Mark Greaney
The Chaos Agent
DOSSIER: When your editor Tom Colgan was asked at ThrillerFest what it takes to come up with the kind of book he’s looking for, he said, “Good writing.” He then went on to mention you by name and how great your writing was. What elements of a story do you think must go into a book to make it a good thriller? (Not just the kind of one that will please Tom and keep the cap on his red pen, but something everyone will like.)
GREANEY: While I hate any tension, stress, or drama in my real life, to me it’s the most important aspect of a thriller. I tell myself I want some sort of tension on every page, and this propels the story. Obviously you need a good plot, and if you don’t create characters that readers care about you’re dead in the water, but there is something about keeping the heat up throughout the book that I really think turns a story from good to great. A ticking clock, a vulnerable lead character, a brilliant foe with a plan that makes sense for him or her; these are all crucial elements, as well.
DOSSIER: You’re notorious for cranking out thousands of words per day, and it’s been said that you see your stories in five book arcs at a time. Given the volume you’re writing, what’s that first draft like? Do you spend more time making sure those thousands of words per day are perfect or do you end up spending more time improving the subsequent drafts?
GREANEY: My first drafts are usually a mess, but that’s okay with me. I will learn something about a character on page 400 that I immediately know I have to thread throughout the earlier parts of the story, for example, but I don’t go back and do that then. I just have to trust that I will weave the idea that I just came up with throughout the entire book on my next edit. I really think that I can have 97 percent of my first draft done and I still don’t have anything resembling a book. It’s probably just my own mental block, but I have to go back through the entire thing again and again to slowly mold the big blob of clay I created into a novel I can be proud of.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Coffee house/total silence/a Beale Street blues club?)
GREANEY: I write in the mornings, usually (unless I have a tight deadline, then I write day and night). For the longest time I wrote in coffee shops with my headphones on and the sound of rain playing, but now I write in my office, which is in the pool house behind our home. It’s as secluded as I need it to be. I still listen to rain in my headphones, and I still have coffee nearby, so I have the coffee shop feel without having a bunch of strangers sitting down with me every day telling me I should write a book about them!
DOSSIER: For those of us not fortunate enough to have attended the Thrills & Chills fundraiser you were a part of to support the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, what was the coolest thing about that night while you were hanging out with Robert Crais, Sandra Brown, and Brad Taylor?
GREANEY: The whole experience was a lot of fun – As an ex-Delta Force officer, Brad has some cool and interesting friends who were in attendance, and I’d never met Robert Crais or Sandra Brown, so that was a treat. My wife bid on and won getting a character named after her in a CJ Box novel, so that was a fun moment, and we raised some money for a great cause that I’ve been donating to for over a decade.
DOSSIER: You and I were talking once with Simon Gervais about your research for SENTINEL and how you were considering a SCUBA excursion during your upcoming trip to Africa. (My advice was to not dive in Ghana!) Given all the things that you DID do on that trip, what was the biggest non-book-related thing that has stuck out since getting back?
GREANEY: I did not Scuba in Ghana, mostly because there was almost nowhere in Accra, the capitol, to do it. (It’s a bad sign when a coastal city doesn’t have many scuba options- either the water or the resources aren’t the best). I did have a great trip, though, and I thought the best part of it was meeting the Ghanaians, who were warm and friendly, as well as spending time at the U.S. Embassy with State Department personnel and the U.S. Marines.
Website: Mark Greaney | Amazon Page
Jeff Circle 