Nelson DeMille

BIO

Nelson Richard DeMille was born in New York City on August 23, 1943 to Huron and Antonia (Panzera) DeMille. He moved as a child with his family to Long Island. In high school, he played football and ran track.

DeMille spent three years at Hofstra University, then joined the Army and attended Officer Candidate School. He was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army (1966-69) and saw action as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He was decorated with the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

DeMille returned to the States and went back to Hofstra University where he received his degree in Political Science and History. He has three children, Lauren, Alexander, and James, and still lives on Long Island.

DeMille's earlier books were NYPD detective novels. His first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978 and still in print, as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of The Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, and American Mensa. He holds three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University, Doctor of Literature from Long Island University, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College.

Nelson DeMille is the author of: By the Rivers of Babylon, Cathedral, The Talbot Odyssey, Word of Honor, The Charm School, The Gold Coast, The General's Daughter, Spencerville, Plum Island, The Lion's Game, Up Country, Night Fall, and Wild Fire. He also co-authored Mayday with Thomas Block and has contributed short stories, book reviews, and articles to magazines and newspapers.

Back to top.   

INTERVIEW

November 24, 2004

Bookreporter.com Co-Founder Carol Fitzgerald and senior writer Joe Hartlaub interviewed Nelson DeMille, author of NIGHT FALL. This latest thriller is a fictional account of the TWA Flight 800 disaster, and in this interview DeMille explains what he thinks happened on that fateful night in July 1996. He also talks extensively about his writing routine, names the authors who inspired him to be a writer, and provides readers with a sneak preview of his next novel.

Bookreporter.com: After all your research into Flight 800, what do you think happened?

Nelson DeMille: Forensic evidence for a mechanical malfunction is strong, but not conclusive. The eyewitness accounts of a streak of light --- a missile --- heading for the aircraft is hard to dismiss. I'd say this contradictory evidence defines a mystery. I'd like to see the case reopened.

BRC: Unlike many authors, you write at your own pace instead of on a calendar schedule that has you delivering a book a year. At what point did you decide to do this?

ND: It was never a decision --- it was just a life style. Too much writing, like too much of any kind of work leads to mistakes, sloppiness, and bad output. I could double my income by doubling my output, but I think the quality of the work would suffer, as well as the quality of my life.

BRC: When do you title your books --- before you start, or as you write?

ND: Interesting question. Usually I have a title in mind before I begin writing, but the title can change during or after I've finished. I've discovered that it's best to keep the title to yourself until you're finished with the book and like the title --- if you title a book early, the title will sometimes appear in the publisher's news releases or catalogue, and then, if you want to change the title, it becomes a problem.

BRC: You do not use a computer to write. What do you enjoy about writing a book longhand?

ND: Writing longhand has many advantages, especially for someone like me who can't type. I really think there's a more direct connection between the brain, eye, and hand if you're writing with pen or pencil, looking down at what you've written. The typing process, which I've tried, seems mechanical, non-fluid, and slower than script writing. Also, with handwriting, it's easier to make corrections, deletions, and additions with the stroke of a pen. Finally, I make a lot of marginal notes on the handwritten manuscript, which you can't do with a computer. It all works for me.

BRC: Do you research and then write, or do you research as you go along?

ND: Good question. I research first, because I get a lot of good plot ideas from the research --- truth is often stranger, and more interesting than fiction. Then, as I'm writing I research specific scenes, then finally, I do a fact check at the end.

BRC: Do you outline or write more stream of consciousness?

ND: My first books were more a stream of consciousness, but as I learned in college, a good outline is like a good road map. So now, I'm outlining more, but a good writer should not be confined by his or her own outline. You need to see opportunities that arise during the writing and stray form the outline as you'd stray from a road map if you saw something interesting --- like a nude beach --- that's off your route.

BRC: When you are writing, what is your schedule like?

ND: I'm not a morning person, so I do mindless things in the a.m. Then, about noon I begin writing. IF it's going well, I'll write until eight or nine p.m. Some of my best writing has been done late at night into the early morning. I've written until dawn on some occasions --- especially when the book is overdue.

BRC: Have you begun your next novel yet? Can you share anything about it?

ND: I'm in the research stage of my new novel, and all I can say about it is that it involves a plot by Mideast terrorists to detonate a nuclear device in an American city. This plot has been used by other writers, but, of course, I've added some twists.

