Interviews of Michael Connelly

Here are a few interesting questions and answers from Michael Connelly about his work :
 
Q: Which of your books is your favorite?
A: I probably don't have a definitive favorite. I like different books for different reasons. I like the character resonance in The Last Coyote and Angels Flight. I like the plotting and tension in The Concrete Blonde. I like The Poet a lot because it sort of tweaks the expected standards of the thriller genre. I like Blood Work quite a bit because it did not use a standard archetype of the thriller protagonist yet I think it still provided the thrills and payoffs that genre requires. I like Lost Light because it was my first time writing Harry Bosch in first person. I think I can find something about each of the books that make it my favorite, so I guess that means that I don't have an overall favorite.
 
Q: What books do you like to read?
A: I read less than I used to. When you are writing this stuff you don't want to read it, so I read more non-fiction now. But mysteries? Anytime I list writers whose work I enjoy I run the risk of annoying fellow writers who I forget to mention. So, suffice it to say that I share many of the same favorites that readers of my work have. I've kind of become a collector, so I try to collect first edition L.A. crime fiction. I also like to read autobiographies.
 
Q: Are you inspired by current events when creating your plots?
A: Yes, all the time. In most of my books there is what I call a grain of truth at center. What I mean is that I use a real crime or incident that I have heard about or maybe wrote about as a reporter. Or in the case of Blood Work, the story was inspired by a friend of mine who had a heart transplant. I essentially took his medical and emotional journey and dropped it into a thriller story — with his permission, of course.
 
Q: What are your long term goals as a writer?
A: I just want to keep on keeping on. I want to grow as a writer and get better. I want to keep the Harry Bosch series fresh and alive. I want to keep filling in the portrait of Bosch so that when I am done with him he is a fully realized and understood human being, a person that the readers who have gone the distance with him know like a brother.
 
Q: What are your favorite and least favorite things about being a writer?
A: The main thing is being able to do what you want to do — and just having to walk down the hallway to do it. The least favorite is knowing there is no one to blame but yourself when it's not going well. Somebody once said "writin' is fightin'" and I think that is very true. It is not easy. You have to fight to get what you want to say out. So this means that when it is going well, the feeling is almost euphoric. It also means that when it is going bad, the feeling is proportionately opposite. So there are lots of highs and lows.