Tips from Robert Ludlum on writing a compelling thriller

Based on a two-hour interview with the late Robert Ludlum, author of some of the world's best selling novels of international intrigue.

Q. How did your career in writing begin?

Ludlum: When I got out of college in 1952, I wanted to be an actor. I worked pretty consistently in plays and doing voice-over TV commercials until about 1958. Then somebody said to me, did you ever think of becoming a producer?

So I learned that field and produced original theater on Broadway for ten years. But I got bored with the pressures and labor problems. I had worked with a lot of playwrights, and I thought

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