Hardboiled City

I love crime fiction. Or hardboiled fiction. Or noir. Whatever you choose to call it. People often ask me why I like to tell grim tales steeped in blood and shadows? Why do I have such a morbid fascination with seedy characters, vicious acts of violence and edgy sex? Of course, like many crime fiction writers, I was influenced by the work of Chandler, Hammet, Goodis, Woolrich and others. Movies from The Asphalt Jungle to The Godfather to Taxi Driver shaped me as a screenwriter and filmmaker.

The day I decided to become a writer, was the day I saw David Mamet's American Buffalo starring Al Pacino. The story of three petty criminals planning a robbery was filled with the kind of stylistic language I'd never heard in a play before. Staccato street rhythms and profanity that Mamet turned into pure theatrical poetry. I wanted to write about those kinds of characters and in that kind of language.

Truth is, my biggest influence as a crime fiction writer is real life. I'm a product of the 70's and the 80's, back when the streets of New York where not only mean, they were sometimes deadly. Before Sheriff Giuliani. Before Starbucks and Applebee’s. When it was hardboiled city. A time when you’d walk up the stairs of a Time Square subway station and you’d often step over fresh puddles of blood. A time when you’d be riding the "A" train and would most likely encounter a gang of thugs, who would beat, rob and terrorize passengers. Just for the fun of it. It was a time when Hell's Kitchen crackled with danger during humid summer nights and the sounds of gunshots was a common city soundtrack. When the real Mayor was John Gotti. Back in those days, you always had to look over your shoulder and be ready; 'cause violence erupted at any time. For a crime fiction writer, it was both scary and exhilarating.

As a writer, I love research. Not just on the Internet or going to the library, but the real thing. Of course, since I was in my twenties back then, tough and a little crazy, I eagerly spent plenty a night hanging out with and interviewing gang members, dope dealers, stick-up kids, hookers, peepshow girls and pimps. The criminal minded love to talk, to boast, to school you on the rules of the street. Who's the toughest thug, the craziest pimp, and what was the best way to increase profits on crack sales? The language, the rhythm of the street is different from the norm. More honest, coarser, and in many ways, it was like Mamet so succinctly portrayed it: urban poetry. Crime fiction writers, good writers of every generation who manage to truly capture the street vernacular of their time, know that it will make their prose sing.

I’m not saying every crime writer needs to hang out with criminals and soak up seedy environments, but it personally helps me find the authenticity I want to capture, explore and express. For me, one of the most exciting parts of crime fiction writing is the research. Whenever I manage to talk to and hang out with the kind of shady characters I love to portray, there’s an excitement that overtakes me and eventually inspires me to sit down in front of the computer screen and lose myself in the dark dreams of hardboiled city.