Talking with Nelson DeMille

by Lea Tyrrell

It was such a pleasure recently to have bestselling author and Long Islander Nelson DeMille as a guest on Long Island Talks.  He's appeared on News 12 Long Island before, but this was the first time viewers were able to ask their questions directly.  I had plenty of questions to ask him myself, but I was happy to see the phone board light up when the program started.  His fans had plenty of great questions themselves.

I love reading his books that are set on Long Island especially to see which communities, streets and landmarks he mentions.  DeMille's latest book, The Gate House, is one of those novels.  It's a sequel to The Gold Coast, and no location is more Long Island than that.  The Gate House debuted at number one on the New York Time's bestseller list this month.  Even with all his success and previous bestsellers, DeMille admits he still gets nervous about whether his book will hit number one.  Then he smiled and said it makes the publisher happy.  And you want to keep your publisher happy.

As a writer of news, I have a great admiration for writers of fiction.   Good writing is a challenge even when you have to deal with only the facts.  But to add characters, locations, plots, subplots, and intrigue (just to mention a few of the things that go into a great novel) I find that all quite astounding.  No wonder DeMille says it takes him 18 to 24 months to write a novel, plus a great deal of research.  He writes six to eight hours a day in an office several blocks from his home -  no music, no radio, no tv.  Also no computer or typewriter.  DeMille still prefers to write his books longhand - pencil or pen to paper.  Just that simple. 

Quite a few of the callers last time were fans of a character who's appeared in a few of DeMille's books, Detective John Corey.  Those fans will be happy to know that DeMille tells me he's working on another story that will feature Corey.

One viewer who hadn't had a chance to read one of his books yet had a great question for the author.  And perhaps some of you reading this blog aren't familiar with his books either.  She wanted to know which book DeMille would recommend for a first read?  He said The Gold Coast. 

If you missed your chance to ask Nelson DeMille your question, I've extended him an open invitation to come back to Long Island Talks when his next book comes out.  That may be some time in the spring.

If you can't wait until then, you can meet DeMille at his next book-signing.  It's here on the Island at Old Westbury Gardens on December 10th at 6 PM.

To find out more about that, his books, and everything DeMille, he's got a great website.  It's www.nelsondemille.net.