“I Can’t Get Inspired Unless I’m Testing Myself”

Along with half a dozen other books (including Don Winslow’s The Dawn Patrol, Denise Hamilton’s The Last Embrace, and Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals), I’m currently reading an advance copy of Dennis Lehane’s forthcoming historical novel, The Given Day. So I was intrigued to see in this morning’s Seattle Times a story (lifted from the Dallas daily) in which the Boston author explains why he took this new direction in his already celebrating writing career:

“The challenge after Mystic River was to not get caught in a cycle of Mystic Rivers,” he says. “So I wrote Shutter Island [the story of a woman who escapes from a hospital for the criminally insane, currently being filmed by Martin Scorsese]. The challenge after Shutter Island was to do a book about the [1919] Boston police strike, and then I very quickly realized I was dealing with a historical epic. Every time out, I have to go someplace artistically different for myself. That’s just for me. I can’t speak for everyone, but ultimately I can’t get inspired unless I’m testing myself.”

The full piece can be read here.