|
Hiaasen: Columnist turns to novel writing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Knight Ridder
|
|
Wednesday, 03 May 2006 |
|
|
|
|
There’s no doubt about it, novelist-journalist Carl Hiaasen writes about weirdoes. His books “Strip Tease,” “Stormy Weather” and “Lucky You” are packed with bizarre characters: a petty crook who fences hot wheelchairs, a 7-foot hit man, a guy who has a weed whacker surgically attached to his arm.
“Growing up and working in Florida, the material is so rich,” says Hiaasen, seated at a table in an empty hotel room here.
“You can only put so much in the newspaper; in the meantime you have all this overflow, this great material, this great inspiration, and what better place to put it than in a novel? If people outside of Florida think you’re making it all up, people who live in Florida see the novels as documentaries. It’s a well you go to when you’re writing fiction all the time.”
Hiaasen moderates his characters when he’s writing kids’ books. His first, “Hoot,” was essentially a memoir of his childhood in South Florida and has been made into a movie opening Friday. Even it boasts a Huckleberry Finn-like character and a few wacky families.
Hiaasen has been writing all his life. “When I was 6 my dad got me a typewriter. And I had no idea I could make a living at it, but I just knew I enjoyed it. Everything else has been sort of gravy. I knew if I was going to write and learn how the world worked, newspapers was the place to go and do that.”
He was married at 17, a father at 18, and still managed to attend the University of Florida and snag a reporting job by the time he was 21. He was 22 when his dad died unexpectedly, and Hiaasen returned home to help his mother and accept a job at the Miami Herald.
“My sisters were in college and my little brother was getting ready to go to college. I thought, `My mom’s going to be in that house (alone).’ The Herald offered me a job in the Brower (County) bureau so I took the job and went back to South Florida . Not that I’m a great humanitarian, but it was a good job ... Career-wise it would’ve been stupid to say no.”
Hiaasen, who’s dressed in a navy blue polo shirt, jeans and a gray Harris Tweed
jacket, still writes a Sunday column for the paper, but most of his efforts fall to his books. “Writing a novel is a different muscle than writing a 900-word newspaper column,” he says, his gray hair contrasting with his tanned face.
“It’s large and more complicated and the exercise is much more challenging. The fact remains that you go into a room and close the door with nothing, and come out hours later, beaten and bedraggled and worn down, with something — with something worth publishing, hopefully.”
His first three books were written with editor Bill Montalbano, but when Montalbano transferred to the China bureau it became more difficult. “I had a book I wanted to write, a very seditious little novel called `Tourist Season,’ about a motley gang of eco-terrorists who start bumping off tourists in Florida. And it was every Floridian’s secret pipedream — the unspoken dream. I went ahead and wrote it. It was very different from the stuff I wrote with Bill. It got published in `86 and that’s how I am where I am today.”
Hiaasen, 53, says the toughest time was when he and his first wife divorced after 26 years of marriage. “You get married at a very early age, you’re both kids, teenagers, and just grow up differently. I think that was brutally hard on both of us, but I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. But at the time if you didn’t have a mid-life crisis before, you suddenly do, thinking, `Wow, this is where I’ve gotten in my life?’...
Hiaasen remarried eight years ago and has a 6-year-old son, a 15-year-old
stepson, a 34-year-old son and three grandchildren. “That’s part of why the idea of these kids’ books appeals to me,” he says.
“It would’ve been easy not to get married again and have a very nice life. And write
at home and fish when I wanted to, but you insulate yourself so much from what’s happening. When you have young kids or a teen-ager running around the house, you are connected to modern culture whether you want to be or not. And I think it’s essential if you’re a novelist working in this country to be connected to modern culture. I don’t mean dropping brand names and throwing an iPod into every scene in the novel, but just understanding what they’re talking and thinking about.” | Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
