Chatting with author Michael Connelly

Administrator: Welcome to the chat room. Michael Connelly will be with us in a moment. Please send us your questions!

Administrator: Hi Michael, thanks so much for chatting with us!

Michael Connelly: Hello, it is nice to be here.

JD: In today’s New York Times Magazine, there is a story on men who retired from the FBI/CIA/Sherrif’s department who volunteer to work cold cases together. One of them is quoted as saying “We both understand that if you want to see into the abyss, you’ve got to walk near the edge.” Sounds like something straight from one of your books! Do you ever read something non-fiction pr the newspaper and feel spooked by how real your novels are?

Michael Connelly: JD, i don’t know if spooked is the right word. I haven’t seen that article but from what you say it would make me feel like I am on the right track with what I and doing. I get a lot of help with my books from real cops and so I hope there is a reality to them. Reading a line like that tells me I may be hitting the mark.

JD: I saw your op/ed piece in the LA Times today on book review sections. Did you write that because of the recent events with the Atlanta paper?

Michael Connelly: I think it was sparked by that latest bit of bad news for book reviews. But I read the LA Times pretty regularly and was also familiar with what was happening there, too. It seems like it is happening everywhere.

Sonja: Love your work. Much of your writing is set in Los Angeles, a city people love to hate. How do feel about LA and the way things are going here?

Michael Connelly: I found after living in LA for about 15 years is that for the most part people who hate LA are people who don’t know it that well. As Harry Bosch remarks in one of the books, there bits of grace everywhere in the city if you know where to look. So I count myself among those who celebrate the city and love its uniqueness. Like any city it has its share of problems but I think there is always room to be hopeful.

Administrator: Does the use of recurring characters make your life as a writer easier? Harder? Does it free you up to think more exclusively about plot?

Sonja: Yes, many people who have never been here say negative things. LA is almost like a recurring character in your writing and that’s one of the reasons your books appeal to me. I love LA!

Michael Connelly: There are probably more positives than negatives in going with a recurring character but it doesn’t free me up to concrentrate more on plot because you have to pay so much attention to the back story you have written about your character. You drag all the prior books around with you and sometimes that can be a burden.

bettie: do you know where a book is going when you start writing it?

JD: That editorial in today’s paper made me wonder. Do you think if you were publishing The Black Echo today for the first time, it would be received in the same way and get the same kind of following?

Michael Connelly: Yes, Bettie, I do. I found through practice that I need to have the light at the end of the tunnel. I need to know where I am headed. So I usually start writing when I have the beginning and end in mind. The stuff in the middle I make up along the way.

Sonja: Why do you think the mystery is such an enduring form of writing?

bettie: do you write every day? are you disciplined like that? or do you have to be inspired?

Michael Connelly: I don’t really know, Sonja, but I am pretty happy that it does endure. I think there may be a sort of tried and true comfort to it because it has a standard frame revolving around the solving of a crime. This books usually end with good or justice triumphing and there is a reassuring quality to that as well.

Patterico: Love your work. I don’t want to discourage more Bosch novels, but are there any new characters on the horizon? Related question: any new books planned with other characters you’ve used previously?

Michael Connelly: Bettie, I write everyday once I start a book. I think it is important to keep a continuity of thought in regard to the story. Between drafts I like to take some time off to clear my mind but then when I go in for the rewrite I get back to writing everyday.

Sonja: Yes, it’s escape to justice. Have you ever been part of solving a crime while doing research?

bettie: do you watch the show “law & order?”

Michael Connelly: Patterico, I don’t have a new character on the drawing board right now. There is a new partner for Harry in The Overlook which I have enjoyed drawing. Right now I am writing a book that will have Mickey Haller--the Lincoln lawyer--and Harry Bosch in it.

Michael Connelly: Sonja, I can’t say that I have ever had a situation where I am solving a crime. I am just a writer and an observer of those who do. And to Bettie, I do watch Law & Order from time to time. I like it.

