Without A Hitch is my first book, and when I originally set out to write it, my goal was simply to prove to myself that I could write a legal thriller without cheating. Too many times, I’d seen authors or films cut corners, turn the legal world into a fantasy, or withhold vital information from readers. I wanted to see if I could write a book which didn’t do any of that. . . which didn’t cheat. So I wrote down a list of things I considered cheating and I turned that list into a set of rules (see them here). Then I set to work writing the story while sticking to my rules.
From there, my biggest goal was to present the legal system as it really is, rather than the way Hollywood portrays it. I wanted people to get a sense of how it felt to go through a trial and the kinds of challenges attorneys really face. I believe this made the plot and characters a lot stronger because the characters couldn’t rely on incredible plot twists to solve their problems. It also let me have some fun with the myriad of unrealistic clichés which have developed in the world of legal thrillers.
I also wanted to infuse the story with lots of philosophy to give people something to think about. Hopefully, readers will wonder who is right, if anyone, and how far they would go personally if they found themselves in similar circumstances.
And beyond that, I just wanted to tell an interesting story with characters that I thought were worth writing about.
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From there, my biggest goal was to present the legal system as it really is, rather than the way Hollywood portrays it. I wanted people to get a sense of how it felt to go through a trial and the kinds of challenges attorneys really face. I believe this made the plot and characters a lot stronger because the characters couldn’t rely on incredible plot twists to solve their problems. It also let me have some fun with the myriad of unrealistic clichés which have developed in the world of legal thrillers.
I also wanted to infuse the story with lots of philosophy to give people something to think about. Hopefully, readers will wonder who is right, if anyone, and how far they would go personally if they found themselves in similar circumstances.
And beyond that, I just wanted to tell an interesting story with characters that I thought were worth writing about.