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Christopher Rice: The Moonlit Earth

“I didn’t plan to become a writer, it took me…”

Handsome, charming and witty, Christopher Rice once aspired to acting not writing. Bryan Batt of Mad Men fame, once told him about acting, “If you can see yourself doing anything else at all, do that instead.”

Rice said at first he wrote plays…”really bad plays," he laughed, "where the straight guy falls in love with me at the end.” Then he wrote short stories and tried his hand at screenwriting, since, he said with irony, “doors were just flying open for aspiring screenwriters.” He said it was only when his mother was ill, and he was in New Orleans for three months, that he started work on a short story which morphed into a novel. Having written four novels, he is now a New York Times best selling author. His latest, The Moonlit Earth, was released just last week.

Rice said that now one of his favorite parts of the writing process is the book tour. He said, “I spend the better part of a year in a room, by myself, with just the characters in my head, so it’s good to get out and talk to people.”

When he asked for questions there was a brief silence while he surveyed the room, he said, “Ok, what happens now, is that there will be a three minute silence, like social studies class, then someone will raise their hand and ask a question about my mother. So, let’s get it over with…”

No one asked anything about his famous mom though.

On how he gets his ideas: Rice said that news stories were a great source. He said, “I know that sounds pedestrian, but it’s true. I often hear a news story that grabs my attention and gives me an idea for a story.” He said when he gets THE idea for his next project; he has a physical tingling in the back of his neck. After the idea for the book, he sorts out the characters and their relationships, and then finally, the place where it will be set. The book he is currently working on is set in New Orleans with the Riverwalk shipping accident as it’s backdrop.

On Katrina: “People in New Orleans grow up with the idea of a devastating hurricane, the same way that people in California live with the idea of “the big one.” What happened with Katrina is not nearly as bad as it could have been. It was a lake hurricane. If a river hurricane ever hits New Orleans dead on, it will be far worse.”

Is there a movie deal for any of his books? Rice said his books were a combination of edgy characters and action and suspense. “Hollywood can’t figure out how to do both,” he said, “either they want to make an indie film, with the gay characters and leave out the action, or do an action film and make the characters straight.”

On his favorite authors: Rice said Lee Childs is one of the premier suspense/mystery writers working today. Rice also mentioned Pat Conroy and said that his favorite book by his mom is The Witching Hour.

On Blind Fall: Rice spoke at length about his last novel, the critically acclaimed Blind Fall, about a murdered gay marine. One of his fellow marines teams up with his boyfriend to track down his killer. Instead of research on the internet, he interviewed and spent time with marines to get a sense of their lives. In the book, the marine has to teach the boyfriend of the murdered marine how to defend himself and even how to kill someone. Rice consequently did much research on how marines kill. When asked if he met any gay marines, he said he had met MANY. He said they really are standing with a foot in two different worlds.

Check out Christopher Rice’s website at: http://www.christopherricebooks.com.

While I have read none of Rice’s books yet, I plan to start with his first novel, A Density of Souls, which I picked up at the festival.