A Conversation With James Grippando on The Art of Novel Series Longevity (Killer Writers)
Clay Stafford has a conversation with author James Grippando on writing a stand-alone novel that turned into a long-running series, and more.
Most writers dream of creating a character who lasts beyond a single book, someone readers want to follow through different cases, crises, relationships, and phases of life. Very few authors achieve it. For nearly 30 years, James Grippando has done precisely that with criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck, building one of the longest-running legal thriller series ever. The secret isn’t just plotting or courtroom accuracy; it’s how the character has been allowed to grow, age, fail, and change without losing the core that made him worth reading in the first place.
I talked with James in Miami, Florida, about how other writers can sustain and grow their own series, keep their series fresh, the editorial partnerships that safeguard consistency, the life experiences that shape the series arc, and the moral through line that prevents the protagonist from becoming cynical or stale.
“James, when you look back at the earliest conception of Jack, what made you believe he was a character worth following, or did you even anticipate him to appear in more than one novel?”
“I wrote it as a standalone. In 1993, I wrote the novel. It got published in 1994. I saw Jack as a young ideologue. He was defending death row inmates, and there was great natural tension between him and his father, the law-and-order governor of Florida who’d signed more death warrants than any governor in Florida history. The tension culminates in the governor being accused of executing one of Jack’s clients that Jack firmly believed was innocent. I thought I had completely resolved that conflict and was satisfied. I wrote five standalone novels, never intending to go back to Jack. But my editor, Carolyn Marino, who ended up being my editor for 28 novels, found herself wondering, ‘Whatever happened to him?’ So, we brought him back. In some ways, I think of Beyond Suspicion in 2002 as the first book written with the intention that Jack would become a series. I did not think he would be around another 26 years, but it clicked. The longevity of the series eventually revealed itself: My agent just sent me an email that, other than Scott Turow’s Kindle County, this is the second-longest-running legal thriller series.”
“In those early books, when you decided it was going to be a series, what emerged about Jack only through pages, not plotting?”
“The first tough decision was how much he was going to age between that first novel and the second, and how much he’d age over the arc of the series. He’s grown at a slower pace than I have. I’d say he ages about a year with every book, and The Right to Remain is the 20th in the series. He’s now pushing 50. The way I see the character arc is that the early book was really about Jack and his father, that tension. Then it became a buddy story with his friend Theo Knight, the only client Jack ever represented on death row, who was innocent. Theo lives as if making up for lost time. Jack is risk-averse, which makes for an interesting friendship. That was the heart of the series for about six books. Then we thought Jack was at a stage to settle down or find a love interest. My editor, Carolyn, was like Jack’s big sister; no one was good enough for him. We ended up literally killing off a couple of characters to get them out of Jack’s life. Then we did a book called Under Cover of Darkness, where Andie Henning, a young FBI agent in Seattle, first appeared. Carolyn said, ‘That could be an interesting premise: a criminal defense lawyer in Miami and an undercover FBI agent in Seattle. Figure out a way to get them together.’ So, we did that eight or nine books into the series. The series has now evolved again. In phase three, Jack’s married, has a child, and as Carolyn predicted, the clash between a criminal defense lawyer and an FBI agent wife has made sparks.”
“You’ve got Theo being almost undercover, the attorney, and the investigative side. How do you think about that ensemble?”
“I think of it as an ensemble cast. Whether or not I would write just an Andie book or just a Theo book, I don’t know. They don’t get equal time. It is the Jack Swytek series. But they’re indispensable to the development of the series.”
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“How has your own evolution influenced who Jack has become, even unintentionally?”
“It starts with the decision to make Jack a sole practitioner. I created him while practicing law for 12 years at a large firm, and then suddenly, I was like a sole practitioner because writing is so isolating. Everyone writing a series must decide if the character will be 35 forever, like James Bond, or if he’s going to age. I aged Jack, not in real time, but substantially. Those transitions ran parallel to my own life. I got married at 35, started having kids, Jack started having kids, I traded in my red convertible for an SUV. Things that happened to me happened to Jack. But there are significant differences. Jack lost his mother at a young age; my mother is 98 and may live forever, I hope. Jack had a contentious relationship with his father; my dad was my best friend. Jack isn’t autobiographical, but his life has parallels. Everyone in my real life thinks they’re Theo Knight because Theo’s cool. Everyone needs a little Theo in their life.”