BRC: Are any of your characters like you? If so, who?

ND: I suppose to some extent my male heroes are like me --- funny, sexy, smart, brave, good looking and humble.

BRC: Which authors have been your primary sources of literary inspiration?

ND: I grew up reading Hemingway, Graham Greene, John Steinbeck, Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. There were others, mostly British, but I never consciously emulated their style or wanted to write like them --- they did, however, inspire me to be a writer.

BRC: If you weren't writing, how would you make a living?

ND: I think I'd like to do something more physical. Most of my life before I started writing was physical --- sports in high school and college, three years as an infantry officer, hunting, deep sea fishing, construction jobs, and lots of time in the gym. But I'd like to use my brain, too, so I'd like to be an archeologist. This has always fascinated me, and I touched on it in my first novel, BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON. I'm sure I'll return to that subject again in one of my books, so that I can become an archaeologist, vicariously.

• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.

Back to top.   

PAST INTERVIEW

February 8, 2002

Nelson DeMille is the author and coauthor of over a dozen novels and a recurring presence on bestseller lists. His newest book, UP COUNTRY, features the return of the popular character Paul Brenner of THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER in a tale of suspense and seduction. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Kate Ayers, DeMille reflects on his Vietnam experiences and the importance of location which forms the backdrop for his powerful storylines.

TBR: Your newest thriller, UP COUNTRY, takes retired Chief Warrant Officer Paul Brenner, whom we got to know and love in THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, back to Vietnam, where he once was an infantryman, to investigate a 30-year-old murder. In your research for this book, you too returned to battlefields from your tour of duty there. Was that your first trip back, and can you describe your feelings while there --- or did you do that through your main character here?

ND: My January 1997 trip was the first time I returned to Vietnam since I left in November 1968. I had very mixed feelings when I returned, and I think I described most of them through my character of Paul Brenner.

TBR: How cathartic was the trip? In the book, Paul faces some heavy memories. It must have been that way for you, too. One theory is that the return trip helps replace the bad memories with good ones. Did you find that to be true?

ND: I went back to 'Nam with two friends, also combat veterans who had been there in 1968. I think this made the trip easier. Also, it turned out to be true that the new memories replaced the old and bad ones.

TBR: You actually found a letter on the body of a Vietnamese soldier, much as Victor Ort does in UP COUNTRY. Was this the real seed for the idea of this book or did it first occur during your association with the Vietnam Veterans Association?

ND: The letter I found on the body of a Vietnamese soldier stayed untranslated for about 25 years, and when it was translated for me by the Vietnam Veterans Association, it turned out to be a love letter from the deceased man's girlfriend. I used the idea of this old letter as the spark that ignites the plot.

TBR: I loved this answer by Paul Brenner, in response to a question about why he felt he survived. "The dead, if they could speak, would tell you why they died, but the living have no answers." Do you wonder why you made it sometimes? Often, almost never, daily?

ND: I believe that every person who has been in combat, or has lived through any catastrophe, wonders why he or she lived when so many others died. And as Paul Brenner says in UP COUNTRY, there are no answers.

TBR: I found a quote attributed to you: "Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face." Did you confront any devils in Vietnam in 1997 when you revisited? Assuming you did, how did they compare with what you expected?

ND: Combat veterans can and do deal with the ghosts, demons, and devils of the past, mostly by putting it out of their minds and moving on with their lives. But when you return to a combat zone, you know you're going to have to confront this again. This, to a large extent, is what UP COUNTRY is about.

TBR: Apparently, you'll be bringing John Corey of PLUM ISLAND back sometime in 2004. So can we hope to see Paul Brenner again?

ND: I will be bringing back John Corey, who we saw in PLUM ISLAND and THE LION'S GAME. Corey, in the next book, confronts the Libyan terrorist, Asad Khalil, who escaped in THE LION'S GAME.

TBR: I understand Paramount Pictures is developing a movie based on this book. Since John Travolta played Paul Brenner in The General's Daughter, would you like to see him do the sequel? If not Travolta, who fits Brenner's personality, in your mind?

ND: Paramount Pictures has bought UP COUNTRY with the idea of John Travolta reprising the role of Paul Brenner. A second choice for me, and I think Paramount, would be Bruce Willis.

