There is nothing unusual about this title. Lawyers have been writing crime novels for quite a long time.
Legal/thriller is a unique genre that has been around longer than most of us realize. Legal thrillers can be traced as far back as the 15th century, of course in a very different format. For a very interesting, and detailed article on the complete history of the legal thriller; please see http://bryceconner.com/node/4 this article refers to Grisham as the "Modern King of Legal/Thrillers.
I am certain that many of the popular legal/thrillers published before my time were bestsellers. I love reading books that were popular before I could even read. A classic will never become a non-classic.
The first book of this unique literary genre, that I personally remember making such an impact is Scott Turrow's "Presumed Innocent" It was 1987, the year I graduated college and entered Law school. This was the first book that I was so captivated by that I finished it with few breaks and no sleep in one straight read of about 48 hours.
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The saying goes something like this, "write what you know." Before I began this post I read through hundreds of blogs and read many remarks made by fellow writers... some opined that (and I am para-phrasing) most lawyers who write legal thrillers are looking for a way out of their mundane , careers as lawyers , tired of fighting everyday for that one big case in an area that has too many lawyers and not enough clients to go around.
I enjoy practicing law. I intend to continue for a very long time, with or without becoming a published author... I also read in one of the 100+ blogs, that the reason so many lawyers want to be crime fiction writers is to join the likes of John Grisham in an overnight plight for success in our elaborate get rich quick scheme.
O.K. Like that's ever going to happen? That is the most ludicrous reason I have ever heard or read for why lawyers like to write legal thrillers. We go to bed one night & think, you know what, I am going to quit my job write a really cool book and become famous like so and so and so and so.
Yeah, that and pigs fly, hell freezes over and the Saints go to the Super Bowl- oops, guess I can't use that one anymore. Who Dat.
Let's see. I'm still in the pre published stage of a writing career. In fact I am pretty much pre-everything as a writer. Pre-agent, pre-editor, pre-publisher-pre book deal, .pre platform. About the only thing I have completed in what I know is a long journey ahead of me is a first and almost completed second draft of a legal thriller. So using the proverbial Scales of Justice to weigh my options: I have on one side of the balancing scale
- My law degree 1. A lot of How to books
- Licensed in two states 2. few on-line courses
- 20+ years experience 3. Years of writing
- Successful Trial Stats 4. A lot of legal/thriller ideas
- Knowledge of law
- Resources
- Tools
- Reputation 5. One completed manuscript
- Good will
- Job
- Office
- Paying clients
- INCOME
Yea! I am going to leap from one over saturated market (attorneys) that continues to grow more competitive each day.
Into another over saturated market (writers) who hope to become published in a field that grows more competitive each day.
No, I'm not giving up my day job. I'm not foolish enough to believe that can go from zero to hero overnight. Likewise, I am not naïve enough to believe that my first book is going to be the one in a million of the masses to break out and become an overnight best seller. Book me on Oprah now—I may be too hard to get later, (kidding)
I know that my skill and success rate as a trial attorney come from putting in my time; years and years of trial and error, and learning form the best attorneys any chance I get . I never miss an opportunity to go to the courthouse, anywhere in the state when one of my mentors is trying a case.
As a lawyer, what do I bring to the novel/publishing arena?
I bring what any good attorney can bring, I have a good idea for a story, and another, and another… You don't have to be a lawyer to have an imagination.
As Grisham "the king of modern legal/thrillers" said when asked why he thought so many lawyers are writing thriller books, "We have so many interesting and surreal stories to tell." I am assuming every writer who struggles through this process, has a story to tell. That is just the beginning.
Trial lawyers, no all lawyers, but Trial Lawyers are often compared to actors.
It's true. When we are in a jury trial, all the world's a stage, or at least the 12 people sitting in the jury box.
I personally view each trial as something similar to acting or writing
I need to "show" not tell –a story in the most interesting and dramatic way I can. I show the jury what happened, through my cast of characters, my witnesses as they take the witness stand.I am the narrator.
If I don't' hook themvery early, if I don't keep pace with suspense, action and dialogue
And more dialogue and more suspense and more drama and CONFLICT
I risk losing them in the middle
I have to know what I want the outcome of my story to be. I can't convince the jury to give me my outcome, which it is the right thing to do, if I don't know what that is. I may not always know in the beginning how I am going to get to the end, but I always know what I want for my characters in the end.
As the trial unfolds, witnesses testify different than you expected them to, surprise witness are thrown at you form the opponent. A multitude of variables can and will affect how I present my story in my effort to get the ending I want.
It is the same when I am writing a novel, a legal thriller. I may not know how I am going to get from my opening hook to the climatic closing, but I know how I want it to end. I have to stay alert, just like in court-for mystery witnesses, witnesses doing or saying something out of character, or my protagonist doing something I didn't expect. I have to be able to grab the wheel and navigate the story to its best ending.
I told you, I am a lawyer who wants to be a legal/thriller author.
Do you have to be a lawyer to write a good legal/thriller? Of course not. You, do however have to research the law and become more than simply "familiar" with the law, police policy and procedure and forensics. That is if you want your cast and plot to be believable.
How can you best utilize the prosecutor, Judge, Jury, defense attorneys, police, crime lab personnel and the coroners office to help you write a KICK ASS legal or medical thriller.???????
Stay tuned. Find out this week, the week of February 1st.
