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Bestselling Author Michael Connelly ReadersRoom: Michael Connelly, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you here this morning! Michael Connelly: I am glad to be here. ReadersRoom: I would like to jump into this by starting with your upcoming novel, The Narrows -- due out in April. Could you tell our readers a bit about it? Michael Connelly: It actually comes out May 3 and it is a book I said I would never write. It is a sequel to The Poet. For years I said I didn't want to continue the story from that book because I liked the idea of there being a big loose end in my fictional universe. But now seven years later I don't like that idea so much. I think as the real world has become increasingly uncertain I felt that I wanted my fictional world to not have as many uncertainties. So I finished the story of The Poet. ReadersRoom: There has certainly been some suspense about the book itself. I understand you decided not to release advance review copies (ARCs) until just before publication. Can you tell us how you came to that decision?

Michael Connelly: This book draws from all of the others before it. Things happen to familiar characters and I didn't want that discussed months before the book came out. On another level I am not sure I see the value in ARCs anymore.

ReadersRoom: Can you tell us why you feel that way about ARCs?

Michael Connelly: The way I understand it, an ARC is a publishing tool used to get booksellers excited about an upcoming book. It is a way to start the word of mouth going, which is very important. I think they work quite well for new writers and did so for me. But now I don't think they are as important for me. I would rather see my publisher use that money for other forms of promotion--which we did. I would say that The Poet is my most popular book, so I don't think an ARC is necessary to get the buzz going on a sequel. So we looked at other things.

ReadersRoom: You did, however, make a short video in support of The Narrows -- which fans can see at your website www.michaelconnelly.com.

Michael Connelly: Yes, I thought that was kind of neat. A lot of people working for me at the publishing house and the Web site are looking for new ways of doing things. Publishing is an archaic business. I like to see fresh thought. An ARC worked well for my first book. For my fourteenth let's try something different. The digital look inside the book was one of those ideas. The DVD we are putting out with the book is another.

ReadersRoom: I'm certainly looking forward to it. I'd like to move on to your last book, Lost Light. Could you tell our readers a bit about the latest Harry Bosch novel?

Michael Connelly: Lost Light is sort of an abstract phrase that has shown up in a few of the books. It's about missing something inside. This book is about Harry finding his lost light. Of course, this occurs while he is working a case. He is a private eye and he is looking into an unsolved murder that always bothered him as a cop. This case becomes the vehicle for his personal journey toward the light. When I write these books I always remember a piece of advice that was given to me a long time ago. That is that the best detective stories are not about how a detective works on a case but how a case works on a detective.

ReadersRoom: You chose to write this novel in the first person. What was it about this story that caused you to decide to give Harry a narrative voice?

Michael Connelly: I was in a transition, taking Harry from being a cop to a private eye. I wanted a clear line between the two. I also figured that if I was going to take a shot at the classic private detective form I ought to move into first person as were the novels that inspired me in this genre.

ReadersRoom: I sometimes get in trouble when I ask about my personal favorites of an author's books, but I would like to move on to my favorite of your works, 2000's Void Moon. This is essentially a novel where you take more pains than usual in developing your "bad guy" Jack Karch. Was it different writing so much from that perspective?

Michael Connelly: No, it was easy. Villains are always easier and with him I really needed him to be bad because it would make Cassie Black, the protagonist, easier for the reader to take. She, after all, is a criminal, too.

ReadersRoom: I am wondering how that book did?

Michael Connelly: It is actually the first and only book of mine that took a downward turn in sales compared to the book before it. This is hard to explain. It could have been because for the first time I wrote about a woman. Or it could have been because I wrote about a criminal as a protagonist. Or it could have been because it came out Christmas week and got lost in the deluge of big Christmas books. A lot of possibilities but ultimately I thought it was a pretty good book. I liked the characters a lot. Cassie Black even makes a small cameo in The Narrows. Under a different name of course, because she is wanted.

ReadersRoom: Well, I would advise our readers to check it out! Since we announced this chat, we've had a lot of questions from our readers. Would you answer a few of those for us?

Michael Connelly: Fire away.

ReadersRoom: Colin B. from Boise, Id: In a Paris market this year, I bought a copy of Bloodwork. Are all of your books translated into French? When your signing schedule takes you to France what cities are included?

