"If my characters were me, I'd be straight, gay, old,
young, dead, alive, black, white, a pedophile and the child he molested, a
husband and wife."
A
Discussion with Richard North Patterson
By RoseEtta Stone
Whether
fans who've read every single one of Richard North Patterson's legal thrillers
are luckier than people who've never read his books is debatable. His
readers, book after book, are never disappointed, and eagerly await each of
Patterson's forthcoming international best-sellers. Yet, those who've
deprived themselves of the pleasure of reading his compelling thrillers have a
dozen novel surprises to look forward to!
Prior to beginning his multiple award-winning writing career, Patterson studied
creative writing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. And was a
lawyer in one of the Nation's largest corporate law firms. His legal
curriculum vitae also includes the terms he served as Ohio's Assistant Attorney
General, his having been a Watergate prosecutor, and serving as an attorney for
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Patterson, a native of California, won custody of his son from his first
marriage. Being a single parent, he said, "was probably the most
important experience of my adult life."
"Protect and Defend," his latest novel, now available in paperback,
tells an unforgettable fiction-mirroring-fact story that should have a profound
and indelible affect on anyone reading it - no matter which side of the abortion
debate one's on.
Why do you think it is that so many lawyers
(i.e., you, Scott Turow, John Grisham, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Scottoline), became
authors of crime/mystery/legal thrillers? Is it that their legal
experiences give them a wealth of stories to tell?
Trial lawyers have to be story tellers - have to arrange complex facts in
attractive narratives; grasp character; understand judges, juries, make clients
appealing, understandable. They do have a lot of stories to tell - vivid
and interesting things to talk about.
Why, in your opinion, are your books so uniquely
different from other best-selling legal thrillers?
I don't think that I write legal thrillers - in fact, I despise the term.
I try to write novels in which interest is not only in the story, but in
exploration and development of the characters. The danger is less
physical. It's psychological or moral. I write about political and
social issues, family violence, etc. "Degree of Guilt," for
example, was about the legal definition of rape. "The Final
Judgment" was partially about the generational fallout from Vietnam.
"No Safe Place" was about what it's like to run for president and when
to consider public figures' private lives a separate issue. My novels are
meant as reflections of our times. And I'm much more ambitious than
to call myself an author of legal thrillers. That's a limiting genre which
my novels go way beyond.
Did you have much trouble getting your very first book
published? And why do you think that was or wasn't the case?
I had to do three re-writes and had 13 rejections. I ended
up winning the Edgar Allen Poe Award for it. Writing is re-writing.
Writing is difficult and has to be mastered. So many people try and don't
do well.
You were quoted as saying, "I don't think I could
have been a writer without being a lawyer. The surprise, the revelation of
character - lawyers get a wonderful insight into people," in a 1993 Time
Magazine article. Are there other ways in which your writing is influenced
or informed by the years you spent practicing law?
I'm extremely disciplined. I can research well, and know how to ask
questions. I'm not afraid to go after people for interviews. I write
tersely. I settle for a plain, readable writing style that conveys real
meaning.
How would you explain the public's fascination with
murder mysteries in books, movies, on TV? We fear, due probably to
media hype, becoming random (or premeditated) crime victims, yet we have this -
what should I call it - masochistic obsession with the very crimes we fear.
I don't know if people are. I know that my books sell. I don't write
murder mysteries - a genre which tends to suggest that the world is an orderly
place where solutions can be found. The "truth" that emerges in
court often doesn't relate very much to the truth of what really happened.
Books about the law explore a more morally ambiguous area than do murder
mysteries.
"Gender shouldn't be any harder to write about than
race."
In regard to the degree that fictive
characters autobiographically reflect authors' personality and/or character
traits, could you tell us, or would you rather not make such an admission, how
much or many of your characters are, in fact, you? Or if a number of
them are composites of the "real" you?
If my characters were me, I'd be straight, gay, old, young, dead, alive, black,
white, a pedophile and the child he molested, a husband and wife. There is
no literal connection between me and my characters. I tend to write
characters who want something and set out to get it. That much of them is
me. And the personality type I relate to is ambitious and reasonably
smart. That person would be someone I'm attracted to.
It's
often enough of a struggle for writers to find their own distinctive 'voice,'
yet you write so convincingly in women's voices - Carolyn Masters', Sue Robb's,
etc.; as well as in your own. How challenging do you find that?
People always ask me that. I'm always astonished to hear that it's
supposed to be so hard. The business of writing is empathizing with
situations that aren't your own. I think that the women's movement made it
easier for men and women to talk to each other. I have many women friends
that I ask questions and listen to. My wife and I are good friends, which
I think is not always the case in marriages. I use all that in my writing
to explain women's motivations, and write them empathetically. Gender
shouldn't be any harder to write about than race.
I can't get enough of the cross-examination scenes in
your books. Do they just sort of write themselves, due to your litigation
experience?
Writing cross-examination scenes are among the easier things for me to do.
What's wonderful about them is that I can change the answers, which can't be
done in actual court. They don't write themselves, but I never have much
trouble writing them. It was always easy for me to interview people,
question them, get answers.
Which novel or novels that you've written do you most
favor? Or is such a distinction as impossible to make as judging which
child a parent likes best?
I like all of my recent books. "No Safe Place" and "Protect
and Defend" I think are my best and most accomplished. With "No
Safe Place," I set the standard for the type of book I want to write.
It was a fully realized male character and, on balance, represents my most
complex exploration.
What are your feelings about going on lecture tours,
book signings, and making the talk show circuit, to promote each new novel you
write, even though you're already a best-selling author many times over?
I'm not sure I'll do it for each new book. I'm proud of my work and
speaking for it. But I wouldn't go unless I had something to say worth my
time and the time of people who were interviewing me.
To segue completely away from your writing career for a
moment - would any type of case draw you back into the courtroom again?
And hypothetically, do you think it might be as a lawyer for the defense or
prosecution?
I can't conceive of a case. I'd have to care terribly much about it, and
I'd rather have a lawyer with less rust on him handle the case, after not
practicing law for nine years. What I care about now are social interests.
I'm interested in issues rather than cases. For instance, I belong to the
board of the Family Anti-Violence Prevention Fund because family violence is one
of the issues that concern me.
Last question: Do you envision yourself still
writing novels ten years from now?
I'm not sure. I'll write if I have something fresh to say, not just to
keep writing. I have many other interests in addition to combating family
violence, such as reproductive rights, gun control, and campaign finance reform.
Note: "Mr. Patterson's eleventh novel 'Protect and Defend'
(December, 2000), is about presidential politics involving the controversial
nomination of the first woman to be the Chief Justice, and her entanglement in
an incendiary lawsuit regarding late-term abortion and parental consent. 'Protect and Defend' is his seventh consecutive New York Times
bestseller and has received a Maggie Award from Planned Parenthood for its
treatment of issues regarding reproductive rights."
"After a very lengthy research period," the book he's presently
working on "should be published sometime in early 2003."
"The novel will deal with high stakes presidential politics surrounding one
of the most emotional issues facing Americans today - the relationship between
gun violence against innocent men, women and children; money and political
power."
ORDER
PROTECT AND DEFEND BY CLICKING HERE.
RoseEtta Stone is the Editor/Publisher of (the) X - RATED
CHILDRENS' BOOKS NEWSLETTER: Book Reviews and Interviews with Banned,
Censored, Challenged Authors of Banned, Censored, Challenged and Burned
Childrens' Books. Visit by clicking here: X-RatedChildrensBooks.
