Transcript of 4/23/99 Anne Perry Chat at Barnes and Noble
Paul from barnesandnoble.com: Thank you Anne Perry! Best of luck with BEDFORD SQUARE. Before you leave for the evening, do you have any closing comments for the online audience?
AP: To speak with readers is the ultimate reward of writing.Lynda from Martinez, California: Thank you, Anne Perry for the many hours of pleasure I have had reading your wonderful books. I did enjoy the TV adaption of your book, and thought they did a good job. I will tell my friends and we will all write Yorkshire Television. We had just assumed that it was the first of many.
AP: Thank you very much indeed and the producers say that your lettes really do help. They are the ammunition we need to convince the powers that be and thank you to everybody who has logged in and I am very grateful for your interest.Elise from barnesandnoble.com: What do you plan on reading this summer? Any books you been putting away to read to pull out on your summer vacation?
AP: I don't take vacations. I plan to get onto schedule with what I am writing.Corinne from Plano, TX: With everything that is happening in the world today like the situation in Kosovo, that Colorado high school etc. Do you think societal violence and ills are the result or cause of crime? Thanks!
AP: I really don't know. Perhaps it is a chicken and egg situation and each exaxerbates the other, I wish somebody knew the answer, but I am afraid I don't.Moderator: Anne Perry will be with us just a little while longer, so send your last minute questions through now! Enjoy the rest of the chat...
TJ Currey from Bellevue, WA: Do you model Inspector Pitt & Charlotte on any particular people in your past?
AP: No, Charlotte was a bit like me to begin with but she has progressed beyond that now. But Pitt was a complete invention that often speaks my beliefs.Nina from Milwaukee, Wisconsin: I am surprised and delighted to hear that you are trying to get Monk on the big screen, although I don't know if any actor could do him justice. Which book would you film?
AP: Begin with FACE OF A STRANGER and hope to continue.Stephanie from Huntington Beach, CA: Of all your novels, is there one of which you are most proud or consider a personal favorite?
AP: Of those published, it varies from time to time. I am always hoping that the next one will be the best, perhaps so far A FACE OF A STRANGER or TRAITORS GATE but altogether, TATHEA which is not a mystery but an allegory published in England this February to come out here about September.Elaine from San Francisco Bay Area: I attended your book signing in Berkeley on Monday with my friends from church. Part of our friendship is sharing your stories. We were thrilled to be there and were so happy to be there and see you again. I understand you used to live in Walnut Creek. I was wondering if you liked the Bay Area and why you moved, if that is not too personal. Keep the good books coming!
AP: Yes I did live in that area. I moved down to LA for a while (4.5 years) because I wanted to see it then I went back home where I could live more cheaply and put more time to writing. Couldn't live in LA, support myself and write as well. I realized money you can get again, time you cannot.Troy from Mobile, AL: Hello Anne Perry. Have you ever considered writing any current-day novels? I really enjoy your William Monk novels and was wondering if you had any desire to write about current day PI's?
AP: Not yet. There are so many people doing it extremely well and I am not sure whether my publisher would like that at all. But that you for asking.Jillian Jade from New York, N.Y.: Where do you go to research for your books, is the Internet helpful or not?
AP: I am not on the internet, would you believe? Sorry! But I do find people's letters on the internet which are copied off for me, to be very helpful and very encouraging.gned by Anne Perry.Lynn from Ridley,PA: Which authors do you enjoy reading?
AP: Far too many to list. The type of mystery I like to read are mostly present day and those writers who like their characters and whose plots I find emotionally believable. My favorite writer is JK Chesterton for his poetry.Bink from Riverton, NJ: How do you feel about screen writers changing your stories for film/tv adaptations. Does it annoy you at all? Did you have any input into the Cater St. script?
AP: The script writer came to visit me before he began--they sent me the script at regular intervals, I do understand that for a different medium it is sometimes necessary to change as long as they do not change the nature of my charcters, I can live with the rest.Moderator: Anne Perry joins us via telephone this evening. A barnesandnoble.com Interactive Editor is transcribing her answers. She eagerly awaits your questions -- so jump in the conversation by clicking on the Submit Question button above!
Bink from New Jersey: I loved seeing Eoin McCarthy as Inspector Pitt in The Cater Street Hangman. Are there plans for any more Pitt television films?
AP: We are doing everything we can to do more. I am VERY pleased that you Eoin. ALL letters do help, on the internet or on paper to Keith Richardson Yorkshire TV Leeds, Yorkshire UK. Thank you very much for asking, we are doing everything we know how to to get more. Thank you to everybody who has already written, it really makes a difference.Niki from Niki_palek@yahoo.com: How do you feel your writing and stories have advanced or changed since you first published "The Cater Street Hangman?"
