By Christina Radish

Born in New York City, 29-year-old Jason Pinter (www.jasonpinter.com and www.jasonpinter.blogspot.com)  published his debut novel in July 2007, displaying a confidence and promise worthy of its rave reviews. The Mark introduced readers to Henry Parker, a 24-year-old freshman journalist at the Gazette who jumps at the chance to work with the paper’s top reporter on a where-are-they-now look at the scum of New York. Before he knows what’s happening, Henry ends up accused of murder when he is found holding the smoking gun, forcing him to go on the run from the NYPD, the FBI and the mob, while his only ally is an unsuspecting NYU co-ed.

In The Guilty, the second page-turning novel in the series, Parker is on the trail of a sharpshooting serial killer who takes out his prey using an antique Winchester 1873. The killer leaves a note quoting a piece of Henry’s with the first victim, and research soon reveals a bizarre connection between the young journalist and a long-dead outlaw of the American West. As victims pile up, and Henry wonders if the assailant is out for vengeance, he must think fast on his feet to stop him.

The latest release, The Stolen, finds the captivating and complex protagonist involved in a case involving a shadowy group of individuals who will stop at nothing to ensure that the questions about a couple of mysterious kidnappings stay unanswered. And, 2009 will see two more Henry Parker thrillers, The Fury and The Darkness, hit bookstore shelves.

Pinter spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about how to keep suspense-thrillers exciting for both his readers and himself.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How long have you been writing?

Jason Pinter> I have basically been writing my whole life, since I was a little kid. I’m sure my parents have all of my old short stories. I even drew horrible pictures for some of them, that were basically stick figures. I wrote short stories that were usually knock-offs of whatever I was reading at the time, like the horror fiction of Stephen King and Terry Brooks. I used to love that, growing up. Then, I started to get into crime fiction, like Harlan Coben and Dennis Lehane. I always wanted to write a thriller or a mystery.

MediaBlvd> Have you had any actual formal training?

Jason> I didn’t really have any formal training. I took one writing class in college. I enjoyed it, but I can’t say that it was all that helpful. And, I went to a couple of conferences. But, I had no real formal training. I read a lot. I worked in publishing for about five years. Just reading a lot in the genre that I wanted to write in, really prepared me. It showed me what worked and what didn’t work, and gave me all the tools I needed.

MediaBlvd> When did you decide that you wanted to make a career out of writing?

Jason> In the back of my mind, I always wanted to. When I first got my book deal, it entered into my mind because, for the first time, I was actually getting paid a little bit for my writing. At that time, I was still working in editorial and I wasn’t able to quit to write full-time. I didn’t think I really wanted to, at the time. I was still enjoying editorial. It was really when my publisher extended my deal from three books to seven books, and I knew I had the stability of having a lot of books under contract, that I was really able to sit down and think about it as a viable option, for the first time. I talked with my wife about it and we figured out what it would mean, and whether I was ready to work from home and not go crazy out of boredom, or get distracted. It was the kind of thing where, if I was going to really make a go of writing as a career, that was the time. I had this good opportunity, and it was just the right time to do it.

MediaBlvd> What did you learn about writing while you were working at the literary agency? Was there anything that you were able to apply to what you’re doing now to help make you more successful?

Jason> I worked at a literary agency for six to nine months, while I was in college. I interned there, over the summer, and then I kept on working for them during the fall. And then, after that, I worked in book publishing and editorial for about four and a half years. Just reading a lot helped me. As a writer, reading is the most important thing you can do. Reading stories, you can learn techniques about what works and what doesn’t, character development, and pacing. That’s the best writing course you can take. The most important thing I learned was to read both good writing and bad writing. Reading bad writing can help as much as reading good writing because knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do. When you’re starting out, every writer needs to read a book that makes them say, “I can do better than that,” because a lot of times, you can.

MediaBlvd> What was your road to getting published? Did you acquire your agent first and then get your publisher that way? And, was it easier or harder than you expected it to be?

