Interviews
On Monday, June 28th, barnesandnoble.com welcomed Dennis Lehane to discuss PRAYERS FOR RAIN.
Moderator: Welcome, Dennis Lehane! Thank you for taking the time to join us online this evening to chat about your new book, PRAYERS FOR RAIN. How are you doing tonight?
Dennis Lehane: I am doing great. Thanks for having me.
pac87@aol.com from xx: Is there anything special about your own background that led you to write mystery novels?
Dennis Lehane: I read a lot of them. That is really it.
Thumper from Indianapolis, IN: Hello. I think that your books are da bomb! I was more than a little ticked last year when Patrick and Angie broke up, so as you can well imagine I've been a happy little camper since reading PRAYERS FOR RAIN. Are you surprised how strongly some readers react concerning Patrick and Angie?
Dennis Lehane: I am very touched. If I put myself in the shoes of a reader, as I am also, then I guess I am not surprised, because as a reader I tend to have very visceral reactions to my favorite characters. But coming from the writing standpoint, yes, I am very touched.
Gerald from New York City: Some writers eagerly sell their books for film/TV projects, while others hesitate. As a writer and filmmaker yourself, what are your feelings on a Kenzie/Gennaro movie? Have you thought of filming such a project yourself? Thank you.
Dennis Lehane: I have never entertained the idea of filming them myself. I think there are limits as to where you can trust a writer on his own work, and I would not trust myself. I tend to be very hesitant about selling them. I think it would be a disservice to the reader if they picked a hack director and badly cast and wrote it. I will sell my soul for a price, but it must be a high price.
Cary from Carybari@aol.com: Did the experience writing and directing the film "Neighborhoods" affect the way you tell your stories? Are films a source of inspiration for you as a writer? Are there things that are easier to accomplish in a film than on the page?
Dennis Lehane: The thing that making a film taught me was that I like directing, but I love writing. I think there are things in film that can be done easier then can be done in novels. But I do believe that a great novel sticks with you in a way that a great film can't. It is a more personal experience.
Michele from Chelsea: Hi, Dennis. Love your new book, and Bubba was great in this one. Can't wait for the next one.
Dennis Lehane: Thank you very much.
Joe from Charlestown, MA: What did you do for work before writing A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR?
Dennis Lehane: Before writing it, I was in human services. I worked with physically and sexually abused children. I wrote that book, then went to grad school, and it was accepted just as I was finishing up grad school. And I really wanted to get back to Boston, so I took a job parking cars, and then I was a chauffeur, and that was my last job before I realized I could write full time. My whole thing was I did not want a job that smelled remotely of career, because I considered writing my career. P.S. I was at one point living in Charlestown -- the first place I lived when I moved back.
Dave from Boston, MA: What to Dennis Lehane is the most important element of effectively writing in your genre?
Dennis Lehane: Character.
Page from Florida: I just discovered your books. I started with GONE, BABY, GONE and fell in love with your writing style. I couldn't put it down. Whom do you base Angie and Bubba on? I look forward to many more Patrick stories.... Thanks for many hours of great reading.
Dennis Lehane: Nobody is based on anyone. Angie, if you will, is sort of an amalgam of a lot of women I knew growing up. Then I put her in the "dream babe" persona, if you will. I picked my sort of fantasy woman. I was just actually in San Francisco with Harlan Coben, and we talked about how hard it is to just explain that a large part of it is just imagination. That is what we are paid to do -- just make things up.
Fan from Boston, MA: Do you still teach writing? Also, do you have your books as required reading on your syllabus?
Dennis Lehane: I am teaching right now a course in crime fiction. And I would never put my own books on my syllabus, because: 1)It is the height of hubris and ego run amok; and 2)If a student wrote a paper on what I wrote and his interpretation was wrong, well I would know it. So that wouldn't be fair.
Niki from Niki_palek@yahoo.com: I have read that you completed PRAYERS FOR RAIN while staying in a hotel in New York. Did you find it more difficult to write about Boston while living in New York?
Dennis Lehane: Well, I wasn't living in New York -- I holed up in a hotel for two different periods for about two to three weeks each year. And no, I find it easier to write about places when I am away from them. I write about seasons when I am in the exact opposite season. It forces you to imagine and evoke things, and I think your senses are more highly tuned by memory.
Mike from Sudbury, MA: In reading articles and interviews with you about your work, names like Graham Greene, Richard Yates, Walker Percy, and Jim Thompson come up again and again. Which writers (crime writers or otherwise) have had the greatest impact on your own work?
Dennis Lehane: Graham Greene, Richard Price, Raymond Carver, Elmore Leonard's Detroit novels, Robert Parker, James Lee Burke, and Pete Dexter.
Jim from Oakland, CA: I think you truly have an eye for the real. Especially the realistic and brutal violent scenes you write about in your book. How do you prepare to write violence? Just asking, nothing else to it, I swear.
Dennis Lehane: While writing violent scenes, I tend to play really violent music -- you know, real "head-banger" shit. I do a lot with music when I write, so what is considered my most violent scene or my toughest scene is in GONE, BABY, GONE, and I think I was listening to Guns & Roses' first album with headphones blasting the music.