TBR: I've heard you write with a pencil. In this age of PCs and laptops, it's amazing, and quite charming, that you still use a writing stick. How did that begin and why do you continue?

ND: I use a pencil because I can't type and I don't want to learn. Also, I like the process of pencil and paper as opposed to a machine. I think the writing is better when it's done in handwriting.

TBR: I read an interview with you where you said, "I start with a location and figure out a premise. Then I invent the characters, give them a biography, and get to know them. At that point, the characters take over the book. The plot is absolutely the last thing." Do you think this would work for new writers, or is this just a DeMille quirk?

ND: My books are heavily researched in regard to a locale, so I like to start with a place that I've already visited, or that I'm interested in. Then come the characters who will act on this stage. Then the storyline, or the plot. It seems an odd way to write a book, but if you think of some of my novels - BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON, CATHEDRAL (St. Patrick's), THE TALBOT ODYSSEY (The Soviet weekend home on Long Island), THE CHARM SCHOOL (Moscow), and the place-named books, THE GOLD COAST, PLUM ISLAND, and SPENCERVILLE, and recently UP COUNTRY (Vietnam) - you can see how time and place are central to my writing.
 
TBR: An answer you gave to the question, "What authors do you read," elicited a response something like, "I tend to read dead authors, so if I like their books, I don't feel tempted or obligated to write to them." So, I won't ask that here, but can you tell us who most influenced your writing?

ND: I think I was most influenced by British writers, especially in regard to creating an atmosphere of time and place, along with lighter plots with more characterizations. These writers are too numerous to mention, but they are classics of English literature as well as more contemporary British writers. As to American writers, I was most influenced early on and strongly by Hemingway.

TBR: What's next from the pencil of Nelson DeMille?

ND: I really don't know what's next, but the book after next will be the above-mentioned John Corey vs. Asad Khalil. By that time, we'll know better what is happening in the war on terrorism. I'm about to start a 30-day cross-country publicity trip, and I'm sure when I return I'll have the idea for the next book.

Back to top.   

PAST INTERVIEW

May 27, 1997

On May 27, l997, THE BOOK REPORT welcomed Nelson DeMille, one of America's best-loved novelists and the author of the just-published PLUM ISLAND. The TBR interviewer was Jesse Kornbluth (BookpgJK). Our host was MarleneT.

Bookpg JK: Nelson DeMille!  A great AOL/TBR favorite -- at last. Welcome.

N DeMille: Thank you. Nice to be here.

Bookpg JK: Nelson, every one of your books is different. Every one takes us into a completely new world. How did we get to the world of Plum Island and advanced biological disease and, at the same, 300-year-old mysteries?

N DeMille: We get to Plum Island the same way we got to the Charm School. Most writers are fascinated by terra incognita. Readers don't want to read about the mundane world. They want the Island of Dr. Moreau or Shangri-La or King Kong's island -- what was its name?  And there are too few of those islands left in this world... unfortunately. But Plum Island is one of them.

Bookpg JK: For those who don't know of it, what happens on Plum Island?

N DeMille: It's the U.S. Animal Disease Research Center. There, diseases like anthrax, mad cow disease and, possibly, ebola are studied. It's also rumored to be a biological warfare center.

Bookpg JK: Were you able to visit it?

N DeMille: They gave me permission to visit for a day. I was always supervised. They're trying to shed the "mystery" image.

Bookpg JK: Is letting Nelson DeMille on your island the shrewdest way to do that?

N DeMille: The people who work on the island are trying to calm the fears of local residents. To say "no" is not a good way to do that. They'd rather say "yes" and then show you what they want.

Bookpg JK: How do you construct a story like this?  Do you start from situations or characters?

N DeMille: I usually begin with the premise. Then I create a character who would do well in that book. It doesn't do much good to have a hard-boiled detective at a tea party -- except for comic relief.

Question: Which of your novels is your personal favorite (if one is) and why?

N DeMille: My personal favorite was GOLD COAST. I wrote it consciously as a book that would be taken seriously and would -- I hoped -- be thought of as a modern American classic.

Bookpg JK: Did you have a conscious intent with PLUM ISLAND?

N DeMille: No. This is one of what I'd call my "entertainments" a la Graham Greene.

Question: I've heard that you wrote a book called MAYDAY, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Is it still in print?

