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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Michael Connelly

Power

Law

Government

" I think I would spend the first 30 weeks not writing, just clearing my head and seeing parts of the world I haven't seen and going back to places I have seen and love. "

" Now I'm writing about contemporary Los Angeles from memory. My process was to hang out, observe, research what I was writing about, and almost immediately go back to my office and write those sections. So it was a very close transfer between observation and writing. "

" 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. "

" 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 mostly read on airplanes and right before sleep. "

" I connect to the tradition of Irish storytelling. And I think there is something - I can't put my finger on it - something genetic there. Maybe just a need to tell stories. "

" 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. "

" I have high hopes for Renee Ballard's literary life, and it can't start out better than the top of 'USA TODAY''s best-seller list. "

" I love movies. Movies have influenced me as a writer. "

Michael Connelly

Love

Writer

" As a reporter, you develop an ear for dialogue because it's your job to capture it accurately. "

" I want people to think I'm a creative genius. "

" 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. "

" What is overriding that and most important is that readers generally are interested in a good character. They might be more comfortable with Harry because they think they know him, but they always seem willing to give somebody new a chance. "

" I could not have been happier with 'The Lincoln Lawyer.' They got the essence, and the casting, starting with McConaughey, was just perfect. "

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

" L.A. is a long shot city, and those who make that shot - you can tell. You can see very clearly who's made it and who hasn't. "

" I realize now I could have gotten a whole book out of that and so I think that was a big mistake. But the truth is you write in the moment and with your head down and there is no way back then that I could have conceived of Harry having the longevity that he has had. "

" Every time I visit Brisbane, I think, 'This is my childhood.' "

" You have to write about what scares you. "

" 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

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

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

" A newspaper is the center of a community, it's one of the tent poles of the community, and that's not going to be replaced by Web sites and blogs. "

" 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. "

" 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

" In 'Blood Work,' they made choices I wouldn't have made, but I'm not a filmmaker. I took the money, and they told the story. "

" 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. "

" The criminal defense attorney is misunderstood if not despised by most of society. It doesn't matter if we believe in our adversarial system and the ideal that everyone charged with a crime is entitled to a vigorous defense. Ideals give away to reality - defense lawyers working loopholes and angles to get their clients off. "

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