Since she published her first novel, Baltimore Blues, in 1997, Laura Lippman has won every major mystery award and has been a perennial presence on nomination lists. She built an audience for her stories featuring Tess Monaghan, ex-reporter turned private investigator, with four paperback originals before moving to hardcover with The Sugar House in 2000. In 2003, she published her first stand-alone suspense novel, Every Secret Thing, to universal rave reviews. That book marked the beginning of a new phase in her career, and Lippman plans to continue alternating her Baltimore-based mysteries with suspense novels. Her latest stand-alone, To the Power of Three, was published in 2005, and her next Tess Monaghan novel, No Good Deeds, will be out this year. Recently she made time to talk with me about her life and career for the Guppies newsletter, First Draft.


Q. You were a journalist for 20 years and wrote your first seven books while working full-time at the Baltimore Sun. Was it difficult to change gears between the two types of writing every day?

A. The switch wasn't terribly hard, in part because I was writing a lot of narrative nonfiction at work. And the discipline of writing lucidly about complicated subjects -- anything from a construction bond refinance to how the city's water system works -- on daily deadline was good training for a mystery writer.

But the long days did take a toll, although I realized that only in hindsight.


Q. Do you think you would be a successful novelist today if you hadn't worked as a journalist?

A. It's hard to know because I chose journalism in part because I suspected it would serve my desire to be a novelist. But, yes, I like to think I would have found another way.


Q. Was Baltimore Blues the first book you wrote, or do you have a stack of unsold manuscripts moldering away in a closet?

A. It's my first completed novel. I got 60 pages in
Quite a few, but never finished one before Baltimore Blues.


Q. Was it an easy sell?

A. Easy sell -- but hard to "agent" if you will. That is, finding an agent took almost a year, in part because I made mistakes. (I let one agent sit on it for six months before I screwed up my courage to ask for it back.)


Q. What mistakes did you make when you first started writing?

A. What didn't I make? Too much weather, too much of what Elmore Leonard calls the parts that people don't read. Too clever for my own good. In love with my darlings, the finely wrought lines that (I thought) made me seem very smart, very sophisticated or very funny, but didn't really serve the story/characters. By the way, I'm still making lots of mistakes.


Q. Once you have your story idea, which comes first, research or the writing? Why?

A. I research on the back end, when I know what I need to know about certain technical matters. It's a bit of a high-wire act, but I've yet to find that I've backed myself into a corner -- that is, I've never made an assumption about how things work, found out I was wrong, and then had the whole thing fall apart. Research can be a form of procrastination, so I push it toward the end of the manuscript. So far, so good. (I literally knocked wood after I typed that.)


Q. How do you determine where the book starts? Do you ever have to back up and begin again because you realize you've started at the wrong point?

A. Because of my long tenure in journalism, with its attention to "ledes," I think I'm pretty good at beginnings. (Endings -- now that's another matter.) I did, however, give up the prologue to the just-completed Tess book, No Good Deeds, and start over. And that one had to be rewritten at my editor's suggestion.

Here's a silly bit of journalism advice: I was once told to write my stories as I would tell them to a friend. I know novels are more complicated, but the fact is, I often imagine I'm writing an immensely complicated newspaper article when I'm working on my novels and I try to structure them accordingly.


Q. How has your storytelling changed over the years? Have the changes been conscious decisions or a natural evolution?

A. The biggest change has been a gradual realization of what parts can be skipped, how a writer can manipulate characters through time and space. I was so literal when I began. I think my approach is more cinematic now, a direct result of using multiple POV in Every Secret Thing.


Q. Every Secret Thing is such a gloriously written book. Did you feel a special rush when you were writing it?

A. I wrote Every Secret Thing in the year after I left my marriage and my job. I was very raw, yet exuberant. I was so in love with Ronnie and Alice, so happy in their company, strange as that might sound.


Q. Do you have any pre-writing rituals?

A. Time off. December tends to be a
Quiet month, the lull between the copy-edit and the galleys, which arrive in January or February. I'm actually rather unhappy when I'm not writing, but it's important that I remember that.


Q. What writers have you learned from? What did you learn?

A. Richard Price has shown me what one can do with a voice, an ear and endless empathy; I can't begin to reach his heights, but I'm inspired by his work. George Pelecanos has proven that crime novels can be very serious. Also huge and sprawling (Hard Revolution) or as tight and laconic as the author himself (Drama City). Daniel Woodrell works the English language, Ozarks style, like no writer I've ever known. Val McDermid and S.J. Rozan have shown me the sky's the limit. I could go on and on and on.


Q. Too many mystery series go stale after a few books, as if the writer has lost interest in the characters. How do you keep your series fresh and maintain your interest in Tess?

A. It's a lucky accident, but the one-year-on, one-year-off schedule keeps my relationship with Tess alive. And the increasing use of multiple POV means there are always new characters to explore. The next Tess book includes several chapters from her boyfriend's POV -- including two in first person!


Q. Do strangers in Baltimore recognize and approach you, or do the hometown folks allow you your privacy?

A. A private school English teacher recognized me at the deli counter in the local grocery store today -- which was especially odd, as he
Quickly admitted he's never read my books. So far, it happens just enough to be pleasant, but I do try to be on very good behavior all the time.

I'm afraid I violated that rule in Radio Shack recently. But they were really getting on my nerves.


Q. What's the best part of being a successful writer? What's the downside, if any?

A. That's not an adjective I use in my own head, but I know that I'm a privileged writer, because it's a glorious opportunity to do this full time. The best part is . . . it's actually better than I dared to imagine. It's a lovely life.

And the bad parts aren't specific to the writing life, they're just the generic bad parts. Mean and thoughtless people, mainly. Also, my dishwasher has never worked properly, but I'd rather keep calling the repairman than go through the hassle of replacing it.


Q. If you could give just one piece of advice to writers who are still struggling to get published, what would it be?

A. Don't compare yourself to anyone. Don't trust anyone who doesn't admit how much luck and serendipity is involved in this business. Make a clear distinction in your head between writing and publishing. Writing is in your control. Publishing, not so much. But this much is true -- if you stop trying, you definitely won't get published.

For more about her books and life, visit www.lauralippman.com.