“The biggest thing you have to be able to do with someone is step back, leave your ego at the door and just really both have the same mindset of like, 'Hey, we're in business together... every decision we make has got to be for the readers.” — Ryan Steck

“I get excited every time he sends me new material, then I take over and I do a little bit and he reads it and he said, 'Oh my god, this is so good.' ... It's the new stuff that gets you excited even more often, because you discover what your partner is writing almost in real time. So it's really cool.” — Simon Gervais

Ryan Steck is a freelance editor, an author, and the founder and editor in chief of The Real Book Spy. Ryan has been named an “Online Influencer” by Amazon and is a regular columnist at CrimeReads. Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata) on his way to being endorsed by numerous #1 New York Times bestselling authors.

Simon Gervais is a former Canadian federal agent specializing in protective operations and counterterrorism. He's the New York Times and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 17 exciting thrillers. His Clayton White series is presently being adapted for TV by CBS Studios with Jerry Bruckheimer TV attached to produce. The Second Son, which was co-written with Ryan Steck, spent two consecutive months in the Kindle top 100 overall bestsellers.

Among other things, Ryan, Simon, and Carter discuss their different views on the outlining process, how their distinct writing voices come together when co-writing, and how Simon writes in his second language. At the end of their conversation, they make up a dark story using a line from Matt Goldman’s The Murder Show.

“From the time that I started publishing, my goal was to be able to do it full-time... it took 10 years to get there, but you know, slow and steady wins the race.”— Jen J. Danna

After over thirty years in infectious diseases research, Jen hung up her lab coat to concentrate on writing thrillers. She is the coauthor of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries with Ann Vanderlaan, a series of suspenseful crime fiction with a realistic scientific edge. As Sara Driscoll, she writes the FBI K-9s thriller series, starring search-and-rescue team Meg Jennings and her black lab, Hawk. She also writes the NYPD Negotiators series. The first of her new standalone thrillers, ECHOES OF MEMORY, released in 2024.

Among other things, Jen and Carter discuss how Jen writes 3 books a year, AI in the writing industry, and Jen’s decision to re-edit five of her old novels. At the end of their conversation, they make up a descriptive story using a line from John Jakes’s Love and War.

“I figured out at some point along the way that I was happier trying and failing than I was not trying at all.” — Clémence Michallon

Clémence Michallon is an author and a journalist. Her debut thriller The Quiet Tenant was published in June 2023 and is an international bestseller. Her thriller Our Last Resort came out in July 2025. She was a staff writer at The Independent for five years, and is now a freelance journalist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Time Magazine, Cosmopolitan UK, and more. Clémence graduated from Sciences Po in Paris. She studied journalism at City University of London and received a master’s in Journalism from Columbia University.

Among other things, Clémence and Carter discuss forcing yourself to be bored to spark creativity, the benefits of having training in journalism, and why they never write the words “The End.” At the end of their conversation, they make up a creepy story using a line from Tana French’s The Searcher.