‘What if I didn’t do that?’ Author Michael Connelly on a life-changing moment

Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given. This week, he talks to Michael Connelly. The American writer, 68, has sold more than 80 million copies of his books worldwide, many of which have been translated into 40 languages. He’s best known for his Harry Bosch thriller series.

Michael Connelly: “In all these stories it seemed there was a question: ‘Is there a God? If there is, why would someone like Ted Bundy be doing what he’s doing?’”Credit: James Brickwood

BODIES

How is writing good for you? It’s good because you get to catch a wave and just do it. There’s no nine-to-five about it, but I write every day.

Seven days a week? Yeah. I had a teacher – this is going back almost 50 years – who was the first real novelist I’d ever seen. He said, “If you want to be a writer, you got to write every day, even if it’s only for 15 minutes.” So I’ve pretty much practised that for about 40 years.

How is writing bad for you? You get so involved and get into a creative tunnel. It’s very mystical how that happens. When it’s happening, you do not want to leave it because you might not get it back. Therefore, you stay at your desk and you drink Diet Coke after Diet Coke, sitting in a chair, turning into a bell-shaped person. There’ve been times in my life where I’ve drunk 10 Diet Cokes a day.

Wow. But in the last two or three years – thanks to walking my dog – I’ve probably lost 25 pounds [11 kilograms]. And for the last stage of my life, I feel myself trying to be in the best shape I can be, so it lasts longer.

What’s your body doing well? I still have my hair and I’m from a family of guys who don’t keep their hair.

What’s not going so well? I’m really at the age where you notice you can’t do stuff. I loved driving sport cars and I’ve given that up because you gotta crunch down to get into a little Porsche. Now I drive an SUV because it’s easier to get into. That’s a little thing that really struck me, but it was almost depressing.

Anything about getting older that you’re enjoying? Well, you’re talking to the luckiest guy, at least that I know. And I feel like I’m not ready to retire. I’m going to keep going. I’ll cut back on some things, but dive deeper into others. It’s pretty wonderful to have that choice.

SEX

How long have you and your wife, Linda, been married? Four decades. We recently had our 40th anniversary.

That’s a huge milestone! Congratulations. Thanks. Actually, it’s almost 50 years now that I’ve known her.

Wow. What do you remember about Linda? What first attracted you to her? She pursued me! It’s almost like a serial-killer story. I had this bike accident – a pedal bike – when I was in college where I broke both my wrists, four fingers and one elbow. So I was really incapacitated and I couldn’t type, and I was in journalism school [at the University of Florida], so I had to drop all my classes except for one. She was in that class and she saw me struggling … It’s like the Ted Bundy story, where he wore a fake cast to coerce people into getting into his car to help him!

Your injuries were real, though. My injuries were real. I didn’t pursue her for help. But she offered to help me, and that’s how we kind of met. So it was her kindness. And she’s very attractive. That’s how it started.

RELIGION

You were raised Catholic; are you still Catholic? Not at all. At some point I stepped back from it, saying, “It’s just not my thing.″

Where did that change come from? When I was 16, I was a witness to a crime. I spent a night with the police and detectives. That led me to reading about crime in newspapers. Then I started reading true crime, then fictional crime. In all these stories it seemed to me there was a question: “Is there a God? And if there is, why would someone like Ted Bundy be doing what he’s doing?” It fractured my religious belief system. I think I have some kind of spirituality. I can’t put my finger on it, but I do believe that what goes around comes around. It’s funny that, at 68, I’m still pursuing questions about faith and spirituality.

The crime you witnessed at 16 – in which a carjacker placed a gun in a hedge, which you uncovered – makes me wonder: do you believe in fate? After all, that random moment led you to your writing career. Now you’re getting into an area that makes me break out into a cold sweat.

Oh, really? Why? Because of the question of whether things are meant to be and whether you can change them. I was driving home, I look out the window, I see a guy running and I see him hide something. That was a split-second thing. What if I didn’t do that? Would I even be a writer today? Once, I went to a baseball game and sat next to a perfect stranger. We had a conversation and he told me he was a lawyer who worked out of his car. Now I’ve had a TV show, a movie and about six books about a lawyer [Mickey Haller, from the 2005 novel The Lincoln Lawyer] who works out of his car. Look, I have an ego; I have talent. But that’s only part of the equation. Luck – or fate – is a big part of it, too, and I acknowledge that. It makes you say, “Why me?“

So the cold sweat comes from the idea of, “Wow, there’s stuff we can control, but there’s a lot we can’t, right?” Exactly.

What are your commandments for good writing? The one I love comes from Kurt Vonnegut. His commandment was to make sure that on every page, every character wants something, even if it’s just a glass of water. That’s writing, encapsulated in one commandment.

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