American writer (1963- )
If you don't want to run the risk that the filmmakers may adapt your work in a way you don't like, then you don't sell the option.
JEFF ABBOTT
"Jeff Abbott, Author of The Last Minute", seattle pi, July 2, 2012
If it's broken, it can be fixed.
JEFF ABBOTT
Fear
No, I don't know what it's like to be an amnesiac teenager. I do know what it's like to feel overwhelmed, or alone, or as if no one understands you or likes you. We've all been there. But the specifics of what a person feels at a certain point in their life is of course different. I just tried to use my imagination responsibly and respectfully.
JEFF ABBOTT
"At the Mercy of Storytellers: MysteryPeople Q&A with Jeff Abbott", Mystery People, July 17, 2017
Abstract art filled the walls, lined the bookshelves. But all painted with the same crude hand, no eye to detail or form. Savagely mixed, the colors selected to hurt the eye. Jackson Pollock without the pictures. They were ugliness disguising themselves as talent.
JEFF ABBOTT
Black Jack Point
I travel, a lot, to research the locales for the books. I have professional contacts that I can ask questions of, or show them scenes to vet. You meet a lot of interesting people this way, and as long as you've done your prep work so you're not wasting your time, the experts are usually really happy to help.
JEFF ABBOTT
"Jeff Abbott, Author of The Last Minute", seattle pi, July 2, 2012
I tend to be a plotter, just because I do have to write an outline of the book for my publisher, and I like to have an idea of where I'm headed. That said, I don't treat the outline as cast in stone, and I often get better ideas as I write, so the outline is a living thing. What often drives change is when I start writing a particular character and she or he asserts themselves more strongly than I thought they would.
JEFF ABBOTT
"At the Mercy of Storytellers: MysteryPeople Q&A with Jeff Abbott", Mystery People, July 17, 2017
And now I am about to live this truth, because my whole life is going to become a carefully constructed lie. Why? Because I write these words with my brothers' blood on my face. Oh, I washed the stains off weeks ago. No remnant of their loss remains on my skin for anyone to see. But their blood is there. Always, an invisible mark on me.
JEFF ABBOTT
Collision