Many of Harlan Coben’s 38 New York Times best-selling mystery and thriller novels have been adapted for film and television. Coben, 64, grew up in Livingston and now lives in Ridgewood. His new memoir, Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft, is out September 8 from Grand Central Publishing.
I just watched your new TV show, I Will Find You, on Netflix and it was fantastic—I watched it in one night!
Thank you! I just learned that I Will Find You will enter the top 10 of all time on Netflix. And it’s the platform’s biggest original series debut of the year.
Congrats! What made you want to write this memoir?
Last year, I ended up working on two novels in one year, which is a lot. I just wanted to do something to sort of cleanse the palate.
What was it like to write nonfiction for a change?
I learned a lot about my process that I didn’t know, and I also learned how much of it actually was memoir. I always used to deny that I had a process, and I’d say, “Well, I just make this stuff up.” But I realized that every story I’ve ever told has something to do with my childhood or something that happened in my past. So I thought it’d be interesting to try writing a memoir for those who like memoirs, but also an insider look at how I write, as well as how you can write and how you can create.
Do people always ask you for advice about writing a novel?
Yes, it’s a natural thing to ask, and it’s an activity everybody thinks they can do. Not everybody thinks they could be a pro basketball player, but since everybody can technically write, and everybody has stories in their head, everybody thinks they can be a writer. With writing, it’s never too late—look at Delia Owens, who wrote When the Crawdads Sing when she was almost 70. People are learning it’s not too late to try, and they want to be more creative.
You set your books in New Jersey. What makes it such a great backdrop for thrillers?
I think we’re a cool state. We have a little bit of a chip on our shoulders, but we’re kind of a magic state, you know? We have Sopranos, Sinatra and Springsteen. We’re also sort of the battleground of the American dream, and people fight to have those dreams, so they’re fragile. And that’s what I think makes this state so interesting. It’s also an extraordinarily intelligent and diverse state. I actually sell more books overseas, and what I’ve learned about writing is the more specific I am, the more universal the appeal. I think there’s something about the New Jersey experience that resonates with people in Bulgaria and Bolivia.