N DeMille: MAYDAY will be reissued in December of this year by Warner Books. It has to do with a runaway Navy missile knocking down a commercial airliner. It was written in l978. And it was scheduled to be reissued long before TWA 800 went down.

Question: I LOVE your new book PLUM ISLAND. I finished it in a day. Tell me, do you plan to use John Corey again?  He is a great creation

N DeMille: I have no plans to use him -- in the near future, anyway.

Bookpg JK: At the end of the book, John makes some broad philosophical statements that struck me as, perhaps, being very close to your sentiments, Nelson. I'm thinking of two: One, "We live inside of microchips with a million paths opening and closing every nanosecond. What's worse, someone else is pushing the buttons." And two, "The meaning of life has not much to do with good and evil, right and wrong. It has to do with cutting the right deal."  In PLUM ISLAND, your detective is a very jaunty, cutting talker. This strikes me as dark stuff indeed. Is John just possibly your alter-ego?

N DeMille: All one question, huh?  I'm not the first to make an observation about modern technology controlling human beings. A man like John Corey, who uses little technology, would be wary of the power of technology. As far as cutting the right deal, it's a cynical statement, but a true one. That's closer to John's world. He understands that a lot better than he understands technology.

Question: Is there any topic you won't write about?

N DeMille: I would probably avoid racial topics. They're much too explosive in this society. They're much too explosive for any author.

Question: Was the town of Great Neck a model for GOLD COAST?

N DeMille: Great Neck is definitely part of it. But it's more Lattingtown, Locust Valley, and Oyster Bay.

Question: What are you working on now, and can we expect to see any of your books as movies?

N DeMille: I'm working on a novel based on my recent return trip to Vietnam after 29 years. Almost all of my books have been optioned by Hollywood and are in various stages of development.

Question: Can you describe your writing day?

N DeMille: Exercise and errands in the morning. Correspondence and phone calls in the afternoon. Creative writing at night.

Bookpg JK: In other words, you like the anxiety to build until you are forced to write?

N DeMille: I just write better at night. And you have to do errands when the stores are open and the phone calls when people are there.

Bookpg JK: This reminds me a bit of Pat Conroy's day. His point was that if you're a real writer and want to leave behind a body of good work, you really don't have time to do much else but write and take care of your errands. It's like the priesthood. Do you see writing as a calling?

N DeMille: Everyone who gets into writing sees it as a compulsion. The Greeks talked about muses. Some are born to sing, others to sculpt. There's very little cross-over in the arts. It's partly a genetic predisposition.

Bookpg JK: Were there writers before you in your family?

N DeMille: Yes. No one published. My father was a good writer.

Question: Where did you get the idea for GOLD COAST?

N DeMille: I have lived near the Gold Coast most of my life. I was inspired in part by Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY and, in part, by Puzo's THE GODFATHER. The novel is Gatsby meets Don Corleone.

Question: My all-time favorite book -- not just of yours, but in general -- was THE CHARM SCHOOL. Where did you research that?  It made me want to RUN to the USSR. And, of course, just after I read it Communism was out.

N DeMille: The idea was suggested to me when I was in Vietnam in April, l968. A U.S. Air Force pilot firmly believed that American pilots were winding up in the USSR.

Bookpg JK: But, of course, in l968, you were a soldier hoping not to die, not a writer collecting plots. What an incredible memory you must have for good ideas!  

N DeMille: War is a wellspring of ideas for fiction. Ever since the Odyssey and probably before...

Bookpg JK: Your humor is present throughout PLUM ISLAND. In many ways, it's more like a tough-guy romantic comedy than a mystery/thriller. Do you laugh when you write?

N DeMille: Yes, I laugh at my own jokes. I think that kind of American humor -- humor we hear every day -- is sorely lacking in American fiction.

Bookpg JK: Yes, John Corey is a guy who actively thinks about sex and doesn't hide it. He wears the occasional designer logo, and mocks himself. He has terrible eating habits. He is, in short, someone we might know... or even be. That level of realism is very unusual. Which makes me wonder:  Who do you read for pleasure?

N DeMille: Mark Twain, Tom Wolfe, Mark Helprin, Evelyn Waugh. That's about it.

Question: Do you have any book signings scheduled?  If so, how can we find out about them?

Bookpg JK: THE BOOK REPORT will find out Nelson's tour schedule and post it.

Question: I loved WORD OF HONOR as I am a member of Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and go there often. The story was also wonderful. Did you do your research at Hamilton?

