Where I Left Off

No Write Way to Die with Author Neal Lipschutz

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 46

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Thanks to Author Neal Lipschutz for coming on the podcast to talk about his debut thriller, No Write Way to Die, available anywhere books are sold July 8, 2025. 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back. I'm Kristen Balls and you're listening to when I Left Off a bookish podcast and today I'm joined by the author of no Right Way to Die, neil Lipschitz. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

So the first question that I always ask every author is what are you currently reading right now? And just in case you're writing and not really reading a lot, are there any authors that really inspire you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I keep reading, even when I'm writing. Sometimes I vary the type of book, but I'm a pretty eclectic reader in general, both nonfiction and fiction. Obviously I do like mystery and suspense novels. I also read a lot of literary novels, but the one I'm reading right now, which is pretty intriguing it's not a new book, it's called the Last Policeman by Ben Winters.

Speaker 2:

I think it's about 12 or 13 years old and it's an interesting concept because he's got sort of this straight arrow detective trying to investigate what he thinks is a murder. But the backdrop is that there's a giant asteroid hurtling toward the earth and in some number of months the entire earth will likely be destroyed. So it's really about how do people behave when they know that inevitability, it seems like, is approaching them. I haven't finished it yet so I don't know exactly what happens, but it's a very intriguing concept concept and it's pretty well done. That's what I'm reading now. I recently finished the memoir by Radon Cotter, who was for a long time the editor of Vanity Fair, and he talks you know, it's kind of fun for me because he it wasn't all that long ago, but it was a bunch of years ago that you know sort of the heyday of print magazines and what kind of life the editor of one of those big magazines led. So that's the two most recent things I've been reading.

Speaker 1:

Nice. Where do you tend to find book recommendations whenever you're trying to decide what to read next?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a great question. They seem to come from a bunch of places, not so much from other people, but sort of like you know, I might be reading a newsletter about writing and somebody will say this book is terrific. Sometimes just reading book reviews which I like to do and sometimes interesting like this, this last policeman I actually was reading a book not too long ago about the craft of mystery and suspense writing and somebody called that out as just saying that it was an excellent book. So I said, oh, I might as well see what that's about.

Speaker 1:

And kind of speaking of reviews. Do you plan to read reviews for your book? Are you going to stay off of Goodreads or any of those sites?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great question, you know since it's a debut for me, a debut novel, a debut book. I really haven't thought that through. I guess I'll probably take a look at some point. I would think.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I've heard a lot of authors. They're very much like one way or the other. They either completely stay off and they will not look at reviews, or they're going to read all of them and, you know, really dive in.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I mean, I think it's easy to say now, but I do think I'm at the point where I understand not everyone is going to love the book. I'm at the point where I understand not everyone is going to love the book. So people have different tastes and different views, so I do expect that there'll be a variety of opinions.

Speaker 1:

I will say that I was in. I've been in a thriller slump for probably like the past year. Honestly, it's been kind of iffy and I really enjoyed this book and it kept me entertained. I was telling a friend about it and they were like you got to tell me who the murderer is. I need to know. And I was like I have a guess and I was actually right, but it was a close one, I wasn't sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, thank you, and I'm glad to hear that If there was some uncertainty, that was part of the goal, so that's good to know.

Speaker 1:

That's the getting to decide who you think the killer is. Yeah, exactly what can you tell us about your current work in progress? So is this book a series or is it a standalone?

Speaker 2:

It is a series and I've actually pretty much completed the next couple of books in the series. But what I'm actually putting the final touches on now is a very different kind of mystery in that it's got very different characters and the setting's very different. So it takes place on an island in Greece, a Greek island, and the protagonist is a young PhD student in archaeology who's there for a fellowship and she winds up becoming an amateur detective when someone she knows dies mysteriously. So that's kind of very different and I've had fun with that. That's almost done, and then I'll kind of go back to the number two and number three books in the series that no Right Way to Die sets off and sort of try to put the final touches on those.

Speaker 1:

How did the idea for this new one come to you?

