Show Notes
Hi Collaborist! On this episode of Collaborcast, we sit down with John Ritter! We dive in to how he navigated the cliches of the private investigator genre, while writing "Fatal Conceit". Ritter also fills us in on how he was able to have such a diverse amount of environments in his book, while making them all rich with detail. Finally, John Ritter gives us some recent updates on his new book!
From small-town Midwest roots, John Ritter bounced around America growing up—Kentucky, Texas, Wyoming, Southern California. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, interrupted by two years of hitchhiking in the Southwest and work as a carpenter’s helper and meat cutter. He began a reporting career at two upstate New York newspapers the summer Nixon resigned. Then came a short stint in Phoenix at the Arizona Republic before hiring on at start-up USA TODAY in Washington. He spent twenty-eight years there, as an editor on the national desk, then as a general-assignment reporter handling both breaking news and in-depth stories about the environment, education, aviation, and politics. He and a colleague were named 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalists in investigative reporting. A move to the Bay Area as a national correspondent found Ritter on the road up and down the West Coast and throughout the mountain West. He left journalism in 2009 to write fiction and currently splits time between Northern California and Southeast Asia. Fatal Conceit is his first published manuscript.
Jason Buchholz’s acclaimed debut novel, A Paper Son, was published by Tyrus Books in 2016. He has ghostwritten books and book proposals for a variety of authors and as an editor he has fostered the development of dozens of manuscripts, both in fiction and nonfiction. He has also worked as a journalist and a travel writer. A current nonfiction project has him hiking and kayaking deep into the quiet landscapes of the many wilderness areas of Northern California, where he lives. When he’s not writing or reading he spends his time playing and traveling with his son and daughter. Jason graduated from UC Berkeley and holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco.
Ben LeRoy began his publishing career in the early 2000s as the publisher of Bleak House Books (2000-2009) and then Tyrus Books (2009-2017) until the latter was acquired by Simon & Schuster. During his time as publisher, Ben worked on a variety of critically acclaimed and award winning titles. He was also a regular panelist and speaker at writing conferences. Since 2017 he has continued to work with writers to help them understand and best tell their stories. He has extensive relationships within the publishing and bookselling community and is a mindful observer of current trends and artistic integrity. He is continually exploring new ways of approaching editing. We provide editing, writing, coaching, and consulting services for writers in all genres.
Whether you’re a first-time writer planning your first manuscript or an established author wondering why your latest draft isn’t quite working as well as it should, our bespoke services will help you attain your goals. If you feel like we can help you in your writing aspirations, please visit us at https://collaborist.org/
00:00 Opening Credits
00:45 Writing Groups this Summer!
01:45 John's entrance (Bio + Book Summary)
05:31 "How did you navigate the cliches of your genre?"
07:40 Baggage of main character
10:15 Intelligence of main character (all of the references he uses)
18:18 Change from journalism to fiction
25:16 Diverse and immersive settings that Ritter used
33:43 New Book!
35:38 1st person to 3rd person