Jason> I’d actually written a novel before The Mark. It was called The Real Life of John Gillis, and basically it was about a young bartender who has worked at this bar, ever since graduating college. All of a sudden, the bar owner, who is his best friend, dies and he has this crisis moment where he realizes, “Oh, my God, that could be me in 50 years, dying behind the bar.” He ends up writing a memoir, and the memoir is manipulated by this agent and publisher who want his life to be more sellable. So, I wrote that novel before The Mark and got an agent based on that novel, but the book didn’t sell. It came close a couple of times, but we couldn’t sell it. While that was on submission, I decided to write The Mark because I wanted to write much more of a straight-up thriller. The one previous was a weird literary/comedy/suspense mish-mash that didn’t really work. After I wrote The Mark, I showed it to that same agent, who liked it a lot, and I thought he’d done a good job with the previous one, so he sent that around and, thankfully, it sold. So, I certainly got rejected a lot with the first novel, and it was definitely hard to have something on submission and not know whether it was going to sell. There were a couple of years between the time I started writing the first book and the time I actually had a book that sold.

MediaBlvd> For those who are not yet familiar with your work, can you talk about who Henry Parker is and what the inspiration was for him? Was there a specific reason that you wanted to make him a reporter?

Jason> I wanted to write a thriller/suspense novel, but I wanted to write something that hadn’t really been done in the genre before, or that I felt might have been lacking a little bit. I read a lot in the genre and I hadn’t read a lot of main characters that were around my own age. I was 24 or 25, when I started The Mark, so I wanted a main character that was around that age, who could appeal to both traditional thriller fans, but also might appeal to my generation, who I felt didn’t really have that kind of main character to get behind. I wanted him to be a younger guy, and I also didn’t want him to be a cop or a P.I. That’s been done before, and a lot of people could probably do that better than I could do that. But, I wanted him to be in a profession that I found particularly interesting and, since the newspaper industry has been going through so much flux recently, especially after the Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair scandals, I thought it would be interesting to have this younger reporter come in, basically wanting to run the ship. He didn’t like the reputation young reporters had gotten, so he wanted to be the anti-Jayson Blair and bring integrity back to the newsroom. But then, of course, ironically, he ends up accused of murder and is the subject of a nationwide manhunt that lands him on the cover of every newspaper. I loved the irony of this newspaper reporter, who wants to come in and shake up the establishment and be the best journalist ever, and then, all of a sudden, he’s on the cover of the newspapers as a murderer. I thought that was a really cool way to start the first book, and it’s the kind of thing that he’s going to have to deal with in future books, and come to terms with the fact that he still has this stain on him and he has to deal with people who still don’t fully trust him.

MediaBlvd> Did you do any research into what a newsroom is like, in order to get it accurate?

Jason> I worked at the Associated Press for two summers, when I was in college, and I worked on the overnight shift, which was 7 pm to 3 am, and I loved it. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at an actual job. It killed my social life completely because I didn’t even get out of work until 3 am and, by that point, everyone was already home. But, I just had such a blast doing it. I loved the people and really got a sense of what a newsroom is like. From an aesthetic point, I understood the newsroom. I haven’t worked there for years and years, but I knew some reporters. Having worked in the book industry, I had worked with some reporters who were nice enough to show me around some of the news establishments. I got a tour of the New York Times from the guy who runs the business section, so there’s a lot of stuff in the first and second book that you might actually recognize. In the second book, The Guilty, there’s a War Room, and there actually is a War Room at the New York Times. I thought things like that were really interesting, and I definitely wanted to give a real flavor of what a newsroom felt like, with a good story that kept readers turning pages.

MediaBlvd> Do you see any aspects of yourself in Henry? Did you draw on anything in your own life, in creating him?

Jason> He’s definitely an original creation, but there are parts of him that I see in myself. To some extent, we were both overly ambitious, at a younger age. I’m not a big guy with paying your dues. If you do something and can do it well, it shouldn’t matter how old you are or how much time you have in the trenches. When I was in editorial, I didn’t like being an assistant. I wanted to be a straight-up editor, really fast. I worked very hard to move up the ladder quickly. It’s the same thing with Henry. He’s this younger guy, working at a prestigious paper and, right off the bat, he wants to be the man. His first job is writing obituaries, and then writing crummy little pieces on artwork that he isn’t fond of, but he wants to write the juicy stuff. That’s something we both have in common. Neither of us are happy unless we feel like we’re utilizing our talents fully, but at the same time, we might be a little high on our respective talents and bite off more than we can chew, sometimes.