Michael Connelly: They get translated there pretty quick. The Narrows will be out in June. I have only done signings in Paris and nearby. Usually when I go there it is on a media junket. It is hard to do a signing in a store because of the need for translators. So they mostly bring me over there, sit me in a cafe and I talk to journalists all day. I am doing this in June but there is no signing scheduled.

ReadersRoom: Lisa from New York: Mr. Connelly, I am a fan of your fiction but my favorite of all of your works is an essay titled, First Person. Since writing that piece, how has fatherhood changed your writing?

Michael Connelly: Fatherhood continues to change me everyday. What happens in your life comes out in the writing. I think in Lost Light and The Narrows this can be obviously seen. I think it is all good.

ReadersRoom: Frank K. from Atlanta: In an article, you once said, that you and Jack McEvoy are very much alike. What do you like the most about Jack?

Michael Connelly: I think we were alike at the time I wrote The Poet. Jack is nearing burnout and being engulfed in cynicism. I was at that point when I quit being a journalist. In a small scale it is like being a cop. You constantly are exposed to the underside of human existence. Jack was feeling that when the biggest story of his life broke. I was feeling that but was able to make the transition to writing novels. It saved me.

ReadersRoom: Kara S. from Orlando, FL: While growing up in Philadelphia, in the fifties, did you have any idea you would like to be a writer? Were you a good student?

Michael Connelly: I was a reader first and didn't realize I wanted to be a writer until I was attending the University of Florida. And I was not a good student. Summer school in high school and 6 years to get a 4 year college degree.

ReadersRoom: And our last reader question -- Sandra J. from Moses Lake, WA: Was being nominated for a Pulitzer at 25 years old an inspirational moment? When you interviewed the survivors of the air crash (for the nominated article) was the pain of the event difficult to capture in word?

Michael Connelly: I think I was older, like 30, but it gave me a lot of confidence as a journalist and writer. As far as the story goes it was the story of my career. It did good things for me as a professional journalist but it also helped me later as a writer of novels because it helped me know what was important -- character, human emotions, the telling details that open windows into people's lives.

ReadersRoom: Thanks for answering those. Your 1998 bestseller, Blood Work, was made into a feature film by actor/director Clint Eastwood. How involved were you with the film, and what was it like?

Michael Connelly: I wasn't involved at all really. I talked to Eastwood years before the shooting. Then when they started I visited for a couple days of shooting. That was all.

ReadersRoom: Our readers who are also writers are always interested in the writing habits of the authors we interview here. Can you give us an idea of your typical work day?

Michael Connelly: It starts early. I have found I am most productive in the morning. A perfect day for me has me at the computer by 5 a.m. and I work until lunchtime. After lunch I take care of the business end of things, maybe do some editing.

ReadersRoom: Do you have a specific word count that you shoot for each day, or is it mostly as the muse dictates?

Michael Connelly: No word or page count. But I write fast. Ten pages a day is about average. But I also do a lot of rewriting. So it evens out in the end. Takes about 11 months to write a book.

ReadersRoom: So, after The Narrows, what is next for Michael Connelly?

Michael Connelly: I'm about a third of the way into a Harry Bosch novel. It doesn't have a title yet but it is going well. I only started in January.

ReadersRoom: And I am guessing you aren't going to tell us what it is about, right?

Michael Connelly: It takes off where The Narrows ends so if I say too much about it I may be hurting the reading experience of The Narrows. In general, Harry investigates a 17-year-old murder of a young girl. He is a bit of a fish out of water because he employs many new technologies during the investigation and Harry is a bit of an old horse.

ReadersRoom: Well, I am sure updates will be made available at www.michaelconnelly.com as it gets closer to publication. A wonderful site, by the way, managed by Jane Davis.

Michael Connelly: Yes, I am very proud of it, though it is all her doing. I just told her to build a site that changed often and was inviting to the community of readers who like Harry Bosch. She delivered.

ReadersRoom: She certainly did. Finally, Michael, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this interview at ReadersRoom.com?

Michael Connelly: I would just say keep reading. If you are not reading my stuff read somebody else's. It's an important cultural tradition. It opens windows. And if you are writing, same thing. Somebody once said writin' is fightin' and I think that is true. But you have to keep fighting. If you are going to be a writer then write everyday.

ReadersRoom: Michael Connelly, thank you for joining us here today. Best of luck with The Narrows -- and all your future works!

Michael Connelly: Thank you. Thanks for having me.




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