My friend Paul Levine reveals in an interview at Top Suspense that he became a novelist by writing what he knew…and wasn't so wild about anymore.
I was practicing law in Miami and woke up one day to discover I didn't like my cases, my clients, and even my partners. There were some judges I wasn't too fond of, either. At the time, I was an avid windsurfer. On a vacation to Maui, I got injured so I took out a legal pad and started writing my first novel. Somewhere, I still have the pad, smeared with suntan oil and speckled with sand. I didn't know it at the time, but writing the book was my therapy. Instead of seeing a shrink to talk about my mid-life crisis, I created Jake Lassiter, the linebacker-turned-lawyer, a tough guy with a tender heart. He could do things I couldn't — like get in a fistfight with a witness and gladly go to jail for contempt.
He's been thriving as novelist ever since. He even wears shirts now. His newest book. LASSITER, comes out in the fall. But in the meantime, the entire "Lassiter" backlist are now available on the Kindle, the Nook, and your e-reader of choice.