MediaBlvd> Do you have anyone read over your female characters to make sure that you’re getting them right?

Jason> My wife reads all my books, along with my agent and my editor. I wanted the characters to be believable and three-dimensional. I love the Amanda character. In a lot of novels, there’s the stock love interest who shows up and sweeps the hero off his feet, or she’s just window dressing. I wanted the plot to revolve around her as much as him, and I wanted neither of them to get through it alive without each other. I thought it made it a little deeper than just a standard thriller. In a weird way, you almost see the relationship beginning as they’re going through this suspenseful ordeal. In the second book, they really get tested. They met under strenuous circumstances, so how strong are they? Are they going to be able to withstand yet another blow to their relationship? So, I just wanted her to be believable. The one thing I do with dialogue is actually read it out loud and, if it sounds silly or like somebody wouldn’t say it, I change it. It’s more about being honest to the character. Even though I’m not a woman, I’ve spoken to many and I have a lot of them in my life. I feel like I can at least understand how they talk, if not necessarily how they think. That helped make it a little more realistic.

MediaBlvd> How do you know when you’ve reached the right level of suspense, and how do you work in character development and relationships without having it take too much away from the story?

Jason> That was probably the hardest thing for me. Because it’s a suspense novel, it has to be gripping. You have to want to turn the pages. As far as pacing, anytime I finished up writing a section, if I didn’t want to know what would happen next, it was a bit of a failure. I knew the book was working because I would finish writing, close my Word program on my computer, and then, five minutes later, I’d have to open it back up again and keep writing because I needed to know what happened next. At the same time, as far as the relationship goes, especially during their conversations, I didn’t want them to have stock conversations like, “Okay, what are the clues? What happens next? Where do we go?” I wanted it to be clear they had a little bit of a rapport and could joke around with each other a little bit and that there was a little chemistry there. That was a good way to show that these people had potential. Because the book takes place over a short amount of time, I didn’t want to hit any false notes. I didn’t want to make it seem like these two were soulmates. I didn’t want to have a long sex scene. In this situation, I just didn’t think there was really time for it. But, I wanted to make it clear that these two had a connection and a chemistry and, if they survived the first book, they were going to see where things went in the second one.

MediaBlvd> You were never asked to try to include a sex scene anyway?

Jason> No. I remember thinking about writing a sex scene, but it just wouldn’t fit. They’re on the run the whole time, from four people who want to kill them, so there just wasn’t time for it, aside from the fact that they just met each other and I considered them both pretty decent people. They just weren’t the kind of people that would, all of a sudden, jump into the sack, after having met the day before, especially because, as you learn, Henry lies to Amanda pretty badly. She does trust him, but at the same time, she’s not willing to give in fully to his story. I didn’t think it would fit. I felt it would have been dishonest to do that, so early on. It works better if they’re just characters and they’re allowed to develop. Anytime there’s a guy and a girl, who are main characters in a book, it’s like, “Oh, when are they going to get together?” I wasn’t saying these two weren’t going to get together, but I didn’t think the first book would be the time or place for them to do it. It would have been wrong and untrue.

MediaBlvd> How can fans of this series expect it to progress?

Jason> What I love about the second book is that people who haven’t read the first one can enjoy the second one without feeling lost. The characters and the plot do stand on its own. But, for people who have read the first book, The Guilty is a totally different story than The Mark. Henry has to deal with the after-effects of what happened in the first book. He has to deal with the fact that he’s gained some unwanted celebrity. But, instead of him being on the run now, he has to uncover this conspiracy that’s over 120 years old, and really has a chance to rewrite some of the history books. There’s a guy running around New York, killing controversial celebrities, using a rifle that’s over 120 years old, so Henry knows this guy has a reason and motive for doing this, and the killer quotes an article of Henry’s, giving them a link. It’s a chance for Henry to show his metal as a reporter, but at the same time, he has to question who he is, where he is, how he’s gained this level of notoriety, and how he’s going to stop this psychopath. It’s a very different story. I did a lot more research for that book. It does touch on some actual conspiracy theories, going back over 120 years. People will come away from it, asking a few questions about what they think they know.

