Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Iris Johansen is the New York Times bestselling author of Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, Countdown, Firestorm, Fatal Tide, Dead Aim, and more. And with her son Roy Johansen, she has coauthored The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.
Johansen began writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success. She had seventeen consecutive New York Times bestsellers as of November 2006.
Johansen lives near Atlanta, Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.
Iris Johansen's website
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What is the most exciting moment in the writing process for you? Does it
vary from book to book?
It does vary from book to book. Usually it is near the climax when everything
is moving tornado-fast and I am carried along with it. However, there are times
when I'm just as excited when I get some complicated bit of research right and
feel I did a good job making that part of the story interesting.
How do you begin your fiction? Does a plot come first? A character? A theme
or conflict?
The plot definitely does not come first. I sincerely wish it did because life
would be a great deal easier for me. I'm one of those writers who cannot plan
ahead. I have to let the story carry me along to reveal the twists and turns.
Every book starts with just the kernel of an idea that, hopefully, matures into
a full-grown tree. Other than that constant, everything else is up for grabs.
What questions do readers most often ask you? Have you ever learned something
unexpectedly from reader comments? What questions would you like to ask your
readers?
Readers ask where I get my ideas (answer: everywhere!). They ask how many
hours I work every day (between six and twelve, depending upon where I am in the
book)....
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