smile?
SCOTTOLINE: The idea came from a personal event. My dad had been diagnosed with cancer and knew he was passing away. He gave me three documents. The first was a cemetery deed, and the other two were enemy alien registration documents for my grandparents, Giuseppe and Mary Scottoline. I asked Dad what these documents meant. He explained that my grandparents were forced to register as enemy aliens during World War II. My Italian-born grandfather had never taken citizenship tests because he couldn't read. I later found that he had been interned in a camp by the U.S. government, one among 600,000 immigrants, including 10,000 Italian-born Americans. They had been evacuated from their homes and sent to the camps. My grandparents' house was searched. A radio and flashlight were taken away from them because the instruments potentially could be used to signal enemy ships. That was news to me! When I heard the family story, I knew this would be the basis for my next book.
AUTHORLINK: And copies of your grandparents' actual registration documents appear in the back of the book!
SCOTTOLINE: Yes, I was very pleased that my publisher, HarperCollins, let me include copies of their papers in the back of the book.
"More important for me is not
the number of copies sold, but
that people are reading what
I have written." —Scottoline AUTHORLINK: How does it feel to be a
New York Times bestselling author?
SCOTTOLINE: It feels lovely to be in the dues-paying category. This is my 11th book. I remember well when my first book,
Mistaken Identity, a paperback original, made it to #5 on
The Times list. As a personal matter, I had hoped and wished to make it to the list. More important for me, however, is not the number of copies sold, but that people are reading what I have written. It's especially exciting to be on the "reserve" list at libraries. What's magic is how my books connect with readers. Happily, my fan base grows each year.
AUTHORLINK: How did you go about building your readership?
SCOTTOLINE: A number of factors have been involved in building my readership. First, I try to write a wonderful book. I strive to think of the work through my reader's eyes. I ask myself whether this book is really worth my time and money to read? I have to be able to answer "yes" to the question.
Next, I have a wonderful editor, Carolyn Marino [vice president and executive editor at HarperCollins]. I also credit HarperCollins for their excellent marketing efforts. They are taking me on a 25-city tour, which I think really expands my presence—besides it's fun!
Another marketing factor is my website. I was among the first authors to have a website. Sue Grafton was another. I spend a lot of time, money, and energy thinking about my readers and trying to communicate with them. Many writers are readers too! The Internet is a nice way to connect with someone. People will open up more in an e-mail than they will at a signing. And the feedback my readers give is extremely important to me. Many people tell me they want to write. So I have even included FAQs for writers on my site.
All of these things together—the publisher's tour, the web, the e-mails—have helped to grow my presence as an author. The more I connect with people, the more my audience grows.
"I owe my career
as a writer to the local library." —Scottoline AUTHORLINK: How did you get into writing as a career?
SCOTTOLINE: I owe my career as a writer to the local library. I am a former trial lawyer. I received my law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, but I also majored in English and took courses in contemporary American novels. I had always wanted to write a book, but I really had no other formal training. As a single mom, completely broke, and having just finished my first novel, I couldn't afford to buy a
Writers' Market in order to find an agent. So I made notes from a copy in the local library and began sending queries to agents.
AUTHORLINK: And what was the response?
SCOTTOLINE: It took five years of rejections. I wrote a whole book that remains unpublished to this day. My favorite rejection letter was from an agent who said, "We don't have time to take on more clients, and if we did, we would not take you." But I kept trying. My second book got published. The first one never did.
AUTHORLINK: Will you ever go back and try to publish the first work?
SCOTTOLINE: I don't think so. I like what I am doing now, so I'll stick with the suspense/thriller category. I like the challenge of writing weighty scenes about justice, and love, and family in the context of a thriller.
"I write every day, all day,
seven days a week."
—Scottoline AUTHORLINK: What are your writing habits?
SCOTTOLINE: I write every day, all day, seven days a week. I start with an idea and I don't write an outline. I research as I go, asking myself what would logically happen next if I were in this situation.
AUTHORLINK: How do you build suspense, especially when writing from a single viewpoint?
SCOTTOLINE: That's a hard question. Writing from a single viewpoint is a tough way to build suspense. Dramatic tension is easier to accomplish in an omniscient viewpoint because you can switch back and forth between the good guy's head and the bad guy's head. For some dumb reason, I write in a single viewpoint. While it's tougher to build suspense that way, it's also more intimate. My books usually have some sort of a plot twist that works in the long run to heighten suspense, but the surprise has to grow out of the character and make sense.
AUTHORLINK: Are all of your books published with HarperCollins?
SCOTTOLINE: Yes, it has been a most successful relationship. When it comes to publishing, I suppose I'm the 'marrying kind.' I have been very happy with them. My agent, Molly Friedrich, has also been with me for a long time.
AUTHORLINK: Now that you have established a career as an author, will you ever return to the legal profession?
SCOTTOLINE: Probably not. I call myself a recovering lawyer. I am happily divorced, and have an 18-year-old daughter. I like the idea of staying at home as a writer and being with my daughter.
" People should be encouraged
to write the book that's
within them." —Scottoline AUTHORLINK: What advice can you offer to writers who are struggling to break into publishing?
SCOTTOLINE: People should be encouraged to write the book that's within them. "Just Do It," as Nike says. It's a slogan I live by. Go for it! Remember, every published writer was unpublished at some point. Many writers have an unpublished book at home in the drawer. I'm one of them! It's hard to get published. But don't forget, publishers need writers. People play the lottery every day against a lot worse odds. So, do it.
—Doris Booth
