James Ellroy, the crime writer noted for his L.A. Quartet of books and his American Underworld Trilogy, made an an appearance at the Fitzgerald Theater last week as part of Minnesota Public Radio’s Talking Volumes series. I discovered Ellroy a few years ago and the first two volumes of his Underworld series blew me away, so I decided to get tickets for the event. Ellroy has a huge ego–he likes to refer to himself as the greatest American crime writer in history–and it was on full display during the on-stage interview. His description of his writing process was the most interesting part of the discussion. For his latest novel, he wrote a four-hundred page outline before even beginning to write the actual narrative. I find the thought of writing a page a day an overwhelming concept, which probably explains why he’s a wildly successful author and I’m not.
He was kind enough to sign a copy of Blood’s A Rover for me and I’ll review it here at some point, although first I have to finish Gaiman’s American Gods for book club.
