John Searles
John Searles
John Searles is an American writer and book critic. He is the author of three novels, the bestselling Boy Still Missing, Strange But Trueand Help For The Haunted, published in September 2013. His essays have appeared in national magazines and newspapers, and he contributes frequently to morning television shows as a book critic. He is based in New York City...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
books control funny gravitate people surprised
People are often surprised that I am so upbeat. I'm always hearing, 'You're so light and funny, and your books are so dark and twisted.' There's a dichotomy. I like books that are dark and creepy. I don't control it - it's just what I gravitate toward.
people dolls remember
A lot of people are afraid of dolls - everybody remembers Chucky.
graduate nyu school work
I think I'm more sympathetic to writers, to the work and the struggle and the craft of it, than when I was in graduate school at NYU and was very judgmental.
hop lying morning nighttime reserve schedule shower single six stuck until work
I write in the mornings. I get up every morning at about six in the morning and write until nine, hop in the shower and go to work. Nighttime I usually reserve for re-reading what I've done that morning. I would be lying if I said I stuck to that schedule every single day.
although imagine locked love reclusive room side social time
My personality has two sides: a very social side and a reclusive side. I love writing fiction, although I can't imagine ever being locked up in a room writing all the time.
authors gone met next readings writers
I've gone to readings to see authors after meeting them on Twitter. And while there, I've found myself sitting next to still more writers who I met on Twitter, too.
age brown knew men
At the age of 70-something, Helen Gurley Brown was still a woman who knew how to get men to look at her.
close edited girls magazine relate women younger
All my friends are female, I've edited for a magazine for young girls for 15 years, I relate to women, and I'm very, very close to my younger sister.
books cover editing gore juicy lines memoir ranks stayed
I stayed at 'Cosmo' well beyond my internship, moving up the ranks over some 15 years to become books editor, then brand director, then editor-at-large - editing everything from an excerpt of Gore Vidal's memoir to writing some of those juicy cover lines myself.
morning
I usually don't write at night, but there are times where I wake up at 3 in the morning and write all night.
department simpson verdict
My first day as an intern in the books department at 'Cosmopolitan' also happened to be the day the O.J. Simpson verdict was announced.
family
No one in my family had ever even gone to college.
characters
My goal is to write books that are quality books with very real characters and a gripping plot.
characters life
I take stuff from real life and try to make a character out of it. And I try to live the world of the characters a little bit.