N DeMille: Yes, I did. I had been there when I was in the Army. I found it a fascinating place.

Question: What did you do before you started to write professionally?

N DeMille: College. Army. Construction.

Question: I admire your work a great deal. How long does it take you to create a book and does it depend upon the subject matter?

N DeMille: Thank you. Fourteen months for a lightly-researched book, eighteen for a heavily-researched book. That's writing, research, and rewrites.

Bookpg JK: Do you give yourself a break between books or are you a prisoner of publishers' needs for a book every two years?

N DeMille: I generally give myself half a year break between books. It feels like total freedom. Mark Twain said, "Only authors and uncaptured criminals are free from routine."

Question: I just read THE CHARM SCHOOL. Very fascinating!  Do you think anything like that has ever really existed?

N DeMille: I think so, yes. The Nazis, for instance, did have a similar school. And I have no doubt that the Russians made use of American POWs from WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

Question: Do you work with a computer to do your writing, or do you still write the old-fashioned way... yellow legal tablets?

N DeMille: I still use yellow tablets with #1 pencils. Very soft pencils.

Question: What inspired you to write BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON?

N DeMille: I was a history major at college. The Babylonian captivity fascinated me. And it inspired me to set this modern thriller in the ancient city of Babylon.

Bookpg JK: We're out of time, Nelson, but I don't want to end without saying that I can't recall a guest author who has inspired as much deep loyalty among his readers as you do. It's quite clear that the "keenly awaited event" of each of your books is much more than hype. And we hope that you'll come back when you publish your next book -- if not before. Thanks so much.

N DeMille: Thank you all for your sharp questions.

Back to top.   

PAST INTERVIEW

1997

We've all seen Nelson DeMille's books in the paperback racks. They're prominently displayed, and people buy them like crazy. It would be easy to conclude that he's a "bestseller writer" --- as if that were a bad thing. Well, he is. And much more. Read on.....

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Looking back over your books, I was --- like many of your readers --- impressed by how prescient you are. Again and again, you seize on a situation, write a novel about it, and then, sometimes years later, there's a news story that mimics what you invented.

NELSON DEMILLE: It doesn't take a big brain to spot a major trend. As a history major, I have an ability to look at the past and the past is prologue to the future. Human beings only act in a finite number of ways. Extrapolate that to leaders, and you can see what's coming. In 1987, for example, I went to the USSR and said, "This place is finished, it has l0 years left." People laughed. But you could see --- no one cared, there was no loyalty to the government, it was like a mass depression. The hottest movie was a Rambo tape...in which Rambo killed some Russians. And they all cheered.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Still, to be right so often in identifying "hot" topics...

NELSON DEMILLE: It's partly coincidence. I also predicted the IRA taking over St. Patrick's Cathedral during the St. Patrick's Day parade --- a logical scenario, but it hasn't happened. And we don't need a worldwide plague at the moment.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Which brings us to PLUM ISLAND.

NELSON DEMILLE: Plague fascinates people. I saw the plague once in Vietnam, at Khe Sahn. Hundreds of North Vietnamese soldiers had died of bubonic plague. I think that siege was broken more by plague than by bombers. There was a total breakdown of sanitation and civilization. So you think: What if this gets into major cities, where people travel a lot? This could spread around the world in a week. We focus on possibilities like this now more because of the end of the Cold War. You can tell in American fiction we're focusing more on love stories and domestic dramas. And, for external focus, you have the plague.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: How did you think of MAYDAY, your novel of a passenger jet shot down by a runaway Navy missile --- which you wrote in l979?

NELSON DEMILLE: I wrote it with Tom Block, an airpline pilot. We decided to reissue it in January of l996 and signed a contract that March --- long before the explosion of the TWA plane. The premise is valid.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: As fiction --- or as fact?

NELSON DEMILLE: I think the TWA plane could have been brought down by a terrorist or an errant missile. Which is personally disturbing, because my daughter had been on the same plane four days before.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Now I understand you're writing about Vietnam again.

NELSON DEMILLE: I didn't think I was going to. but I spent three weeks there this winter. It's remarkable what's going on. For us, the war is frozen in time. But they have put the war to rest more than we have. Their war ended in 1975. And the whole country is full of kids. They have erased many signs of the war. It's rare to see American military debris on road.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Can you talk about your first experience of Vietnam?

