Robert Gregory Browne's latest thriller, WHISPER IN THE DARK, will be released in the U.S. in February after debuting in Great Britain. Browne is a former screenwriter who has followed a life-long dream of writing thrillers. WHISPER is his second novel and will soon be followed by two more.
A lot of writers want to move from book to film, but you've come at this in reverse. Why? What are some of the screenplays you wrote?
In all honesty, I was frustrated with the movie business. While I had had some success early on, winning a fairly prestigious award and getting a deal with Showtime, I soon discovered that you spend more time in Hollywood hunting for a deal than you do actually writing. And once you get that deal, you're only as good as your first draft. After that, the story you slaved over can be taken away from you and changed by just about anyone the studio hires. It's no longer your story. And this is true for nearly every movie you see. Most of them are written by a slew of writers who, frankly, have little respect for the previous draft. The most common jobs in Hollywood usually involve rewriting someone else's work. And while that may put food on the table, it is -- for me, at least -- creatively unsatisfying. I don't want to look at a movie I've "written" and say, "Hey, that was one my lines." Call it ego, but I want them ALL to be my lines. I want the story I originally wrote to wind up on screen and that just doesn't happen. I could give you the names of screenplays I've written, but it wouldn't mean much to you, because they've never gotten all the way to production. Most of the scripts written never do -- which is another source of frustration. So, once I wound up writing Saturday morning cartoons like Spider-Man, I was pretty much writing only to feed my family. There was a certain satisfaction in getting the job done, but no real joy in the work. When a friend suggested I turn a movie idea of mine into a novel, I gave it a try and my first book, KISS HER GOODBYE, was born. I've never looked back.
Do you find the process of writing a book different from writing a screenplay? If so, how?
It's actually very liberating to write a book. First, the final product will be all mine and I know that going in. Nobody will be hired to "make it publishable." The publishing industry, for the most part, respects the writer. And my experience so far has been that I've had to make very few changes in the book once the first draft is delivered. If changes do have to be made, I'm the one who gets to make them. But the main difference between screenplays and books is that movies are a visual medium. Your job is to present a story through dialog and visuals, with an emphasis on the visual. You must convey the story through what the viewer sees and there are great limitations in that approach. Books, on the other hand, allow you lots of room to explore character motivations, inner dialog, and do some major subplotting, which gives depth to both story and character. Which is why most people who have read a book before they've seen the movie adaptation will tell you the book is better. MYSTIC RIVER is a good example of this. While the movie was terrific, the book was, in my estimation, a masterpiece. And I'm so glad I read it first.
You've said that a lot of your writing centers around sudden loss. What intrigues you about that profound moment in a character's life?
I think loss is something we all fear. It's that universal emotion that everyone -- everyone -- can understand. Even if all you've lost is a pet grasshopper, you know that empty feeling of missing someone you loved, or at least cared about. As a father my greatest fear is losing one of my children and that fear has somehow managed to find it's way into most, if not all, of my work. It's really not a conscious decision to put it in there. It's just a thread I noticed one day when I was reviewing my work, both screenplays and prose. I was actually pretty surprised by it.
St. Martin's is your American publisher, but your books are often published first in Great Britain by Pan MacMillan. Is there a reason for this?
It's simply a matter of scheduling. The books in the US and the UK were originally scheduled to come out around the same time in both countries -- and that's what happened with KISS HER GOODBYE. But then St. Martin's decided that my work was more suited for mass market -- which I completely agree with -- and decided to release me straight to paperback starting with WHISPER IN THE DARK. So the schedules changed and Whisper was released in 2008 in the UK in both hardback and paperback, but St. Martin's wanted a February 2009 release over here. My next book, KILL HER AGAIN, is scheduled to be released this may in the UK, and will hit stores in July here in the US.
Publishers Weekly gave WHISPER IN THE DARK a starred review. What's your favorite quote from the review?
I'm pretty much over the moon about the whole review (which you can find on the Barnes & Noble website), but I guess these two quotes sum it up for me:"[A] taut psychological thriller with hints of the supernatural and an ending that will leave readers speechless." "The deeply satisfying story moves at a furious pace, packed with unexpected and original clues and plot twists." You can't ask for better quotes than that, and if you somehow manage to leave a reader speechless -- hopefully in a good way -- your job is done. All I can say is thank you PW for giving me a much needed ego boost. That review came when I was slogging through the middle of a new book and gave me just the kick in the butt I needed to keep going.
You've said that creating villains can be more difficult than creating a protagonist. Was this true of Vincent van Gogh, your serial killer in WHISPER?
Boy, the things we say. I have no memory of ever having said that, but I'm sure I did -- although I'm not sure why. The truth is, it's just the opposite. Creating villains is much easier for me. They have all sorts of problems and quirks you can explore. But creating an interesting protagonist can be a real challenge. You don't want to rely on gimmicks to make him interesting, so you really have to dig deep to do the job. As for Vincent, he just managed to take shape as I was writing. But that's usually what happens with all of my work. I discover the characters and plot the same way the reader does. When you're reading chapter twenty, I know as much about what's to come in the story as you do. The only advantage I might have is that I have a vague idea about how it's all going to end. Sometimes.
And what about protagonist Det. Frank Blackburn? Tell us a bit about him. Are these characters who will appear in other books.
Blackburn is a flawed, opinionated guy who doesn't mind sharing his opinions with anyone who will listen. And if he can get a rise out of them in the process, all the better. Despite some of his flaws, however, he's probably the guy we'd all like to be. Not afraid to speak our mind, damn the consequences. But this doesn't mean Blackburn is without regret. He's in love with someone and that hasn't worked out so well and he's incapable of making it better or even admitting to himself that it's even true. He gets emotionally beaten up in this story and while I have no immediate plans to revisit his character -- this, like all of my books so far, is a standalone -- but I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days I peek in on the guy to see what he's up to. I have kicked around a sequel idea, but it's never gotten past a paragraph in my mind. But then that's how most of my books start, so who knows?
What's the most pleasurable thing about writing for you?
Here comes the cliché: being done. While I get a certain amount of satisfaction out of the writing process, getting those words down just right can freakin' kill you. The real satisfaction comes when you've finished the book -- I rewrite as I go -- and can do that final read-through and think, yeah, I nailed it. Hopefully the readers will think so, too.
Would you ever consider writing an adaptation of your own novel?
There was a time when I would have said yes to this question without hesitation. But the truth is, I'd probably want to keep all the things the producers want to cut, then they'd bring in another writer to destroy the story and it would just be an exercise in frustration. So the real answer is maybe. In the right circumstances I would. First, I don't mind the Hollywood money and second, I'd at least have SOME control over the property. But then there's another part of me that says forget it. Just let someone else do the script and take the money and run. The truth is, no matter who does the writing, the product on screen will be only marginally related to the book you wrote. I have a friend who wrote a pretty hard-hitting drama that was picked up for a possible television series. The last I heard they were thinking of turning it into a comedy. But hey, I guess if it worked for Pretty Woman (which started out as a dark drama), it might work for his story as well.If there was one thing you could say to try to convince us to pick up WHISPER IN THE DARK, what would it be?
That's a tough one. Let's use another cliche: if you don't mind handing over control of the wheel to a perfect stranger, I'll take you on a ride you won't soon forget.
Contributing editor Carolyn Haines is the author of the Sarah Booth Delaney Mississippi Delta mysteries. The ninth in the series, GREEDY BONES, will be released late June by St. Martin's Minotaur.
