Thriller writer Margolin prepares like a lawyer

By Belinda Goldsmith

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Thriller writer Phillip Margolin spent 25 years as a criminal defense attorney before turning to writing full-time and found his preparation for court was also an asset to writing fiction.

Margolin, who became a full-time writer in 1996, has just released his 13th novel, "Executive Privilege", in which the U.S. president becomes a murder suspect.

Margolin, 64, who was born in New York and now lives in Portland, Oregon, spoke to Reuters about writing and his career shift:

Q: Was this novel timed for an election year?

A: "No, I had the idea in the early 1990s. Writers like to push the envelope so I thought what if you had a president who was a serial killer? I usually get an idea for a book and think about it for quite a while. I kept getting ideas but could not work out how to end it. Then I was in my car about two years ago and the ending popped into my head. It just so happened to come out in 2008 in the midst of a presidential election."

Q: Can't you write without the ending?

A: "The ending is the most important part of the novel. It is what the reader takes away with him and I hate reading books that are great but have a lousy ending. Until I have a good ending I won't even start writing it."

Q: Do you work on more than on book at once?