All language subtitles for Masterclass - David Baldacci Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing - 17.Life as a Writer

I had something that happened to me that

I think really motivated me to actually

go out and write my very first novel

which turned out to be Absolute Power.

Um I was a lawyer. I had to fly up to

Icelip New York. We had a client who was

buying some banks. So I was there with a

team of young lawyers and we were

reviewing bank ground leases. Like if

you have trouble sleeping, do that and

you will like pass out in 10 seconds.

This is the most boring work on earth.

And I had written a script back then,

early 90s. It was like Die Hard in the

White House. This is long before the

other films that came out a few years

ago, Olympus Falls and all that stuff.

And this was like a super hot script. My

agent in LA said Universal and Warner

Brothers and Paramount and 20th Century

Fox, they're all over the stuff. The

coverage is great. There's going to be a

big bidding war. And this is going to

really start your career as a

screenwriter. So, I'm up in New York

looking at these ground leases thinking,

"Please God, let that happen." And

around midnight, midnight that night

when I was back at my hotel, and it was

9:00 on the West Coast, and I got a call

from my agent that said, you know,

Warner Brothers passed on it. And so,

the the sort of the cow mentality out

there, all the other studios said,

"Well, there must be something wrong

with the script of Warner's passed on

it." So, everybody passed on it. I'm

really sorry. And I remember that night

at midnight looking out the window of my

hotel in Icelip, New York, thinking,

"Maybe this is not going to happen for

me." you know, I've been working all

these years writing. Maybe I'm never

going to get the break. I'm never going

to be in the right place at the right

time. And so, maybe it's just not going

to happen for me. And I could have

stopped at that point and just gone on

and have a really nice career as a as a

lawyer and had a nice family, you know,

been a grandfather and that would have

been my life. But I made a decision

shortly thereafter, like, you know what,

I love writing so much that I'm just

going to one, I can't lose it out of my

life. It would like rip a part of my

vital being away. And two, I'm just

going to prove these people wrong. I'm

really going to be able to do this. I'm

going to build a career. And that's when

I started writing Absolute Power. And it

took me three years to write that novel.

I was working full-time and every night

I'd run downstairs to my cubby and I

wrote that novel. And at the end of

three years, I sent it out. And that

really changed my whole life. I could

have made a decision after that fiasco

with the script to say, "Goodbye. I'm

done. I'm not going to do this anymore."

But I kept going because I couldn't not

write. It was such a huge part of my

life. And that's why I really think the

people who are meant to be writers will

actually be accomplished writers because

they can't stop. If one rejection knocks

you out, then I don't think you were

meant to be a writer anyway. But if you

keep going through hundreds of

rejections and dozens of years of really

obscurity, anonymity, and nobody wants

to buy your stuff, and then you have a

breakthrough, it's because you were

meant to be a writer. So just hang in

there. Perseverance is the key. And

trust me, you are not alone in this. I

still get rejected to this day. I still

write screenplays occasionally and I

send them out and people come back and

say, you know, it's it was okay, but

really didn't move us enough to want to

buy this. Rejection is a part of life.

Don't ever let it stop you following

your dream.

Any writer who tells you they were never

rejected is lying to your face because

we've all gone through it. It's part of

the process. It's part of wanting to be

a writer. It's part of learning the

craft. I was rejected many, many, many

times early on in my career and actually

throughout my career. It's just

something that goes with it and you can

learn from it, build from it, and move

on. Some of my earliest rejections for

short stories, uh, where you get back

the form letter that says, you know,

basically, you're not good enough. We're

not going to publish this. Thank you

very much. Or you hear nothing back.