Speaker 2:

I was on a Greek island for vacation a couple of years back and not very well educated in, but interested in ancient Greece and the civilization and the archaeology and how much continues to be discovered, you know, from so many years ago, and some of the remarkable sophistication of both the way people lived and their art and their dwellings from even 1600 BC or something. So all that was in my mind and sort of not quite sure exactly how. But then when I got back home after a little while I just thought oh, wouldn't it be interesting if we set a couple of young Americans down there in that setting and both interacting with people who are native to the island and with archaeology, which I had to do a bit of research on and see what happens.

Speaker 1:

That sounds really interesting. You may not be able to tell me this, but because you've already written the other books in that series and now you're working on this one, will you have an additional release out next year?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I hope so. Not completely sure, but I believe that there'll be the number two book in the series that follows this one in about a year, so that would be a plan, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Okay, wow, that's really quick. So did you write this whole series before you even started querying?

Speaker 2:

I didn't write the whole series and I frankly think that there's more to go in the series. I mean, I think where I am isn't the end At some point. Obviously there will be, but I do think there's more to go. Before I even started thinking about trying to get this published, I was pretty well into at least the basics of what number two would look like that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

But, yay, that's awesome that we get the next book in the series one up in a year, because I know all those deadlines are super tight.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, in about a year, but this one isn't quite real yet, so it's a lot to still go on this one.

Speaker 1:

Speaking a little bit more about no Right Way to Die. Can you tell us a little bit more kind of about your author journey and how it led you from being the Deputy Editor-in-Chief at the Wall Street Journal to becoming an author?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I was a journalist for a very long time and it was a super rewarding career, and I was at Dow Jones, which is the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, both at their newswire, dow Jones Newswires, and the journal, for decades and, as I said, I really enjoyed it and I felt really quite blessed to have had that career. And near you know, near the end of it, though, I did think I would like to still do something different, and I have written some short fiction over the years, never really had too much time to do it, but some short stories, some fictional short stories, and I just thought that now that I have the opportunity, you know, let me give it a try, and I've always been a big fan of mystery suspense and I just thought that would be a kind of a reasonable genre to attempt.

Speaker 2:

So I just feel very fortunate that I'm in a position where I'm still excited about it and I have the luxury I guess is the word of turning my full attention to it now, after a career in journalism.

Speaker 1:

And I'm sure a short stories kind of helped. But was it really difficult, Because the writing styles are so different from you know, like journalistic, to pulling it out in a novel? It's just like night and day.

Speaker 2:

I know, absolutely, absolutely very different, but it's, you know, at the same time, it's very freeing to write fiction and I've read enough over the years to know. Obviously you do want to see things from a character or multiple characters point of view and it's very subjective in what their view of the world is and how they justify some of their actions, even if they're not always admirable actions, you know. In that sense it wasn't that difficult because it was just a different way to approach things and one that I was eager to try.

Speaker 1:

And what made no Right Way to Die the story that you had to tell first.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean it's interesting because I first did think of it as a short story idea that I just imagined these two men who grew up in sort of the same Brooklyn neighborhood and whose lives went in very different directions and then in middle age that they come into conflict. And once I started writing that really as a short story, a couple of other kind of big ideas occurred to me. Writing that really as a short story, a couple of other kind of big ideas occurred to me and I realized, well, I said, wow, this might have sort of the legs, if you will, to be that one big story or, you know, have enough to make it into a full novel. So it was really just starting with that idea of these two men growing up in the same place but turning out rather differently but maybe at the same time sharing some characteristics, and then saying, wow, you know, if this happened and this happened, it's a bigger story and at that point it's a novel.

