Berry, who has sold more than 14 million books, started out as a lawyer and didn’t pick up a pen until he was 35. It took him 12 years and five manuscripts to sell his first novel, but his tenacity paid off. He regularly tops the bestseller lists and ranks alongside other top-notch thriller writers like Dan Brown and Harlan Coben.

The St. Augustine resident will teach a three day intensive writing course at Hunter College on June 6-9 and will also moderate the Hunter College Writers’ Conference’s “Suspense Panel” with Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Joseph Finder and Andrew Gross on Saturday, June 9th.

He took some time out of his new book tour promoting his latest novel The Columbus Affair to talk about the art of writing thrillers, his foundation History Matters and the upcoming Writers’ Conference.

What was it about Christopher Columbus that intrigued you enough to make him the focus of your new thriller?

The great mystery about Columbus is that we know nothing about him: what he looked like, where he was born, how he ended up in the new world, even his diaries that we have are a copy. Everything is legend and myth.

What advice do you give new writers?

A lot of people say write what you know. I think that’s bad advice. I say write what you love. If they are the same thing that’s great. In my case though, I’ve been interested in history since I was a boy. I’ve also always loved thrillers.

You struggled for 12 years to get published and received 85 rejections. Was there ever a time that you thought of quitting? What was it that kept you going?

What I tell writers is that I’m living proof that you can do it. After a lot of rejections, I finally caught the break that I’d be looking for. And yes, I probably stopped writing three times, but there was that little voice in my head that all writers have that said enough is enough, stop moping and get back to work.

You started History Matters to help communities with their historic preservation efforts. What have you learned about the state of preservation that would surprise people most?

What would surprise people most is the horrendous state of preservation in this country. There are millions of objects, documents and buildings that are crumbling because we’re not taking care of them. So far, History Matters has raised $250,000 for various historic preservation efforts. Last week, I was in Houston and we helped raise money to restore a city of Houston flag. This guy found it in his garage; it was 200 years old and an original version of the city’s first flag.

At Hunter, you’re teaching a three night intensive writing workshop and moderating a panel on suspense with Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Joseph Finder and Andrew Gross. What can people attending the intensive session and panel expect?

The intensive is nine hours on the craft of writing fiction, where I will teach what I’ve learned over the years. During the panel, I’m going to pick the author’s brains about the state of suspense right now. We’re going to have a great time.

You’ve written seven novels with Cotton Malone; do you ever worry about running out of fresh things to say or retiring the character?

No. I envision a lot more of good adventures with Cotton. He’s coming back next year with his son Gary to uncover a secret about the Tudors called “The Tudor Deception.” He’s changed a lot over the novels and I think there’s a lot more to explore with him.

For more information about the Hunter Writers’ Conference visit http://www.hunter.cuny.edu

Bruce Jay Friedman, author most recently of the memoir Lucky Bruce, will sit on the memoir and biography panel at the conference. We talked to the Upper West Sider about his long and thriving career as a novelist, playwright, screenwriter (hits include Splash and the story for The Heartbreak Kid), short story author and, now, memoirist.

You’ve been called the “hottest writer of the year” at various points in your career—how has that affected you?
I had a movie that was a very big movie, Stir Crazy [in 1980]. And this entertainment attorney, a young kid, said, “Don’t you realize you’re the hottest writer in Hollywood?” I was so deeply offended—that was exactly what I didn’t want to be. So I moved back to the East Coast, shut off the phone and started to write a novel, which was what I felt I should be doing.

But you also got that mantle for writing the play Scuba Duba in 1968.
Being the so-called hottest playwright is not so bad. You do get better tables in restaurants. You get your—well, it’s more than 15 minutes, actually.

Did all the hype around your work ever make you feel pressure about your next projects?
No, I always had an appointment with that next thing to write. I’d finish a novel and think, why not try a play now? I’d always go back to the short story—that’s what I’m doing now—that was always my anchor.
I think you will hear that if you’ve written a novel, it doesn’t mean you can write a play; if you’re written a play, it doesn’t mean you can write short stories. I’ve never bought that. To me it’s storytelling, in one form or another. And I’ve gotten away with it so far.

With novels and memoirs, writers often write from their experiences. How do you navigate writing about real people?
The person you’re worried about slandering is the last person to recognize himself in a book. However, occasionally, as happened to me with my first novel Stern, I was terribly concerned about my boss. I needed the job and I had him as a character, not the most lovable character. I disguised him in a million different ways, but still, he was a very smart guy. But he never said a word. The book was published and he gave me a raise.
Then I got in the elevator and a woman I’ve never heard of before gets on. She starts screaming “Why? How could you do that to me?” I’d never met the woman, I knew nothing about her. She identified closely with that character and you could not dissuade her.

How did you approach writing your memoir?
The struggle for me was trying to find the right voice—not so much what the book was, but what voice. I’ve got at least half a dozen different voices. Finally I decided to just be me, and then the book was relatively easy [to write].

There is so much pressure on writers now to self-promote their work and find commercial success—how can young writers deal with that?
To the extent that it’s possible, and that I have any advice at all, is to just really get rid of all that and write a wonderful story and let the rest take care of itself. I’m sure Salinger wasn’t thinking of promotional opportunities when he wrote Catcher.

Allen Houston, executive editor of Manhattan Media, will be part of the editor’s panel at the conference. For a full lineup of writers and information on the Writers’ Conference, which runs June 6-9, visit hunter.cuny.edu/ce.