AP: I hope my plotting is a great deal tighter. I hope my charcters are more rounded and have more layers to them. I would like to think that I am suttler, but also more honest with my emotions. I hope I do not pull my punches any more. I also hope that I have cut out the repititions and the tendency to tell you that something happened , rather than showing you it happen.jwc901@aol.com from NJ: How much Anne Perry do we see in Charlotte? And vice versa?
AP: A lot of my emotions go into Charlotte, many of my opinios go into Pitt. Charlotte is much more domisticated then I am--as anybody who tastes my cooking will know.Tina from Metaire, LA: I know this is a general question. But how do you think society in general reacts differently to the problems faced in the late nineteenth century versus today? I know that the problems faced transcend time, but what about the general reaction and way of handling these problems--ie blackmailing with "The Bedford Square?"
AP: I think in the present day we have less general optimism, we are more cynical and we are far more brash about our private lives, but one can still be ruined by inuendo in certain circumstances. We have a different sense of honor now, but we are still vulnerable. I think people will always care about how they are regarded by those they love.Cora Edwards from West Orange, NJ: Will Monk and Hester get Married? Looking forward to seeing them on tv next and the next book. I am hooked on your books. Please don't stop writing.
AP: I don't intend to stop writing, but for their future you will have to wait until the fall. Thank you for asking.Stephanie from Huntington Beach, CA: Hello! I began reading your books about a month and a half ago, they are wonderful! I always find myself thoroughly engrossed! I realize you must do a great deal of historical research to acheive the level of detail found in your books. What aspect of the late 1800s do you have the most difficultly finding information about? How do you resolve this difficulty?
AP: Good medical practice is the hardest and I am always searching for books. Occasionally, readers have sent me some marvelous things. I also find it difficult to get precise dates of political events, newspaper headlines etc.Nicole from New York City: Good evening Anne Perry. What is it about the late nineteenth century that draws you to write about that time period?
AP: Initially, accident. Now I like its parallels with our own time and I like to write mysteries before finger prints, bollistics, and general forensic science. I want my detectives to use common sense, knowledge of human nature, and observation just as any of us might do.Moderator: Keep your great questions coming! Join in the conversation by clicking on the Submit Question button above. We're glad to have you with us tonight. Enjoy the chat!
Brittney from Providence, RI: Hello Ms. Perry. I read somewhere that you are a strongly religions person and that you are very active with the Church of Jesus of Latter-Day Saints. How does this religious affiliation affect your writing? Does it afect your writing? Thanks!
AP: Yes that is true, anything that you believe profoundly must reflect in your life and in your work. I have had other members of the church say that they can see my beliefs expressed inplicity rather than explicity in my writing. Thank you for the question.Elly from Madison: I absolutely love the Monk series. When is the next one scheduled to come out?
AP: In the fall, I don't know what month, but it is called THE TWISTED ROOT and I am writing the one for the year 2000. Thank you.Carol Ann Lee from Cornwall, England: Hi Anne, I hear that the talks and signings are going really well! Here's my question: you know how you will be spending New Year's Eve (weather permitting), but what do you hope for most in the year 2000 - and beyond? love from Carol.
AP: I have had A LOT of compliments on the website. I hope for continued Charlotte & Pitt on TV, a feature film for MONK and the second volume of the fantasy written. We all know what we would like for the world. Thanks and I will call you when you get home.Paul from Morris Plains, NJ: You have been writing at a pace of two books per year. Do you find it difficult to be writing at such a pace or do you find it advantageous at all?
AP: Advantagous, it is my choice. Writing two per year is my choice. Life will not be long enough. for all I want to do.Moderator: Don't be shy -- Anne Perry is here to take all your questions. Join in the conversation by clicking on the Submit Question button above. We're glad to have you with us tonight.
Elaine from San Francisco Bay Area: Did you know that your work is required reading in some of the local school districts when students study the Victorian period?
AP: I didn't know, but I am absolutely thrilled, that is a great compliment. Thank you for telling me. Very kind of you to tell me.margaret grubber from columbia, sc: do you think they will ever bring thomas pitt to the big screen? what about charlotte?
AP: DON'T I WISH. We are hoping for MONK for the big screen--thank you for asking.Maria from Aurora, CO: What type of historical research did you conduct for "Bedford Square?"
AP: Reading. I buy enormous numbers of books. Other than that I am always intereted in people and human nature.Paul from barnesandnoble.com: Welcome Anne Perry! Thank you for taking the time to join us online this evening. How are you doing tonight?
AP: I am absoutely fine and happy to be here.Moderator: An interactive editor will be typing for Anne Perry, who will be joining us via telephone this evening.