Quotes by Tess Gerritsen - Page 2

Alzheimer's is literally killing us, and the only way to fight this 'crime' is through a groundswell of people who continue to raise their voices and funds to ensure it gets the attention it deserves.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Crime
Fight People Way
Ensure
Funds
Raise
Voices
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Evil doesn't die. It never dies. It just takes on a new face, a new name. Just because we've been touched by it once, it doesn't mean we're immune to ever being hurt again. Lightning can strike twice.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Hurt
Mean
Names
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I was a writer first, and knew I'd be a storyteller at age seven. But since my parents are very practical, they urged me to go into a profession that would be far more secure, so I went to medical school.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Medical School
Profession
Secure
Practical
Urged
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I'm Asian-American, and I was the only Chinese girl growing up in a white school in San Diego. So I understood what it was like to be different, to always want to fit in and never feel like you ever could.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Girl
Asian American
Chinese
Fit
Growing
Growing Up
San Diego
School
Understood
White
Always Feel Never
Be Different
Diego
Feel School Always
San
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Medicine is probably one of the best backgrounds for a writer to find stories. I always think cops and docs have the best background because we see so much of human behavior, such a range of human emotions.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Human Behavior
Human Emotions
Medicine
Range
Stories
Thinking
Background
Cops
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My father was second-generation Chinese-American, born in 1923 in California. My mother emigrated to the States from China when she was in her early twenties, in part to escape the political turmoil in China.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Born
California
China
Mother
States
Turmoil
Twenties
Part
Early
Escape
Her
She
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Ha! Kids! You have no idea what you put your parents through, either. Wait till you have your own, you'll see. That's when you'll know what it really feels like." .. "What what feels like?"..."Love," said Angela.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Kids
Ideas
Like Love
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What Rizzoli thought, staring at her own image, was that she hated Elizabeth Hurley for giving women false hope. The brutal truth was, there are some women who will never be beautiful, and Rizzoli was one of them.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Beautiful
False Hope
Giving
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Even if I never sold another book, I'd keep writing, because the stories are here, in my head. Stories that just need to be told. I love watching a plot unfold, and feeling the surprise when the unexpected happens.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Plot
Surprise
Unexpected
Sold
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I think of all media, television is the most powerful when it comes to selling books, because when you have a feature film, yeah, there's a rush. But then after that month is over and the movie goes out of release, that's it.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Most Powerful
Release
Selling
Month
Feature
Feature Film
Rush
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'I am a bad mother.' Every Christmas, this is what I think because the holiday season fills me with such anxiety. I'm sure that other mothers are happily baking cookies, decorating trees, and finding perfect gifts for everyone.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Christmas
Baking
Cookies
Decorating
Holiday
Holiday Season
Fills
Gifts
Happily
Mothers
Season
Trees
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I think what medical training does is it gives you the language, the tools to look up facts. I think medical training gives you a sense of how to approach a problem, how to look at symptoms and go down the list of what it might be.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Symptoms
Tools
List
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In 'Last to Die,' three children living in different cities are the only survivors when their families are slaughtered. Two years later, their foster families are murdered, and these three orphans are once again the only survivors.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Cities
Foster
Orphans
Slaughtered
Survivors
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Even divorce, she thought, cannot erase all the bonds forged by years of marriage. Long after the papers are signed, decrees notarized, the ties still remain. And the most powerful tie of all is written in a child's flesh and blood.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Children
Divorce
Powerful
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I spent my childhood watching every scary movie that Hollywood ever made. And I think that gave me the best education for storytelling. It also made me want to reproduce the scary moments that I felt, sitting in a theater at the age of 5.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Scary
Reproduce
Scary Movie
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Mom and I often talked about the trip we'd someday take together to the 'city of eternal spring' where she was born. In Kunming, she said, the fruits are sweeter, the mountains look like Chinese paintings, and the weather is always perfect.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Chinese
Eternal
Someday
Spring
Weather
Fruits
Sweeter
Talked
Trip
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I met my husband, Jacob, in medical school. We married and went to live in Hawaii where his family lived. It was very beautiful, but I wasn't used to being on an island and needed wide open spaces. Eventually we moved to Maine, New England.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Medical
Hawaii
Jacob
Maine
Medical School
New England
Open Spaces
Wide
Eventually
Island
Spaces
