Will we see more of Dismas Hardy in the future?

I’ve received this question a lot recently, and would like to let you all know that the answer is YES!

The book I’m writing now – as yet untitled – is a Hardy/Glitsky courtroom drama, in the vein of The 13^th Juror or A Plague of Secrets.

I really enjoyed this photo from Twitter user j0hnnymac of his “collection”:

Do you have a Lescroart-nook on your bookshelf? I’d love to hear about it!

You can follow me on Twitter and send more fan photos here!

Have you ever wondered where Diz likes to eat? In no particular order, I would consider below the Top Ten San Francisco restaurant favorite haunts of Dismas Hardy.

1. Sam’s Grill

2. Original Joe’s

3. Café des Amis

4. The Zuni Café

5. Prospect

6. Gaspari’s Pizza

7. Fior d’Italia

8. A-16

9. Venticello

10. Swan Oyster Depot

Of course, no list of Hardy hangouts would be complete with including The Little Shamrock, which is a bar and not a restaurant. But highly recommended all the same.

Enjoy!

Those of you following my Matrix for Teaching Writing might be interested in this list of grammatically incorrect grammar rules!

1. Remember to never split an infinitive.
2. A preposition is something never to end a sentence with.
3. The passive voice should never be used.
4. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
5. Don’t use no double negatives.
   See the rest of the list here!

Narrative Voice

From here, our writing matrix moves into a slightly different realm.  While most of the earlier matrix points concerned things to avoid — the passive voice, exposition, redundance, etc. — this next point is neutral, but that does not mean that it’s unimportant.  In fact, it may be the most important decision you make about any writing project you undertake.

Most of us know or should know that there are three possible “voices”:  the first person, where the narrator is “I”; the second person (the least common narrative voice), where the narrator directly addresses the reader as “you”; and the third person, where the narrator uses “he,” “she” or “it.”  All of these can be and have been used to great effect — even, very occasionally, within the same book! Let us discuss them each in turn:

The first person tends to be very immediate, urgent, and personal.  All of these are positives.  Less positive is that in this voice, the point of view is by necessity limited.  When the narrator is “I”, the reader can only become privy to what the narrator has seen or learned him/herself. We always see through the eyes of the narrator and this, of course, is good for hiding secrets that may be just out of the narrator’s view.  It’s not so good at hiding a narrator’s thoughts.  Some of the greatest books ever written have been in the first person.  However, for most beginning writers, the first person is a dangerous choice.  Why is this?  Because there is a natural tendency for inexperienced writers to equate, or at least mix up, the “I” of the narrator with the “I” of the author.  It is essential when telling a story — unless it’s a memoir, of course — to create characters who are real in their own right, and not some thinly disguised amalgam of the author.  So unless you’ve got a very clear idea of your main character as a unique personality, you might find it easier to inhabit that person’s soul by referring to him/her objectively, i.e. in the third person and not the first.

The second person is frankly a bit quirky and sometimes tiring as a literary device.  That said, it was groundbreaking a few decades ago in Jay McInerney’s “Bright Lights, Big City,” and that book spawned more than a few offspring.  In the second person, the author is always talking at the reader.  It has its uses and can be effective, especially in short takes, but again, for the beginning writer, it is slippery to get a hold of and perhaps a bit precious.

The real workhorse for the written word is the third person.  This is the one that can give you objectivity, multiple points of view, clarity in terms of character building and physical description.  It is the lingua franca of a great deal of fiction and almost all non-fiction — again, with the exception of memoir,”gonzo journalism,” cookbooks, etc.  Once you have mastered the third person — no easy feat — I urge you to go on and experiment with the other two options.  But master this one first and you’ll be glad you did.

