Steven James, the consummate story blender

HALLIE EPHRON: I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed on  The Story Blender, a fantastic podcast hosted by Steven James and featuring interviews with storytellers of all stripes. 

Steven is a masterful storyteller in his own right. He is a national bestselling and award-winning author of fourteen pulse-pounding thrillers featuring FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers. Publishers Weekly calls him a “master storyteller at the peak of his game.” 

He is also insightful about the art of storytelling, and wrote Story Trumps Structure.

Welcome Steven! When and how did you come up with the idea for The Story Blender, and who have been some of your top "gets" in terms of storytellers?

STEVEN JAMES: I think that every great story is a combination of factors: audience engagement, emotional resonance, escalation, desire, causality, and more. The blend of those ingredients differs for different art forms (oral storytelling, film and fiction, for instance) but everyone loves a great, well-told story.

So, The Story Blender has been my opportunity to pick the brains of some of the best storytellers out there and uncover the secrets to what makes their stories so powerful. 

I’ve been really honored by all the guests who’ve joined me. I particularly enjoyed speaking with screenwriter Mark Bomback (from the recent Planet of the Apes movies), sand artist and storyteller Joe Castillo, comedian Bob Stromberg, and international best-selling authors Jeffery Deaver, Sue Grafton, and Sandra Brown.  

And, of course, you, Hallie!

HALLIE: You write pulse-pounding thrillers. And you teach and write about storytelling. What is the one piece of advice you'd give to aspiring thriller writers?

STEVEN: Suspense is created not by what you conceal from readers but by what you reveal to them. Sometimes authors will tell me, “I didn’t want to give too much away and I wanted to create suspense so I didn’t tell the readers about—whatever it might be.”

That’s how you create mystery (and appeal to curiosity) but not how you create suspense (which increases apprehension). When readers are aware of impending peril that a character is not aware of (and they have concern for that character), they’ll feel anxiety. So, let readers see the bomb under the table, the killer lurking in the basement, the terrorist putting on his suicide vest, but keep that information from the characters who might suffer. In this way, you create suspense by revelation of danger to readers, but concealment to characters. 

HALLIE: The title of one of your books on writing is STORY TRUMPS STRUCTURE. What do you mean by that?

STEVEN: Regarding story structure, some stories have one act (for instance, one-act plays), some have two (most sitcoms), some have three, others four or five (like Shakespeare’s plays), and so on. For every storytelling “rule” there are notable exceptions. 

All stories involve some sort of pursuit, but how many chapters or acts or pages that takes depends more on the obstacles that the characters encounter and their subsequent choices than it does on a fill-in-the-blanks plot template.

So, rather than teach a plot formula I’m trying to help authors and screenwriters understand the principles of storytelling. 

Also, I write organically, without an outline, and there hasn’t really been a practical book for those who use this approach on how to do it. I believe that the more you understand what lies at the heart of a great story, the less you’ll need to outline and the less you’ll need to write “by the seat of your pants.”



HALLIE: You've written nine books featuring FBI agent Patrick Bowers. The early titles were OPENING MOVES. Then THE PAWN. Then THE ROOK. Can you talk about chess (a sedate game, played mostly while seated) and how that sparked stories packed with riveting suspense and action?

STEVEN: Ha! I’ve never been asked that question before. 

When I was beginning the series I was drawn to the idea of strategy and trying to get one step ahead of your opponent—in chess, as well as in an investigation. Cat and mouse intrigue. Move/countermove. That’s what drew me to the idea.

Also, for marketing purposes, I thought it would be intriguing to write a book for each piece on the board so that readers could try to collect them all. So, it’s been fun to hear from fans of the series as they anticipated what book would come next. 

HALLIE: When you started writing about Bowers, did you have any idea how many books about him that'd be writing?

STEVEN: I had the dream of perhaps completing the chess board, but no real anticipation that I would. As time progressed and readers responded to the series, it grew book by book, chess piece by chess piece. 

I’m now working on a spinoff series of sequels that includes my latest EVERY DEADLY KISS. 

I realized recently that I’ve written nearly 1.4 million words about Patrick Bowers and he’s still an intriguing character to me. 

HALLIE: You teach a writing retreat with Bob Dugoni, one of my favorite authors and a brilliant teacher. How did that start, and where can people find out more about it? 

STEVEN: Many years ago when I first started writing I became a contributing editor to an inspirational magazine. One weekend the publishing company flew eight of us out for a weekend retreat at a bed and breakfast.

In those three days in that small community with an informed and talented editor, I learned more about writing than I ever had before.

After becoming a novelist myself, I decided to try to recapture that atmosphere by hosting a four-day writing intensive for other novelists. I lead the first by myself and it was a crazy amount of work. So I asked Bob--who's one of the best writing instructors I've ever met--if he would team up with me.

Thankfully he did. We've now taught eight of the intensives together and the response has been phenomenal.

The intensives are limited to twelve participants. Bob and I critique up to fifty pages of each person’s work in progress. We rent a bed and breakfast for everyone and spend four days going through the manuscripts and lecturing—nearly 20 hours of teaching. The success stories of authors who’ve been published and signed with agents has been inspiring.

Information on the seminar and how to get on the invitation list can be found at novelwritingintensive.com

HALLIE: So what think? Is reading a great suspense novel like watching a brilliant chess match? What blend keeps you turning the pages?