Speaker 1:

And as you're kind of taking this from what you thought was a short story and pulling it out into a novel, what does your plotting process kind of look like for a thriller? I would assume that you're a plotter because I mean, I guess you could pants a thriller but I feel like that would be so hard.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's funny because, as I was, there's that distinction between people who plot meticulously and those who maybe just start with a scene in their mind or one character in their mind and sort of let it go from there. And you know, I've read this and I think it's my own experience bears it out. For what that's worth is that probably most writers are in the middle, so not really just one or the other. So I did start with a basic outline, but it wasn't meticulous, it wasn't post-its on the wall or anything like that. And then, as I went along, I really did both cut and add things. So the novel changed, but also the outline changed Even when it was done, in other words, even after I had written the end, let me put it that way I went back and I took out some scenes, I added some scenes, so it was kind of an ongoing, it was both, but it certainly started with a basic outline. Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1:

So how do you balance kind of the realism and the entertainment of a thriller, Because your story is very realistic but it's entertaining throughout?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, thank you, thanks for saying that. I you know my view like I try to think of myself as a reader. As I said, I really do enjoy mysteries and suspense for a long time, but I've always been one of those people who have enjoyed, I think, most of all the interplay of complex characters. You know, yes, the plot's important, for sure, and you do want to be, especially if it's kind of an organic twist, it really does seem realistic.

Speaker 2:

I've always cared more about the characters and I look at it as want to be kind of quote-unquote realistic. But you don't have to be real, right, as long as readers like myself, certainly, and I think most readers are willing to suspend disbelief to a degree, you know it's like, yeah, that's part of the fun of reading this kind of book. I think you heighten everything, right, so it's a world, that things should be consistent within themselves, but they don't have to be real life and frankly, I think they shouldn't be real life because you just want to heighten and of course you also which happens in a lot of thrillers, you know, you drop people into, just like, situations that are just anxiety driven and extraordinarily difficult situations to see, and often they react based on the kind of people they were before the crisis, kind of. If you see what I'm getting at. So I think you can be realistic and really not worry about truly being real.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I think, like you said, consistency is key because, yeah, I've read a couple lately that I'm like they're so out there I almost can't follow it. I'm like this, this is a lot, this is not, doesn't make sense. So, yeah, that consistency makes a lot of sense. So what was the biggest challenge when writing this?

Speaker 2:

well, first, because I've never really done one before. I was concerned there wasn't enough going on to make it really compelling. Because, as I I said, I had this tendency, I think, to worry about the characters and the characterizations and the complexity of human beings, but at the same time I wanted a lot to happen. That was a challenge, you know, make sure a lot happens. And then, at a much more minor level, when it was all done, I went back and just said, ok, it happens over the course of about a year. Have the seasons changed in the way they do in New York? You know, just to make sure that, as we talked about that consistency, that I sort of didn't miss something, that all of a sudden something happened and it was three months later and readers kind of caught unawares and said wait, wait, a second. You know that. How does that jive with this? So is that kind of very practical? Does the timeline make sense? And then, as I'm writing, saying, is there enough going on to make it, I hope, compelling?

Speaker 1:

What was your favorite scene that you can't wait for readers to get to? That's kind of going to be hard without spoiling.

Speaker 2:

but you can be a little bit vague be hard without spoiling, but you can be a little bit vague. Yeah, I mean, actually I think I can do that without spoiling anything because, at least to me, some of the scenes that I liked the most were ones where we go back to the protagonist Scott Morgan's childhood and teenagehood and some of the things that happened there that he experiences I think are pretty at least for me pretty good scenes in their own right, but also give the reader, I think, a pretty good sense of what were at least the influences that turned him into the person he becomes.

Speaker 1:

So hopefully his actions are understandable, even if they're not always something people would approve of. I mean, at the end of the day, he's doing what he feels he has to do to protect his family. Yeah, so if no Right Way to Die were adapted into a film or a TV series, who would you cast as Scott, Sarah and Meredith?

Speaker 2:

That's fun to think about. Though it's hard to do these, yeah, that's not my forte, but I would say, maybe for Scott, maybe George Clooney, for Meredith, maybe Nicole Kidman. Sarah might be a little harder.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't think of someone for Sarah but for Scott. I was kind of thinking, maybe like Bruce Willis, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and yeah, it was kind of in the same sort of broad bracket. Yeah, I think for Sarah. Maybe Saoirse Ronan I mean, I'm pronouncing her name correctly, her first name, Maybe you know she's such an excellent actor anyway, just in general that name came to mind.

