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When Harlan Coben was a kid growing up in Livingston, New Jersey —a suburb outside Newark with mid-century colonial homes and tree-lined streets—he was engrossed by two suburban legends.
One was that a house nearby, marked by two stone lions and a vegetable garden out front, was the home of Richie “the Boot” Boiardo, a Mafia boss. Behind the home, children chattered, was a furnace where Boiardo burned bodies and “people disappeared.”
The second tale was that behind Riker Hill Elementary School, beyond the barbed wire fences and no trespassing sign, was a secret nuclear missile base.
“When I grew up,” Coben says, “I found out both were true.”
It was a great plot twist, he recounts.
“All life is plot twists,” he says.
These stories, and so many more from his own life, inspired the characters, plots, secrets and twists that have made his 36 published books (ten of them New York Times bestsellers) suspenseful reads.
He revisits them in his new memoir and writing craft book “Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft: A Memoir on Writing,” which hit shelves September 8.
The nonfiction book (a new style for Coben) interweaves narratives from his own life with lessons he’s absorbed about writing throughout his nearly four-decade-long career—one that has resulted in more than 100 million books in print and a deal with Netflix to produce 14 Harlan Coben branded films and series around the globe.
He will be discussing his new book with Atlanta’s own mystery maven, Karin Slaughter, on stage Thursday night from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA) in Dunwoody. The conversation is a kickoff event for the 35th annual MJCCA Book Festival coming up November 1-22.
The fact that Coben has written a book like “Plot Twist” at all, he says, is a twist.
“I have sort of been the guy who thought I would never write a memoir or a writing guide,” he says. “This is kind of both.”
Though he didn’t know it at the time, the idea for the book was seeded when Coben started jotting down an outline to teach a masterclass on writing thrillers for BBC’s Maestro program. He describes the experience as attempting to reverse engineer the ingredients he’s spent a lifetime cooking together.
“What actually surprised me about the experience was how much I learned from trying to figure out how I do it,” he said.
The BBC Maestro course ended up being 23 lessons, including segments on research, plot, characters, dialogue, pacing, atmosphere and inspiration. Much of that content appears in “Plot Twist.” However, when he decided to turn the course into a book, it also morphed into a memoir.
“What I realized when I did this was that it’s all, every part of it, is memoir,” he says. For Coben, the writing life—or more broadly, the creative life—is a way of life.
“I hope that it’s a writer’s guide. But it’s more, I think,” he says. “I’m hoping it’s more of a creative or artistic guide. I think that being creative in your own life is just a healthy way to live. It gives you empathy and adds a little more color and texture … I really want to inspire you to be creative in your own life.”
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In the book Coben shares his learned wisdom, but he also dismantles what he sees as nonsensical, overly-repeated writing rules. He tears down several, including the notion that every character must have a clear arc of change, that a three-act structure is essential, and that plot and character should be taught as separate disciplines.
“It’s really not the way to teach,” he says. “Everything has to do with everything else.”
He dissects the process of writing, his “GPS theory” (that if you punch in your ending, you can wander off-route with confidence knowing a gentle voice will steer you back) and explores writing routines (which, for him, change frequently — he’s written from the backseat of Ubers, café tables, and even a six-month stint behind a deli counter). His rule: “Does it help me produce pages? Good. Does it not? Bad.”
Throughout the book, Coben tries remains conversational.
“I really try very hard to be authentic,” he says. “I think that was almost more important than the lessons.”
Tickets to the Harlan Coben and Karin Slaughter discussion are $46.50 and include entry to the event and a copy of “Plot Twist.” Tickets can be purchased online at here.
