Pomp & Circumstantial Evidence
Article from March 2008 Issue
By W. Allen Hutson
I am a 23-year old male college student. I’ve been a Magna Intern for a year and a half, and will graduate from Ball State University in about six weeks.
Obviously I knew leaving college and
starting a career would change my life, but by February I was startled to
realize that my job search was not simply a slice of my life, but had assumed a
life of its very own, almost as large in its individual part as all the rest of
the parts of my life combined.
During a recent interview, the
prospective employer told me that the next year would be the single biggest
transition time of my life. This was just a week after my girlfriend flew to
Germany for five months. Then my dad’s dog died. Transitions must come in
clusters.
So when Kathryn reminded me that I was to write a piece on Magna cum Murder XV’s
banquet keynote speaker, Sharon Randall, I couldn’t help but think, “I’m just a
little busy.” Kathryn knew what I was thinking and said, sympathetically, “Suck
it up.”
Furthermore, my initial impression of Sharon Randall, based on nothing more than hearsay, was that she was a lot like Oprah, whom I try to avoid at all costs. I thought – somewhat smugly – the whole idea of an autobiographical column was overdone and overvalued. In short, I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about this assignment. But it was an assignment, non-negotiable, so I began to research Sharon’s articles, which meant that for first the first time, I would actually read them myself.
Worthwhile and accurate autobiographical stories are few and far between. Maybe
because the writers of these stories get to play god with their audiences, the
worst of them tend to rationalize – maybe even lie – about situations and their
own actions to put themselves in the best light possible. Mediocre writers tend
to share their six-or-twelve-step approach to life and tell how they developed
those steps in a very self-congratulatory way.
The best of them, however, master the
art of sharing what they’ve learned from their lives without preaching. Sharon
Randall is in the vanguard of this third, and best, group. Her columns reveal a
perpetual observer and student of life – one who is often the butt of her own
jokes. But that’s just part of her appeal. She doesn’t simply make fun of
herself; she writes about the toughest times in her life, too. She lost someone
very close to her – her husband – to cancer ten years ago after a protracted
battle with this horrible disease. Since then she has been asked many times how
to handle loss and grief. Instead of claiming to have discovered some elusive
secret, she was humble about her experience. “You are stronger than you know,”
Sharon wrote in a column published in October, 2006. It was an honest,
refreshing and real answer.
In a recent email interview with her,
I asked how hard it is to write about her own life. Sharing intimate thoughts
and feelings with six million people must cause some distress. She admitted it
does and she has proof: the delete button on her laptop is now especially worn.
Despite this uneasiness she gives unsparingly and unhesitatingly of herself to
her readers which is a very brave thing to do. And because she is this brave we,
the reader, are privileged to sympathize, admire and laugh with her....and to
relate as we realize we are also laughing at the messes we’ve made in our own
lives. Her gift to us is perspective and insight.
The following are the other questions
I posed to Sharon Randall. I think you will find her answers as warm, funny and
thoroughly pleasant to read as I did.
A.H: There are a lot of things to do in Mid-October, what attracted you to
Magna?
S.R: Several things attracted me to your conference, none the least of which was
Kathryn Kennison’s lovely letter of invitation. It was so gracious, I’d have
been hard-pressed to think of a way to decline. But the title alone—Magna cum
Murder Crime Writing Festival—seemed to combine two of my most favorite things:
Having fun, and talk about writing. What’s not to like about that? And, OK, to
be honest, there was Ball State’s basketball reputation. I’d love a chance just
to see the gym.
A.H: Do you enjoy murder mysteries?
Do you have a favorite author or book in the genre? What else do you read, and
what writers do you enjoy?
S.R: I try to read all sorts of writing—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays,
newspapers, magazines, billboards, boxtops, the Bible—pretty much anything in
print. But I especially love a good murder mystery. It’s my favorite kind of
book to read in bed or on a beach or in a restaurant, when I’m eating alone and
pretending not to eavesdrop on the people sitting around me. For me, everything
revolves around story and character–books, columns, movies, life—they’re all
about story and character. Tell me a great story, with a voice that resonates
and a language that rolls off the tongue; give me an unlikely hero, and a worthy
villain, and you will have me, start to finish, in the palm of your hand. That’s
the best a writer can hope for. On my long list of favorite reads, ranking very
near the top, are In Cold Blood and Silence of the Lambs. On my long list of
favorite writers, also near the top, are James Lee Burke and Alexander McCall
Smith. I’ve read pretty much every book those two have ever written, and I can
hardly wait to get my hands on the next.
