Connor Sullivan
Wolf Trap
DOSSIER: When we kept running into each other at ThrillerFest in New York last year, you told me you were doing research for book three and that it was going to take place in the very hotel where we were staying. What can you tell The Dossier about how that worked out? You didn’t get detained on the roof or anything fun like that, did you?
SULLIVAN: Yes, my third book takes place mostly in New York City, and there is a massive set piece in the middle of the book that happens in the Sheraton Times Square and then spills out onto 7th Ave. It was great fun researching those scenes, I basically just started walking into the bowels of the hotel and was surprised how easy it was to get in or out. Surprisingly, no one stopped me or even questioned what I was doing.
DOSSIER: Give us an idea about how your research goes. SLEEPING BEAR (a Dossier favorite) had to do with an amazing story about a female in the Alaskan wilderness. Did you get much kickback about a male writing a female lead, and … how crazy were all those wild animals in Alaska?
SULLIVAN: I love to research and I believe that deep research can make a novel great. But it can be a double edged sword. Sometimes I find myself researching too much and not doing the actual writing, so it can turn into a form of procrastination. Eventually, I just have to put the research down and do what really matters, and that’s writing.To answer your other question about a male writing a female character, no, I didn’t receive much kickback on the Cassie Gale character. She’s based off of a lot of women I grew up around here in Montana. I just meshed a few of their personalities/attributes together to create the character.
DOSSIER: What’s your writing environment like? Do you need music, silence, that beautiful mountain view you enjoy so much?
SULLIVAN: My writing environment can change a lot, but when I’m really hammering I need to be in a closed, quiet room without a view or without any distractions. Sometimes music, sometimes total silence. My phone and personal laptop are not allowed in the room with me when I’m writing. Just my work computer which has the internet, but has no access to any sort of social media/distractions. Other than being a professional writer, I am also a professional procrastinator, so I need to be very diligent about eliminating distractions and getting the work done. Last year I bought a little pager/door bell alarm thing that plugs into my office outlet. If my wife needs to pry me out of my writing cave, she has a button she can press downstairs that rings the bell in my office. It’s worked great so far.
DOSSIER: When James Patterson said: “…Remember the author’s name—Connor Sullivan,” what does something like that do to a guy publishing a debut thriller?
SULLIVAN: Yeah, that was crazy. When I received the ARC’s of SLEEPING BEAR and was looking for blurbs, I sent him an ARC and a handwritten note and sent it around Christmas time thinking he’d have some time to read it. I was honestly shocked when he did, and gave a blurb. He still keeps in touch once or twice a year and his advice has been invaluable.
DOSSIER: After SLEEPING BEAR, you said you were writing WOLF TRAP as the big thriller novel you’ve always wanted to write. How are you approaching RED FALCON now that you’re raising a newborn ghostwriter? (People can read chapter one when they get the paperback of WOLF TRAP, available now!)
SULLIVAN: Yes, I had WOLF TRAP in my head for years. I grew up reading and loving Vince Flynn, and I knew I always wanted to write a series in the same vein. So far, I’ve written all of my books differently. With SLEEPING BEAR, I must have written that thing 20 times over and over, trying to figure out how to write a novel. With WOLF TRAP, I had a year to write it. It’s a huge plot-driven book that required tons of research. I generally knew where the story was going but “pants-ed” most of it. With RED FALCON, which is a sequel to WOLF TRAP, I outlined the hell out of it. Then spent 4-5 months hammering out a first draft. That draft didn’t work at all, so I pretty much had to toss most of it and start again. My wife had our first child a few months back, so now I’m juggling re-writing RED FALCON, and also learning how to write without a schedule and with little sleep. It’s definitely a struggle but I’m figuring it out. Maybe in book four, I’ll actually figure out my writing process.
DOSSIER: Your epic publisher and editor, Emily Bestler, once told you during the edit process to cut some words. Then, she told you to go back and cut more. And then more. Do you now approach that first draft differently by writing less, or do you still get it all out on the page and then decide what stays and what goes?
SULLIVAN: Yes, Emily is the best! Can’t say enough great things about her. Not only is she a wonderful person but she’s an incredible editor. I like my earlier drafts to be a bit bulky just so I can get everything out. Then Emily steps in and starts shaving it down. Some of the best editing advice I ever received was: when you “think” you have a completed, shaved down manuscript, go in and take out a sentence (or a sentence worth of words) per page. It’s the best way to force yourself to trim the fat. I do it twice with each book. For both WOLF TRAP and SLEEPING BEAR, that technique allowed me to cut 15-20K words per book. And that was AFTER I thought the books were already trimmed down, and in their final stage.
DOSSIER: When it comes to big-name blurbs, (Jack Carr said your novel WOLF TRAP was “A must-read thriller from a brilliant new talent in the genre.”) what’s your suggestion to new writers about going after an established author? Is it all agent and publicist driven, or do you still go out and land your own blurbs?
SULLIVAN: It depends. Sometimes my agents take care of all that, but I’m a firm believer in the “old-school” handwritten letter. If I’m really trying to go for a big name author I will always send a handwritten letter. It’s more personal and it shows the author (who is most likely very busy) that you took the time to craft a handwritten letter. I also never ask directly for a blurb. I just tell them who I am, what the book is about, and how much I’d love for them to read it. Then I usually put a personal anecdote about how much I like their work, and how it has influenced me. I try to be as genuine as possible.
Website: Author Page | Amazon author page
Jeff Circle 