Speaker 1:

I could see that. Yeah, it's a fun question, but sometimes kind of hard when you're imagining it in your head. Do you just kind of see like general facial features but not like a specific person?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah exactly, exactly, yeah, or a person that doesn't exist. Frankly, you know what I mean. Like I sort of see someone but it's not. It's not someone who exists. That's, I think, the case here. So it's like you say when you try to say match it up with real human beings who are actors. It's sure you know, and I think that happens anytime. Obviously it becomes a different medium if a book is adapted and it takes on a whole different flavor because you have actors interpreting it.

Speaker 1:

And the other thing is that with an actor it's not even just their physical characteristics, it's kind of their tone of voice and their personality and normally kind of sometimes what they've been typecasted in. So yeah, it adds a whole nother layer of trying to find the right person.

Speaker 2:

No, that's a great. That's a great point Exactly Because then you have viewers, they remember the actor from a particular film or particular television series and, yeah, then they sort of superimpose their own views.

Speaker 1:

So how would you describe your experience with traditional publishing so far? And kind of like, once you signed your contract, what did the process generally look like from there?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, as I said, it's my first time and I'm with a very small publishing company. They have distribution agreements with the larger publisher, but I'm not sure my experience is representative. But I mean, it's essentially run by two people, so the nice part about that is that communications is very easy. You know, there's no big group there to deal with, it's just the two partners, and they've both been excellent to deal with. And I also felt, having been an editor myself for many years, I felt that I received a very good edit of the book. That made it a stronger book. So I, you know, as an editor myself, at least in a previous life, I appreciated that the book came out better for the edit.

Speaker 1:

How many rounds of revisions did you go through?

Speaker 2:

That's a great question. I'd say at least 10. Yeah, I'd say probably 10, you know, and some of them were very small things. Yeah, you know, I'd say somewhere in the area of 10.

Speaker 1:

I'm sure it's hard to get an exact number because, like you said, there are some small ones or, like you might read through it and change some things, or they might read through it and change some things. So it's not like a full rework every time or anything that's right, that's right.

Speaker 2:

And yes, some of the revisions are bigger than others. But yeah, that's right, that's right. And yes, some of the revisions are bigger than others. But yeah, you know, you keep looking at it, you keep looking at it. I did find, you know and I've read this too as advice and it really doesn't make sense, if you have the luxury of stepping away for a week really helps. You know, it's very hard to read a whole novel and then the next day started again. You know when you're looking for finding either small things you'd rather improve or even things like oh, I've used this word too many times, let me use a synonym that kind of thing, and I've definitely heard that from other authors too.

Speaker 1:

But I'm sure that once you've looked at it so many times, it's hard and you kind of are almost blind to you know little things. Yeah, that's why.

Speaker 2:

I think that time you can, even if you're still working, just work on something else for a while. I think that real, I think that really helps. You know, if you can get a little distance, even if you obviously know the story, you can come at least at some of the language issues with a bit of a fresh perspective.

Speaker 1:

Were you already working on book two while book one was in edits?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, and that was helpful because, like I said, you know, if it's during sort of downtime or time that I would like to say let me wait a few days so I can have a fresh perspective, I had something else to work on, and is there a message line or moment in no Right Way to Die that you're particularly proud of, or a part that early readers kind of quote back to?

Speaker 2:

so far, nothing in a particular line or scene and I don't know if proud is the right word. I hope that people come away with that. A lot of what happens in the book there's several different ways to look at it, that there's an ambiguity about what happened. Was this character's perspective correct on it, or that character's perspective correct on it, or that character's perspective correct on it? And what's one of the characters just trying to justify their actions to themselves? So if there's a sense of ambiguity about what happens and a few different kinds of ways to look at it, I would be happy that if readers come away with that sense. I think human behavior is complicated and complex enough that there's always some ambiguity.

Speaker 1:

And kind of how one character's actions just tumble and create a lot of issues for all the other characters and like ripple out throughout the book.

Speaker 2:

Exactly right and you know the whole thing right. You take a certain action and there's all these unintended consequences.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for being on the show and thanks for listening to when I Left Off. The bookish podcast no Right Way to Die releases July 8th and you can pick up your copy wherever books are sold.