A.H: You write about your family and
your life. Have any of your family or friends been upset with you about putting
them in an article or leaving them out? Do you consider who wants to be
mentioned in print while writing?
S.R: One of the rules I’ve developed over the years in writing a column is that,
if anybody plays the fool, it’s me; everybody else has to end up looking good—as
good, or even better, than they actually are. The joke is invariably on me. I
may poke a little fun at somebody else—usually my husband and children—but I try
never to go farther than I think they’d allow. I don’t ask them, of course, I
just know. There are some things, sore spots, that are clearly off limits, and
if I ever dared to touch them, God help me. I am no fool about that. I’ve been
writing the column since 1991, and so far—to my knowledge—I’ve never gotten in
serious trouble with anybody. And I’m pretty sure they would have told me.
A.H: Have you ever found yourself at
a loss for material to write about? Do you have some columns lying around for
“boring” times?
S.R: Never. The question for me is never what, but which—which piece of life
will I write about today? I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to write about
life and the kinds of things that happen in it. All I have to do is stay alive
and pay attention, and things will just keep happening. Sometimes they’re things
that have happened before, but I see them in a whole new way. If you do that, I
promise, you’ll never run out of “material.” Also, I never write in advance;
always exactly to deadline.
A.H: You share a lot of your life
with your readers. Have you ever been apprehensive about this?
S.R: One great thing about writing is you don’t have to show it to anybody until
you’re ready. You can change it, clean it up, or erase it and start over. I
start over a lot. The delete button on my laptop is worn nearly bare. But what I
have learned is this: If you write with as much honesty as you can muster about
who you are and how you feel, people can be astonishingly forgiving. Because on
the whole, when it comes to matters of the heart, we are all far more alike than
we are different.
A.H: The subject matter of your
column is seemingly much different from crime authors. Do you see any
comparisons between crime novels and your articles?
S.R: Years ago, as a reporter, I sometimes wrote “crime features,” and actually,
I’d have to say that some of those pieces were among the best work I’ve ever
done. But as for the column, about the “crime” I’ve ever written about is the
time my sister almost shot me—yes, with a real, honest-to-god loaded gun–because
I poured a Diet Pepsi down the back of her pants.
A.H: I have read a few of your
columns. My perception of you is a soft hearted but strong willed woman. Do you
think that description fits you? How would you describe yourself?
S.R: I don’t know if your perception of me is entirely accurate, but I’ll take
it, thank you. Actually, I come from a long line of strong-willed, big-hearted
women, so you’ve placed me in good company. I guess if I were to describe
myself, I’d say that I’m a woman who has been blessed to live the life of her
dreams. I get to write a column that is read, I am told, by some six million
people. But I’ve also scrubbed a lot of toilets and burned a lot of cookies.
I’ve spent 25 years as a writer, some 30 years as a wife and a mother, and more
than 50 years as a daughter, a sister and a friend. Life doesn’t get better than
that.
A.H: Your column has followed your
life, and your life has changed since you started writing it. Has your
perception, or what you get out of the column changed over time? How so?
S.R: One perception that has changed for me is my view of humanity. As a
reporter and a “news junkie,” reading the wires every day—a constant barrage of
stories about all the horrific and unspeakable ways we find to hurt one
another—I developed a rather a distorted sense of reality. After years of
writing the column, and hearing from countless readers (many who wrote to say
that they were praying for me and for my children and for their father in his
battle with cancer), I began to realize that my perception had been wrong. There
are far more good people in this world than there are bad. I will never be
cynical again.
******
By the time I emailed Sharon my interview questions, I could not have been
happier about the assignment. The timing was not bad as I had first thought; in
fact, it was nothing short of perfect. Reading her columns gave me perspective
on what I am now facing.
Articles from 2007 Issues
Article from Issue June 2005
Magna cum Murder Welcomes Harlan Coben, Guest of Honor
Articles from Issue March 2004
Magna cum Murder Welcomes True Crime Guest of Honor Don Hale
A Mystery Fan's Decade of Reminiscences
Articles from Issue June 2003
Magna X Welcomes Guest of Honor Jeffery Deaver
The View From the Butler's Pantry
by Nicholas DeSutter & Keshia Polston
The novels of internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben, currently one of America’s most beloved crime writers, arouse our inner detectives and the suspense keeps us awake all hours of the night.
