Writers steal plots, characters, stories, names and more, said John Grisham, author of 33 bestselling legal thrillers.
“We’re all stealing something,” Grisham said at the Texas Book Festival.
Writers carry notebooks and jot down notes about interesting details, names, places and things everywhere they go, Grisham said. He has written 33 novels, one non-fiction book, one collection of short stories and seven novels for young readers. His latest novel is based on a New York Times and ProPublica article he read.
Talmage Boston, an author, and attorney interviewed Grisham for a sold-out talk held at the First Baptist Church in downtown Austin. Everyone in attendance received a signed first edition of Grisham’s latest novel, “The Guardians,” which is based on the case of Joe Bryan, a former high school principal in Clifton, Texas.
“Thirty years ago, Joe was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife, a horrible crime that occurred at night while Joe was sleeping in his hotel room two hours away. The investigation was botched from the beginning,” Grisham writes in the author’s notes section at the end of the book. “The real killer was never identified, but strong evidence points to a former policeman who committed suicide in 1996.”
In May of 2018, the New York Times and ProPublica published a two-part series on Bryan’s case and that’s where Grisham first learned about…