“Balancing reader expectations, have you ever wanted to push Jack in a direction readers might resist?”
“I’ve tried to keep Jack true to who he is: a trial lawyer. Jack, Theo, and Andie prevent me from making Jack into something he’s not. I hate reading books where a character you’ve known for 10 books suddenly behaves like a neuroscientist. Jack has limitations. He’s best on his feet in a courtroom. Outside the courtroom, he is no superhero.”
“What techniques help you keep him psychologically consistent while allowing meaningful change?”
“When Carolyn Marino retired, I was scared. She was excellent at pulling something out of a manuscript and saying, ‘Jack would never do that.’ She knew the series. I’m now on my fourth book with a new editor, Sarah Stein. I’ve had the same agent, Richard Pine, since 1993. Richard is invested in the series. As isolated as writing is, it’s a team effort. You can’t mess up. There was a book, Black Horizon, where I lost the Theo vibe, and we had to rewrite substantially. Readers will tell you when a character is out of character or annoying.”
“How intentionally do you use supporting characters to challenge or reveal new dimensions of Jack?”
“This is something I tell aspiring writers: If you’re writing a series, you struggle with repeating background information. I tell people, ‘You don’t have to start at book one to enjoy the series.’ The bigger risk is telling readers something they’ve already read six or seven times. One advantage of an ensemble cast is that no two people see the same event the same way. Even if I repeat something that happened to Jack, I can have it told from Theo’s perspective. That keeps it fresh. ‘You may remember it this way, Jack, but this is how I remember it.’ It keeps things lively for people who know the backstory.”
“Do you think in terms of multi-book arcs, or handle each book as a standalone, one at a time?”
“For the most part, I treat it like a one-off because I don’t like books in a series where things don’t wrap up. I signed a two-book contract after The Right to Remain and just finished the 2027 novel. I have no idea what the 2028 novel will be. I don’t think Jack will die, but I don’t know what it will be. I wrote a book called Goodbye Girl in 2024. I started it in 2015 and decided Jack wasn’t ready for that story. Sometimes it’s not Jack’s season in life for certain issues. Part of that is Jack’s development, part of it is that I like to shake things up. If one book is heavily courtroom-focused, maybe the next won’t be. I don’t want it to be the same book over and over.”
“If you had to name the non-negotiable core of who Jack is, what would it be, and why do you think that has resonated so greatly with readers?”
“Jack always tries to do the right thing. That’s what resonates. Even when you disagree with him, you know he’s trying to do the right thing. He recognizes that even though there are injustices in the system, it’s still the best system in the world. I’ve read legal thrillers with lawyers so jaded and cynical you wonder why they get out of bed. That’s not Jack. He tries to do the right thing, and the ultimate reward is that every once in a while, he actually has an innocent client. That’s what makes him tick.”
I enjoyed talking with James Grippando. He admittedly didn’t have a plan in place to take Jack Swyteck to readers for nearly 30 years, but what he did worked. Jack is an average guy doing his job and living his life. I got the feel of James Grippando’s genuine modesty. He doesn’t have a secret formula, no chest-thumping about longevity; he tells the truth about a guy. Marriage, parenthood, the SUV replacing the convertible, all this is real life. If there is a takeaway for the want-to-be series writer, it is that you don’t have to engineer the franchise, you don’t even have to think about the next book, you just let the character grow without losing the spark that made readers love him in the first place. That’s how you write a series.
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James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 30 books to his credit, including those in his acclaimed series featuring Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck, and is the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. He is also a trial lawyer and teaches law and literature at the University of Miami School of Law. He lives and writes in South Florida. https://www.jamesgrippando.com/