NELSON DEMILLE: I was an infantry officer with the First Cavalry. The draft compelled me to sign up. I wasn't political --- though maybe I was more patriotic than the average guy. I was aware there were two sides, but I thought I was above it. It sounds cynical or callous, but I was looking for adventure.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Was the war a watershed event?

NELSON DEMILLE: I came to it at 25 --- I was much older than the average soldier. I just looked at it as another degree, another university. It didn't do the people in Vietnam much good, but it did me some good.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: How?

NELSON DEMILLE: I felt like an old soul, seeing through the moment. I thought, This is a hell of an experience. After World War II and Korea, no one thought there would be another war. Sure, I was scared of getting killed. Once I got there, I saw that being clever didn't matter --- you could be killed. I went through many stages: panic, anxiety, peace. Twelve months of combat is a long time --- after a while, you come to terms with it. What amazed me was that the average American boy could go from a civilized culture to a war zone --- and behave like a warrior.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Do you think that suggests Americans are, just beneath the surface, pretty uncivilized?

NELSON DEMILLE: It's not the culture, it's the genetic make-up of the male.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Are you an exception?

NELSON DEMILLE: No, I'm implicated. I liked my gun and steel helmet. I don't hunt now. I haven't even camped overnight since Vietnam --- but that's true of a lot of veterans.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Did you have dreams of Vietnam after the war?

NELSON DEMILLE: For five for six years.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: And what about writing? As you write about Vietnam, do you relive the scenes you experienced?

NELSON DEMILLE: Often. Then you realize you're sitting here and are safe. On this recent trip, it was so immediate to be surrounded by long-forgotten sounds and smells. On the anniversary of the Tet offensive, three of us --- all former combat veterans --- ended up in Hue. It was a poignant night. We all knew exactly where we had been on the evening of Tet 1968. There were other Americans at this hotel, and we told them our stories. It was emotional --- and cathartic.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: And now you're back on Long Island, a very unlikely place for a writer of your popularity to live.

NELSON DEMILLE: I don't know if I'd like to live in Manhattan anymore. As you grow older, you want fewer people around. I had two kids here. I married again. My second wife and I kicked around where to live. We have unlimited choices --- from the Andes to the Riviera. I have a job that gives me that freedom. I have the money. And I no longer can use the children as an excuse for staying here. I have thought of Europe for a year. My feeling is: if you're going to move, move to a different cultural environment. I have friends who have moved from Long Island to Westchester --- and they've said, "What did I do?" It's better to be a stranger in a strange land than a stranger in your own country.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Any unrealized ambitions here?

NELSON DEMILLE: My books sell to the movies. Each sells about 2.5 million paperbacks. Now, if you sell 300,000 paperbacks, you know where you are. And if sell l0,000 hardcovers, you know where you are. The frustration of my publisher and agent --- and sometimes me --- is that I'm at the bottom of the pinnacle. If there are l5 top-selling authors in America, I'm number 15. People say, "But you write better than Clancy and Grisham, you should do better." Well, maybe my stuff falls in between. It's not Cheever and Updike, and it's not Grisham and King. The funny thing about publishers is that they do very little market surveying. They ask me who my readers are based on my fan mail. They still believe in word of mouth and anecdotal information. In 20 years of publishing, I've had one market survey --- in England.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: To be ranked #15 a cast of thousands --- I'll take it. Anyway, it would be very hard to do market research on novels.

NELSON DEMILLE: Yes, novels are by their nature hard to market. A non-fiction book that tells you how to flatten your tummy tells you everything in the title. PLUM ISLAND is harder...so you have to sell DeMille. When you buy a novel, you're investing l6-l7 hours. You go to a movie, even with the driving and picking up the baby sitter, it's not that much time. Writing a novel is self-indulgent --- and then asking people to read you is the height of ego.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: Are your work habits self-indulgent?

NELSON DEMILLE: Yes. I don't want to write most days. I grind out the first half on a book, then I go on an intensive schedule: 6-7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

JESSE KORNBLUTH: When you write, do you think about actors (in the possible film) or characters?

NELSON DEMILLE: My idea of an actor is Cary Grant. My idea of an actress is Julie Christie. I know what Harrison Ford looks like, but I'm thinking of Bogart and Stewart. Which must make me a novelist.

© Copyright 1996-2010, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.