Ask Bestselling Author Lawrence Block a Question discussion

Mr. Block--long time fan. Outside of the Matt Scudder series, your books on writing have made a huge impact on my life.

A lot has been written about the craft of writing since you penned those articles and books. Do you ever take a look at writing instruction books anymore? Do you think there's really anything more to be said about the craft? And have you noticed any major changes in the approach to craft since you started writing about it (i.e. the popularity of using a "three-act structure" to plot a novel)?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Rob, thanks. I can't comment on changes in books on writing, as it's been a long time indeed since I've looked at one.

Other than my own, that is. Remarkably enough, I've got two new books for writers this year, THE LIAR'S BIBLE (which came out in March) and THE LIAR'S COMPANION (due this month.) Both are ebooks, and consist of collections of my Writers Digest columns written after the ones in TELLING LIES FOR FUN & PROFIT and SPIDER SPIN ME A WEB. So far they're only available as ebooks, but print-on-demand editions may be somewhere in their future.

Sorry to respond to a question with a plug. I don't know that the craft of writing has changed much over the years, although there's this to remember: the better the work is, the less we're aware of the craft.

Mr. Block,

I'm a huge fan who was lucky enough to win an ARC of A Drop of the Hard Stuff. It was great to get a new book with Matt. Will there be any more? It seems like the flashback idea would let you tell more stories from his past.

Kemper, thanks so much. All I can say is that I hope there'll be more, as I find it very satisfying to write this series. As to whether I'll find more stories to tell, or what form they might take, I really don't know.

mr. block

i have loved your books for years and i have read some of every series. matt scudder is my favorite. he was obviously an alcoholic in the early books, but did you have the vision of him in recovery from the start or is that something that developed with the character?

jd chandler
www.goodreads.com/jdchandler

J.d. wrote: "mr. block

i have loved your books for years and i have read some of every series. matt scudder is my favorite. he was obviously an alcoholic in the early books, but did you have the vision of him in recovery from the start or is that something that developed with the character?"

JD, when I wrote the first three books I never expected Scudder to change. I thought he'd be drinking bourbon in Jimmy Armstrong's joint for as long as I went on writing about him. The change began to happen in A Stab in the Dark, and of course peaked in Eight Million Ways to Die, when Scudder's alcoholism became a central theme.

thank you. eight million ways to die is my favorite of your books.

Mr. Block
I first want to thank you for the many hours of joy I've gotten from reading your books. I've just re-read A Long Line of Dead Men, and I'm in the middle of The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian. I own dozens of your books, but the one that's influenced me most is Writing the Novel. It helped me complete my first book, and inspired me to pursue a career in writing. I'm curious, who were your early influences? And, was mystery the only genre that you wanted to write?
See you next week in Belmont!

Hi Joe. Early influences? I dunno. Initially, the American realists---Farrell, O'Hara, Steinbeck, Wolfe. Then some crime writers---Evan Hunter, Fredric Brown, and too many others to mention. I hadn't really planned on a career in crime fiction, but it seems to have worked out that way. And yes, Belmont, by all means; my guess is an early arrival is not a bad idea, as the place could fill up in a hurry.

Thanks. Look forward to seeing you then.

In college I was cash-poor and book greedy and was lucky enough to find a "free" bookshelf in our library. It was here I came across a weathered but alluring (in such a way as only a paperback serial could ever be) copy of "The Burgler Who Painted Like Mondrian". I was completely charmed right from the start and I could consider myself a one-book addict of the series. That was three [Non-Block] novels ago and I am still thinking of Rhodenbar and eagerly awaiting my new copies so I can start the series properly.
Basically, I wanted to say that it is always a special thrill to find an author who not just creates worlds, characters or plots that a reader may enjoy, but whose writing style is so engaging and charming that one can see that they will be safe picking up anything they like from that author and be treated to a lovely time.
Hopefully that made some sense.
As for a question; it seems that writers who allow the stories and characters some level of autonomy are sometimes followed by characters or stories that don't seem to quite allow themselves to be written but won't go away either. Have you had any stories or characters that followed you around but took a long time (if ever) before allowing themselves to come to fruition?

Sonya wrote: "Have you had any stories or characters that followed you around but took a long time (if ever) before allowing themselves to come to fruition? "

Sonya, sometimes a notion takes a while to come together, or to turn out to be a bad idea in the first place. It's all part of the process.

To all of y'all,
My gig here was supposed to be from May 28 to June 3, but I started early and have stayed on a few extra days, and while I've enjoyed the ride, it's taking too much time. So I'm signing off as of now. Some of you have friended me here, and I feel friendly toward you, but won't be active on this forum. And those of you who expressed an interest in following my reviews, well, I don't do reviews, so following them, while admittedly tricky, at least wont be time-consuming.

Again, thanks.

LB

Lawrence wrote: "To all of y'all,
My gig here was supposed to be from May 28 to June 3, but I started early and have stayed on a few extra days, and while I've enjoyed the ride, it's taking too much time. So I'm s..."

Thanks for your time and answering all our questions.

One last thought—

I wrote afterwords for all my Open Road ebook titles, and they're being gathered together along with other material as AFTERTHOUGHTS; it amounts to a piecemeal memoir of my early writing days, and will be available soon as a 99¢ ebook. Meanwhile, you can read some of the pieces in my Kindle listings. Here's how to find them:

Go to Amazon and then to the Kindle store, search for a title, then scroll down, all the way below the reviews, to Discussions. If I've started a discussion of that title, click on it; if not, try another title. Searching can be problematic; I've found the best way is to search for title, author, and Open Road. Like so: "Warm and Willing Lawrence Block Open Road."

You don't have to buy the book to do this. You don't have to buy the book to participate in the discussion, either (and I hope some of you will be inclined to join in). You don't even have to own a Kindle.

I'll post this on the various topic boards here, in an effort to reach all of the folks Ive chatted with this past month so you may get sick of reading it. But I do want to get the word around. . .