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

Categorized in : Never Career Powerful Growing Up

The dead do not hurt you; only the living do.

Tess Gerritsen

hurt

We dream our dreams, and sometimes they take us to places we never anticipate. But they are our dreams, and we go where they lead.

Tess Gerritsen

anticipate dream sometimes

The most intimate feeling people can share is neither love nor hate, but pain.

Tess Gerritsen

pain hate people

Only the forgotten are truly dead.

Tess Gerritsen

forgotten

The one man you most want to sleep with may be the worst choice of all.

Tess Gerritsen

choices sleep men

Death does not discriminate; whether saints or sinners, in the end, all are equal.

Tess Gerritsen

saint ends doe

Everything's a gamble, love most of all.

Tess Gerritsen

gamble

Where we go depends on what we know, and what we know depends on where we go.

Tess Gerritsen

depends knows

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

like-love kids ideas

That's what falling in love really amounted to, your brain on drugs. Adrenaline and dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin. Chemical insanity, celebrated by poets.

Tess Gerritsen

oxytocin falling-in-love insanity

We never know until the beast of opportunity is staring us in the face.

Tess Gerritsen

beast faces opportunity

No man easily admits that he is afraid.

Tess Gerritsen

men

The most dangerous enemy in the world is the one you do not recognize.

Tess Gerritsen

dangerous enemy world

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

reality moving thinking

My childhood was spent in my local library in a San Diego suburb. It's where I became a writer - by 1st becoming a reader!

Tess Gerritsen

san-diego library childhood

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

medicine stories thinking

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

husband home writing

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

creative writing character

If I were stranded on a desert island, the one book I would have with me would is the Bible. There are enough stories in the Bible to keep you engaged for years.

Tess Gerritsen

enough book

I know there’s evil in the world, and there always has been. But you don’t need to believe in Satan or demons to explain it. Human beings are perfectly capable of evil all by themselves.

Tess Gerritsen

evil believe needs