Making It Up with James L'Etoile, author of River of Lies Artwork

Carter Wilson's Making It Up

In this conversation series, USA Today bestselling novelist Carter Wilson talks to writers of all backgrounds in order to find out why they do what they do. He and his guests discuss childhood influences, roots of creativity, luck and loss, tools of the craft, and the highs and lows of publishing. At the end of their conversation, they pick a random sentence from a random book and use it to create an impromptu short story. Visit Carter at www.carterwilson.com.

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Carter Wilson's Making It Up

Making It Up with James L'Etoile, author of River of Lies

April 10, 2025 • Carter Wilson • Season 1 • Episode 178

James L’Etoile uses his 29 years behind bars as an influence in his novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California’s state parole system. He is a nationally recognized expert witness on prison and jail operations. He is a two-time Silver Falchion Award nominee and shortlisted for the Bill Crider Award for short fiction.

Among other things, James and Carter discuss writing being a form of therapy, how writing presentence reports evolved into writing crime fiction, and working with two different publishers. At the end of their conversation, they make up a suspenseful story using a line from Kwei Quartey’s The Whitewashed Tombs.