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From all the
books you have written, do you have a favorite?
My favorite book is probably The Last Coyote because it was
the first book I wrote after retiring so to speak from being a
reporter. It had my full attention and it was a great time in my
writing life. The book was also the fullest character study of Bosch
and that is another reason why I like it.
At what point in time did you
realize that writing was "the thing for you"?
When I was in college I kind of switched from enjoying books
from the standpoint of a reader to enjoying them for their craft and
art. That was when I started thinking about being a writer.
What advice
would you give to someone interested in becoming a
writer?
If you are going
to be a writer then write everyday, even if only for 15 minutes.
That was the advice given to me. It worked.
What is the name of your favorite
mystery movie?
Chinatown.
What other
authors do you enjoy reading?
The list is too long and I would leave people out and I don't
want to do that.
What other types of jobs have you had?
Since college I have only been a writer of one
kind or another. Before that I did about every job you could do in a
restaurant. I also worked a lot of different construction jobs.
Do you
attend conventions and signings?
I usually attend a couple conventions a year.
Is there
anyone, in particular, who influenced you?
Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald and Joseph
Wambaugh probably had the greatest influence on me.
What led you
to write mysteries?
I have always
loved crime novels so it was sort of a natural path for me. I am
writing the kind of stories I love to read.
Do you read reviews of your
books?
A pretty good number of them I read, usually
several weeks after they've been published.
How would you like to be
remembered?
I haven't really
thought about that. I suppose as a good storyteller.
What do you
believe is the highlight of your writing career so
far?
I don't know. It has all been a highlight. I hope
the real highlights are still to come. But I've enjoyed the whole
ride and know how very fortunate I have been.
Do you write on a fixed schedule
or do you wait until thoughts come to you?
I try to keep a fixed schedule. I follow the
advice of writing every day.
How did you get started in
writing?
I used newspaper
work to help me move into the world of fiction writing. It put me
into the world of the police department and also gave me a good work
ethic when it comes to needing or having to write everyday.
Did you take
any classes on how to write?
In college I took journalism and creative writing
classes.
Do
you ever get writer's block?
I don't know if I
would call it writer's block but I have had difficulty in the past
getting started on a book. To me starting is the hardest part. But
once I get rolling and get into a groove I am all right.
What are
your hobbies and interests?
I like fishing and golfing and racketball.
How do you spend your free
time?
On a boat.
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Michael Connelly decided to
become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while
attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he
chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum
in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews. After graduating in
1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he
wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence
wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In
1986 he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing
survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the
crash and the survivors that was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize
for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper
levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los
Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him
to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written. After three
years on the crime beat, Connelly began writing his first novel to feature
LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo , based in part
on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992
and later won the Edgar Award for best first novel by the Mystery Writers
of America. Connelly followed up with three more Bosch books, The Black
Ice, The Concrete Blonde, and The Last Coyote , before publishing The Poet
, a thriller with a newspaper reporter as a protagonist, in 1996. In 1997
he went back to Bosch with Trunk Music, and in 1998 another non-series
thriller, Blood Work, was published. Blood Work was inspired in part by a
friend's receiving of a heart transplant and the attendant "survivor's
guilt" the friend experienced, knowing that someone died in order that he
have the chance to live. Connelly has been interested and fascinated by
those same feelings as expressed by the survivors of the plane crash he
wrote about years before. Blood Work is soon to be released as a major
motion picture starring Clint Eastwood. Angels Flight was released in 1999
and was another entry in the Harry Bosch series. Void Moon , was released
in 2000, and introduced a new character, Cassie Black, a high-stakes Las
Vegas thief. His 2001 release, A Darkness More Than Night , united Harry
Bosch with Terry McCaleb from Blood Work, and was named one of the Best
Books Of 2001 by the Los Angeles Times . Harry Bosch is back in Michael's
new book, City Of Bones . Michael will be releasing a stand-alone thriller
in October 2002, called Chasing The Dime. Michael was also one of the
creators, writers, and consulting producers of Level 9, a TV show about a
task force fighting cyber crime that ran on UPN in the Fall of 2000.
Connelly's books have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Nero, Maltese
Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France) and Grand Prix (France) awards. He
lives with his wife and daughter. |
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