When did you start writing? When I was 10 my mom signed me up for a summer writing program. I wrote an adventure novella called Donald the Dragonfly that my mom typed for me. The teacher gave me an A+, so it was an auspicious start to my career.

How did you get started as a novelist? I left my first and last official job in 1991 to write full-time and, with help from the literary gods, I’ve hung in there ever since. I became a novelist by being persistent and writing three novels that didn’t sell. In hindsight, those unsold books were my apprenticeship before writing ZigZag. And that first published novel was my apprenticeship for my next, The Rules of Action, which I couldn’t have written 10 years ago.

Where did you get the inspiration for The Rules of Action? Everything in this novel and “Action” legal series is based on real cases and events, which is what gives The Rules of Action and the character Connor J. Devlin such a strong measure of humanity and believability. My starting point for all of this is a highly successful plaintiff’s attorney who’s spent 40 years in the legal trenches and, even now in his mid-60s, is still going strong. If truth is stranger than fiction, there’s nothing better than fiction based on actual people, cases and events.

How did you get the idea for ZigZag? In 1989 I became a volunteer Big Brother. My ongoing friendship with my own “little” brother (he’s now six-foot-four) is the inspiration behind the book.

How long did it take to write ZigZag? When I wrote ZigZag I was living overseas in Scotland and had just finished my master’s program in creative writing. As I started writing it took me about a month, working every day, to find the voice from this 15-year-old’s perspective. From there it flowed quickly, and I had a finished draft in six months. I even cancelled my planned trip to the Tour de France (1997) to finish the book.

What did you think of the movie version of ZigZag? I’m one of the lucky authors who loves the adaptation of his novel. The film is very true to the book, the cast and performances are right on, and David S. Goyer didn’t “multiplex” the story in any way. ZigZag is an urban character drama with dirt under its fingernails, and that’s the way David left it because he’s a writer first and then a director and producer. As a writer he’s since gone on to be part of the creative team behind Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, so he obviously understands a good story. Hence, his adaptation is very true to my book.

How does an aspiring author get started? Read (a lot) and write (a lot). Of course read the types of books you want to write, but it’s also important to read a broad cross-section of different genres and authors. And good writing, goes the old cliché, is rewriting, so just write and write and write and write.  I think it was Elmore Leonard who said it takes 1 million words to find your voice as an author. That can only come through writing and rewriting.

What’s the single best piece of advice for an author? No one knows anything. In other words, grow a rhinoceros skin, write what you want to write, in your way, and keep doing that despite the 10,000 times you’re going to hear (or read in a form letter) that simple, painful word: “NO.” You need evidence of this maxim? Early publishers rejected Harry Potter, which has only gone on to become one of the most commercially successful series in publishing history. Enough said: No one knows anything.

What are you working on now? All my creative energies are now focused on finishing the second Connor J. Devlin “Action” legal novel, which is called The Dark Action and has the 1980s as backdrop. As good as I think the first book in the series is, The Dark Action is shaping up to be even better.