Administrator: Would you consider art history a big influence on your work? The use of the name Hieronymus Bosch is so evocative. Or is it just a good name?

timesbooth2: Michael, david hiller here lat publisher. thanks for your thoughtful oped piece in paper today about mportance of newspaper book sections. i thought you made very good points.

Michael Connelly: I took a fair number of art classes in school and have a lot of interest in it. The use of the name Hieronymus Bosch came out of that. I think it works as a good metaphor for a detective who constantly crosses a landscape of chaos.

Michael Connelly: Thank you, David Hiller. I think newspapers certainly face tough choices in this regard and I hope the commitment to books remains strong.

Patterico: If it’s not too personal a question, are there any aspects of any of your characters that you feel reflect parts of your own personality? I have to assume that Bosch is based largely on detectives you have personally observed as a reporter and writer (as well as your imagination, of course), but I wonder if there is any part of Harry (or any other character of yours) who reminds you of yourself . . .

bettie: michael, have you read the henning mankell series?

bettie: detective kurt wallander?

bettie: and if so, what do you think?

Michael Connelly: Increasingly it seems, Harry Bosch and I share things in common. The main thing, I think, comes from us having daughters who are the same age. We share the same sort of hopes and fears in regard to that. I also think the character of Jack McEvoy in The Poet shared a lot with me.

Michael Connelly: I’ve read them and enjoy them very much. I think there is a certain kinship between Wallander and Bosch.

Administrator: Was there a particular book (or books) that influenced you to write?

Michael Connelly: There have been many but the two that were probably the most imporant were To Kill a Mockingbird and The Long Goodbye. The first because I read it when I was about 12 and it got me into reading for myself and gave me the foundation for wanting to write. The Long Goodbye because it made me zero in on what I wanted to write.

timesbooth1: Have you visited Angel Flight since it’s re-opened?

Sonja: There’s a great piece on the LATimes homicide log about retiring detectives passing on their skills to newer detectives. Do you mentor any beginning writers?

Michael Connelly: As far as I know it has not re-opened but its probably going to open in grand fashion before the end of the year. At least I hope so. Its an important part of LA history.

Patterico: I hesitate to ask you about other writers, since I know you have said that you focus on writing, but have you read any Lawrence Block? I see a real kinship between Matt Scudder and Harry Bosch -- both are highly competent investigators with troubled pasts and a guarded outlook on life. Few writers have the sure touch that you and Block share, and I wonder if you might be a fan of his.

Michael Connelly: Sonja, I believe in mentoring and try to do what I can. I often read the work of unpublished writers and try to help where I can. By the way, where is that homicide log you are talking about? I would like to read that,

Sonja: On the LA Times home page

Sonja: It’s fascinating who’s getting killed in this town.

bettie: go to www.latimes.com/blogs. and click on “homicide report”

bettie: it’s amazing

Patterico: If you don’t know about the Homicide Blog, you definitely need to check it out. I think you’d be fascinated as a former crime reporter.

Michael Connelly: Patterico, that is a great compliment if you are putting me in the company of Lawrence Block. He is one of the writers who greatly influenced me and I love the Scudder books.

Sonja: I’m addicted! to mysteries too haha

Patterico: The Internet opens up avenues for crime reporting that were unavailable when you were doing it.

dcfrank: do you find that the quality of your writing improves over the years? what steps do you take to keep the quality of your descriptive writing up?

Michael Connelly: I think/hope that like anything else you do you get better at it the more you do it. I hope that is true with my writing. I think that as I have progressed as a writer I have rededicated myself to all aspects of preparing to write, particularly in the area of physical research. Whereas a few years ago I might write about a location in LA from memory, I now go to every place I write about in hopes of getting it right.

Administrator: Thank you for participating in our live chat with Michael Connelly! And thank you, Michael.

JD: Thank you!

Michael Connelly: Just a few quick parting words: Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading and embracing books. It has been a great weekend at the Festival of Books.

Sonja: Thank you!

Patterico: Thanks!

ellen : Thanks.