MediaBlvd> Without giving anything away, what can readers expect specifically from the next Henry Parker novel, The Fury? What will Henry have to go through next?

Jason> The Fury (October ‘09) is the most personal story Henry has had to face yet. Through the first three books, we’ve learned a little bit about his life before he came to New York, but in this book he finds out that there’s one massive skeleton in his family’s closet that is now coming back to haunt him. But, what he finds out is just the tip of the iceberg, and the start of a big storyline that will continue into the next Henry Parker novel, The Darkness, which will be out in November 2009, just a month after The Fury hits shelves. What I love about this story is that, every day that goes by, the story becomes more and more an actual representation of what’s going on in New York, and how the whole city seems capable of falling apart, at a moment’s notice. In these two books, readers will see one major cherry bomb dropped into the toilet, so to speak.

MediaBlvd> How many books are you contracted for in this series? Do you have an end goal for it, or are you writing it as more open-ended and figuring it out as you go?

Jason> Right now, I’m contracted for seven Henry Parker novels, and I just finished plotting the story for the sixth. Hopefully, if people still enjoy the books, there will be more. I don’t want to write him forever, but I do think there is at least seven, and hopefully more, books in him. He’s a great character. I would love to see how he grows over time. He’s still a pretty young guy, and I want to see what happens when he and Amanda mature, and see where their relationship is going to go, if it can last. It’s great to really see this character over the long haul. I don’t have a specific end goal. I don’t see him sitting on a rocking chair, in 80 years. At the same time, I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. I could end up writing Henry for the next 20 years, or he could be done after book seven. I want to see where the stories take him. If there are more stories to tell and readers aren’t getting tired of him, he’ll keep popping up.

MediaBlvd> Have you given any thought at all about whether you’d like to see his story turned into a movie?

Jason> The film rights were optioned, so I have to think about it a little bit. It would make a very cool movie. Certainly, there’s enough there. I know a lot of authors who have had their work optioned, and who have even had their stuff turned into movies. When you write a book, it’s your interpretation of the story, and when a movie is made of your book, it’s their interpretation of your interpretation. You’d have to go into it knowing that it’s someone else’s vision of your work. It’s probably not going to be completely faithful, and maybe somebody will get cast that you’re not thrilled with, but at the same time, it’s very cool that you’ve written a story that somebody else thinks would work for another medium. I’m just going to sit back and see what happens. If it ends up being made, and I have no idea if it will, I’d be thrilled to have any input, but if I have none, I’ll be curious to see how it turns out and I’ll cross my fingers. There are good characters, enough suspense and a good enough relationship between the two characters that it could be interesting. I’ll cross my fingers that it actually happens.

MediaBlvd> Have any of the characters been particularly difficult for you to write?

Jason> There was one character in the first book that was kind of difficult -- the FBI agent, Joe Mauser. I really liked his character. I didn’t want him to be one of those stock cops, who’s just chasing relentlessly. He’s got a bit of a dark side. He’s kind of lonely. It was hard to write this character who had this tremendous anger toward what Henry had done to his family, but who also had a sadness with what he’d lost. It was hard to strike the balance between anger and hatred towards Henry, but also show this guy who did have a heart. Even though he’s chasing Henry and wants to kill him, he’s not a bad guy. If the roles were reversed, he could almost be the hero of the story. It was hard to strike a balance with that, but he’s one of my most favorite characters in the first book.

MediaBlvd> Do you have any specific writing habits, like a particular location or time of day that you prefer to write in? Do you write every day, for specified amounts of time?

Jason> I have my desk at home that I always write at. It’s certainly not the best place because our apartment overlooks a brick wall, so I can’t say that I get a whole lot of inspiration from that. My favorite time to write tends to be at night. I love writing between 9 pm and midnight, or later than that. When it’s dark out and the day is done and it’s quiet, I love that sense of serenity. That’s really conducive. During the day, I get distracted a little bit. I’ll walk around. I’ll listen to music. If I have anything that I’ve Tivoed, I’ll watch that. For some reason, nighttime always seem to work the best for me. If you write children’s books, maybe it’s better to look outside and see the sun shining. But, if you’re writing dark books or thrillers, or something where people die, it helps to see the darkness.

MediaBlvd> Are you the type of writer that likes to plot things out, or do you prefer to see where the story and the characters take you?

