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 BaldacciLawrence Block Stella Cameron Sara Paretsky Stuart Kaminsky Stephen Coonts Nelson DeMille Stephen White Nevada Barr Jerry B. Jenkins Michael Connelly Stuart Woods John Saul Lisa Scottoline Barbara Delinsky Gayle Lynds Brad Meltzer Jeffery Deaver Perri O'Shaughnessy James W. Hall John Katzenbach Steve Martini Sidney Sheldon Earl Emerson James Grippando D.W. Buffa Anne Perry Jayne Anne Krentz Rochelle Krich Melissa Senate James Lee Burke Rick Layman Robert Crais Kevin Young Phillip Margolin Mary Castillo Michele Martinez James SwainHarley Jane KozakJoseph KanonAlafair BurkeJess WalterSteve Berry Andrew Vachss Natalie R. Collins Deborah LeBlanc David Morrell David Dun

Author Paula L. Woods Rob Holden: Paula L. Woods, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you with us here today! Paula L. Woods: Thanks, it's good to be here. Rob Holden: Let's start this off by talking about your latest book, Strange Bedfellows -- due out the end of January. Can you tell our readers a bit about it? Paula L. Woods: It's the fourth in the Charlotte Justice series. She's a homicide detective in the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division. This case finds her dealing with the aftermath of a particularly gruesome suicide of a fellow officer and in therapy. In the midst of her treatment, she's called back to investigate a cold case-the shooting of two toy company executives in downtown Los Angeles. Rob Holden: There are a number of things about the book I want to explore, but let's start with Charlotte. She isn't presented as your "typical" mystery novel detective. Can you expand a little more on why you chose to present her in this book the way you have? Paula L. Woods: Charlotte is the classic outsider. She's African American in a department that is primarily white, initially the only female working RHD's elite homicide side of the house, and a good 15-30 years younger than her colleagues. She's also different from most detectives in that she has a rich, if dysfunctional, family life, is trying to maintain a relationship, and is steeped in African American and LA history. Rob Holden: The novel has a number of political and racial undertones running through it, but one of the most compelling parts of the book to me is the internal struggle that Charlotte undergoes throughout the novel to come to terms with the recent tragedies in her life AND maintain her professionalism as a cop. Was this a difficult balance for you to strike as an author? Paula L. Woods: Before I answer that let me add onto that other question: The reason Charlotte has so many contradictions goes back to an old W.E.B. DuBois quote about double consciousness. DuBois said: "It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." That's always on my mind when I write her. Everyone struggles to live in this world, deal with their personal stuff and still do a good job. If you've ever had an argument with a spouse and then had to go to work, or make a big presentation after begin up all night with a sick child knows what I'm talking about. Charlotte's circumstance is a little more extreme--she's suffered through the loss of her husband and child in a drive-by shooting--which she really never has gotten over. That's why Strange Bedfellows, this current book is so important to the series, because she finally acknowledges how messed up she is and gets some help as well as finds out the truth that has been hidden from her about what really happened to them.

Rob Holden: A truth that we certainly won't reveal here, but which is yet another of the truly compelling things about this novel. I would like talk now a little about what I considered to be the SECOND main character in this novel, the city of LA. Though you present a seamier side of it of necessity, it is obvious that you have a love affair going on with the city. Can you discuss the importance of the city to your fiction?

Paula L. Woods: For years, LA as portrayed in fiction has been pretty narrow. The world of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Nathaniel West and even Joan Didion are not the same mean streets I grew up in, or Rochelle Krich or Gary Phillips or Naomi Hirahra or dozens of contemporary writers. When I started writing Charlotte in the mid-nineties it was still a pretty white, male world. I wanted to take readers to other corners of the city, whether to ranch-style homes in Badlwin Hills, Craftsmen bungalows in Koreatown, or that At Deco restaurant outside of which the people are shot in Strange Bedfellows. If I don't take readers somewhere they haven't been before, I feel like I haven't done my job as a writer.

Rob Holden: When we discussed his love affair with LA, Michael Connelly told us that there was something about the city itself which compelled him to write about it, and from which much of his fiction took its power. Do you find this true with your work?

Paula L. Woods: Yes. LA can be like a beautiful actress--the sun, the swaying palm trees, the glittering buildings all a painted picture of perfection, just like a beautiful actress in a photo spread. But if you see that actress before the lights, camera and action, you'd get a totally different picture. That's the picture I want to paint in words with my novels.

Rob Holden: You are an African-American woman working in what – with several notable exceptions -- has been a genre dominated by white authors. How, if at all, has this effected your career?

Paula L. Woods: How can I know, only being in my skin? Maybe if we go back to the duBois quote, there's a clue. I am both an American and a black writer, so I definitely feel both in my soul when I write. How readers see me, or publishers, or other media types, you'd have to ask them. What do you think?

Rochelle Krich: Paula, do you hear from white readers that your novels have changed their perceptions of blacks?

Paula L. Woods: Definitely. For example, Charlotte's mother's color consciousness/color prejudice was something that a lot of white's didn't know happened among some black folk. I also get a lot of comments about my portrayal of upper-middle class and wealthy blacks. It will be interesting to see what people think of my portrayal of the range of African American Muslims in Strange Bedfellows. It's also interesting the comments I get from people who tell me they had never thought about the special issues black cops face, but that they were now aware of from reading the books.