It's like they didn't care enough even

to reply. Um, I remember getting one

rejection for a screenplay that I'd

written years ago, and it was like,

"We'd love to take this on, but we only

represent talent." And years later, I

met that person at the premiere of the

the movie Absolute Power with Clint

Eastwood and Gene Hackman. And he came

over to me and he said, "Wow, I guess I

was really wrong about you." And I said,

"You know what? At that point in my

career, you were probably right about

me, but I stuck with it and I got

better." And that's the only thing the

writer can hope to do is to stick with

it and to get better. Rejections can do

a couple of things. One, they can hurt

your feelings. It's not a problem with

that. My feelings were hurt often and I

would stew over it for a couple of days,

but then you have to get over it and

move on. Keep this in mind. The person

you're sending this stuff to doesn't

know you from Adam. And the reason they

might have rejected it because reviewing

somebody else's writing is the most

subjective business in the world.

There's no objectivity about it. They

could have had a bad day. They might

have actually been a little envious of

your storytelling skills and they just

want to give you the break. So if you

can learn from constructive criticism,

learn from it. Sometimes you get

rejections back that actually will teach

you something. And if you can take that

piece of advice and put it into your

writing and move on, do that.

After absolute power sold, um I

continued to work as a lawyer. I'm sort

of very conservative that way. I had no

idea if lightning was going to strike

twice for me and I had a family too. So

I I worked for about another year after

Absolute Power. I sold it. The book had

not come out yet. There was about a year

and a half lag time between the sale and

the publication of the book. So I

continued to work because one, I I

didn't know if the book wasn't going to

be successful. I'd probably never get

another shot at another book deal and

that would have been it. And I didn't

want to give up my law career. I'd been

practicing for almost 10 years. But

finally, it got to the point where I

knew I was going to have to ramp up to

go on a publicity tour for Absolute

Power. I was had already started writing

the second book because that's just what

I wanted to do. I wanted to keep on

writing. It was really hard. I went down

from working a full week as a lawyer to

three days a week to two days a week.

And finally, I sat down with my wife and

I said, you know, I'm not being fair to

the law firm. I'm not being as good a

lawyer as I can be and I'm not being as

good a writer as I can be. I'm trying to

jam too much into my life. I think I can

build a career out of this. Um, and but

this has to be our joint decision. You

know, this is much you have as much at

stake as I do with this. I think I can

do it. I'd like to leave the practice of

law and see if I can build a career as a

writer. And if I fail, I can always go

back to being a lawyer. That's a skill

that's usually always marketable. So, we

made a joint decision that I went into

the law firm and I said, you know, I'm

I'm just going to have to hang it up.

I'm not doing justice to you. I'm not

doing justice to myself as a novelist.

I'm going to try to write full-time. And

I remember the managing partner said,

you know, if it had been me, I would

have faxed in my resignation about a

year ago and I would have been goodbye.

I'm out of here. Um, but that was a

decision I made. It's a very personal

one, but it's one that I made in

conjunction with my wife because, you

know, it's a partnership. It's not me

making the decision, it's us making the

decision.

I feel like a writer should is a writer

and should be able to write about

anything he or she wants to write about

regardless of the subject matter. I

don't like being pigeonholed as a

mystery thriller writer because I can

write more than that. So, probably about

12 or 13 years ago, maybe a little bit

longer than that, I decided to write a

period piece set in the 1940s, and it

was a book called Wish You Well. And the

location was where my mother grew up in

Southwest Virginia on top of a mountain.

It was so isolated and rural that it

wasn't until 2004 that they brought

electricity and running water to this

ridge in Southwest Virginia. and I built

a family drama around it set in the

1940s and it was sort of

multigenerational totally different from

anything I had written before but a

story that I was profoundly invested in

and I have to hand it to my publisher

and my agents but I said this is what I

want to do they were solidly behind me

the book was a huge success it became a

movie it's it it's been still in print

after all these years and consistently

sells but that was a stretch for me I

mean if you looked at it just

professionally from a business

perspective you know people could say oh

you don't want to do that you'll you'll

blow all your reputation. People think,

"Oh my god, he's, you know, he's writing

these types of books. I'm not going to

read another Beldachi ever." That's not

the way it turned out. But sometimes the

artistic side has to take over from the

business side. It can't just be cold

calculation about dollars. It's like,

who do you want to be as a writer? Do

you want to stretch, evolve, and grow as

a writer? I've always thought if you

don't challenge yourself consistently

with every book as a novelist, you just

shrink and you grow weaker and you

diminish yourself and you just sort of

chase formulas. You have to reinvent

yourself constantly as a writer. You

have to change the way you do things.

