5 QUESTIONS FOR AUTHOR TESS GERRITSEN

Tess Gerritsen really requires no introduction.  Her novels have been loitering on the N.Y. Times bestseller list for over a decade now.  This summer TNT is producing a new drama based on Gerritsen's Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles medical thrillers.  She was kind enough to spend a few moments to participate in our 5 questions segment.  She has always been supportive of the writing community and this is just another example of that support. Thanks Tess.

1 - How do you feel when a character you’ve created in your mind becomes a visual entity as with Angie Harmon becoming Jane Rizzoli in the upcoming TNT series Rizzoli and Isles?

--It's a little bit disorienting, because all these years I've carried specific images of Jane and Maura in my head. Even though both Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander do great jobs embodying the characters, I still have some mental readjustments to make because they don't look like the Jane and Maura I've imagined. But I completely understand why they were cast in the parts.

2 - Will the story lines in the show come from any of Rizzoli-Isles novels you’ve written, or will they all be new material?

-- The pilot episode is based on my novel THE APPRENTICE. The other episodes will be created by the "Rizzoli & Isles" team of writers, but they've been drawing quite a few details from the books, such as Jane's relationship with her mom.

3 - Your upcoming novel, “Ice Cold,” is being released over the summer. How do you feel about going on the road to promote your work?

-- I always enjoy book tours, because it gives me a chance to meet my readers. I love talking about the story, about where ideas come from, and hearing what my readers think of the characters.

4 - Virtually all of your novels become New York Times bestsellers. Are you competitive with any of your famous author friends (in a playful way) about the success of a particular novel?

-- My author friends and I celebrate each others' successes, and I'm always delighted when someone I know and like hits high on the list. We all know how hard it is just to write a book, much less have it sell well enough to make the list, and for most of us, the real competition is with our own past work, not with each other.

5 - How do you see digital e-readers changing the landscape of publishing in the years to come?

-- It's going to force a huge change. In the future, an author won't necessarily have to go through a publisher to have his books available. He can e-publish his work, sell it directly to the reader, and take a larger percentage of the profits. The author who already has a following may actually earn more money this way, than through traditional publishing. However, the unknown author will still find it advantageous to build his name recognition the old-fashioned way. The real challenge for all of us is cultivating new readers, in any format.