PAST COFFEE CHATS Tess Gerritsen Sandra Brown Jennifer Apodaca Lorenzo Carcaterra MJ Rose Peter Abrahams Nancy Cohen Janet Evanovich Martha Lawrence Evan Hunter/Ed McBain William Lashner Lisa Gardner Gillian Roberts Clive Cussler Carol Higgins ClarkDavid Baldacci

Bestselling Author Lawrence Block ReadersRoom: Lawrence Block, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us today. LawrenceBlock: My pleasure. ReadersRoom: You have been called "The king of mystery series fiction", and with good reason. You have done/are doing no less than five series. I would like to start this off with the last series you started -- the Keller series. I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about how that came about.

LawrenceBlock: Well, I wrote a short story called Answers to Soldier. I thought that was that, but found myself interested in Keller and wrote more about him, and one thing led to another.

ReadersRoom: The books Hit Man and Hit List follow the life and career of, as you have termed him, "The Urban lonely guy of assassins". The books have done well. Were you surprised that the public would take to this unlikely "hero"?

LawrenceBlock: Kind of, yeah. Readers tell me they're surprised themselves that they like Keller. They feel they shouldn't, but they do.

ReadersRoom: Is there a third Keller novel in the works?

LawrenceBlock: Sort of.

ReadersRoom: I suppose one question that has to be asked is .... do YOU like Keller?

LawrenceBlock: Yes, and I don't even feel guilty about it!

ReadersRoom: Your work has always seemed to alternate between the grim and the flat out comic -- the difference between the Bernie Rhodenbarr "Burglar" series and the Matthew Scudder books. Do you find yourself alternating between comic and darker stories?

LawrenceBlock: I don't make decisions that way, just write whatever comes next.

ReadersRoom: One of your most fascinating books -- both for the story line and the fact that it was 25 years in the making -- is Tanner on Ice. After leaving a series character behind for a quarter century, what caused you to return to him?

LawrenceBlock:Once I thought of how to do it, I had the urge to go ahead.

ReadersRoom: Were your readers surprised that you gave them another Tanner novel?

LawrenceBlock: Probably. Another 28 years and I may do it again.

ReadersRoom: We can only hope it will be sooner than that!

LawrenceBlock: One doesn't want to rush these things.

ReadersRoom: I would like to move to a couple of your most recent works. First off, your post 911 novel Small Town. Could you tell us a bit about how that came into being?

LawrenceBlock: I'd had the desire for many years to write a big NYC novel. I got to work in August 2001. Then 9/11 came along, and the book seemed dead in the water. Then it came back to life, and changed some. There's some film interest, incidentally.

ReadersRoom: As a New Yorker yourself, has 9/11 effected the way you write -- specifically about the city?

LawrenceBlock: Probably.

ReadersRoom: A number of your novels have been made into films. Have you ever made guest appearances in any of them?

LawrenceBlock: No.

ReadersRoom: Have you ever wanted to?

LawrenceBlock: Well, in the audience.

ReadersRoom: Recently, you produced a massive book of short stories called Enough Rope.

LawrenceBlock: It just came out this week in trade paperback -- 83 stories.

ReadersRoom: As a novelist, do you find writing short stories to be easier, or harder than novels?

LawrenceBlock: Shorter -- I mean, the main difference is the length.

ReadersRoom: Moving on to the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, you have a new "Burglar" novel coming out in March. Could you tell our readers a bit about that?

LawrenceBlock: It's The Burglar on the Prowl, and I don't know how much more there is to say about it, except that I think it came off well. I mean, it's set in New York, Bernie steals some stuff, somebody gets killed, and he gets in trouble but works it out. Like, what else is new?

ReadersRoom: Changing gears just a bit here ....what is the one thing your fans and readers would be most surprised to learn about you?

LawrenceBlock: The secret of my productivity, which I just recently figured out myself.

ReadersRoom: Could you share that with us?

LawrenceBlock:I'm inordinately lazy and impatient. Consequently, I do things as rapidly as possible, get them done, and move on.

ReadersRoom: So, in other words, for our writers out there, the secret of a successful writing career is to be lazy and impatient!

LawrenceBlock: I don't know that it would work for everybody.

ReadersRoom: Well, it has certainly worked for you.

LawrenceBlock: I guess.

ReadersRoom: Staying with the subject of "how to write", you have authored a number of books on the subject, and spent years writing on the subject for Writer's Digest.

LawrenceBlock: 14 years, actually, although it felt like 20.

