Craig Larsen is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Columbia Law School. A single father, he has lived in Northern California, New York, and in Europe. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. Mania is his first novel.
Recently, I asked Craig for his thoughts -
On practicing law:
At this point, trying to remember that far back is like trying to catch glimpse of another lifetime. Let's see. By the time I was finishing my first year of law school at Columbia, I knew that I didn't want to practice law. At that point, though, I had already accumulated so much student debt that I had no choice but to finish the three years. One of my professors in the first semester had promised us that what we were earning was not so much a degree as a "license to print our own money." Keep in mind, this was the 1980's, New York. To some large extent, he was right. I made the mistake of following the money, first to dig myself out of debt, then because sometimes all that glitters actually is gold. It took me a long time to remember myself. I woke up one day and realized that I had strayed hugely from the man I wanted to be. I didn't make a choice to write fiction. In fact, I had never stopped writing. What I did was to make a choice to stop doing everything else. It took another few years after that for my epiphany to complete itself. I didn't just want to write. I wanted to write stories that other people would want to read. That's pretty much all I remember about that.
An overview of Mania:
Mania is the story of a photographer, Nick Wilder, who sees his brother Sam killed, apparently by a savage homeless man, only to come to believe that he himself committed the murder. As the story progresses, the reader travels through a prismatic range of feelings about - for and against - Nick. I wanted to write a page-turner - a psychological thriller that would keep the reader off balance, both discovering and guessing until the last pages.
That is the basic premise of the novel. To me, though, on a deeper level, Mania is three things. First, it is the story of two brothers with a complex relationship, neither of whom is entirely justified in their view of the other. There is something very compelling to me about the feelings a younger brother has for his older brother, who has spent the early part of their lives doing his best to forge a path for the younger brother following in his footsteps. What happens - what do the brothers feel - when the younger brother wants to start walking next to his older brother? What happens when the two brothers both reach for the same piece of fruit? Second, it is the story of a man seeking to make sense of his world - specifically whom to trust in a world full of strangers, as he ventures beyond his brother's shadow. And third, it is the story of that man's quest to come to terms with his identity - in other words, ultimately to differentiate himself from his brother as he makes his own way in the world, beyond the boundaries of his family.
All that said, though, what I set out to write is as entertaining piece of pulp fiction as I could write, with as much depth as a person could want to find if he or she paused to think about the story's resonance.
Nick Wilder as a photographer:
One of the primary themes running through the novel is the interplay between vision and memory. What does it mean actually to see something? Vision is a snapshot - or a series of snapshots. We "see" something only for an instant. We come to understand what we see over a period of time, in our memories. Our memories, though, are made up of a huge convergence of any number of images from our past, both immediate and distant. Our emotions color what we remember and ultimately what we see. As Nick begins to lose his grip on reality, he begins to "see" through the lens of his emotions. The book is titled Mania after all. -So Nick is a photographer for these reasons, because photography allows us to capture what we are seeing somewhat objectively and to hold onto that image over the course of time. Photographs are in that sense both a type of sight and of memory.
On writing "dark" novels:
I tend to think of Mania - and my next novel - as very honest. I don't want to pull any punches. I want to write the truth as I know it. What makes these novels "dark", I suppose, is that they are dealing with extreme situations. How many people have seen their brothers killed? To some extent, you can understand Sam's death as an allegorical one. As Nick begins to make his own way in the world, he needs to break free from - he needs to "kill" - his brother. But I'm not writing a treatise. I'm not even writing a fable. I'm writing a thriller. And as a writer, what I wanted to do was to make this extreme situation as real and as honest as it felt in my mind, visualizing it. I didn't want Sam to be a pawn in a dry chess match. Also, I tend to want to poke around into fairly primal emotions. For example, what interests me in the relationship between Nick and Sam are the tiny pieces of sand that begin to knock the gears out of their rotation. A perfect mesh wouldn't be interesting - but neither would a sudden explosion. What makes an interesting story is the interplay between the foreseeable and the unforeseen aspects of the progression from young brothers to jealous rivals.
On his favorite writers:
Apart from the four whom I approached for quotes, you mean? Stieg Larsson has a great last name. But I guess that's not what you mean - and he's not working today anyway, just publishing today things that were written before he suddenly died his untimely death. Let me think. I have learned a lot from different writers. From Dennis Lehane, that plot is character and character is plot. From John Grisham, that a picture can tell you more than an explanation. From Tana French, that not every loose end needs to be tied. Would it surprise you, though, if I were to say Stephen King is my favorite writer working today? He amuses us by inventing a thousand different ways to describe himself to us, in the process unveiling layer after layer of the human soul and of our culture. The biggest difference between Shakespeare and Stephen King relates to the nature of the "human soul" they are describing, based on the "culture" we are living in. We drive cars through drive-through windows to pick up McDonalds, and kids grow up on TV. Shakespeare didn't own a toothbrush. Two hundred years from now, scholars are going to be arguing over the meaning of Stephen King's individual words. ---Still, truth be told, my greatest hero is J.D. Salinger.
Blurbs from others:
I received blurbs from four extremely generous writers. I have learned a huge amount from each of them, and their willingness to lend me their names on my first book literally stunned me. I ran into Lee Child the other day and tried to thank him. I handed him a first copy of the book - though in the flush of my excitement forgot to sign it for him - and he ended up buying me a beer. I wanted him to know how much his generosity meant to me, but he wouldn't let me tell him. Instead, he said that he was the grateful one, to me, for having written a good book. This is a very impressive man up close, as huge as he is from a distance! Likewise, Harlan Coben ended up telling me a very funny story when I tried to thank him. Long story short - trees don't make much sound when they topple in the forest.
The book trailer for Mania:
The trailer was produced by a fantastic group that goes by the name of Expanded Books. They are extremely professional and creative - and it was fun as hell working with them. I wanted to create an atmosphere and a hook, not to try to describe the story. I plotted out a 30 second commercial, and they did the rest. I was very lucky also to find the actors I did - or rather whom Expanded Books found. Going into the production, I had said that I wanted to keep Nick and Sara's faces somewhat vague, because I didn't want to dictate a certain look to readers. Once I saw these two actors, though, I felt comfortable with them as the characters. Nick's scared stare into the mirror is great, and Sara's cryptic come-hither smile gives me goose bumps.
What's next for Craig:
The second book is finished. I'm really excited about it, in fact. It is another standalone story, this about a man who suspects his wife of being unfaithful - I won't say more than that at this point. And I'm working now on a third. My hope is that I learn more with each book. I don't want to fall into the same pattern every time out. Readers deserve a book that takes them somewhere they haven't been before.
Nate Kenyon is a two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist, P&E Horror Novel of the Year Award winner, and author of BLOODSTONE and THE REACH. He has a trade paperback science fiction novella, PRIME, coming in July 2009. Kenyon lives in the Boston area, where he is at work on his next novel.
