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Bestselling Author John Katzenbach Rob Holden: John Katzenbach, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It's a pleasure to chat with you today! John Katzenbach: It's my pleasure to be here, wherever here is... Rob Holden: Let's start this off by talking about your latest novel, The Madman's Tale -- out this month I believe from Random House. Can you tell our readers a bit about it? John Katzenbach: Sure. It's a murder mystery set in a Western Massachusetts mental hospital in the late 1970s narrated by one of the ex-patients from the questionable vantage point of twenty years later. The madman of the title is the narrator. As he remembers the events of the past, his own life disintegrates around him, creating, I suppose, two separate adventures. There is a killer in the past, at the hospital, a possessed young woman prosecutor determined to find this man and a fellow who has been sent to the hospital but who clearly isn't crazy, who helps out, as well. There are a number of other characters, who range in madness, as well. Let me see, what else can I say: There are some deaths, there is tension, there is fear and hope. All the stuff I think makes for a thriller that one can think about... Rob Holden: I'd like to stick with Francis Petrel -- your main character--for a moment. He is -- and was in his teens years ago -- a very complicated character who seems to have grown more complicated in some subtle ways as the years have gone by. What kind of research did you do that enabled you to bring this disturbed man to life so vividly?

John Katzenbach: Good question. A number of years ago, my late brother-in-law spent many unhappy months at the state hospital that my fictional Western State Hospital is modeled after. He suffered from a cornucopia of mental illnesses. We spent some time speaking about how difficult life was in the hospital. I merely took much of what he told me and re-formed it, in the manner that novelists have, where you take reality and truths and impose them on a plot in order to create fiction. But let me say, Francis Petrel in the book -- C-Bird, as he's nicknamed -- is my own creation. What is fun about writing, is finding a character that is flawed and crippled by so much of their life, and then discovering strengths and intelligences within that they might not have known they had. That's what gives a novelist the passion to show up at the computer/typewriter/pad of paper every day.

Rob Holden: Your last novel was The Analyst -- which I believe has recently been released in paperback. Could you tell our readers a bit about it?

John Katzenbach: Sure. The Analyst is about a hermit-like New York psychoanalyst who discovers one day that he made some mistake in his past, and that it created a monster who is now stalking him. It starts with the phrase "Happy 53rd birthday, doctor. Welcome to the first day of your death..." Suffice it to say that my main guy is put through some serious life changes while he charters a path through troubles. And here's something truly weird: The Analyst (in Spanish) is now #6 on the Argentine bestseller list. Go figure...

Natalie Collins: You are well known for your in-depth and realistic characters. Can you tell us a bit about how you create them?

John Katzenbach: Thanks, Natalie. I wish I had a magic formula that I could sell to aspiring writers about how to create characters. In actuality, the elements of a given character's personality simply comes to me. But I tend, as I said before, to think of weaknesses in each, so that I can create anxiety around them, as they try to find a way out whatever genuinely nasty and potentially fatal situation I have fashioned for them. I have always thought it far more intriguing when a reader gets carried along into a story with someone who isn't a sure thing -- that is, a character who is automatically too cool and smart by several feet, to battle what they are up against. In other words -- Jason Bourne (although I sort of like him in the films...) isn't really being threatened. Many writers tend to make their main characters invulnerable. I don't.

Rob Holden: That is something I have noted in your work consistently -- you really don't create "supermen" characters, but rather real, vulnerable people who can, and occasionally do, get hurt. Do you find it difficult, when plotting out your novels, to resist the temptation to give your protagonists that little "something extra?"

John Katzenbach: Short answer: No. I have this belief that it is the author's job to truly know his characters well enough so that, when they arrive at the point where things are going to explode, they have the mental resources. You can't do this with cartoons, and you don't want to cheat readers by making the good guy so capable that there's little real tension. Once, a few years back, no naming names here, I read a big, big bestseller by a guy who had his detective hero get shot, sail a boat across a bay in the midst of a hurricane, climb a cliff, ferret out the bad guy, fight a pitched battle and win, hands down. I mean, really...

Rob Holden: John, since we announced this chat we have had a lot of questions from our readers. Would you answer a few of them for us now?

John Katzenbach: Sure.

Natalie Collins: Michael J., Los Angeles, CA: Since you wrote, In the Heat of the Summer, in 1982, what is the biggest surprise you have encountered in the writing industry?

