You’ve often said that you started writing because you figured if Robin Cook could do it, so could you. What keeps you writing?
Robin and I went to Wesleyan University in CT together and later trained at Mass General Hospital together. I most definitely tried my hand at novel writing because he did it so successfully. My first book (The Sisterhood) exceeded everyone’s expectations and is still in print after almost 30 years. Very few of the 15 books that have followed haven’t been fun—challenging, yes, at times frustrating, yes, at times even disappointing, yes, but ultimately always fun and rewarding. I love the people I deal with in the business, and the incredible challenge of staring down a blank sheet of paper, trying to sort out in my mind how to come up with an idea for a 400+ page novel. I have earned a good deal from my writing, and could probably pack it in any time and head for the beach, but that possibility has never yet been a real consideration. Most of all, I love the feedback from readers of the impact my writing has had on their lives. When all else fails to motivate me, I always fall back on the old saw, “Writers don’t like writing books, they like having written them.”
You always manage to come up with fresh ideas for your medical thrillers. What do you want the reader to take with them at the end of each?
Mostly, I want my books to be absorbing. I want my readers to have muscle cricks from not moving anything except what it takes to turn the page. I don’t want them to be aware that ANYONE wrote the story. I want them never to think “Gosh, this guy’s a good writer” until they have finished. Then I want them to exhale, let their pulse slow, and think, Damn, that was fun. To that end I try to eliminate any phrase or image that I think is saying, “Hey look what a clever writer I am!” The goal is never to pull my readers out of the story.
As far as my ideas go – the medical ethical issues about which I center my books-- I hope only to raise questions, not to answer them.
All of your books have made it onto the bestsellers list. What’s your secret?
I have always had a deep passion for life and for people, and I try to write every sentence from my heart. My keys to best sellerdom (probably in order) are (1) Luck (2) Fascination with People (3) discipline (4)Sense of what’s dramatic (5) Love of words (6) Passion for medicine and what it’s like to be a doctor (7) Terrific agent and editors (8) A great idea for my first novel 30 years ago (9) Willingness to listen to constructive criticism and to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite; (10) Luck….(11) did I say Luck??
There’s always a lot of controversy concerning some doctors being agnostic or atheist. Do you have a spiritual view of life, is so, why?
I have never been a hugely religious person—goes along with my innate dislike for being told what to do, I guess. HOWEVER, for almost 30 years I have been on the faculty of the Tufts University School of Medicine. Currently I lecture in the addiction medicine course about spiritually and the necessity for students to develop their spiritual selves at the same time as they are developing their scientific selves. We talk about spirituality as making the right choices in life, and getting to know and understand themselves as a means to understanding those choices. If God is involved in their spirituality (or mine), that’s great. But it is also a choice and not a necessity.
With the US health care system in crisis, where do you think the main issues lie?
I wish I knew. Less war, I guess. Less graft and federal spending. More a system run by people who really care about people. Fewer bureaucrats deciding what is and is not good medicine. More primary care docs getting paid more money for what they think as opposed to those who get paid for the procedures they do. At the uppermost tip of the pyramid should be the doing of a careful history and physical.
And, if you could ask the President one question regarding the health care system and his strategy, what would it be?
What is at the heart of your philosophy of what is essential to good health care?
Tell us about your latest novel The Last Surgeon?
Army surgeon, Nick Garrity is back in D.C. battling the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) he brought home from Afghanistan. When his best friend disappears, his search for the man ends up connecting him with nurse Jillian Coates, who doesn’t believe (as do the police) that her sister committed suicide. Together, they discover a conspiracy involving each of their loved ones that reaches to the pinnacle of government and centers about a botched operation. Blocking their way is a remorseless killer, instructed to protect a terrible secret no matter what the cost.
In the book you have a character’s alter-ego with the name Dr. Nick Fury. Some comic book fans might get confused, what’s your thinking behind him?
Dr. Nick Garrity was affectionately named Nick Fury by his men because of his unwavering resolve to do the right thing, much like the comic strip soldier.
If you could be any super hero, who would you be and why?
I’ve always wanted to be Superman, but without the X-ray vision, which would pose far to great a temptation. I mean, if you’re going to be a superhero, you might as well be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
I’m always curious about where writers write. Do you have an inner sanctum?
An upper sanctum, actually. I work in an eternally cluttered top corner room in our fairly massive 90 year old colonial. There are sliders opening on a small deck. The house is on a 75-foot cliff 0.1 miles away from the north Atlantic. The view, which includes the skyline of Boston, goes for 20 miles and can be seen in one of the photos in
www.michaelpalmerbooks.com. Lucky me. However, I often have to close the blinds when I write.
So far, what are your writing achievements vs. your writing goals?
My goals are the same as they ever were—to write a seamless thriller that leaves the reader gasping and satisfied at the end. The achievement is that I get paid and paid well while trying to reach my goal.
Name a random thing that your readers would be shocked to know about you?
I’ve had a cybercrush on Rachelle Gagne since the early My Space days.
We ask this of all our interviewees: What advice can you give to all the aspiring writers out there?
Always start your writing by relaxing. Never take your words too seriously. Find those passages you are particularly fond of—the ones that say what a great writer you are--and get rid of them immediately.
TheNovelBlog.com would like to thank Michael Palmer for his time and answers.
Rachelle Gagne
Chief Reviewer
TheNovelBlog.com