by Dina Di Maio

If I could be anyone for a day, I’d choose to be Linda Fairstein. Fairstein is truly a woman of purpose whose career has been dedicated to justice for victims of sexual violence. For thirty years, she served in the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, partly as Chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit, and prosecuted highly-publicized cases like that of the recently released Robert Chambers ("Preppy Murder") and that of the Central Park jogger. Not only is she known for her work in cases involving sexual violence, she is known for a popular crime novel series starring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. She talks to me in this interview about her writing and her work for victims’ rights.

LF: Yes, my interest since adolescence was to write fiction - and I always figured it would be crime fiction.  As a high school and college student, I did write a lot of stories - and poetry - that were not published (never tried to publish). Some was done for classes, most for my own enjoyment.
The first short story I remember writing was a Nancy Drew type mystery in elementary school, with my best friend at the time.  We fancied ourselves detectives in the Drew tradition.  First writing prize I ever won....

LF: We've always spent 4 weeks in August on the Vineyard.  I wrote 7 days a week, from daybreak until mid or late afternoon....that's when I'd get started with the body of a novel, picking up on weekends and early mornings before going to the office (never never at the end of an unpredictably long day....) so most novels took at least 18 months to write.
The research goes on ALL the time.  I'm constantly reading and clipping articles about things that interest me - and then before that August immersion, I usually spend a few months of weekends doing research in detail on location.

LF: The reason I made Alex so similar to me - professionally - is that I wanted to write about the work that I have done for (now) thirty years.  I think it's the most fascinating, challenging job imaginable, and I wanted to get inside her head and explain to people WHY it is that, HOW it is that, and how intensely rewarding it is to make the system work well for victims... I think I could and can write about my experiences in the third person, not the first - but this makes it much more personal and immediate, I think.

LF: I can write about real cases.  So far, I have simply chosen not to do so.
So far, I haven't "fixed" something real in fiction - but I'm bound to do that before too long....

LF: I think current laws are quite good, for the most part.  My colleagues and I worked hard to change them from what they were.  A few improvements still useful…. For the most part, victims can expect better treatment today - but there are still egregious examples, and very UNeven treatment in communities all over the country.

LF: I think it's shocking and frightening to have so many untested evidence kits.  I'm on a DNA advisory board (Safir is too) called Choice Cares - a nonprofit trying to raise money to get kits tested.  This will not only solve hundreds of unsolved crimes, but it will also PREVENT many more rapes and homicides by identifying serial attackers still at large...

DD: You still do some nonfiction writing--a piece of yours was in Cosmopolitan on how violent men can appear charming--similar to Robert Chambers who was just released from prison. What advice would you give young single women today to protect themselves?

LF: This could be a very long answer - be smart, be aware - a lot of it is using good judgment.  Bad idea to abuse alcohol and drugs, and worse to do it in the company of strangers...

LF: As trite as it is, I really think that "write what you know" is a good maxim.  I felt that what I could contribute to the genre was the authenticity of the work I had done firsthand.  Most people won't have that experience, but they do need to do appropriate research and study whatever it is they plan to write about.... It's pretty easy to find "experts" in particular fields - many people are willing to help.

LF: Coop's next caper is THE KILLS, which will be released in January '04.  She spends more time in the courtroom, on trial with a case, and trying to connect two seemingly unrelated murders that occur during the trial.

LF: Thanks for the compliment. In writing crime fiction (unlike, say, literary fiction), I think it's critical for the writer to know the conclusion (Who did it, and how) at the outset.  Otherwise, the books get very sloppy with authors trying to tie up loose ends and make the ending fit earlier plot devices.  I believe in laying in subtle clues along the way, so the reader can understand how the pros solved the case.  I don't outline because I have found that on the way to that pre-set conclusion, the story - and the characters - take lots of twists and turns along the way.  I try to sketch out, in my mind, four or five scenes at a time so that I know how I want to build the action, and then I start writing.  When I finish that block, I start the same process over again.

LF: Thanks - the Web site (now that I’ve stopped the main part of touring) will be updated regularly - it's a great way to stay in touch with readers.... Yes - I often meet people who have been victimized when I'm touring or lecturing. Some want guidance or advice; some want me to advocate for them in their own community; some just want to thank me for the work that our unit pioneered in this field - and on this last trip out west, two were victims of cases of mine more than a decade ago who wanted to show me how well they were doing. I talk to all of them and help whenever it's possible.