ReadersRoom: Is that something you intend to return to? The books, I mean, not the column.

LawrenceBlock: No, I think I've already written far more than I know on the subject.

ReadersRoom: Let's move on to how you write. Do you have a set work schedule?

LawrenceBlock: No.

ReadersRoom: So it is effectively as the "muse" dictates?

LawrenceBlock:No, not at all. I usually go away to work, and put in long hours six or seven days a week while I'm at it. Then I finish the book and come home and do nothing for months at a time.

ReadersRoom: You find it hard to write at home? Too many distractions?

LawrenceBlock: It works better when I go away.

ReadersRoom: Since we announced this interview, we have had a lot of reader's questions. Would you answer a few for us?

LawrenceBlock: I can but try.

ReadersRoom: From Sara Q. in Palm Springs: I read on your Web site that you think Small Town is your best work. Many of the critics agreed. Do you ever worry that your subsequent work won't match up to it? Also, were you worried that your publisher might get upset at the small "dig" you took at the nature of the publishing industry?

LawrenceBlock: I don't think anyone regarded that view of the publishing biz as uncomplimentary. But to the first part -- I'm not much concerned. I don't expect to top Small Town, but that's okay.

ReadersRoom: From April L. in Phoenix: I've read a lot of your short stories, and wondered if you've ever written one you liked so much you turned it into a full length novel.

LawrenceBlock: Yes -- By the Dawn's Early Light grew into When the Sacred Ginmill Closes.

ReadersRoom: From Larry Stills in Frankfurt: Greetings from one Lawrence to another. I've heard you enjoy traveling, and wondered how many different countries you have been to? Have you ever been to Frankfurt, which is where I am stationed? Do you have any plans to come here soon?

LawrenceBlock:125 countries and counting. I've changed planes in Frankfurt several times, but never got out of the airport.

ReadersRoom: From Karl in New York City: I'm an aspiring writer, and I read your book Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. The thing I most enjoyed about it was that you didn't really tell me how to write, but instead told me what worked for you. What is the most important advice you could give me to advance my career and eventually see publication success?

LawrenceBlock: I wouldn't presume to tell anybody how to write. You have to find your own way. Best advice? Write what you want, not what you think people want to read.

ReadersRoom: Ginny B. in Atlanta: Do you like writing a series, or would you rather have more opportunity to do stand alones? And in that vein, do you get really attached to your characters and find it hard to stop writing about them? Do you ever start HATING your characters?

LawrenceBlock:Well, I must like series, or I wouldn't have done so many. And I never find it hard to stop writing, about them or anything else. Nor do I ever hate them.

ReadersRoom: And our last reader question: From Karmen in L.A.: How in the world did Whoopie Goldburg get cast as Bernie Rhodenbarr in one of the movies based on your books? Were you happy with the result?

LawrenceBlock: Well, nobody was happy with the movie -- it wasn't very good. As to how it happened that way, well, that's Hollywood.

ReadersRoom: Thank you for answering those. Lawrence, I understand that you will be heading out on tour shortly, and that your tour will be mostly library appearances. Can you tell us a bit about how that came about?

LawrenceBlock: It's an experiment. So far we've booked 35 libraries. I get tired just thinking about it.

ReadersRoom: And will these be "talks" or book signings, or a combination of the two?

LawrenceBlock: Talks, with signing to follow.

ReadersRoom: I believe you have a schedule of these posted at your website?

LawrenceBlock: Not yet, I don't think.

ReadersRoom: Will you be posting them?

LawrenceBlock: Yes we will when the schedule's finalized. And we have a free e-newsletter, just sign up at www.lawrenceblock.com.

ReadersRoom: Before we wrap this up -- with the exception of this massive tour, can you tell us what is coming up for Lawrence Block?

LawrenceBlock: Beats me. I'm off tomorrow for a week in Nicaragua. After that, I dunno.

ReadersRoom: Vacation, or research for a book, or both?

LawrenceBlock: Just the usual obsessive-compulsive travel.

ReadersRoom: I wanted to mention that Evan Hunter -- who does a MURDER WITH MCBAIN feature here at ReadersRoom -- wanted me to give you his best.

LawrenceBlock: Why thanks. Evan's a good friend.

ReadersRoom: Finally, is there anything you would like to say to your fans?

LawrenceBlock: God bless you, and may your tribe increase!

ReadersRoom: Lawrence Block, thank you for a wonderful interview!

LawrenceBlock: You're welcome.


Copyright 2003 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.