My wife likes to tell people that he looks very nice.

He's a very nice guy.

He's a very calm guy.

But, he has a dark side to him.

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As a thriller writer, my job is to look out

into the real world, see the problem side.

I create the problems.

Then during the course of the novel, I solve them.

You don't want the reader to sort of settle

back and be really comfortable and, like,

drifting through these pages.

You want to grab them by the throat right from the get-go

and hurtle them through the next 450 pages.

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I wanted to get into the weeds with all of you

about how I go about my craft.

Great characters.

How do you come up with them?

How do you pace a story so that people

can't stop turning the pages?

All the things that go into making a successful writing

career, I've tried to deliver to you during this MasterClass.

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I was a lawyer when I first started writing my first novel.

I would spend time with my family.

They would go off to bed.

And around 10 o'clock I would go downstairs

and I would write till two in the morning.

Every day, seven days a week, and I did that for years.

If you want to be creative writing stories,

you have to be very creative in finding the time

to write those stories.

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Research, for me, is critical.

This binder is my nuke binder.

And the section I'm gonna read to you

is about two and a half pages long. Two and a half pages

versus this.

Do this.

Leave almost all of it out.

You will thank me later.

I had insecurities.

You will have insecurities.

So any writer out there who's doubting their ability

to actually sit down and tell a story, I'm telling you,

I got your back on this.

Writers change the world.

Books change the world.

As much as you might need a class from me,

I, and the rest of the publishing

world and the world in general, we need you a lot more.

I'm David Baldacci, and this is my MasterClass.