 |
||
 |
Laurie
R. King An interview
by |
|
|
|
||
|
|
Laurie
R. King An interview
by |
|
|
Laurie R. King has produced ten popular mystery novels, beginning
with the award-winning A Grave Talent (1993), Five of her books
are Mary Russell novels, and four make up the Kate Martinelli mysteries.
In addition, there is a stand-alone novel, A Darker Place. Ms.
King's Kate Martinelli series, and Mary Russell novels, explore the
lives of two very different female protagonists. Kate, a lesbian police
detective in San Francisco, contrasts with the older Mary Russell. Kate
is a young woman who apprentices to, and then marries, the retired
Sherlock Holmes. Kate is more cynical, anxiety bound, and reckless than
Mary. Mary is logical, better and more broadly educated, and less
suspicious. Both heroines are smart, curious, and creatures of the
cultures they inhabit.
A new novel, Folly, is due in stores this year. Folly, a suspense novel, features a woman building a house in the San Juan islands, off the Washington coast. I met Ms. King in a coffee shop on California's Central coast for an hour's worth of talk about the writing life, her own writing, and the two popular, prize-winning series' of books she has produced in less than ten years. Rose and Thorn(R&T): What can you tell us about your writing process? How do you approach a new book? Does the story grow out of the character? A theme? A plot situation? Laurie King (LK): The ideas rise from a variety of sources. The Mary Russell book, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, came from a quote from John Knox, and it was too delicious not to use. The Martinelli novel To Play The Fool, came out of wanting to write about a holy fool. Kate was the perfect counterpoint for such a character. R&T: Did you start out with the idea to write a series. LK: Actually, when I finished A Grave Talent, I was tired of Kate Martinelli, and I didn't expect to write about her again. Until the idea for Brother Erasmus, my holy fool, took hold, I thought I was through with her. R&T: And the Mary Russell series? Did you want to write about Sherlock Holmes? LK: I wanted to write about a modern young woman who would be like Holmes, so Russell came first, and then the rest of it. R&T: Are you a longtime Sherlock Holmes fan, then? LK: No more than anyone who encounters Holmes in the popular culture. I read all the Holmes stories after I started The Beekeepers Apprentice. R&T: Your novel A Darker Place came out in 1999, and I understand your latest book is also a stand-alone novel. Can you tell us something about the new book? LK: The Title is Folly, and it's set in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington. The heroine is involved, among other things, with building a home. R&T: Is it a mystery? LK: More a novel of suspense. R&T: And could the protagonist in Folly, or Anne Waverly, the main character in A Darker Place, become the focus for another series? LK: I have no plans for that, though Anne Waverly might reappear. Readers have been very curious about her. At the end of A Darker Place, we know only that she is alive, and that was enough for me, a satisfying end place. Others, though, keep asking about her. The main character in Folly is not suitable for a series. R&T: Our readers are interested in how one becomes a writer. Can a person become a writer from formal class work? Should one even take classes or seminars? How did you learn your craft? LK: From reading, mostly. I read everything, and from long-term, extensive reading, I think I absorbed the nuances of writing, the structure of a story, and how to express myself with some clarity. And by doing the writing. By actually writing, one learns to write. By the time A Grave Talent was published I had three other books on my shelf, not ready to go, but almost, so that at one point I was able to come out with two books within a year. R&T: Do you ever experience writers block, then? And if so, how do you handle it? What would you advise a blocked writer to do? LK: You have to keep writing, to push on through the distractions, the resistance to the writing work. There's a difference between not writing, being distracted, and being really blocked. When I truly begin to think cleaning the oven is preferable to writing, it's usually a sign that there's a problem with a story. Something I haven't realized yet. At that point, I need to stand back, get a perspective. It can be helpful to skip to another part of the story, a scene I want to write, an encounter I know I'll need. R&T: Tell us a little about your process, how you approach a project. Do you develop character first? Outline plot? LK: Well, for me it seems as if Fall, when the kids go back to school, is the time for new projects, and I often start in autumn. I can work several hours a day for five, even six or seven days a week, and I usually plow through a first draft, without outlining. I've often wished I could outline; it might prevent my first drafts being awful. Actually, my draft functions as a kind of outline - it's always bad, but then I have something to go on with. I can then identify what needs more research, more thinking, more writing. R&T: Do you spend a large amount of time on research? LK: Yes, and some of the books need a lot more research than others. O Jerusalem needed the most, finding out what Jerusalem was like in the twenties, the state of archaeology at that time, the kind of community Russell and Holmes would run into. Some of the Martinelli books needed more research than others, because of being more focused on police procedure. It's one of the great things about the writing life - at this point everything I do is research. If I spend time looking at old houses, it will apply to the writing. Everything I'm interested in is grist for the mill, and it all gets into the writing. R&T: Our writers would like to hear your comments on the writing life. What draws you, and do you identify a down side? LK: It can be frustrating, solitary, even lonely, of course, but everything worth doing, is, isn't it? You certainly have to be able to get along with yourself to live this life. That doesn't mean you don't see friends, it doesn't mean you're not social, but it does mean there may not be many people in the world with whom one shares common ground. Sometimes if I say I have a problem to work out with my editor, or mention a difficulty with a story line, the person I'm talking to will say "But at least you're published." Even though I'm alone writing daily, and there has to be this discipline of writing daily, a writer still has the freedom to structure the work into the needs which come up raising a family. The flexibility has a great appeal, and it is as much a key to the work as the discipline, but only just as much. R&T: Have any of your characters evolved from people you know? LK: No. I may have taken someone's hair style, once, but no. R&T: How do the characters develop then? LK: My characters have grown, almost on their own sometimes. I think it would be limiting to take a real person as a model; I'd be describing and trying to fit the person into an artificial situation. R&T: Your Mary Russell series has been well accepted by British readers, even many die-hard Holmes purists. How does the gay and lesbian community react to Kate Martinelli? LK: People are often surprised when they find I'm straight, even though I make sure the dust jackets always point out that I live with my husband and children. Martinelli is a very real character, in a very real community. She's not a caricature lesbian; lots of diverse people identify with her. Police officers included. R&T: I find that Kate is more likable in your fourth story about her, Night Work. She started out as a very prickly, defensive, and suspicious person. LK: Well, she was a police officer, facing an often hostile professional community. At this point, her career is more settled, and her personal life is working well. R&T: Including your latest novel, which will be out soon, and A Darker Place, you've written two stand-alone novels in the past two years or so. Are the series coming to an end? LK: No. I think there will be at least one more novel with Kate, and the Russell novels may go on for some time. R&T: What kind of advice can you give to new writers. Is there a key to success? A best approach to improving? LK: Of course, it's important to keep on writing, and to finish things. As I said, I had three novels waiting when A Grave Talent became successful. That meant I could keep publishing regularly while new books were taking shape. All the writing is useful, even if something may start, then not work, then not work again. I do remember doing some science fiction/ fantasy writing. It wasn't good; I may publish it - it's on a very back burner - but it taught me a lot about how not to write. R&T: Do you recommend support groups? Classes? LK: People should do what works for them Writers have widely varied ways of approaching the work. I never let anyone read any of my stuff until I've finished the first draft. But people like Austen and Dickens used continual feedback as they worked on their books. R&T: Use resources as resources, not gospels? LK: Yes R&T: Thank you.
|
|