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There is no better test of character than when you're tossed into crisis. That's when we see one's true colors shine through. So I try my best to make my characters personally involved in the plot, in a way that stresses them and tests them.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Character
Crisis
Involved
Plot
True
Through
Colors
Personally
Shine
Stresses
Test
Tossed
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My dad was Chinese-American and very conservative when it came to his family's futures. He said if I wanted to have a secure job, I should go into science. So I did what Dad said and went to medical school, but the writing bug never left me.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Medical School
Secure
Bug
Futures
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The best ideas are those that really affect me emotionally - those are the ones you never forget. You think to yourself, 'I want to write that book', for years; those are the ideas that I love to work with, and 'The Bone Garden' was one of them.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Garden
Never Forget
Love Best Work
Affect
Bone
Emotionally
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I organise jam sessions every month. We have an open session, so everyone knows about it, and we can get as many as 30 people showing up at the house. Somebody will play a tune, and everyone will pick up on it. My best friends are all musicians.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Jam
Session
Showing Up
Best People Will
Month
Organise
Showing
Tune
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My dad's cooking was magic in the kitchen. But eventually over the years, his personality changed and his ability to remember recipes failed. He became paranoid and thought people were stealing from him, when often he was just misplacing things.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Dad
Ability
Changed
Cooking
Magic
Paranoid
Personality
Recipes
Remember
Stealing
Years
Things
Just
Became
He
Thought
Were
Often
Failed
Eventually
Him
His
Over
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I think that, for physicians who want to become writers, they have the material, the smarts, they have the logic, they know the stories; it's just a matter of being able to connect with their emotional sides - that's the key to writing good fiction.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Logic
Physicians
Sides
Connect
Smarts
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I devote most of my day to writing, and try to turn out at least four pages a day. As for what triggers the creative process, it's a mystery to me! Characters often just walk on the page and I wait to see what they do and say while I'm writing them.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Character
Creative
Writing
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I devote most of my day to writing, and try to turn out at least four pages a day. As for what triggers the creative process, it's a mystery to me! Characters often just walk on the page, and I wait to see what they do and say while I'm writing them.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Creative Process
Pages
Triggers
Walk Me Day
Devote
Page
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With every year that I grow older, I also draw closer to (my loved ones) to the day when we will once again be together. So I march through the deepening shadows, serene and unafraid, because I know that at the end of my journey they will be waiting for me.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Journey
Shadow
Waiting
Years
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I have minor characters who are Asian-American, and I've been using them throughout my career, but they've never taken center stage, they've never been really powerful, they've never expressed some of the experiences I had growing up in the U.S. Johnny Tam is the first one.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Asian American
Powerful
Stage
Taken
Center
Experiences
Expressed
First One
Johnny
Minor
Throughout
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I always write on unlined typing paper and write the first draft in longhand, using cheap Bic pens. I try to write about four pages a day, which usually yields a first draft in six months. I don't plot ahead of time, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants for the first draft.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Flying
Pages
Pants
Pens
Plot
Six
Typing
Time Always Day
Ahead
Seat
Cheap
Draft
Time Day Always
Longhand
Yields
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I have hidden my race for 22 books. I have hidden behind my married name, which is very Caucasian, because I didn't feel safe coming out with it. I didn't feel that the market would really accept me. I think I felt it's time to start bringing in an Asian-American point of view.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Asian American
Caucasian
Married
Point Of View
Safe
Time Start Me
Accept
Bringing
Hidden
Time View Me
Market
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Throughout most of my life, I've tried to downplay my Chinese heritage because I wanted so much to be an American. I was the only Asian kid in my elementary school, and I longed to be like everyone else. I insisted on American food; I was embarrassed by my mother's poor English.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Chinese
Elementary School
Heritage
Life Food My Life
Downplay
Elementary
Everyone Else
Insisted
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God, it's like reality's completely shifted on me. I used to think I was standing on such solid ground. If I wanted something badly enough, I just worked like hell for it. Now I can't decide what to do, which move to make. All the things I counted on aren't there for me anymore.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Moving
Reality
Thinking
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For years I've wanted to write a book about mummies, and had been following the science of mummy CT scans when the premise for 'The Keepsake' occurred to me: what if an 'ancient' mummy turns out to have a bullet in its leg? How does a modern murder victim get turned into a mummy?
