The Series Character:
How to Do It Right
Michael Connelly (Thrillerfest, July 10, 2013, New York)
- “There’s no one way to do it right.”
- If you want to write a series book forget it’s part of a series and write one book…
- Don’t hold back and save stuff for the next book – put everything you have into the one you’re writing
- His process is “mystical” – organic – feels lucky about that
- Core of the series character – a longing or an incompletion
- Gave 2 images – 1) a merry go round, where the character is trying to grab the brass ring and 2) a tunnel, in which the character is going through life trying to reach the light at the end
- it all comes down to the character and their unfinished business
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3 Pieces of Advice (he’s carried with him for decades):
- Joseph Wambaugh – the secret to success is to consider how cases work on cops rather than how cops work on cases
- Kurt Vonnegut – make sure on every page everybody wants something even if it’s just a glass of water
- Richard Price – when you circle around a murder long enough you get to the core of the city
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- Higher aspiration is to have the series say more
- Becomes consumed by momentum
- Backstory can cause speed bumps
- Remember to hide the cheese
- If you build it…the series will come
- Concentrate on the book in front of you…the series will come
Michael Connelly talks about the appeal of Harry Bosch (1.04 min.):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv5z60WA-cU&w=420&h=315]
Extra Extra:
- Ann Herold wrote a good article recently in the Los Angeles Magazine: “Michael Connelly’s Novel Approach to Crime in L.A.”
- An excerpt from Connelly’s latest book,
- Interviews with Connelly – see his website
As usual, any errors in this material are mine and mine alone. Michael Connelly made perfect sense, brilliant sense…when he spoke.