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Dennis Lehane: my obsession
Starting out
iVillage: How did you first get published?
Dennis Lehane: When I wrote my first book, my professor read it. He said if I rewrote it, he would send it to an agent. I did, he sent it to an agent who accepted it, and two years later it was accepted by a publisher.
iVillage: Have you written in any other genre besides mystery?
Dennis Lehane: Yes, at first I was a short story writer; I began writing mysteries as a fluke. I wrote one of them during the summer, and it took hold; it was the best fluke of my life.
iVillage: Do you have first-hand knowledge of many of the events in your book?
Dennis Lehane: Well, I don't believe in autobiographical fiction. Nothing in any of my books has been inspired by a direct event. I think good writing is drawing on the flavour of your life or your world and turning the factual events of your life into some kind of myth.
Violence in mystery fiction
iVillage: Could you talk a little about the violence, depravity, sociopaths and psychos that populate your stories? Are they people you really knew from your childhood?
Dennis Lehane: That's a loaded question! Well, I grew up in a place where violence happened. It was usually very sudden and shocking. But violence is global; it's not unique to Boston. I'm attracted to the darkness in people.
iVillage: About the theme of child abuse in your work, is this your way of dealing with it, or are you trying to teach your readers something about it?
Dennis Lehane: Well, I was a therapeutic counsellor with abused children but I don't think it's my job to teach anyone anything. I think I'm fascinated with innocence lost. All writers have obsessions that manifest themselves in their work; I guess that's mine.
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