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My wife likes to tell people that he looks very nice.
He's a very nice guy.
He's a very calm guy.
But, he has a dark side to him.
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As a thriller writer, my job is to look out
into the real world, see the problem side.
I create the problems.
Then during the course of the novel, I solve them.
You don't want the reader to sort of settle
back and be really comfortable and, like,
drifting through these pages.
You want to grab them by the throat right from the get-go
and hurtle them through the next 450 pages.
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I wanted to get into the weeds with all of you
about how I go about my craft.
Great characters.
How do you come up with them?
How do you pace a story so that people
can't stop turning the pages?
All the things that go into making a successful writing
career, I've tried to deliver to you during this MasterClass.
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I was a lawyer when I first started writing my first novel.
I would spend time with my family.
They would go off to bed.
And around 10 o'clock I would go downstairs
and I would write till two in the morning.
Every day, seven days a week, and I did that for years.
If you want to be creative writing stories,
you have to be very creative in finding the time
to write those stories.
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Research, for me, is critical.
This binder is my nuke binder.
And the section I'm gonna read to you
is about two and a half pages long. Two and a half pages
versus this.
Do this.
Leave almost all of it out.
You will thank me later.
I had insecurities.
You will have insecurities.
So any writer out there who's doubting their ability
to actually sit down and tell a story, I'm telling you,
I got your back on this.
Writers change the world.
Books change the world.
As much as you might need a class from me,
I, and the rest of the publishing
world and the world in general, we need you a lot more.
I'm David Baldacci, and this is my MasterClass.