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" I write puzzles and mysteries. Nothing too highfalutin. "
Michael Connelly
Mysteries
Too
Puzzles
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" As far as characters in fiction that I really admire - it's pretty strong to say you would wish that you had created another character - but I'll throw out Will Graham, the protagonist in 'Red Dragon,' a book I've read several times. "
Michael Connelly
You
Book
Character
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
Center
Newspaper
Community
" I wanted to learn about the worlds I wanted to write about in fiction. "
Michael Connelly
Write
Wanted
About
" I can't say I'm an expert on public transport. "
Michael Connelly
Transport
Public
Expert
" When I went home at 20 to tell my parents, 'I don't want to be an engineer, I want to try and write books,' I was braced for, 'That's not gonna happen.' But I didn't get that response, and maybe it was because of my dad's experience of having an artistic dream and having to put it aside. "
Michael Connelly
Dream
Experience
Home
" I have a large collection of biographies about jazz musicians. "
Michael Connelly
Musicians
Large
Jazz
" Every time I visit Brisbane, I think, 'This is my childhood.' "
Michael Connelly
I Think
Childhood
Think
" That's what I like most about writing fiction over journalism: the easy metaphors! "
Michael Connelly
Writing
Easy
Journalism
" There are nineteen Harry Bosch books, and someone told me if you add up the descriptions of Harry from all of them, it would come to less than three pages. He's very elliptically described over the two decades during which the novels occur. I did that by intention. "
Michael Connelly
Me
Two
Intention
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
Think
Journalism
Drive
" Artists are supposed to stay hungry. "
Michael Connelly
Artists
Hungry
Supposed
" The LAPD, like most police departments, is a male-dominated bureaucracy. A woman faces a lot of pushback. "
Michael Connelly
Woman
Most
Police
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
You
Love
Small
" I write my books never thinking of an actor. "
Michael Connelly
Books
Never
Thinking
" I hate people thinking their city is unique, but there is a certain aura about Los Angeles; it's not necessarily a beautiful thing, but it's part of Harry Bosch. "
Michael Connelly
City
People
Hate
" As a writer, you look for inspiration wherever you can get it. "
Michael Connelly
Wherever
Writer
You
" I think there has to be an empathic strike between the reader and the protagonist. There has to be something said or known that connects the reader to this person you're going to ride through the story with. "
Michael Connelly
You
Story
Person
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
Look
Line
You
" When you're a detective on the midnight shift, you don't have a specialty: you roll on any time they need a detective, whether it's big or small. "
Michael Connelly
Small
Time
You
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
Shot
See
Long
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
Mistake
Book
Moment
" My entire career writing novels was wrapped up around Harry Bosch. This character was too important to me to just hand off. "
Michael Connelly
Writing
Important
Hand
" I'd be lying if I said the success means nothing to me. It does. I enjoy it and live a pretty great life. "
Michael Connelly
Life
Live
Success
" That's the irony in the work: the best stories are the worst things that happen. My best times were somebody else's worst. "
Michael Connelly
Irony
Work
Worst
" I chose deliberately for Harry Bosch to age chronologically with the books. "
Michael Connelly
Deliberately
Age
Books
" I used to tape over the top corner of my computer screen so I couldn't see what time it was. I like the idea that I'm just with the words and not knowing what's going on with the world, when it's lunch or dinner. "
Michael Connelly
Lunch
Dinner
Time
" 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. "
Michael Connelly
Page
Dance
You
" The act of reading a story is sacred, and people build images and all that stuff. "
Michael Connelly
Story
Act
Build
" 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
" It wasn't a decision to become a writer. I wanted to become a writer of crime fiction. I was very specific. "
Michael Connelly
Crime
Decision
Fiction