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" 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. "

Michael Connelly

Start

Dark

Day

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" Write every day even if it is just a paragraph. "

" 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. "

" I feel I'm functioning at some level as a journalist because even though I write fiction, I'm trying to get the world accurate. "

" That's the irony in the work: the best stories are the worst things that happen. My best times were somebody else's worst. "

" I went into journalism to learn the craft of writing and to get close to the world I wanted to write about - police and criminals, the criminal justice system. "

" 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 the TV world, we are seeing a lot more power going to the writer. I sense it is a writer's medium. "

Michael Connelly

Going

Seeing

" As soon as I got to L.A., there was this big crime where these guys tunnelled underneath a bank on a three-day weekend and went right up to the vault and emptied everything out. "

" I think the only boundaries are individual and personal. A writer should be free to write about anything he or she wants to, including the twin towers. I have made small references to 9/11 in my past two books. "

" 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. "

" When I write about places in L.A. - like where the best taco truck is or something - it's not about L.A. To me, it's about Harry Bosch, because he's the guy that does these things and has this experience. "

Michael Connelly

Experience

Best

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

" I mostly read on airplanes and right before sleep. "

" It's about being fair. It's about Black Lives Matter. Yes, they matter. Everybody counts or nobody counts, and I think if more cops had the philosophy of Harry Bosch, we'd have less of these situations happening. "

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

" As a former reporter, I wrote 'The Scarecrow' quickly - I didn't have to think about what the character would do the way I do with Harry Bosch. "

" I think books with weak or translucent plots can survive if the character being drawn along the path is rich, interesting and multi-faceted. The opposite is not true. "

" Many writers learned their craft and work ethic at a newspaper. I benefited from that. "

" I have a large collection of biographies about jazz musicians. "

" Being a journalist always makes you a quick study of wherever you're at. You're out all the time and seeing places that normally you wouldn't get to see. It gives you an unusual level of insight into any place. "

" I first discovered Tampa in my 20s when I met my wife, who was living there, and I instantly fell in love with the city. It's somewhere between a big city and small town, so you get the feeling of both. "

" I think the best way to sell a made-up character is to plant his feet into the real earth. "

" A movie is like a city. There's, like, 150 people working, and it's all because of something that came out of your head. "

Michael Connelly

City

Head

" 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 admit my reading time is limited because I can write in the situations and places where people usually read. But reading is the fuel - it's inspiring - so I try to keep the tank full. What happens most of the time is I binge read. I will put aside a day or two to do nothing but read. "

" 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

" The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that when you look into the darkness of the abyss the abyss looks into you. Probably no other line or thought more inspires or informs my work. "

" That's what I like most about writing fiction over journalism: the easy metaphors! "

" My entire career writing novels was wrapped up around Harry Bosch. This character was too important to me to just hand off. "

" I think it's pretty apparent who my favorites are because I keep coming back to them. At the top of that list would be Harry Bosch, who's now going on 20 years of literary life. I still like him the best because there's still a lot to say about him. "