Prolific Parker Pontificates on Process

Robert B. Parker, author of a gazillion novels, talks to Benjamin Ivry at the Bloomberg syndicate about his newest book in the Sunny Randall series, his unusual living arrangements with his wife Joan, the writing process, and who he (doesn’t) read:

Bloomberg: Is it tough to find a good first sentence?

Parker: No. The whole thing is I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and I’ve written 50 books. It is almost like riding a bicycle now. It’s relatively easy to do.

Bloomberg: What do you like reading?

Parker: I read Elmore Leonard, and I don’t really read any other crime fiction. My life is spent, every day, for much of a day, in a world of fiction. And when I get through doing that, I have no brain left for fiction. I’ll read some nonfiction, and I’ll read the newspaper, and I’ll watch a ball game, but I don’t read very much fiction anymore.

Bloomberg: How does your working day go?

Parker: I write 10 pages a day. When I’m done with it that day, it’s what you see on the printed page. Maybe the spelling is improved or the punctuation changed, but essentially you’re looking at my first draft. I don’t do a second draft.

Maybe…um…[stage whisper]…that’s kind of the problem.