Coben began his writing career with the highly successful Myron Bolitar series about a sports-agent-turned-sleuth. His recent stand-alone thrillers have topped the New York Times bestseller list. His most recent work, The Innocent, was released in April. Coben has won the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony awards; the only author to win all three. One False Move earned him the prestigious Fresh Talent award. His short story, "A Simple Philosophy" was nominated for the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Agatha awards. International awards include the W.H. SMITH Thumping Good Read award and Le Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle for fiction. Finally, Coben is the only American to ever be nominated for the Author of the Year British Book award.
A graduate of Amherst College, he was born and brought up in New Jersey, where he still lives with his pediatrician wife, Anne, and their four children. Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence had the opportunity to ask Mr. Coben a few questions:
PCE: What types of research did The Innocent require? How much time did you devote to researching for the novel?
HC: I’m more from the "hum a few bars and fake it" school of research. I also like making a lot of phone calls rather than doing a lot of reading. Talking to someone who actually does the job – cop, lawyer, doctor, whatever – often gives you an insight standard research won’t.
PCE: Why do you consistently write about the middle class? There seems to be a reoccurring presence of corruption among most of your middle class characters. Why do you feel that focusing on middle class corruption is successful in your novels?
HC: I don’t write books about serial killers or conspiracies that reach the White House. I prefer to write about people like you and me, people who are trying to do their best and live their lives and raise their kids and buy into the American dream. But where dreams seem to come true, well, that’s a ripe arena for things to go very wrong.
PCE: In most of your books you seem to generate a voice of reason in one of your characters. For example, in Tell No One, Tyrese is a crooked and foul character. However, his underlying character is loyal and reassuring. Do you purposely develop this good/bad persona? If so, who fills this role in The Innocent?
HC: Nothing purposeful about it, but I don’t like black and white. I prefer grays. That’s why the bad may do good and vice versa. People in real life surprise you. They are rarely consistent. Why should it be different in fiction?
PCE: All of the characters in your novels seem to possess minor and/or major personality flaws. Do you emphasize these flaws in order to expose man’s vulnerability, or do you do it in order to help the reader relate to the character?
HC: I don’t think about things like this. I don’t say, "Gee, she needs a minor flaw here." I try to create a flesh-n-blood character you’ll be interested in reading about. Perfect people are a) nonexistent, b) boring.
PCE: After seven Myron Bolitar novels, did you find it difficult to switch to stand-alones?
HC: Very difficult. But ultimately it was very freeing.
PCE: It seems as though you have a special affinity for your home of Newark. Is Newark conducive to your plot developments?
HC: I have a love/hate relationship with the city of Newark. You see its potential but mostly you see the decay. People talk about what the riots in the late 60s did to Watts and Detroit – but neither was crippled like Newark.
For the most part, I stay out of the city and dwell in the nearby suburbs. The difference between the places is staggering. The suburbs are what I know – the final battleground of the American Dream. That’s where I like to play.
PCE: After writing several New York Times bestsellers, do you find yourself with more pressure to write your next bestseller? If so, then how do you stay focused? If not, how do you continue to generate new and creative ideas?
HC: Not more pressure – different pressure. But it’s kind of a funny question that I get a lot. There was plenty of pressure before, when I wasn’t selling so well and I feared I’d never get published again! Being a midlist author – that’s pressure! This pressure, well, this pressure I love.
That said, the real pressure – the true pressure – still comes from within: I want to write a better book every time out. No editor or publisher is as tough on me as I am.
PCE: For you, does writing become easier with success, or does it become more difficult?
HC: About the same, maybe slightly more difficult. While I’m not complaining about it at all, the demands on your time are far greater. You need to tour more. You need to do more interviews. Like, uh, this one.
PCE: What projects can we expect from you in the future, and when will we see them?
HC: I am immensely dull. I finish one novel, I start on the next. I just finished touring for The Innocent and am now working on next spring’s release. I don’t talk about what comes next because it drains the energy. In short, I’m DYING to tell you about this wonderful new book, but the only way I can do that, the only way I’ll allow myself that satisfaction, is to write it.
Coben’s passion for and dedication to his writing are unmistakable. With news of next spring’s release, we’re waiting eagerly to see what he has in store for us. In the meantime, his bestsellers keep crime writing aficinados satisfied. N
(Article written by Magna interns Nicholas DeSutter and Keshia Polston. Nick is a student at Ball State University. He is a junior majoring in Business Entrepreneurship. Keshia is a sophomore majoring in Psychology.)