But whatever voice you’re using, I have an analogy I like to use.  The narrator of a story has to use a clear and pleasing voice that figuratively takes hold of the hand and heart and leads the reader into the story.  The reader should feel comfortable with the vocabulary, the sensibility and the reliability of the author from the very first words.  That is one of the reasons why first sentences are so important — they introduce you the author as the possessor of a voice that we’re going to want to “listen to” during the course of the whole book. You, the author, want that voice to sing, to transport.  It is really in many ways like a singing voice.  And this is why as you start to write, you must give a great deal of thought, energy, and practice to your clarity, your tone, your point of view . . . in short, to your “narrative voice.”

I was recently interviewed by Rick Klefel for The Agony Column, broadcast on KQED last weekend. You can listen to the interview by clicking here, or download the podcast by clicking here.

THANKS TO ALL OF MY FANS FOR HELPING TO MAKE “THE HUNTER” MY FIFTEENTH NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.

THE HUNTER debuts next Sunday tied for #15 on the NY Times List, and this is against some of the toughest competition I’ve seen in my entire career.

You are all the best fans an author could want, and you have my undying gratitude.

John Lescroart

THE HUNTER is now available!

I’m hoping that you will all help turn THE HUNTER into my 15th New York Times bestseller, and DAMAGE into a paperback bestseller. Both books come out on sale today, January 3, 2012. In order to help you help me make “the list,” I’d like to urge all of you die-hard fans to consider going to your favorite book-buying venue, an independent bookseller, or one of the on-line stores (links below) and order the book TODAY. For bestseller list purposes, the first week is the most important! Word of mouth continues to be the most effective marketing tool there is in the book business – and so I’d urge you, if you like my books – and I think you’ll love THE HUNTER — please mention them to your family, friends, and acquaintances. I’d very much appreciate it.

“The third Wyatt Hunt mystery is also, by far, the best.”
— David Pitt, Booklist

“This book succeeds on every level- as a mystery, as a thriller, and as an exploration of its appealing hero.”
— Publishers Weekly

Order THE HUNTER, in hardcover or audio editions:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Book Passage
Books-A-Million
IndieBound

Read about THE HUNTER here:
Booklist
Publishers Weekly 

I’ll be going on a short tour to help promote THE HUNTER, and if I’m going to be anywhere near your neighborhood, please stop by and say hello. Check out the tour schedule here!

Thanks so much for your continued support!

-John

I was recently interviewed by suspense writer Russell Blake as part of his Author Spotlight series.

Russell Blake: Your legacy of work is one of the most impressive out there. Where do you get your ideas from, and what’s your process for moving them from idea stage to where you’re actually writing?

JL:  Right now I’m in the throes of “getting an idea” for my next (2013) book, and I must say that the challenge never stops.  Because really, what’s needed is not just an idea, but a great idea, a concept that can carry your characters through 400 pages of compelling action and development.  If there were a secret to getting that idea, I’d tell you what it was, but I’m afraid that for me, at least, ideas “come” as I’m writing scenes and pages.  And the one, big idea that I’m waiting for – at least for the very next book – is proving elusive at the moment.  I’m sure it’s out there, and I’m sure it will arrive before I reach utter despair, but it is a difficult time.  As to the process moving from the idea to the actual writing, that’s much easier.  Once I’ve got a general idea of what the book is about, I just sit down and start writing scenes and having fun.

Read the rest of the interview here!

J. Sydney Jones, author of the acclaimed “Viennese Mystery” series, recently interviewed me about the San Francisco setting of my novels. You can read the whole interview on his blog Scene of the Crime, which focuses on mysteries and thrillers with spirit of place.

A brief taste:

John, it’s great to finally have you on Scene of the Crime. Let’s start things off with a discussion of your own crime scene. What’s your connection to San Francisco?

San Francisco has always been a special place for me. Growing up on the San Francisco peninsula, I always looked to the city as the location where everything important seemed to happen. I attended college there for a year, and have lived there on four separate occasions, always driven out by the weather. In spite of that, my wife and I are fortunate to have a pied-a-terre now on Russian Hill, and we try to get down there at least a few times each month.

Check out the rest of the interview here!