Articles / Interviews / Musings
“Pray you now, forget and forgive,” King Lear says in Act IV, scene VIII. But more importantly, an unfortunately less quoted, right after that, he adds, “I am old and foolish.” The Bard warned us, but we did not listen. So now, half a millennium later, people believe that they should forgive and forget, without reflecting on the fact that the advice was provided by a self-admitted foolish, old king.
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Five Mystery Thrillers About the Trials and Tribulations of Returning Home
I’m fascinated by home—the actual place and the people that embody it. I believe that home is like that parable about a river, how you can never really return because it’s not the same place as you left. And yet, I think that most of us fall into one of two camps: forever drawn to where our lives began in the hope we can recreate ourselves to fulfill the promise we once held, or running away as fast as we can from the people and things that created us.
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On Batman vs. Superman
The answer to this very important question likely reveals your preference when it comes to protagonists…. I strongly suspect that those devotees of the Man of Steel favor reading about men and women they can root for from page one, without fear of being disappointed in the end. Unreliable narrators and anti-heroes need not apply. These readers like their protagonists to stand for truth, justice, and the American way.
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Realism and License in Legal Thrillers
I make mistakes in all my books. Once I described the USS Intrepid as a battleship. A reader who had served on her during World War II set me straight that she was an aircraft carrier. Another time I had a character gazing out onto the Atlantic from the shores of Sag Harbor. A local told me that Sag Harbor is on the Long Island Sound, a tidal estuary of the Atlantic. (And yes, I had to look up what that meant.)
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If my books were movies: My Dream Casts
I do not think about actors when writing my characters. Mainly that’s because the characters exist for me on the inside, and so I’m less interested in what they look like.
The Brothers Kenney Love Betrayal Murder The Perfect Marriage A Matter of Will Losing Faith A Case of Redemption A Conflict of Interest
Bookreporter.com Interview with Adam Mitzner
In this interview conducted by reviewer Ray Palen, Adam talks about the book’s message and its central themes, why he chose a life-threatening illness to be the driving force behind the actions of his protagonists, who’s to blame for most failed marriages, how the pandemic has impacted his writing routine, and two upcoming projects—one of which is a fun departure for him.
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Author Interviews with Adam Mitzner
Titles are very tricky business. I’ve written 9 novels, and I’m at about 50% whether my title ends up being the title when the book is published. I had the title before I began writing for exactly two of the books.
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Short Life Lessons from Adam Mitzner
I was born in Brooklyn but grew up mainly in East Brunswick, New Jersey, a suburb about an hour outside of New York City. My childhood was focused on sports—watching them and playing them.
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How I Write a Twisty Plot Twist
What book has your favorite plot twist? Gone Girl? The Girl on the Train? The Silent Patient? Anything by Agatha Christie? I like a plot twist that you never saw coming—but I love a plot twist that, when it comes, you can’t believe you didn’t see it sooner.
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Judging a Book by its Title
Some titles make you think that the book was created with the title stamped on the front: To Kill a Mockingbird; Gone with the Wind; The Great Gatsby. Others seemingly don’t relate at all to the novel.
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The Girl From Home by Adam Mitzner
Is there anything more frightening than a blank page? And then the first line is written, and it begins. As the expression goes—Once begun, half-done. Or at least that’s what my mother often said.
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Thoughts About My Second Novel
There are lots of blog posts and the like in which first time novelists write about their experiences. But what about the second novel? How does it differ from the first?
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A Tip for the First Time Novelist
My debut novel, A Conflict of Interest, was actually the third book I’d written. The first two, as first and even second novels tend to be, were thinly-veiled autobiography. After both of them failed to find a publisher, I decided to try something new for the third one—a female protagonist.
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