Gerardo
asked
Lawrence Wright:
You wrote fiction and non-fiction books. What makes you decide which of the genres to choose? Or do you look for a theme independently of the genre first?
Lawrence Wright
Usually, when an idea occurs to me, it comes packaged as form. I'll say, "I just had an idea for an article" or "There's a novel kicking around in my head." And yet I've found that some ideas might have been stuffed in the wrong package. I've had an idea for a play that actually turned into a movie and then became a novel. I wrote a nonfiction book about Texas that is being turned into a documentary series, and I'm actually working it into a musical. Sometimes you don't really know until you write it if it works.
More Answered Questions
Bryan
asked
Lawrence Wright:
Your non-fiction works have been enjoyable and practical for me in understanding places I have lived (Afghanistan, Egypt, and Texas). Your previous books have been primarily (entirely?) non-fiction. Have you had the idea for a long time that you would like to do a novel? Have you had characters or outlines of characters already developed that needed to be put into a story or did they come together with the plot?
Derek
asked
Lawrence Wright:
I learned quite a bit about UBL and Al Qaeda by reading "The Looming Tower". While I also enjoyed and learnt quite a bit about Scientology from "Going Clear", I came away with many more questions about the church and their members than Al Qaeda. Is this something readers have told you before? Or did you experience this yourself?
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