The doctor-to-be was, financially, on his own if he wanted to go to medical school, so he decided to raise the money himself. To do this, he found an agent and began publishing mystery and thriller novels while attending school (Crichton, Travels 73). His first novel, Odds On, was published in 1966 under the pseudonym John Lange, and marks the start of his real writing career (Crichton, Current 140). Crichton decided to quit medical school fairly quickly. During his first year, he decided that he disliked every aspect of the program, and went to the dean of students to drop out. He was instructed to talk to another doctor. The doctor convinced him to at least finish the first year. His feelings for the program had slightly improved by the end of that year, so he decided to stay on for a second year, which he hated even more. He was repeatedly convinced to stay all the way through the rest of his time at the school, and ended up graduating and getting his M.D. before actually leaving medicine (Crichton, Travels 68).
Crichton got his MD in 1969 (Crichton, Current 140). While most of the work he did for that degree was done so reluctantly, the information on medicine and the scientific process he gained on the path to his M.D. became very useful once he became an author. Aside from that, he also gained what every writer needs in order to keep writing: interesting experiences. Among other things, he played football with a human liver, bisected a cadaver's head with a hacksaw, and set up a system in a medical ward where the patients would draw their own blood so he wouldn't have to (Crichton, Travels 10). As a writer, Crichton's style was heavily influenced by his work on his M.D. His books, especially those published after medical school, were generally fast-paced and exciting, and full of nuggets of hard science to support the plot and intrigue the reader. He had a great deal of experience with the human body, as well as over a decade of experience in scuba diving (Crichton, Travels 119).