John Katzenbach: Very tough question, Michael J...Ok, I think the biggest surprise is that I feel that there has been an immense trade-off in publishing between putting out something with authentic writing ability, inventive plots, unique characters and intriguing situations -- in favor of the predictable and the pre-determined. It's more or less the same as why in Hollywood, they'd rather do Lethal Weapon Twelve than take a chance... There are far too many books today that seem like so many other books. There, that's my high-horsed lecture for the day.

Natalie Collins: Jeff K., Ogden, UT: Being nominated for an Edgar is quite an honor. What other recognition and awards have you been given over the years?

John Katzenbach: Jeff, my dog has slept through every book I've written, which I consider high praise. She, however, doesn't really care that I've won France's top award for Literary Police fiction, or that my books have been published in thirty countries. Alas, she wants only an occasional walk, a pet on the head and two squares per day.

Natalie Collins: Heather C., Portland, OR: You have written many wonderful novels that touch your fans. Is there something special you see yourself doing, (writing wise) in the future?

John Katzenbach: Heather, because I have been, well, frustrated by the film versions of my books, I'm trying to do the first draft of the screen versions. Whether I'll be successful, or not, remains to be seen. But the screenplay I wrote for The Madman's Tale seems pretty darn good, and I'm optimistic. Other than that sort of branching out, someday I'd like to write another non-fiction book. But primarily, more of what I have done, until I dry up, or win one of those multi-state lotteries.

Natalie Collins: Chad R., Winston, KY: Matthew Cowart, in Just Cause, is a strong, approachable character. Did you get many of the ideas for the Cowart/Miami Journal story line from your days working at the Miami Herald?

John Katzenbach: The Miami Herald, Chad, was like a laboratory for novelists in the 70s and 80s (until I left in 1987). I sat two desks ahead of Carl Hiaasen (we still go fishing together and I urge everyone to buy and read his books) and next to Edna Buchanan. My wife, Madeleine Blais, a Pulitzer prize winning author, was down the hall with Dave Barry. And I'm leaving more than a few guys out. Plus, Miami was filled with wild story after wild story, and I was able to crawl all over all sorts of terrible things, which was a novelist's perfect education. In fact, anyone who wants to be a writer should work for the Herald.

Natalie Collins: Laura L., Atlanta, GA: When I heard that you were doing an interview for one of my favorite sites (ReadersRoom), I knew what question I needed answered. In the "Epilogue" to Hart's War, your spirit and "heart" were put into words to be remembered. How did your father react to being the inspiration to your creativity?

John Katzenbach: Laura, I think he was both pleased and flattered. He thinks Tommy Hart is braver than he might have been (I doubt it...), and he thinks the story took a few liberties with the setting (but not many). He did have one funny observation. We were doing some publicity for the movie together, and he suddenly turned to me and said, "I wonder just how much money you're making for each of the thousand days I spent in POW camp..." To which I replied, "Dad, don't go there..." In truth, he thinks the portrayal of the men in the camp as emotionally accurate as can be, which I'm very proud of, myself.

Rob Holden: Thank you for answering those. John, you mentioned earlier that you haven't been thrilled with the way Hollywood has treated your novels. Can you tell us why?

John Katzenbach: Ok. Here is what happens: Somewhere between reading a book and making a movie, the essence of the story gets compromised into (alas) a non-recognizable state. There can be any number of reasons for this, but primarily, it is because oftentimes making a movie is simply a job, and a means of making money for many of the participants. I put a good deal of thought, heart, passion and hope into my stories and into my characters. It's rare to find Hollywood folks willing to make the same psychological commitment to the film as I do to the book.

Rob Holden: And so what is next for John Katzenbach -- novel-wise, at least?

John Katzenbach: I'm about to start a new book. This is contemporary, and it will be very different from The Madman's Tale. I'm one of those truly irritating authors who won't divulge plot and character until the whole shebang is pretty much underway so, I'm not gonna say what it's about. Obnoxious. Private. Secretive. Hermit-like. I have told the dog the plot, however, and she wagged her tail...

Rob Holden: Before we wrap this up, I would like to thank Heather Smith at Ballantine for helping put this all together.

John Katzenbach: This has actually been pretty painless.

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

John Katzenbach: Yeah. Keep reading. Demand prose that energizes and excites. Require stories that intrigue and characters that come alive. Then we'll all be happy.

Rob Holden: John Katzenbach, thanks for joining us here today, and best of luck with The Madman's Tale!

John Katzenbach: Thank you.




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