Jason> I tend to know the beginning and the ending, and I’ll have one or two scenes in mind, that happen around the middle, that are turning points or pivotal scenes. Other than that, I really love to just see where the characters lead me. It’s more organic that way, and it allows the characters to develop themselves. My publisher asks that I turn in an outline for each book, just to give them an idea of where it’s going, so I turn in the outline with a disclaimer that says, “This can and will change.” I tend to have a couple major scenes in mind, but I love to just be able to flow in between those.

MediaBlvd> How do you think you’ve grown as a writer, since writing your first novel? In what ways do you think you still need to grow?

Jason> With the second book, especially, I learned how to do research a lot better. I wanted the first book to be much more of a straight-forward chase novel that’s very suspenseful without a lot of bells and whistles. With the second book, I really needed to learn a lot about American history, the Old West, and weaponry. With the third book, The Stolen, it was much more of a straight-forward mystery. I describe the first two books as thrillers with a bit of mystery, and the third book I describe more as a mystery with a bit of a thriller. The pacing was a little bit different, and that was kind of difficult. It was a personal case for Henry, in that it deals with children, and he and Amanda come from broken homes. I learned how to write a story in which the main character had a personal interest in what happened. Henry’s first job is as a reporter, so he has to worry about skirting the line.

MediaBlvd> What sort of feedback have you gotten from readers? Has anything that they’ve said to you surprised you at all?

Jason> The feedback has been terrific. I’ve gotten a lot of fan mail from people who have liked the books. Some people tell me that they really hadn’t read full books until they read mine because they hadn’t found a book that kept their attention for that long. Some things that people say are funny. I got one letter saying that my book was a brilliant expose of bureaucracy run amok. I remember thinking, “I didn’t realize I wrote a book about bureaucracy run amok.” Sometimes readers see something that you’ve written a little differently from what you think you’ve written. Everyone can interpret a book in their own way. That’s the beauty of it. It’s just funny that sometimes people take something from a book that the author didn’t necessarily intend.

MediaBlvd> What has been your proudest professional accomplishment, thus far?

Jason> The first fan letter I got. It was just such a strange thing to see that somebody had read my book, enjoyed it, and actually took the time to go to my website, find my email address and send me a three-paragraph long email about how much they liked my book. It was such a wonderful moment, just to know that I’d connected with a reader, on that level. It was such a great letter that I forwarded it to everybody I knew. Thankfully, I’ve gotten more since then, but that was just such a great moment. Every writer aspires to write a book that people will enjoy, and that someone took the time out of their day to write that was really just special.

MediaBlvd> What are you working on now? Any plans for any non-Henry Parker novels?

Jason> I’m finishing up The Darkness and beginning very early work on the sixth Henry Parker novel, but I’ve also been sketching out some ideas for a non-Parker thriller. I’d love to do what Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman and Harlan Coben have done, alternating their series characters with stand-alone novels. But, maybe what I’m most excited about is a Young Adult series I’ve been outlining for a few months, which is a little more fantasy, like the stuff I grew up on, with monsters and magic. And, of course, it has a main character who will undoubtedly be far cooler and better with girls than I was at his age.

MediaBlvd> What advice can you offer to aspiring writers who are looking, not just to get published, but to have a long-lasting career?

Jason> The most important thing is to write what you love and write the kind of book that you would want to read. I wrote The Mark because I wanted to read a book about a younger hero in a thriller novel, in an industry that I thought was particularly interesting. I wrote the book that I didn’t think was out there. If you do that, chances are, there will be an audience for it. Don’t write what you think is hot, or what you think is popular. Don’t aim to write the next Great American Novel. Aim to write a novel that you think you would enjoy first because, chances are, if you would enjoy it, other people will too. Also, keep writing. Most people don’t get published on the first try. I didn’t. So, if you write a book that doesn’t get published, just keep writing. You’re going to get better with every book and, eventually, at some point, if you’re good enough, you’ll get published. And, read a lot. Read as much as you can, in every genre -- fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science fiction, literary, biography, narrative. Every book you read gives you a few more tools for your toolbox. As a writer, the more diverse tools you have, the better you’ll be, so just read everything you can, across the spectrum, and try to learn what works and what doesn’t.