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Bestselling Author James W. Hall Rob Holden: James W. Hall -- welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you with us here today! James W. Hall: Thanks, it's good to be here with you. Rob Holden: I would like to start this off with your last novel, Off the Charts, which is coming out in paperback this September. Could you tell our readers a bit about it? James W. Hall: Well, it's a Thorn novel, meaning it involves my series' character, a somewhat reclusive guy named Thorn and it features modern piracy, a problem that seems to have been missed by the press, though it is a pretty serious issue. Set in Key Largo, it moves to Central America and also involves a kidnapping and some pretty weird bad guys. As most of my novels do. Rob Holden: The novel definitely looks at pirates in a different way than the swashbuckling heroes we are used to from the movies. Can you tell us a bit about the research you did for the book? James W. Hall: Living in Key Largo, I've met my share of shady characters, some of them with links to maritime crime. So I was able to talk to a few of those folks. I also did a considerable amount of reading research, tracking down articles and information about the rise in maritime piracy all around the world. How it works, what the stakes are, the methods and countermeasures that shippers are using these days. Also, living in Key Largo, you are saturated almost daily with pirate imagery. It's a place that glorifies its own outlaw past a good deal, and trades on the romantic ideas of pirates and damsels in distress and all that. I wanted to do something a little more realistic and a modern update. Today's pirates are not Errol Flynn.

Rob Holden: No, they certainly are not, as the book shows. I would like to talk about your signature character Thorn here for a moment. He is one of the most enigmatic characters in adventure fiction today -- certainly not your typical "hero." How did you design him?

James W. Hall: Well, thanks, I guess. I think of Thorn as being sort of Henry David Thoreau with a .357 magnum. He's a loner and he just wants to do his thing, which is tying bonefish flies for a meager living, and be left in peace. But if you read the first novel, Under Cover of Daylight, (1987), you'll see he has a dark past, and his need to be reclusive is built on some pretty awful stuff he's lived through. He's not always a white-hatted guy either.

Rob Holden: No, he isn't -- which both sets him apart, and makes him quite fascinating.

James W. Hall: He tries to be moral, but what's moral is a lot more relative in Thorn's world than it is in a court of law. He thinks of justice as sort of like a pick up basketball game. Only the players really know who fouled who.

Rob Holden: Now I believe that you have a new novel coming out in January called Forests of the Night. Could you tell our readers a bit about that book?

James W. Hall: Forests is set partly in Miami and partly in the mountains of North Carolina. It features Cherokee Indians, an FBI most wanted bad guy, a Coral Gables female cop and her lawyer husband and their daughter. Bad things from long ago spring to life again. A century old feud.

Natalie R. Collins: That sounds fascinating. Was it hard to get away from Thorn, or did you find it refreshing, as you are now working on another one?

James W. Hall: Almost everybody Thorn has come into contact with in the last ten years or so has been murdered or seriously hurt. So I need to take a break from him now and then so he can make some new friends.

Rob Holden: Speaking of your stand alone novels, I would like to touch briefly on my favorite of those, 2000's Rough Draft. The concept was fascinating. Could you tell our readers a bit about that story?

James W. Hall: Well, the idea began when I bumped into a copy of one of my early novels that was in a used bookstore. It had been all marked up by some reader. I mean really, really marked up. Magic markers of different colors, lots of marginal notes, weird stuff. Then he sold it to a used store. I couldn't get that out of my mind, so I gave that same situation to a woman writer and let it go from there.

Rob Holden: That must have been an interesting book to write, from a writer's point of view.

James W. Hall: It was a challenge. I've taught writing for over 30 years, so I was trying to get a little writing instruction in there too, some thoughts on the aesthetics of it all. But trying to do it in a way that kept everything moving ahead dramatically. So yes, making a writer interesting is a great challenge. Mostly we writers sit at home and do a lot of nothing. Daydream, write, read. So it's an inherently dull life, except for those months at the beginning of each new novel when I go out and research. That part is fun. I tried to give Hannah, the writer in Rough Draft, that same reluctance that most writers have to actually stick their noses out the door.

Rob Holden: Since we announced this chat, we have received a lot of questions from our readers -- would you answer a few of them for us now?

James W. Hall: You bet.

Natalie R. Collins: Kara Q., Cold Hill, ALA: Picnics are one of the joys in life. After reading an interview you gave with Margaria Fichter, I bought one of your books. Now you have a fan. Can you please tell me about your beloved picnic table?

James W. Hall: Well, yes it's a wonderful old English primitive table that once belonged in a boys school in the English countryside. Its got initials carved in it and everything. Very long. Whenever we move to a new house, we have to be sure the house is appropriate for the table. That has ruled out a lot of houses. We eat and entertain there every chance we get.

Natalie R. Collins: John R., New York, NY: In Blackwater Sound, Thorn is a character of basic existence. Who was your inspiration for Thorn?

James W. Hall: I've always admired the Ghandi, Thoreau characters who managed to simplify their lives down to the essentials. A loincloth, bifocals and a pair of sandals in Ghandi's case. Those were his only possessions when he died, yet he was a great man who changed the world in fundamental ways. It's also the way a lot of less than wealthy people live all around the world. Making do with little. In the Keys, it's kind of a way of life as well for many. A pair of shorts, sandals, and a skiff. That's all you need.