Theresse from Wyoming: I really enjoyed A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR. But I haven't read any of your books since then. Do you recommend I read them in order? Or does it not really matter?
Dennis Lehane: Yes, read them in order. Particularly the first two should be read in order. I almost see those as one book.
Sharon from St. Louis, MO: I love your books. When you have time to read, who are some of your favorite authors?
Dennis Lehane: George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, Minette Walters, Patrick McGrath, and right now I am reading GOD IS A BULLET by Boston Teran.
Moderator: If the Y2K bug wreaks its havoc, what books will you take to read by the light of your solar-powered generator?
Dennis Lehane: I would take ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, THE MOVIEGOER, and THE WANDERERS.
Vicki Glassroth from Montgomery, AL: Dennis: We are looking forward to seeing you on 7/19 at Capitol Book & News in Montgomery. I have read all of your books. I was terrified by DARKNESS and TAKE MY HAND, and I think my old favorite is still SACRED. My question is: I have all of your books except your first in hardback first editions. Could you check around your house and see if you have an extra first edition hardback of A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR? If so, bring it to Montgomery with you. Looking forward to seeing you. Bring your warm-weather clothing. Also, ask your friend Michael Connelly why he hasn't written a new book this year? See you on 7/19.
Dennis Lehane: Michael Connelly did write a new book, ANGELS FLIGHT. As far as a first edition of A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR, look for it on the Net.
Jwc901@aol.com from New Jersey: You have referred to PRAYERS FOR RAIN as your "architecture" book. Is architecture a personal hobby of yours? To what degree do you consciously use your own hobbies, interests, or obsessions in your books?
Dennis Lehane: "Architecture" was a misquote. I was referring to SACRED. Someone who reads it will see a lot of stuff about Boston architecture. I love old buildings, but I love them sort of the way you love art, you know you like it when you see it. I have no classical knowledge of it. I don't know if many of my passions personally come into the books, except I like pubs, I like shooting pool, I like old movies, and those are what I share with Patrick.
Mullin from Haverford, PA: How do you react when you are called the hottest young writer in mystery today? Does this type of pressure present unrealistic expectations, or do you embrace those types of words?
Dennis Lehane: No, I don't believe them. I think everybody is looking for a label, and I understand that, and if it affects my sales in a positive way, I am all for it. But I know a lot of damn hot young mystery writers, so if I am one, I think I am part of a group that includes Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, and Boston Teran -- if he writes another one, watch out.
Britt from Rochester: How close are you to Angela and Patrick? Do you think about them when you are not writing about them? Do they ever surprise you when you are writing about them?
Dennis Lehane: They surprise me a lot when I am writing about them, and I think about them a lot when I am writing about them. They become more real to me than real people. Then I never think of them again, until I am about to write another one.
Brent from Marlboro, MA: How similar are you to Kenzie? Also, did you base Bubba on any people in your life?
Dennis Lehane: He is much braver then I am, he has a much quicker temper then I do, and he has fired a gun. And we have the same taste in old movies -- we love the Marx brothers. He is far more car-obsessed then I am, but I am a better dresser, and I have read a lot more.
Elise from Brooklyn, NY: I am really impressed and captivated by the relationship established between Patrick and Angela. What did you use as an original base for their relationship? Also, do you ever plan for either of them ever to branch off into their own series? And finally, will you ever write a non-Gennaro/Kenzie book? Any plans in the works?
Dennis Lehane: I will write a non-Gennaro/Kenzie book, but beyond that I can't say anything. Again, I didn't base them on anyone, they're just products of my imagination. I think that is a mistake that a lot of first-time writers make -- to base characters on real people. Because imagination is like a muscle; you have to flex it or it atrophies, and if you rely on reality, the work suffers.
Pat from Washington State: I have read all of your books. Will there me more books with Patrick and Angie?
Dennis Lehane: Yes, there will be more.
Pearl from New Orleans, LA: Can you tell us a little bit about your next book?
Dennis Lehane: I am very superstitious about talking about my work until I am at least halfway through a draft, which is not where I am now....
Michelle from Des Moines, IA: How did you get your first book published?
Dennis Lehane: I wrote it, I threw it in a box with a bunch of other stuff I wrote that year. A former professor came by the place I was living and he picked it up, read it, and said, "If you rewrite this it will be good enough to send to an agent." So I did, and he sent it to a former student of his that was then an agent, and then I went off to grad school, and she sent it our a few times. The eighth publisher it was sent to took it. And that was that.
Hank from Atlanta, GA: When you write, what do you start with? A situation? The ending to the mystery? Do you know where you are going when you are writing, or does it come to you as you are writing?
Dennis Lehane: If you look at plot and plot points, like letters of the alphabet, I usually know A, then M, then usually Z. I have a very bare structure within the work. I know who did it, and I probably know why. And then I just sort of fill in the blanks, the other 23 letters.
Moderator: It's been time well spent chatting with you this evening, Dennis Lehane. We can't wait for you to come back. Do you have any final comments for the online audience?
Dennis Lehane: No, except thank you all for the great questions and generous comments.
