ReadersRoom: Hello Evan, and welcome to Murder with McBain!
Ed McBain: Hello, Rob, I'm thrilled to be here.
ReadersRoom: Since this is our first installment of Murder with McBain, I think it might be a good idea to explain what we're doing here.
Ed McBain: Aside from having a good time, you mean?
ReadersRoom: Each month, we will discuss a different subject, provided to us by our readers.
Ed McBain: So far, so good.
ReadersRoom: This month's subject comes from Victoria:
Ed McBain: Hi, Vicster!
ReadersRoom: "My question would be: Some pretty horrible acts are performed by some characters in your books."
Ed McBain: You think so?
ReadersRoom: "Do you find it difficult to put yourself into the mind of someone who can act in such an evil way? How do you put yourself into such a frame of mind, or do you use things you see in the media as an inspiration?" So, there's our topic, and let's go. When you are creating your characters, where do you start?
Ed McBain: I never use media stories except as incidental, usually funny, sidelights. It's not difficult to invent crimes of my own. We humans are very good at that. As for characters I start with a good guy/bad guy concept. The bad guys are more interesting, of course. Even actors prefer playing villains. Have you ever swatted a mosquito? Exaggerate this a thousand times and you're inside the head of a bad guy about to kill someone! It's the goody two shoes who are hard to do, unless they're hiding the soul of a killer.
ReadersRoom: It's interesting that you rarely use media stories to inspire your plots, when there is so much oddity and evil occurring in our world. How do you keep your plots fresh and unique?
Ed McBain: I start with a title. I use that as a springboard, then plunge into those dark, forbidding waters. The title keeps me focused throughout. I'm not even sure people care about the plot. I think it's the characters that keep them reading. I once got a letter from a woman who said, "I'm not going to read you anymore. There are too many people in your books!"
ReadersRoom: In a number of your novels, your "killer" is somebody who commits the crime, but isn't necessarily a "criminal type". Is this type of character easier to write than a hardened criminal, or more difficult?
Ed McBain: I've met many killers in my visits to prisons. The large majority of them will never kill again in their entire lives. They're murderers, but that doesn't make them habitual criminals. Gangstas are easier to write. Less complex. The man or woman who sees no other way out but murder is the tough one to portray. You know, evil is a theological concept, not a human one. Murderers are sick, twisted, what have you ... but evil? Save that for the seminaries!
ReadersRoom: I would like to zero in on one of your more complex characters for a moment -- Ben from Candyland.
Ed McBain: Ben, ah yes. Interesting man.
ReadersRoom: Here you are writing about a guy who the reader really isn't supposed to like and yet, in the McBain half of the book, it becomes more and more clear that our "presumption of guilt" about Ben was incorrect. Did you find it difficult to write Ben as you did, knowing what the outcome of the novel would be?
Ed McBain: Actually, this was supposed to be a straight Evan Hunter novel. I decided to do the McBain part of it only later. You weren't supposed to like Ben, you were supposed to want to smack him and say, "Wake up!"
ReadersRoom: I did!
Ed McBain: Until you realized how utterly helpless he was in the grip of his compulsion. Then you were supposed to feel sorry for him. Emma Boyle was harder to write, actually.
ReadersRoom: I guess what I'm asking is, is there a difference between writing a "criminal" and setting up a character to possibly be a criminal, like you did with Ben in Candyland?
Ed McBain: When I started the McBain part, I had to go back to what I'd already written and drop a few red herrings. What's nice about writing is that nothing's in stone till it's finished. It's only then that you hang yourself out to dry. But the reviews on Candyland were smashing. They even got the differences between my two personas.
ReadersRoom: You mentioned Emma Boyle a moment ago -- and that is a wonderful segue into something Ed McBain is particularly noted for: McBain's women. Let's talk a little about getting into the mind of a female character being a man. First off, where do you start?
Ed McBain: She was enormously difficult to write. The sane conscience of the novel. A woman doing her job among mostly male chauvinist colleagues. Tough one. To answer the question, let me go back a few years. A woman reviewer said that all I wrote were cardboard female characters. What! says I. Cardboard! says I. So I sat down to write a novel almost exclusively from the female viewpoint. Women getting their periods, giving birth, getting runs in their pantyhose, etc. Entering the minds and the bodies of women. The result was the Evan Hunter novel Mothers and Daughters. Three generations of women. Taught me how to write them.
ReadersRoom: This is from Natalie: No man can truly understand the pain of a run in a good pair of pantyhose!
Ed McBain: Except Joe Namath.
ReadersRoom: Getting back to female characters for a moment -- in the 87th Precinct novels, is it easier to write them as cops, or killers?
Ed McBain: I remember my cop women more than my killer women. The Fat Lady is an exception. Her name was Emma, too, wasn't it? I like the name Emma, especially for bad women. So contradictory. Emma should be knitting.
ReadersRoom: The Fat Lady was hardly a grandmotherly type!
Ed McBain: So bad, but fascinating! Emma should be in a Victorian novel, not cavorting with Brother Anthony. I'm sorry I killed him off, by the way. He was a good villain.
ReadersRoom: Okay, let's switch gears here and move on to yet another type of character -- your recurring characters.
Ed McBain: The nucleus, yes.
ReadersRoom: Some of whom you have been writing for over 40 years.
Ed McBain: Since 1955, when I wrote Cop Hater, published in 1956.
ReadersRoom: How do you plug yourself back into these characters novel after novel, and continue to keep them fresh?
Ed McBain: I try to find something new about them each time. Something I didn't know before. It's like having a friend of 20 years who tells you he's going sky-diving next Sunday! What! Sky diving! It's the same with the men and women of the 8-7. In the new book, we learn a little about Carella as a patrolman, before he met Teddy. And they keep taking unexpected turns as well, which keeps me on my toes. I never know what they'll do next! They're real to me, you see.
ReadersRoom: I think it is safe to say that your faithful readers each have their own favorite recurring characters -- Ollie Weeks would be mine. Are there any of your recurring characters that you enjoy writing more than others?
Ed McBain: Ollie's a joy to write. He hates everyone and everything. Not a single saving grace. Or is there? He may have a few surprises in store, too.
ReadersRoom: Excellent!
Ed McBain: I love writing Sharyn Cooke. So smart, so beautiful, and she truly loves "hard luck with women" Kling. But is there something coming down the pike there, too? Who knows?
ReadersRoom: I suppose we shall just have to wait and see.
Ed McBain: In the new book, Hawes has a surprising love interest. Who knew? Truly, the characters evolve. I just let them go where they want to go. Any writer who doesn't is foolish.
ReadersRoom: And that, I suspect, might be the secret to why they have lasted so long!
Ed McBain: I really can't say. I think readers may consider them family, sort of. I hope so. They're certainly family to me.
ReadersRoom: Well Evan, this discussion of "getting into the heads of characters" has been absolutely fascinating.
Ed McBain: I enjoyed it, too. Any idea what we'll be talking about next month? Or am I fired?
ReadersRoom: Fired? You were just hired!
Ed McBain: That's no guarantee!
ReadersRoom: And next month we will be chatting about ... well, whatever our readers suggest! They can mail their topics for discussion to readersroom2@aol.com with Murder with McBain in the heading. So, thanks Evan, and we'll see you in November!
Ed McBain: See you then, everyone.
Copyright 2003 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.
