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Dennis Lehane

Goodreads Author

Born

in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, The United States

Website

http://www.dennislehane.com/

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

Member Since

January 2013

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Dennis Lehane (born Aug 4th, 1966) is an American author. He has written several novels, including the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award winning film, also called Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon (Lehane can be briefly seen waving from a car in the parade scene at the end of the film). The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award and won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel, the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction, and France's Prix Mystere de la Critique.

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You have been working on the screenplay adaptation of Since We Fell. What differences are there between writing a book and writing a screenplay?

Dennis Lehane They’re apples and giraffes. Completely different, outside of their core narrative DNA. When you write a novel you’re God, in charge of the whole univ…moreThey’re apples and giraffes. Completely different, outside of their core narrative DNA. When you write a novel you’re God, in charge of the whole universe, from the farthest galaxy to the smallest pebble. When that book is published, everything in it was filtered through you and you alone (with some nudging and advice from your editor, of course). When you write a script, you’re like a house painter in a large mansion. You give the rooms their color but you don’t build the house or concern yourself with the plumbing. A screenwriter is one of, say, 140 people who contributes to the film. And your script is just a schematic to be interpreted by a director, actors, the director of photography, the set designers, costume designers, editor, producers, studio execs, and on and on and on. It’s much harder to be God; novels take way longer to write than scripts and are much more emotionally and psychologically taxing but they’re also—by a longshot—more fulfilling. (less)

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You write such wonderfully rich, deep characters and put them in situations where they must unravel a mystery that often challenges them to their limits. When writing, does the character usually come to you first, or do you usually concoct the plot first and then decide which type of character would be most interesting to that plot?

Dennis Lehane Usually, I get character first. I’m very into flaws. I feel they define a person in a far more interesting way, dramatically-speaking, than strengths …moreUsually, I get character first. I’m very into flaws. I feel they define a person in a far more interesting way, dramatically-speaking, than strengths do. I honestly couldn’t give a shit about “heroic” characters if their “heroism” is their sole trait. I’m messed up, most people I know are messed up, and the ones who don’t seem to be are hiding something far worse than the rest of us. They’re the worst of all. So I double-down on the flaws. That’s my way in.(less)

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Dennis Lehane’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 737,542 ratings · 48,481 reviews · 82 distinct works • Similar authors

	Shutter Island 4.12 avg rating — 202,995 ratings — published 2003 — 185 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mystic River 4.17 avg rating — 149,552 ratings — published 2001 — 185 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Small Mercies 4.29 avg rating — 58,362 ratings — published 2023 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Drink Before the War (Kenzie & Gennaro, #1) 3.94 avg rating — 43,888 ratings — published 1994 — 110 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gone, Baby, Gone (Kenzie & Gennaro, #4) 4.16 avg rating — 40,440 ratings — published 1998 — 135 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Since We Fell 3.61 avg rating — 38,769 ratings — published 2017 — 59 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Darkness, Take My Hand (Kenzie & Gennaro, #2) 4.17 avg rating — 31,139 ratings — published 1996 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Given Day (Coughlin #1) 4.07 avg rating — 27,347 ratings — published 2008 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Live by Night (Coughlin, #2) 3.91 avg rating — 25,406 ratings — published 2012 — 123 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prayers for Rain (Kenzie & Gennaro, #5) 4.09 avg rating — 22,869 ratings — published 1999 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars