Laura Lippman Used Her High School Years in Columbia as Material for Her New Novel
Novelist Laura Lippman, a former reporter for the “Baltimore Sun,” published her first of 12 Tess 
Monaghan mysteries in 1997. She has also written several stand-alone novels; her most recent is “Wilde Lake,” published in May. The novel is set in the Columbia neighborhood where Lippman lived with her family while attending Wilde Lake High School. She now lives in Federal Hill with her husband, David Simon. Because Lippman was busy working on her newest book, this interview was conducted via email.
– Martha Thomas
Q So many of your characters/ novels are about the underside. Do you think that most people have a dark side?
Not all, but most, yes. And I think people who don’t have dark thoughts possibly aren’t being honest. For example, if you’re a parent and you worry about your child, your imagination will take you to some dark places.
Q Is this part of how you create a three-dimensional character like Lu, the central character in “Wilde Lake” … who has a secret life?
Yes, I think that’s part of it. But I also approach characters as I might have approached playing a part in a play – I try to find all the layers, imagine life as they see it.
Q Is it hard to let go of your journalistic training when you’re writing fiction? Does every single thing have to ring true to make the cut?
Not at all. And I try to cut anything that doesn’t serve the story – killing one’s darlings, as it were.
Q How do you exercise the imagination? To help shake off that journalism?
My imagination has never been hard to exercise. Writing fiction is natural for me. Journalism was the acquired tastes.
Q How much of you is in your female protagonists? Tess Monaghan seems very much like Laura Lippman (at least superficially) but more recent characters may be more removed from you?
Ah, that’s a question I prefer not to answer. There’s a lot of me in ALL my characters, not just the female ones.
Q How did you research and revisit Howard County and Columbia in preparation for “Wilde Lake”?
I read “City on a Hill,” drove and walked throughout Wilde Lake, followed the You Know You Grew Up in Columbia Facebook page – anything to jog my memory.
Q Did you interview former faculty members or students from your old high school?
Only one, a classmate who was part of one of the first families.
Q Journalists often see firsthand how ugly the world can be and sometimes believe they can help make things better by exposing the truth. Do you feel that as a novelist?
As a novelist and a journalist I’ve never felt I can change the world, only convey it.
Q You spend a lot of time in New Orleans now. Do you plan to set a novel there?
Nope!
Q Does your husband, David Simon, read your novels in draft form to comment?
He’s a good editor and he used to read my novels before they were published. But I decided a few years ago that I wanted my husband to be my straight-up fan.
Q Did AJ participate in the gang rape?
No. And neither did Noel. But Noel doesn’t believe AJ and that’s what has come between them.
Q What are you reading right now?
“Killer Diamonds” by Rebecca Chance and “Bright, Precious Days,” by Jay McInerney.
