#68 Inside the Emotion of Fiction's THE MURDER LIST by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Chris Rice Cooper 

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

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****Hank Phillippi Ryan’s THE MURDER LIST is #68 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt.  All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece.

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? The title of my newest book is THE MURDER LIST. And you know what?  It was always called THE MURDER LIST. Unlike several of my other books where the names changed, this was instant and perfect.

Has this been published? And it is totally fine if the answer is no.   If yes, what publisher and what publication date? Forge Books, August 20, 2019

https://us.macmillan.com/TorForge

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? Because I keep track of my words per day, I can tell you that this book was begun on September 23, 2017.  The first draft was sent to the publisher on August 20, 2018. Final-final version was done sometime in January 2019. 

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work?  And please describe in detail.  I do most of my work at my desk, in my study, in our 1894 Victorian outside of Boston, Massachusetts. It is a wonderful and strangely-shaped room, painted a color that is called, ridiculously, Rhino Tusk, which resulted when I told the paint person I wanted it to be “tawny. “I look out about a window onto a gorgeous 200-year-old sugar maple tree.    It’s full of books, and all my Emmys and Agathas, and way too many piles of paper.  I am also delighted to write on airplanes—a safe space with a built-in deadline.

What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day?  If I wrote my book in longhand, I would not be able to read it! That’s why I only writer on a computer. As fast as I possibly can, and I am a really bad typist. Fast, but terrible. I write anytime of day, but I think I am better later in the day, and even late at night.  If I can manage to get someone to bring me an iced latte, I am thrilled.

What is the summary of this specific fiction work?  Three strong main characters: Rachel North, a law student. Married to Jack Kirkland, a brilliant defense attorney. Rachel also has a summer job as an intern with Martha Gardiner, the powerful district attorney. Rachel thinks she has everything: a fabulous and faithful husband, and a job with the District Attorney’s Office that will lead her on a path to glorious financial success. Rachel always tells you the truth as she knows it: The problem is, she’s wrong. It’s a twisty triple triangle of suspense--A cat and mouse and cat game. But which one is the mouse? 

Can you give the reader just enough information for them to understand what is going on in the excerpt? Here’s all you need to know. As the cover asks: What happens when the battle for justice becomes the battle for survival?
     Rachel. Jack. Martha. Who is next on THE MURDER LIST?
     Here is Rachel North, when she was the brand new chief of staff to State Senator Tom Rafferty. And they both are having a bad day in court.

Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference.  This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.

                             Rachel North

 A wall of bodies and cameras and microphones presses toward us and a din of insistent voices engulfs us, questions echoing on the white brick walls, doubling the sound, tripling the sound. We almost can’t get out of the elevator. It crosses my mind to push the close door button, escape, and sneak back into the courtroom some other way.

“Let’s do this,” I say. I narrow my eyes, lift my chin and power ahead, carving a path for the Senator, unstoppably determined, as if I’m his personal fullback. What these people are asking, what they’re demanding, what they’re thinking, is outrageous. Insensitive. Demeaning. Disrespectful. And, I hate myself for thinking, exactly what I’d like to know myself.

“Is your wife a murderer, Senator?” “Why did she do it?” “Why would Nina kill her?” “Were you having an affair?” “Are you going to resign?”

“No comment no comment the senator has no comment,” I repeat. I’m a robot, a talking robot, but I can feel Tom Rafferty, silent and seething, behind me. We make it to the tall wooden courtroom doors of room 226. I pull one of the metal door handles. Nothing. Try the other one. Nothing. And again. Nothing.  Locked.

“No comment no comment no comment.” I say as I keep trying, rattling the curved handles with one hand, knocking like crazy with the other. Tom and I are trapped here, sandwiched between the closed doors and the insistent reporters. Not a good battle strategy.

I almost fall over when one of the doors opens right onto me, and I lurch a step backward, almost tripping on the Senator who’s close behind me. A scowling court officer, a head taller than I am and shoulders twice as broad, appears in the doorway, clearly ready to order us away. He stops mid-command. Closes his mouth. Regroups.

“Get in here,” he mutters, waving us through.

I go first, ducking my head, then Tom. I feel the crowd behind us surging, as a group, trying to follow.

“Get back!” the officer instructs. His bulk blocks the still-open door, arms crossed over his chest. “Court stays closed until l:30. Rules are rules.”

“Come on, Hector,” someone whines from the back of the hallway. “If they can go in, we can go in.”

“He’s the President of the Senate,” the court officer hisses.

“Not for long!” someone calls out.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write?  And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt?  As I am writing from each character’s point of view, I try to almost channel that character, to become that character. So when I am writing the possibly manipulative but certainly ambitious Rachel, I can feel myself being that beautiful 30-something. 

           To write the benevolent but manipulative lawyer Jack Kirkland, I make myself feel big and important and confident--and the tiniest bit vulnerable. As for Martha Gardiner, the district attorney, she has, like the others, had an event happen to her that damaged her, professionally, so much that she will do anything to regain her reputation. The clash of all these three strong personalities? That’s what creates the page turning suspense.

     So I try to feel how they would feel, to think how they would think, and desperately want what they want. Sometimes when I’m writing, I can feel my face and body change to become the character.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. After 11 books, and this is my 11th, I try not to write things that I will later take out. But as someone who writes without an outline, inevitably I need to tighten and adjust and polish. There is one part of this book, a jury deliberation scene, that my editor said: “This is the most fabulous and riveting jury deliberation scene I have ever read.” And then she told me: “You need to cut the whole thing.”

Other works you have published? I have four published novels in the Charlotte McNally series (Above), the first, Prime Time won the Agatha for Best First Novel. (The first of five Agathas!) I have published five Jane Ryland novels (Below), so far, with one more at least under contract. My first psychological standalone, TRUST ME, was named best of the year by The New York Post, Real Simple Magazine and many other publications.  

THE MURDER LIST is my second psychological standalone. I am working on book 12, crossing fingers for that, and it will be in bookstores in August 2020. 
https://www.
amazon.com/Murder-List-
Hank-Phillippi-Ryan/dp/125019721X/
ref=sr_1_1?keywords=
The+Murder+LIst&qid=1564974363&s=gateway&sr=8-1

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN Contact Information 

Hank Phillippi Ryan on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyan

Hank Phillippi Ryan Author Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor/

Hank Phillippi Ryan Website Page

http://www.hankphillippiryan.com/?fbclid=IwAR1XtTo9a6dy5wMK9v2O3mIKJoag3ci0W8drx4SK8fg8xDkc1fIIQkcPpkQ

Hank Phillippi Ryan Instagram Link
@Hankpryan

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#068 08 04 2019 Hank Phillippi Ryan’s
Suspense

THE MURDER LIST
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/68-inside-emotion-of-fictions-murder.html