Literary Spotlight: Louis Bayard

Louis Bayard is the author of the national bestsellers, The Pale Blue Eye (nominated for the Edgar and Dagger Awards) and Mr. Timothy, a New York Times Notable Book. A staff writer for Salon.com, he has written articles and reviews for the New York Times, The Washington Post and Preservation. His latest novel is The Tower.

Q: What advice can you offer writers when it comes to breathing life into their characters?

A: Well, of course, we observe the people around us, and we apply bits of our own history, but I’ve always thought imagination is a sadly underrated quality. We don’t have to have lived the same life as a character to project ourselves into that life. “Write what you know” can be very constricting advice if taken literally.

Q: Other than increased books sales, what has been the most significant impact on your career as a result of having a book named New York Times Notable Book?

A: Not a damn thing. To begin with, you can’t squeeze “New York Times Notable Book” onto a license plate. Nor does it assuage creditors. I tried it at a bar, too, with very modest results. This is what my mother said, “Notable for what?”

Q: Your historical/thriller books have drawn from very specific eras. What amount of research did it require?

A: It’s a lot of research – several months for each book – but it’s not as much maybe as people think. In the final pages of “Mr. Timothy,” the hero is on a ship bound around the world. Its a very brief section, but I thought, ‘Holy God, if I want to get the fact right, I’m going to have to read every damned Patrick O’Brian novel ever written.’ In the end, all I had to do was grab a few choice terms out of Moby Dick and cop a couple of place settings from Voyage of the Beagle. Presto! Less than an hour. What I’ve come to realize is that readers don’t need an avalanche of detail to situate them in a historical period. One really good detail can take the place of ten.

Q: While at Princeton you studied under Joyce Carol Oates. How did this affect your writing style?

A: I’m embarrassed to say, not at all, because I made a point of not reading her work. I didn’t want to be one of those ass-kissing students who said, “Oh, MS. Oates, I just love that part in them when you …”

At any rate, Joyce wasn’t the kind of teacher who wanted to be imitated. What she did was encourage us to find our own voices.

Q: What did you learn from being a contestant on Jeopardy?

Ha! I learned about Balmoral. That was the one I missed. And I learned what a competitive SOB I really am. I wanted to win, baby! And not just one game, I wanted ‘em all! Since then, I’ve gone through a very long and grueling process of game-show detox. I should write my own addiction memoir.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact and Touching The Dead, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

Carlotta Holton has just received her second award for Touching the Dead from the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest. Click here to purchase the book.