Writing Advice

The Jack Carr Channel

Jack Carr

Society & Culture

4.9 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the past year, the Jack Carr Book Club and the Danger Close Podcast brought together bestselling authors and literary legends to share hard-earned lessons from the page. In this special Writing Advice episode, we’ve gathered the most insightful, actionable, and inspiring moments from those interviews. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, a reader fascinated by the craft, or someone looking to better understand the creative trenches, this episode delivers a master class in storytelling. Highlights Include: How the pros develop character, tension, and authenticity Building a daily writing routine (even when life gets chaotic) Lessons on editing, perseverance, doubt, and creative discipline What it takes to write stories that matter A year’s worth of writing wisdom — distilled into one episode. Guests and Referenced Episodes: Dan Brown - THE SECRET OF SECRETS: https://youtu.be/LD03tfIcsaM Dan Brown - THE SECRET OF SECRETS: WEBSITE EXCLUSIVE: https://www.officialjackcarr.com/the-secret-of-secrets/ David Morrell - A Master Class with David Morrell: The Art of the Thriller: https://youtu.be/CGue_lskxoY Mike Rowe - The State of the Union: https://youtu.be/JhdgAI2oAXc David Baldacci - STRANGERS IN TIME: https://youtu.be/MeYBU-o_3oo David McCloskey - Secrets, Spies, and The Persian: Inside the Mind of CIA Veteran David McCloskey: https://youtu.be/TTPKPfsuUXo Alex Berenson - From Baghdad to Bestsellers: A Conversation with Alex Berenson: https://youtu.be/6ofIOD5vu98 Daniel Silva - AN INSIDE JOB: https://youtu.be/8pbqTOGn71g Ryan Pote - Blood and Treasure: https://youtu.be/RtbqCiweB7E FOLLOW JACK Instagram: @JackCarrUSA X: @JackCarrUSA Facebook: @JackCarr YouTube: @JackCarrUSA SPONSORS CRY HAVOC – A Tom Reece Thriller https://www.officialjackcarr.com/books/cry-havoc/ Bravo Company Manufacturing - https://bravocompanyusa.com/ and on Instagram @BravoCompanyUSA THE SIGs of Jack Carr: Visit https://www.sigsauer.com/ and on Instagram @sigsauerinc Jack Carr Gear: Explore the gear here https://jackcarr.co/gear

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the Danger Close podcast is brought to you by Cry Havoc,
0:04.0	from New York Times number one best-selling author, Jack Carr.
0:08.0	Cry Havoc, a Tom Rees thriller. Order now.
0:18.0	At the core, it still is me sitting down and facing the blank page.
0:23.6	Don't get too precious about your writing process. Being a little uncomfortable isn't necessarily a bad thing.
0:28.6	At the end of the day, you just, you have to be in the right frame of mind, not in the right location,
0:32.6	because your whole world is right there in front of you and in your head. And what's around you is kind of irrelevant.
0:39.1	You could even say it's a distraction.
0:40.9	And when you're writing a novel, you have to adapt to the conditions that you sort of impose
0:44.0	on a novel.
0:45.0	When it's really working, I don't really feel like I'm making up anything.
0:48.8	I'm just sort of eavesdropping on what they're saying to one another.
0:51.9	And then you can't just say, well, I need to stick to the outline.
0:56.6	No, you need to be true to the story you won't tell.
0:59.3	And then I find that, like, a lot of the stuff I wrote early on, it's like,
1:09.0	it's not that good because I was just kind of getting to know a character, right? Now I know them. I know their voice. I got to go back and rework all this stuff to like reflect, you know, the person I discovered.
1:13.8	Writing is the big do-over. You know, you just get to do it over and over until you get it just right.
1:13.6	You know, a book is yours and it's as good or as bad as you can make it.
1:18.6	What it takes to be like a writer and how you just have to like go all in.
1:23.6	You know, it tastes the market. You'll always see its backside.
1:26.6	Don't imitate because, you know, the world has plenty of authors who are imitating, you know.
1:32.3	When we go to a favorite writer, we go because of's an ironing board as an ironing
	...

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