Making It Up with Tess Gerritsen, author of The Surgeon Artwork

Carter Wilson's Making It Up

In this conversation series, USA Today bestselling novelist Carter Wilson talks to writers of all backgrounds in order to find out why they do what they do. He and his guests discuss childhood influences, roots of creativity, luck and loss, tools of the craft, and the highs and lows of publishing. At the end of their conversation, they pick a random sentence from a random book and use it to create an impromptu short story. Visit Carter at www.carterwilson.com.

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Carter Wilson's Making It Up

Making It Up with Tess Gerritsen, author of The Surgeon

April 03, 2025 • Carter Wilson • Season 1 • Episode 177

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen’s books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world. She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for VANISH) and the Rita Award (for THE SURGEON). Time Magazine named THE SURGEON one of the best mystery/thrillers ever written. Tess's first medical thriller, Harvest, marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her novels have hit bestseller lists ever since.

Among other things, Tess and Carter discuss how thrillers really aren’t about the violence, how to differentiate your characters when writing from multiple POVs, and retiring from being an author. At the end of their conversation, they make up a beautiful story using a line from Araminta Hall’s One of the Good Guys.