Why I'm Not Planning a 'Hunger Games' Knockoff

Over the course of my publishing career, friends have encouraged me to write a thriller: "How hard can it be?" Even my late mother used to say, "Write something like those books on the bestseller list." She meant thrillers, of course.



I've published memoirs, biography, psychology, historical fiction, mysteries, literary fiction, a Jane Austen mashup, an essay collection, and more -- but never a thriller. It's not snobbery. I love the genre. Some of my favorite authors are Ken Follett, Daniel S...