Natalie R. Collins: Paula, it seems that you, like some of my other favorite authors, have a love affair with words. Your craft is your passion, and it shows in every sentence and phrase. Have you always had this passion, and if not, when did you discover it?

Paula L. Woods: I was one of those early verbal kids. Reading when I was three, writing soon after. I used to make little books for my dolls to read, and one summer read forty books from the library! So it was no big surprise I ended up an English major. But writing for work, as I did for many years after graduating, didn't really give me an outlet, so I guess I had to come back to my original love -- words. If anything, my love for words sometimes gets in the way of just getting a book finished--there's always a better, or at least different way to say something, you know?

Natalie R. Collins: Boy, do I know that. I could tweak forever. Until my editor yells, STOP ALREADY!

Rochelle Krich: And even after the book is out....

Paula L. Woods: Drives me crazy!

Natalie R. Collins: Oh, I hate when you find the things you want to tweak when the book is finalized and published....

Paula L. Woods: I hear you Rochelle. I will always find something that could be just a little better. And to find a typo almost kills me!

Rob Holden: Paula, as well as being an author, you are also a highly respected literary critic and a professor of creative writing. Can you share some of your opinions on the state of publishing today?

Paula L. Woods: Publishing is going through some of the same changes as film, television, and music. Large corporations have reduced the number of houses, and thus the number of outlets through which an author can be published. The corporations have different profit requirements that the previous owners, which mean a lot of mid-list authors are being cut, while at the same time many authors are expressing less creativity in favor of selling their "brand." It's one of those times that writers have to really ask themselves "Why am I doing this?" I can't tell you how many books I've read, or started to read, for reviews, and found them to be so poorly written, or so formulaic that I couldn't finish them. So when I ask myself why am I doing this, why do I write and struggle, I come back to the same thing my agent said to me when I told her I wanted to shift from editing anthologies to writing fiction. My question to her was "When should I do it?" And her answer was "When you have something to say."

Natalie R. Collins: Paula, someone commented to me the other day that they have run across a new breed of writers... Writers who are not readers. I find this incomprehensible. Do you feel the same way? It seems the two go hand in hand, and MUST go hand in hand.

Paula L. Woods: I do. Now admittedly, you can't read everything, and it's not a great idea to read other novelists while you're writing (don't want to unconsciously plagiarize) but you've got to be inspired, or challenged by something. Some of the best books I've read have been retellings of classic stories. Like Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, which for me had strong echoes of Romeo and Juliet. Or Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres and its echoes of King Lear. How could they do that without reading Shakespeare?

Rochelle Krich: And the Cliff Notes won't do it...

Paula L. Woods: When I set out to write the Charlotte series, I had to read LA crime fiction and police procedurals to know what rules I wanted to accept and which I wanted to subvert. It's no accident that the series is in the first person, which is not how police procedurals are "traditionally" written. I wanted to signal that Charlotte, and the series, is a rule-breaker on many levels. So right, Rochelle. Cliff Notes, or watching the movie, can't replace the engagement the reader has with a good book. That's why I feel so fortunate to be able to review books and teach. Both help me sharpen my game when I sit down to write.

Rob Holden: So -- fiction wise -- what is next for Paula L. Woods?

Paula L. Woods: As we speak, I'm working on a couple of short stories for anthologies that are giving me an opportunity to do something different -- step outside Charlotte's head and into someone else's. And we'll see where that leads.

Rob Holden: And can readers expect to see more of Charlotte Justice in the future?

Paula L. Woods: Eventually, but I've got these other voices, and other points of view, that are crowding my head, so I've got to get them out first. Then we'll see. When you were asking me about being compelled to write about LA, I forgot to mention how my compulsion is expressed not only in my writing about the city, but also in the photos from locations in the books that appear on my web site, http://woodsontheweb.com. Doing that has also made people who don't know LA more conversant with the people and places I write about. And the contest I have on the site right now will enable two lucky people to have a guided tour of those locations and a weekend in LA!

Rob Holden: I was just about to mention that contest!

Rochelle Krich: Me, too! You've really raised the bar!

Paula L. Woods: My site has been a wonderful link between me and readers. I've gotten fabulous response in general, but with marketing budgets being what they are in publishing, I felt like I had to do something to get the word out about Strange Bedfellows and the series. So the Get Justice! Sweepstakes allows me to promote the book and thank my loyal readers with a chance to win a trip here and see many of the locations they've read about. Or to expose a new reader to the city I love.

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

Paula L. Woods: First, thanks for your support through the years. Second, buy the book and Rochelle's and Natalies and all the writers who are still striving to become household names. Third, visit the site, read the first chapter, enter the sweepstakes, and let me know what you think. Thanks Rob, Natalie and Rochelle for a great interview! This was wicked cool!

Rob Holden: Paula L. Woods, thank you for joining us here today, and for all your patience, and best of luck with Strange Bedfellows when it comes out January 31st!

Paula L. Woods: Thanks, Rob!




Copyright 2006 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.