Natalie R. Collins: Jamie M., Billings, MT: Are you still teaching creative writing classes, and if so, what one piece of advice do you give in each class you teach?

James W. Hall: I still teach, yes. Dennis Lehane was a student. Barbara Parker, Vicki Hendricks, Chris Kling. All successful crime writers. The one piece of advice I like is very simple. Do it because you love it. Write what you want to read. If you're excited by it, that's a very good sign. It's no guarantee that it's good. But if you're bored when you're writing, then that's a damn good sign that your reader is going to be bored too. Over the long haul, the joy of doing the writing, sentence after sentence, line of dialog after line of dialog is what sustains all writers. Not fame, fortune, or any of that external stuff. You've got to love the process.

Natalie R. Collins: Mark P., Ont: Out of all your "novel successes" What book holds a place in your heart and why?

James W. Hall: Hard question. They all hold some place. They all give me memories of times and places where I was writing, moments of inspiration. Ah-ha moments. The first novel is always going to be the best, though. For almost any writer. That feeling of YES! I finally did it. After the first novel, believe it or not, the rest are not really easier. But they all have their own unique place in my trophy case of happy memories.

Natalie R. Collins: Mel K., West Yellowstone, MT: Your, pet, fishing and quilt filled life sounds calm and reflective. Where does all the mystery/energy come from?

James W. Hall: Flannery O'Conner has a great line. Something like "anybody who has had a childhood has enough to write about forever." Or you could say, anybody who has survived high school has enough material forever.

Natalie R. Collins: That is absolutely the truth.

James W. Hall: Everyone has their demons, their unresolved tensions left over from way back. That's what I tap into.

Natalie R. Collins: Aaron S., Portland, OR: Thank you for the enjoyment you have given. What one city have you not visited for a signing that you would like to include in the future?

James W. Hall: Good question. I don't know if there IS a city I haven't visited. I think doing a signing in Santa Fe might be fun.

Natalie R. Collins: Ronnie M., Denver, CO: Your wife makes beautiful quilts (seen on your web site) Have you ever thought about a combined quilt/lecture/class (your wife) and book signing (you)? My Quilters Guild would love to host you! (We are 400 members strong).

James W. Hall: Great idea!!! Send me an email. She'd be blown away.

Rob Holden: Thanks for answering those for us. I would like to touch briefly on your non-fiction work Hot Damn which is a series of essays about just about everything in the world that are insightful and quite often hilarious. Could you tell our readers a bit about that?

James W. Hall: It was one of the greatest writing pleasures I've ever had. I was asked by the Florida Sun-Sentinel to write a monthly 1000-word column about anything I wanted to write about. It should have some connection to Florida, but that wasn't absolutely required. Just whatever was going on in my life at that moment. So I got to write about things that I've never tried to grapple with before. Subjects that had knocked around in my head for a long time, but had never found their way into a novel. It was just sheer pleasure. I had such a negative idea about the essay form--from years of college writing courses when the subjects were dreary. That was something I had to overcome. But once I got going it was a blast. I think that pleasure shows through sometimes.

Rob Holden: It shows through in almost every piece, and it is as much of a delight to read as it must have been to write. Do you still write the column and, if so, will there be a Hot Damn 2?

James W. Hall: No, unfortunately, the Sunday Magazine (called Sunshine) was cancelled, like so many Sunday mags in papers all over. Even though they contain some of the best sheer writing in the newspaper world. Alas, I'm unemployed. But I'd jump at the chance to do something like that for a magazine or another paper. Know any?

Rob Holden: One of the things our readers who are also writers like to know about is our guest's writing habits -- page or word count per day, time spent researching. Could you tell us a bit about the "mechanics" of how you write?

James W. Hall: Up at five. Write till I drop. Sometimes that means seven or eight at night. Sometimes it means two in the afternoon. I don't count words. I'm more focused on getting my characters to talk and act in interesting ways. I work on the computer, rewrite endlessly, and delete more than I add on many days. I don't use an outline. I want to ride along with the reader and be as surprised by what's happening as he/she is. Elmore Leonard puts it this way: "Why would I write the novel if I knew how it was going to come out?" I'm with him a hundred percent. That means, of course, I make some wrong turns and must delete a lot. But I get to discover some great stuff I didn't realize was out there when I started. That's real fun.

Rob Holden: So what is next for James W. Hall?

James W. Hall: I'm working on a novel with Thorn. He's trying to cope with a week in Miami. He's a fish out of water. The story has Cassius Clay in it and a Miami of 40 years ago. It's a real challenge trying to capture that complicated city. And see it through Thorn's eyes.

Rob Holden: And readers will be able to find updates about what is going on with that and your life at your website, www.jameswhall.com?

James W. Hall: Absolutely.

Rob Holden: Finally Mr. Hall, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this interview at ReadersRoom.com?

James W. Hall: Keep turning those pages. Reading isn't escape. It's the real thing. Enjoy!

Rob Holden: James W. Hall, thank you for spending this time with us, and best of luck with all your work -- particularly Forests of the Night, coming in January.

James W. Hall: Hey thanks. It was great fun. And best to you and your site. I'm a new convert to it. Thanks. Now back to work.




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