Don't get stuck in the process because

after a while that process becomes dull

and guess what? You become dull and

guess what? Your writing becomes dull.

A long time ago, I was writing a novel

called Last Man Standing, and it was

about the FBI's hostage rescue team.

Very testosterone driven kind of story.

It was long and it was complicated. and

I had some personal issues going on with

my extended family. Um, and um, and that

really impacted my writing during the

months that I was writing that book. So,

I'd written about 150,000 words on this

novel and I'd sent it up to my agent and

I had my wife read it and they were

like, "This is not you. We don't know.

You know, you were in a sort of a bad

state, I guess, when you wrote this and

it's just not good. It's not a Beldachi

novel. It's kind of crappy." And that

was a humbling lesson for me. So I had

to take that book, this is in March, and

I had to deliver this book in May. So I

took the manuscript back and I cut

140,000 words out of that novel in two

days. And then over the course of two

months, I wrote another 130,000 words

because I was actually in a proper state

of mind because I was sort of angry at

myself and that might have energized me

a little bit. So I guess the lesson to

take away from that is that if you're

not in the proper state and you are

allowing extraneous influences to come

in and sort of smear over what you're

trying to do as a writer, that's not a

good thing. Don't let personal

influences or something you're dealing

with in life come in and sort of mar the

effort of being a creative person and

telling the story you want to tell. That

was a very, you know, tough lesson for

me. Not only was it tough professionally

because I'm used to delivering things

before they're due. And so this one was

a little bit late because of what had

happened to me, but it also was it was

humbling because it was like, you know,

I thought I always thought I knew what

I'm I know what I'm doing. This is

great. There are no problems. But um I

think as a writer you have to a piece of

you have to have in the back of your

mind. You have to think to yourself, I

don't really know what I'm doing and

somebody's going to find it out one day.

I remember Bill Goldman, you know, he's

a Oscar winning screenwriter. He wrote

he wrote the absolute power script. He

wrote Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid and

All the President's Men, The Princess

Bride and Marathon Man, great writer. I

spent a lot of time with him. We were

working on Absolute Power. And he said,

"I have this great fear that people will

one day realize I have no idea what the

hell I'm doing and they're going to fire

me." Um, and but that I think every

writer that gives you the edge because

if you think you know what you're doing

as a writer, then you sort of lost that

edge where you're kind of like hurtling

along and you're not sure if the ground

is going to open up and swallow you

whole. You know, cockiness is not good

for a writer. It's that it's that

weariness and that nervousness and that

uh, you know, uncertainty. Do I really

know what I'm doing? That gives you the

edge because you just try harder.

I I've sort of been I've been a driven

person my whole life, I guess. You know,

I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and I I

wanted to see more than that. And so, I

work really hard to kind of get out of

that area and move on to other places in

my life. I was an athlete in high school

and college. Um, physically, I like to

keep fit. I'm well into my 50s and I and

I I work out all the time because I like

that. I like having that control. I'm

I'm a sort of a control micromanager in

in many ways over myself at least. I

like to have control over what I'm

doing. And I bring that same sort of

philosophy and an um outlook on life to

my work. I I know that this is a

business and I know that a lot of people

are depending on what I write. Uh not

just my readers, but my publishers

around the world. You know, they're

expecting books from me every year and a

lot of jobs depend on that. It's not

like I think about that a lot when I'm

writing the novel. But I also know that

I I bring a a great sense of

professionalism to every book that I

write. I put the work in and I drive

myself to be better with every book.

