Dennis Lehane: I write fiction only. Non-fiction involves facts, and I don't like facts. While I was writing, the only thing I was determined to do was not to take a job with a career track. I just wanted to write. So, I parked cars; I worked with abused children; I was a limo driver; I waited tables.

iVillage: What advice do you have for budding writers?

Dennis Lehane: My advice is, you've really got to love the work. You've got to love everything about writing. The messy drafts. The rejections. The rewriting. The years of trying to get published. If you don't love it, there are many other ways to make money. If you do love it, then treat it like a religion. Just pursue it as diligently as possible.

iVillage: Do you let your wife read your works-in-progress?

Dennis Lehane: Yes I do, especially when I'm struggling with the first 100 pages. Once the book unrolls, she doesn't read it until the very end - and then she's the first person to read it.

iVillage: How do you manage to keep up your writing schedule while you're out on promotional tours?

Dennis Lehane: You can write in a hotel. Have pen, will travel!

Looking to the future

iVillage: Are you going to write more Kenzie and Genarro books?

Dennis Lehane: Yes, but I decided to give them a two-book break. I have one more book to write before they return.

ivillage: Are there any plans for making a movie of Mystic River?

Dennis Lehane: I'm currently in talks with someone about that. Originally, I didn't want to make a movie - but someone who's a real legend wants to make it into a movie. But unless I get the right deal, there's no way in hell that I'm going to sell it.

iVillage: Of all your books, which is your favourite?

Dennis Lehane: My favourite is Mystic River, then Gone, Baby, Gone.

iVillage: What made you decide to write another stand-alone instead of a series book?

Dennis Lehane: Oftentimes, the story or the characters dictate what you choose to write. The characters for the next book are making a lot more noise, so to speak, than the characters from my series. I have to deal with that noise.

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Dennis Lehane: my obsession