Laura Lippman, March 16-20

[webranger47]

This is an amazing forum, and I am grateful to you, Ms. Lippman, and to B&N for making it possible.

I have only recently been introduced to your writing. I first read a short story about a teenage girl who is raped and turns it to her own profit, and I really liked the story. Then I started reading <i>What the Dead Know</i>, which I had trouble getting into, but once I did I have been enjoying it as well. I'd like to ask a question about the novel.

I notice a tendency among modern writers to use perspective shifts regularly and often in their books. Tom Clancy is one current writer who comes readily to mind. In many of their books, Michael Crichton (God rest him) and Dan Brown do the same. Perhaps because I never enjoyed soap operas on TV, I find myself irritated by this approach. I don't feel as if writers need to adhere to strict unities in their stories. My goodness, even Dickens has done this. But it irritates me just the same.

My question is, do you employ this same perspective shifting technique in the remainder of your impressive catalog of novels? If so, why? If not,  why did you choose that approach for <i>What the Dead Know</i>? I apologize if this sounds critical--there's really no accounting for my personal taste. And I apologize for asking two questions when I said there would be only one. Thank you for your response.

[wildelaker]

Hi Laura.  Waiting to receive the new book and can't wait to read it.  Looking forward to stopping in for another book discussion on your tour.  Wilde Lake High School has many devoted fans.  I actually just watched the video of your presentation to my creative

writing class that must be at least ten years old now!  

[Laura_Lippman]

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webranger47 wrote:

This is an amazing forum, and I am grateful to you, Ms. Lippman, and to B&N for making it possible.

I have only recently been introduced to your writing. I first read a short story about a teenage girl who is raped and turns it to her own profit, and I really liked the story. Then I started reading <i>What the Dead Know</i>, which I had trouble getting into, but once I did I have been enjoying it as well. I'd like to ask a question about the novel.

I notice a tendency among modern writers to use perspective shifts regularly and often in their books. Tom Clancy is one current writer who comes readily to mind. In many of their books, Michael Crichton (God rest him) and Dan Brown do the same. Perhaps because I never enjoyed soap operas on TV, I find myself irritated by this approach. I don't feel as if writers need to adhere to strict unities in their stories. My goodness, even Dickens has done this. But it irritates me just the same.

My question is, do you employ this same perspective shifting technique in the remainder of your impressive catalog of novels? If so, why? If not,  why did you choose that approach for <i>What the Dead Know</i>? I apologize if this sounds critical--there's really no accounting for my personal taste. And I apologize for asking two questions when I said there would be only one. Thank you for your response.

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Two excellent questions, and not critical at all. 

 

Shifting perspectives allow a novelist to play with pace and suspense. The reader gets wrapped up in Character A, but -- boom! -- now we're with Character B, and the reader has to wait. Granted, this can backfire miserably. But when done right (and, please remember, I never make the claim that I have done anything right) it's a nice little symphony, like Peter and the Wolf, which was a pivotal experience for me in childhood.

 My series books are written primarily in Tess's point of view until book 8, when half the action takes place out of her view. The self-contained, or "stand-alone" novels all use shifting perspectives and I think that's because, in part, they are ABOUT shifting perspectives. One character sees it this way, one character sees it that way, no one is wrong or right, they are just coming at the situation from different vantage points and that, in and of itself, changes everything. It's my hope that this will challenge readers to reconsider their perspectives. 

 

One of the few advantages that novelists enjoy over filmmakers/television is that we can go into people's heads. True, that doesn't mean we should, but it makes it hard to resist.  

[MarjorieofConn…]

Hi. Laura.  I have another question for you, a small one.  I have never noticed anyone else using the word "police" in the way that you do as in "a police" or "a murder police".  My ear is used to policeman or policewoman or police officer.  Is this a newer use of the word in referring to the singular?  Is it what the police themselves use?  Just wondering....

(By the way, thanks for your response about pop culture (or just current culture) references.  I love them.  For instance I just read in "LS" about someone's choice of blue, pink or yellow sweeteners.  So true!  And I wonder what someone reading this book 50 or 100 years from now will make of mentions like that.

Thanks,

Marjorie of Connecticut 

[Laura_Lippman]

I'm actually replying to Marjorie and Becke in this one post, I hope it's kosher. 

First, on the matter of "a police." It's a Baltimore-ism, although I think it's dying out. I get a lot of questions about it, but I want to be true to how Baltimore homicide detectives of a certain era (and Teena was definitely of that era) spoke of themselves. A police, a murder police, good police. A side note about Teena: Because there have been so very few female homicide detectives in Baltimore, I had to create someone as individualistic as possible. I don't know any former detectives working at Nordstrom, but life will probably trump me on that.

And Becke -- I hope I spelled your name right -- I loved your comments, but especially your observation that the story belongs to Callie. Various reviews have referred to Callie as a cipher or even a McGuffin.

But I have a favorite short story -- Sex Devil by Jack Pendarvis -- that is really two stories. On the surface, on the page, it is a very funny story about a boy who has an idea for a comic. But the unwritten story is a heartbreaker, about a boy who has been teased and tormented. I think on some level, Callie's story is the invisible story that lies beneath the entire book. She has chosen not to tell it, repeatedly, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Meanwhile, I guess I should confess: I love to cook and, in my head, I talk to Mark Bittman A LOT.  

ETA: To get Becke's name right. I hope! 

Message Edited by Laura_Lippman on 03-19-2009 09:40 AM

[shosetsu]

Hi Laura and Bethanne,

I was hoping someone figured out a way to answer the questions regarding

Aubrey and Donna without revealing all to readers who aren't finished with the book yet.

Or maybe you'll do another Center Stage for Laura's next book and I'll ask then.

If my curiosity hasn't done me in.

[becke_davis]

Laura - Congratulations on the Edgar Award short story nomination:

Best Short Story

• "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" - Hardcore Hardboiled by Sean Chercover (Kensington Publishing)
• "Skin and Bones" - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by David Edgerley Gates (Dell Magazines)
• "Scratch a Woman" - Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins - William Morrow)
• "La Vie en Rose" - Paris Noir by Dominique Mainard (Akashic Books)
• "Skinhead Central" - Mystery Writers of America Presents: The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker (Hachette Book Group - Little, Brown and Company)

Message Edited by becke_davis on 03-19-2009 09:23 PM

[Laura_Lippman]

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shosetsu wrote:

Hi Laura and Bethanne,

I was hoping someone figured out a way to answer the questions regarding

Aubrey and Donna without revealing all to readers who aren't finished with the book yet.

Or maybe you'll do another Center Stage for Laura's next book and I'll ask then.

If my curiosity hasn't done me in.

I have posted your question over at Life Sentences Facebook page, where there's a Spoilers forum. Later today, when I'm not on the run, I'll send you the link. There's probably a better way to do it, but I didn't know how!

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[shosetsu]

Found it! Thanks for thinking of that route.

I enjoy Tess Monaghan, but your stand alones are the books that really intrigue me.

I absolutely loved What the Dead Know.

What's next? Can't wait. 

[becke_davis]

Laura - Thank you so much for visiting with us!

[Laura_Lippman]

Thank you for having me this week.

As to what's next: The Tess Monaghan novella, The Girl in the Green Raincoat, will be published later this year and I am working on another stand-alone novel, about a woman who has not only survived but triumphed over a traumatic experience in her early teens. Happily married, the contented mother of two, she is surprised when her past suddenly comes back at her in ways she never anticipated.

See you all in the virtual book stacks. 

[sjcal]

I, too, want to know about Aubrey's effect on Callie - where did she come from if Donna is unable to have children? It's driving me crazy!