An Interview with Dan Brown

There is an interesting interview with Dan Brown, who recently published Inferno, in the June 20th digital edition of the New York Times. Brown talks about growing up without a television and how he became a “voracious” reader who was genuinely concerned about the fate of the imaginary characters in the books he was reading. Asked about his favorite authors, he spoke of Steinbeck for his sense of place, Ludlum for his complex plotting, and Rowling for having inspired so many young people to be “passionate” about reading.

Brown himself reads primarily non-fiction, although he enjoys the “thriller” genre when he does reads fiction. What is his idea of a good thriller? It is a novel that rivets his attention from the opening chapters and teaches him about the real world. The examples he cites are Coma (Robin Cook), The Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy), and The Firm (John Grisham). He also talks about the need for an ethical debate or moral dilemma at the centre of the novel.

Sound familiar? I think we can assume he follows this same pattern in his own writing, judging from the popularity of his thrillers.

For the full text of the interview, please see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/boo....