Making It Up with Chris Pavone, author of The Doorman 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 Chris Pavone, author of The Doorman

January 06, 2026 • Carter Wilson • Season 1 • Episode 215

“Don’t wait for chapter five to be good. Be good immediately.” —Chris Pavone

Chris Pavone is an international thriller author whose novels include THE EXPATS, winner of both the Edgar and Anthony Awards; the instant bestseller TWO NIGHTS IN LISBON; and THE DOORMAN, a New York Times Notable Book of 2025. His novels have appeared on all the major bestseller lists and have won or been shortlisted for Edgar, Anthony, Strand, Macavity, and ThrillerFest awards, among others. Chris worked in publishing for nearly two decades and ghost-wrote a couple of nonfiction books.

Among other things, Chris and Carter discuss working in publishing in New York City in the early 90s, why the first page of your manuscript is so important, and how a move to Luxembourg inspired Chris’s first novel. At the end of their conversation, they make up an emotional story using a line from Jeffrey Konvitz’s The Circus of Satan.