Do I need to be an attorney to write a good legal/thriller? No. Do I need to be an attorney to write a believable legal/thriller?
No. I answered that in my last blog on legal thrillers.
I apologize for my week long absence. Three of my kids attend year round school and were home all week on intercession. Between working full time as an attorney; writing a book, organizing a new writers group "The Shreveport Fiction Writers Group", taking care of kids and the house, time ran out for me in my 24 hour days.
The answer is no. Does an attorney have an advantage over a non attorney when writing a legal thriller? Sure. The bottom line: A good writer can write about anything.
Do your homework.
I recently finished reading a fantastic book. I read the 600 page biography of former Governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards. The book is written by Leo Honeycutt (not a lawyer). Who does an awesome job or portraying Edwards from his early life as the son of a sharecropper through his rise to stardom in La., until his ultimate fall via his conviction which sent him to prison?
My husband, also a lawyer and I both noticed many of the same legal errors and each of us found a few on our own. They did not add up to anything that deprecated the seriousness and truthfulness of the book. In fact, I surmise, a non lawyer may not have even noticed some of the less blatant errors.
I will share on example. Honeycutt wrote-while describing one of the U.S. Attorney's earlier unsuccessful attempt to charge Edwards as "The Grand jury returned a nolle prose" A Nolle Prosse is an accurate legal term, but was used improperly..
When the D.A. or the U.S. attorney consider charges alleged by the police for example, they can either file a bill of information or they can decline to prosecute. Once formal charges have been brought, either through the District Attorney-via a bill of information or by the grand jury via a "True Bill" the government can elect to drop the charges. This process is called entering a nolle prosse.
. The motion requests that the pending charges against the defendant be nolle prossed due to lack of sufficient evidence to prosecute. An order granting the motion is attached. Nolle prosequi is a Latin term meaning "we shall no longer prosecute". It is a declaration made by a prosecutor in a criminal case or by a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit either before or during trial, meaning the case against the defendant is being dropped. http://www.uslegalforms.com/la/LA-5409.htm
While the difference between a nolle prose and a "No true bill"~the correct term meaning that the Grand Jury did not find sufficient probable cause to formally charge a person, is minor-it is enough for a lawyer reading a book to take note of the incorrect legal terminology.
Below is my list of books or websites that are instrumental in writing a legal/thriller for a non attorney. Obviously, one need not attend law school, but a writer must learn the correct terminology and how the legal system and the judicial system work.
- http://www.lawandfiction.com/
- http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Killer-Guide-To-Writing-Crime-Fiction
- http://www.squidoo.com/writingcrimefiction
- Howdunit Forensics Guide for writers by Douglas P. Lyle, Md.
- The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives (Hardcover) by Otis Penzler
- http://inreferencetomurder.com/html/blogs.htmlIn stock.
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