Literary Birthday – 20 June – Robert Crais

Happy Birthday, Robert Crais, born 20 June 1953.

Five Quotes

My fiction is almost always inspired by a character’s need or desire to rise above him – or herself. No one is perfect and some of us have much adversity in our lives; it is those people who struggle to rise above their nature or background that I find the most interesting and heroic.
I have these huge black foam boards on the wall, and tacked to them, I have these white punch cards with my story ideas, scenes and notes.
I had wanted to be a novelist for so long, but I didn’t have a story. That story came from the death of my father, and wrestling with how to help my mother. Writing it allowed me to work through my fears, frustrations, and desires. I wanted control over the situation. And I wasn’t sure I would have any in real life.
Writing a book is a long and difficult process for me. I’m a slow writer, so I spend the year with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike in my head. I was thinking about this the other day. I wrote the first book in 1987. Literally every day since that time, Elvis and Joe have been in my head. They’re always there. I started these guys because I like them.
I think maybe one of the reasons I wrote TV and movies first, and that success in TV came to me quickly, is because I thought visually. When I’m writing a scene, I’m seeing the scene in my head. It isn’t just words that I’m typing. I’m the film director. I’m getting clips and editing it together. … It’s one of the reasons I write page-turners.

Robert Crais in an American crime writer. He began his career writing for television shows, including Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law. He is best known for his novels featuring unorthodox detective Elvis Cole and his stone-faced partner, Joe Pike. The series began with The Watchman.

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