"I'm going to write what I want to write, because that's what I'm going to write best—what makes me feel passionate. It’s all about messed up people doing messed up things." — David Ellis

Welcome to Episode 250 of Making It Up! Our 250th episode features David Ellis, a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson. His novels have been translated into more than ten languages worldwide. In December 2014, Dave was sworn in as the youngest-serving Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District.

Among other things, David and Carter discuss concerns of AI in the writing industry, how plot is less important than character, and how the movie The Sixth Sense is the perfect example of a big plot twist. At the end of their conversation, they make up an interesting story using a line from Alex Finlay’s The Anniversary.

"The difference between a professional writer and an amateur is that the professionals get to the end and write 'The End.' And the thing that helps with that is we have contracts. But I've always found the pressure of a monthly mortgage a very good way of focusing concentration on actually doing your word count for the day." — Robert Thorogood

Robert Thorogood is an English screenwriter and Sunday Times and USA Today Bestselling novelist. He created the BBC One murder mystery series Death in Paradise as well as co-created two spin-off shows from it, Beyond Paradise and Return to Paradise. Since then, he's written The Marlow Murder Club series of murder mystery novels, which he turned into a TV series for PBS and UKTV.

Among other things, Robert and Carter discuss the feeling of seeing your book in person for the first time, writing series versus standalones, and how Robert emulates Agatha Christie in the way he plans out his stories.

"Once upon a time when I was young, I wanted to be an actor. And I think writing in first person is like being an actor—you’re climbing inside this role and it gets you outside of yourself. Third person just felt like a middle-aged suburban dad telling a story." — Joe Moldover

Joseph Moldover is the author of the Young Adult novels Every Moment After and Just Until. His adult debut, To the End of Reckoning, is forthcoming in 2026. His short fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Stonecoast Review, MonkeyBicycle, One Teen Story, and elsewhere. From 2020-2023 he co-hosted the online program and podcast Authors Love Bookstores for A Mighty Blaze. Joe is also a clinical psychologist and specializes in learning and developmental challenges. He is the author of The Empowered Parent, a short guide for parents of children with special needs.

Among other things, Joe and Carter discuss writing YA fiction, how Joe started writing short fiction through an online class, and the pressure of living up to a high advance from your publisher. At the end of their conversation, they make up an eerie story using a line from Matt Goldman’s The Murder Show.