It's just this sense of this is the

right thing to do. If you're going to

work at something, you should work as

best as you possibly can. Um so yeah,

physically I take care of myself. You

know, I like to exercise. I think

endorphins are a good thing. It makes me

feel good about myself and it also

increases my energy level as well. I

think if I probably out of shape and you

know sat on the couch a lot, I don't

know if I could write as many books as I

write. Um, but I do know that if you're

precise and focused in other aspects of

your life, you'll be precised and

focused when you're writing. So I think

as you're if you have a lifestyle where

you are focused and concentrated and

professional that it makes it a lot

easier uh during the course of the day

to be a professional writer because at

the end you you're a professional

writer. It's a business. You're

delivering a product. It's a creative

and inspiring and, you know, product,

but it's still a product that's going to

be sold to people and their businesses

and people's careers depend on that. So,

I don't juice. I don't do steroids. Uh,

I do take care of myself physically. I

do feel like I have a lot of energy and

I've never lost that drive, you know,

um, to keep moving in my life. And I I

wasn't born with a silver spoon in my

mouth. I came from a very blue c blue

collar background. Um, and that work

work ethics was instilled in me from a

very early age. And I when I was a

little kid, I had a paper out from 11

years old until I was 18. Can you

imagine these days you're 11 years old

and you 3:00 in the morning, you ride

off into the darkness on your bike and

your parents are asleep and they don't

really care? That wouldn't happen today.

But that was my life. I worked my way

through college. I worked my way through

law school and I've been working ever

since. And it just sort of that's how

I've love my led my life.

I have never lost the thrill of starting

a new book. Um, and I say that I don't

say that tongue and cheek because I have

a lot of friends who are writers and a

lot of them are as as successful as I am

or even maybe more successful. Um, and

some of them now look at it as kind of

well it's a job. You know, I start the

book I know I have to start the book in

July. and I'm going to finish it in

February and then I'm going to take six

months off and then in July I got to

start all over again. You know, it pays

the bills, makes for a great lifestyle,

but now it's kind of a chore to do. Um,

it's never been that way for me. When I

finish a book, it's not like I want to

go take a break. Uh, I'm itching to

start the next book. Um, I feel like my

whole life is a break as a lawyer. Look,

I enjoy being a lawyer, but it wasn't

like I woke up every day and say, "Thank

you, God, for giving me another chance

to sue and destroy people." that just

wasn't who I was. I'm a writer and I was

always meant to be a writer and I think

it's a privilege for me to be able to do

this as a living. So that's my focus,

you know, 247. And I've never lost that

thrill of opening the page of my very

first novel, Absolute Power. I'm writing

the very first page. Every book I've

written since then, and it's been over

40, I open that page, it's like I'm

writing Absolute Power again. That

thrill, you know, that intensity, that

freshness to it. I've never lost that.

That's how I define success. If you keep

doing what you love and you're never

bored doing it, you know that equals

success. You've made it.

The drive has to come from inside of

you. And what drives me is that um

writing is what I feel like I was born

to do. And if I'm not spending my time

in the in the world of words and stories

and twists and turns and characters and

dialogue, I'm just not a happy person.

People who know me will tell you that I

am not nice to be around when I'm in

between stories because I'm just jittery

and I'm pacing and I'm not happy and I'm

a little, you know, I'm a little just,

you know, a kaggen to be around because

I don't have that thing in front of me,

that little toy in front of me that I

love to play with. So that's what drives

me because I can't really imagine my

life without it. People say, "Well, you

know, when are you going to retire?" And

I say, "Why would I retire?" you know,

they're going to find me at my desk

slumped over because this is who I am

and I'm not going to give it up. And

they said, "Well, don't you think you'll

run out of stories?" And I said, "Well,

you know, I was I was born with 41

stories, and I'm I'm at the end of that,

so I've got to go in search of others."

That the key is that part of being a

writer is constantly filling up your

well of ideas. And that's by

experiencing life and seeing the world

through the writer's prism. Like I

talked about before, if you do that,

your well of ideas will continue to be

replenished. It's not like you just

you're born with a certain number and

then you drain it out and you're done.

You walk away. You keep filling it up

with the life that you live.