One of the best parts about writing a creepy science techno-thriller set on campus was being able to "wander around Cornell [and] find really cool places," learn about unfamiliar scientific fields and tour usually off-limit facilities, said Paul McEuen, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Physics, in sharing his process of writing his debut novel, "Spiral" (Dial Press), in Schwartz Auditorium April 6.

McEuen also read a brief excerpt from his thriller and discussed his new book on stage with Kathie Hodge, Cornell associate professor of mycology (the study of fungi) in the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology.

To Hodge's question of how exactly a physicist came to write a thriller, McEuen replied that about eight years ago, thinking he might be going through a midlife crisis, he considered three options: "Buy a sports car, become a dean or write a novel."

McEuen said that lofty personal expectations had always checked his longstanding desire to pen a "serious" work of fiction. However, upon reading a best-selling contemporary thriller that blended (implausibly) cutting-edge science with fast-paced action and deadly intrigue, McEuen thought: "I could do that."

A leading scientist in the field of nanostructures and director of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, McEuen decided against focusing the novel on his area of expertise. "I couldn't find a way to kill people with nano-tubes," he admitted, referring to the miniscule carbon tubes only a few atoms wide that his research group builds at the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, which McEuen directs.

Indeed, while the novel's protagonist is a Cornell professor of applied physics, the narrative centers mostly on the threat of terrifying microrobots and an apocalyptic biological weapon made of lethal fungi.

McEuen said that investigating such new areas of study as mycology and meeting various specialists willing to help him was actually the most enjoyable aspect of the writing process. Case in point was Hodge, who worked extensively with him on the fungous details for "Spiral."

Also great fun, said McEuen, was being granted access to so many "off-limits" places for his book research. "If you say, 'I'm a novelist, and I want to see inside your secret facility,' they let you right in."

When asked about any parallels he'd discovered between theoretical physics and writing, McEuen replied that in both fields the practitioner starts with a "beautiful idea" and then attempts to expand it. However, it may take hundreds of tries before you can get something "to stick," he said, often "only succeeding once in a blue moon."

McEuen also pointed out that a good technical paper should tell a story. Since he started writing more, McEuen has even taken to asking his students, "What is your dramatic arc?" when reviewing their physics research papers.

As to whether his readers can expect another starring role from Ithaca and Cornell in his next novel (for which he already has a deal), McEuen explained that thrillers don't easily lend themselves to repeat performances by the main characters.

"To keep having grand, once-in-a-lifetime kind of things happen to people in the Cornell physics department seems like a bit of a stretch," he concluded.

Paul Bennetch '12 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.