Do you care about the author? - CrimeSpace2024-03-28T15:59:42Zhttp://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/do-you-care-about-the-author?feed=yes&xn_auth=noI do not think it is importan…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-29:537324:Comment:3947502014-07-29T14:58:24.307ZRobin Richmondhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RobinRichmond
<p>I do not think it is important to now about the author but it is always interesting. I find if I do not like an author I have met I try to avoid their books.I sometimes think this is not to bright. With my late wife I attending many Bouchercons in America and chaired the London Bouchercon 1990 which was the first time the convention had left the shores of America</p>
<p>I do not think it is important to now about the author but it is always interesting. I find if I do not like an author I have met I try to avoid their books.I sometimes think this is not to bright. With my late wife I attending many Bouchercons in America and chaired the London Bouchercon 1990 which was the first time the convention had left the shores of America</p> Tom, I agree. I just won't le…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-25:537324:Comment:3943862014-07-25T00:45:17.295ZDana Kinghttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanaKing
<p>Tom, I agree. I just won't let them have any of my money, should they pass a certain threshold of disgustingness.</p>
<p>Tom, I agree. I just won't let them have any of my money, should they pass a certain threshold of disgustingness.</p> Orwell said about Dali, "You…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-24:537324:Comment:3941922014-07-24T20:19:13.844ZTom Greerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/TomGreer
<p>Orwell said about Dali, "You can admire the art even if you think the artist is a disgusting human being." Applies to authors as well.</p>
<p>Orwell said about Dali, "You can admire the art even if you think the artist is a disgusting human being." Applies to authors as well.</p> Most people think their jobs…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-22:537324:Comment:3941872014-07-22T20:45:52.108ZDana Kinghttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanaKing
<p>Most people think their jobs are boring; they have to do them every day. Show an interest and they'll talk your ear off about them.</p>
<p>Most people think their jobs are boring; they have to do them every day. Show an interest and they'll talk your ear off about them.</p> I love the Parker books. Rig…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-20:537324:Comment:3941732014-07-20T18:46:08.866ZJ. E. Seymourhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JESeymour
<p>I love the Parker books. Right up my alley. But Donald Westlake most definitely did not have any kind of background in crime. And he did a pretty good job. I wonder if I would have been better off studying criminal justice instead of writing, myself. So I'd have a built-in platform. That platform didn't matter when Westlake started writing.</p>
<p>I love the Parker books. Right up my alley. But Donald Westlake most definitely did not have any kind of background in crime. And he did a pretty good job. I wonder if I would have been better off studying criminal justice instead of writing, myself. So I'd have a built-in platform. That platform didn't matter when Westlake started writing.</p> I have a friend, who's a cop,…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-20:537324:Comment:3944642014-07-20T18:45:39.981ZJ. E. Seymourhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JESeymour
<p>I have a friend, who's a cop, who won't write crime fiction because he says his job is boring. He's a detective, and does accident reconstruction, mostly. And actually, I just spent almost an hour talking to a Connecticut State Trooper who also says his job is boring and no one would want to read about it. I thought he was fascinating, myself. :-)</p>
<p>I have a friend, who's a cop, who won't write crime fiction because he says his job is boring. He's a detective, and does accident reconstruction, mostly. And actually, I just spent almost an hour talking to a Connecticut State Trooper who also says his job is boring and no one would want to read about it. I thought he was fascinating, myself. :-)</p> I hated Wambaugh. Actually al…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-20:537324:Comment:3942622014-07-20T17:30:10.149ZI. J. Parkerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>I hated Wambaugh. Actually all things are rarely ever the same. And it strikes me that a policeman/detective may get so caught up in the minutiae of his job that the story gets lost in the boring detail.</p>
<p>I hated Wambaugh. Actually all things are rarely ever the same. And it strikes me that a policeman/detective may get so caught up in the minutiae of his job that the story gets lost in the boring detail.</p> Yes, I agree with you. I wond…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-20:537324:Comment:3941702014-07-20T13:58:12.629ZJed Powerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JedPower
Yes, I agree with you. I wonder though if, again, all things being equal--talent, etc., someone with a law enforcement background's writing could be topped for realism in the police procedural field? Joseph Wambaugh comes to mind. All the research in the world won't give someone the gut FEEl that someone who has experienced that life has. Skilled enough they can translate to paper that emotion. Impossible to do as Well if you've never felt it.
Yes, I agree with you. I wonder though if, again, all things being equal--talent, etc., someone with a law enforcement background's writing could be topped for realism in the police procedural field? Joseph Wambaugh comes to mind. All the research in the world won't give someone the gut FEEl that someone who has experienced that life has. Skilled enough they can translate to paper that emotion. Impossible to do as Well if you've never felt it. Not familiar with any of thos…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-20:537324:Comment:3943662014-07-20T13:38:45.355ZI. J. Parkerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>Not familiar with any of those. Westlake rings a bell because his name i well known. Still, not my sort of thing. I read police procedurals, so tend to be on the opposing side. :)</p>
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<p>Readers generally are not very familiar with the criminal life. All it takes is to make the stoy believable.</p>
<p>Not familiar with any of those. Westlake rings a bell because his name i well known. Still, not my sort of thing. I read police procedurals, so tend to be on the opposing side. :)</p>
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<p>Readers generally are not very familiar with the criminal life. All it takes is to make the stoy believable.</p> Of course it doesn't require…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2014-07-19:537324:Comment:3941602014-07-19T17:31:17.136ZJed Powerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JedPower
Of course it doesn't require that one lived it. If it did very litte crime fiction would ever be written. Just an observation that it is hard to top someone with first hand experience if all other considerations, including talent, are equal.<br></br>
As far as never having read a criminal author, I could rattle off quite a few, but as you said you probably haven't read them. How about ex-convict Chester Himes author of "Cotten Comes to Harlem," etc., or Al Naussbaum FBI top ten bank robber. Maybe…
Of course it doesn't require that one lived it. If it did very litte crime fiction would ever be written. Just an observation that it is hard to top someone with first hand experience if all other considerations, including talent, are equal.<br/>
As far as never having read a criminal author, I could rattle off quite a few, but as you said you probably haven't read them. How about ex-convict Chester Himes author of "Cotten Comes to Harlem," etc., or Al Naussbaum FBI top ten bank robber. Maybe you read one of his numerous short stories in Alfred Hitchcock or Ellery Queen years ago. He was one of the few writers to have his picture on the cover of one of them, forget which. He also was a big wheel in Mystery Writers of America<br/>
I'm plowing through the Parker series by Donald Westlake AKA Richard Stark again. The man was a master and what enjoyable books! Still, I've noticed that Westlake makes occasional mistakes as far as plausible criminal activities. Something a person familiar with the field would never state, and they do take you out of the story. Certainly there have been VERY few, if any, criminal authors with the talent of this giant. So this is just a hypothetical theory and could never be proven. Fun to speculate though.