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" I don't put a lot of description in the books because I write books the way I like to read them, and that is I like to build images and be a creative reader, and so I write that way. "

Michael Connelly

Write

Books

Build

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" I not only read Raymond Chandler but read all the crime fiction classics. I was hooked. "

" When I am so intensely involved with writing my books, I don't like to reread them. I feel like that story is done. "

Michael Connelly

I Am

Story

" I've always thought of L.A. as the modern version of 'The Garden of Earthly Delights.' "

" I've crossed the Mexican border and gone to Tijuana a few times over the years, but I've never felt comfortable there. "

" What brought me to the table was Raymond Chandler and, to a lesser degree, Ross Macdonald and Dashiell Hammett. I was basically inspired to want to write like the classic private-eye writers. "

" The LAPD, like most police departments, is a male-dominated bureaucracy. A woman faces a lot of pushback. "

" I'm just going to write the best books I can. "

" The three books I've written in Florida about L.A. are my best takes on the physicality of the city, as far as description goes. "

" I write at a pace that suits me, and sometimes it's two books a year, but most often it's one. "

" The books I've written the fastest were the best reviewed and sold the best. "

" I don't miss being a reporter as a job, but I do miss the everyday interaction with the front line of law enforcement. I still have a cadre of cops who keep me up to date, but I don't have the access I used to. "

Michael Connelly

Law Enforcement

Job

" Ross McDonald had a greater influence on me than any other writer. His style of writing, the repeated theme of the past coming out to grab somebody, that's very attractive to me as a reader and, now, as a writer. "

Michael Connelly

Style

Past

" I get up to write while it's still dark, 5 or 5:30. I start by editing and rewriting everything I did the day before, and that gives some momentum for the day. "

" I want to tell stories that reflect how people are feeling. "

" When I was in college, there were dollar movie nights. I went to see 'The Long Goodbye,' which was based on one of Chandler's books but was contemporary and set in Los Angeles in 1973. I loved the movie, which motivated me to read the book. "

" I'm going to have to be impressed and feel confident in the people I'm handing a book to - or I'm not going to do it. Once you hand it to them, you're out. You have no control over it. "

" I write my books never thinking of an actor. "

" I'm always looking at ways of shaking up the writing experience because I think it helps. "

Michael Connelly

Writing

Think

" The fulfillment I get from a good day of writing is addictive and will always bring me back the next day. "

Michael Connelly

Good Day

Writing

" My favorite is 'The Last Coyote.' I'm not saying that's the best book I've written; I hope I haven't written my best book yet, but that one was the first book I wrote as a full-time author, with my full-time focus. I have a nostalgic feeling about it. "

" Keeping your head down and just writing is only part of the equation, so I surround myself with smart people to help sell my books. "

" I've sold 11 of my books to Hollywood. There are all kinds of my books on shelves in Hollywood because the scripts didn't capture the characters. "

" I get into this unfortunate thing when I'm touring for my books. I was in Spain, and the media asked me, 'Who's your favorite Spanish mystery writer?' I'm totally flat-footed. I feel that I'm under-read when it comes to foreign writers. "

" My literary heroes all wrote about L.A.: Joseph Wambaugh, Ross Macdonald, and Raymond Chandler were the three writers that made me want to be a writer. "

" My history is that I will create a character, and they will have a book to themselves, and then I'll integrate the character into the larger world of all my books. "

" I've been able to write at least one book a year for 20 years, and I don't think I would've had that kind of drive if I hadn't come out of the journalism business. "

" We want our government to protect us, to make sure something like 9/11 never happens again. We quickly moved to give law enforcement more power to do this. But that now begs the question, did we move to fast? Did we give too much power away? I don't have the answer. "

" My experience as a newspaper reporter was invaluable in terms of getting me to the kind of writing I do now. It gave me a work ethic of writing every day and pushing through difficult creative times. I mean, there's no writer's block allowed in a newsroom. "

" I watched 'Kojak' religiously with my father. It was a great bonding time. He loved shows where the stakes were high. Life and death, justice prevailing, things like that. I think that helped set me on the path to what I do now. "

" In writing on the page, you can be a bit elliptical, but on TV, you can't dance around stuff. You either show it, or you don't. "