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Ancient
Following
Mummy
Turns
What If
Bullet
Leg
Occurred
Premise
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Because I never plan anything out ahead of time, I'm always in the process of learning about my characters. Without a biographical sketch to guide me, I discover things about my heroines as the stories unfold. Only in 'Body Double' did I discover that Maura's mother was a serial killer.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Heroines
Time Learning Always
Ahead
Time Learning Me
Discover
Double
Guide
Sketch
Unfold
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I raised two sons, and I know that even though they're bigger and stronger than I am, they're still little boys inside. They still cry, they still hurt. So whenever I write a male character, no matter how 'heroic' he may be, I think of my sons. And I remember that every man was once a little boy.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Cry
Every Man
Heroic
Stronger
Male
Sons
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Writing is very much an emotional process; it requires you to be very in touch with your feelings. That is the opposite of what you're taught as a medical doctor. We're supposed to be detached and logical. Maybe because I started off as a writer and then became a doctor, I'm able to integrate those two.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Detached
Logical
Opposite
Medical Doctor Your
Doctor
Integrate
Requires
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Since my romance novels had all been thrillers as well, it wasn't such a leap for me to move into the straight thriller genre. The most difficult part, I think, was being accepted as a thriller writer. Once you've written romance, unfortunately, critics will never stop calling you a 'former romance author.'
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Accepted
Critics
Former
Genre
Leap
Romance
Author
Unfortunately
Never Stop
Thriller
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Because my dad's Chinese-American, and they're very concrete, he said, 'There's no money to be made in literature.' So he told me to go into the sciences. And I was a good girl. And I did what Daddy said. And that's how I ended up being a doctor. But you know, you just can't stamp out that desire to tell stories.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Concrete
Daddy
Good Girl
Good Money Dad
Doctor
Ended
Sciences
Stamp
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My brother often complains to me about the 'angry Asian male' in the United States. As a female, I haven't encountered this, but Asian-American men are angry. They're angry because, for so many years, they've been neglected as sex symbols. Asian women have it much easier, I think; we're accepted into various circles.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Accepted
Angry
Asian American
Circles
Neglected
Men Women Sex
Male
Complains
Encountered
Women Men Sex
So Many Years
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Fans are always asking me where I get my ideas from. The answer is that I'm very curious, and I get inspiration from everywhere. I read the newspapers voraciously, so I know what's going on in real crime. I pay attention to the strange stories people tell me, and I also read a lot of scientific and forensic journals.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Crime
Inspiration
Newspapers
Pay Attention
Always Me People
Me People Fans
Me People Always
Forensic
Journals
Scientific
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I sold my first short story while I was home on maternity leave, then began working on novels. Since I was reading and enjoying romance novels at the time, the first two unpublished manuscripts I wrote were both romances. I sold my third novel, 'Call After Midnight,' to Harlequin Intrigue after submitting it unagented.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Intrigue
Manuscripts
Maternity
Midnight
Romance
Short Story
Enjoying
Romances
Sold
Third
Unpublished
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I think of myself as a fairly logical, scientific and somewhat reserved person. Maura Isles, the Boston medical examiner who appears in five of my books, is me. Almost everything I use in describing her, from her taste in wine to her biographical data, is taken from my own family. Except I don't have a serial killer as a mother!
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Boston
Data
Describing
Logical
Reserved
Taste
Wine
Fairly
Almost Everything
Appears
Somewhat
Scientific
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While the TV show 'Rizzoli & Isles' may have been inspired by my books, show runner Janet Tamaro has total control over where the TV characters go from there. As Janet once put it, I'm the birth mother, but she's the mother who adopted them, and now that Jane and Maura are living in her house, they have to do what she tells them to do.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Adopted
Birth
Jane
Runner
Tv Show
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'Ice Cold' is the eighth in my 'Rizzoli and Isles' thriller series. It was inspired by a true occurrence in the 1960s, now known as the 'Dugway Incident,' in which 6,000 sheep mysteriously died overnight in a remote area of Utah. I thought, 'What if it happened instead to people? What if the inhabitants of an entire village vanished overnight?'
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Cold
Died
Ice
Series
Utah
Village
What If
Area
Eighth
Entire
Incident
Inhabitants
Occurrence
Overnight
Remote
Thriller
Vanished
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I was a writer first, and knew I'd be a storyteller at age seven. But since my parents are very practical, they urged me to go into a profession that would be far more secure so I went to medical school. But after practicing medicine for a few years, while raising two sons (with a husband who was also a doctor) I realized that combining medicine with motherhood was more of a challenge than I could handle. So I left medicine and stayed home. And that's when I once again picked up the pen and began to write.
Tess Gerritsen / Md
Home
Husband
Writing
Copy Quote

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Tess Gerritsen Quotes - Page 2

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