Questions for Mark Lindquist

Tacoma deputy prosecuting attorney and author of The King of Methlehem, a crime novel set in T-Town.

How important is setting to your novels?
There’s a great quote from E. M. Forster about how literature can better capture a time and a place than history books can. I love the grittiness of Tacoma. I love the unpretentiousness. I love that it’s a city on the verge. That’s always the most exciting time for a city — when it’s arriving, not when it’s already arrived.

Is this your first crime novel?
What Never Mind Nirvana did for Seattle and what my earlier books did for Hollywood and Venice, I tried to do with this one for Tacoma. All of my books are character driven and saturated with popular culture.

“Write what you know.” Still sound advice for a young writer?
That’s great advice but I would add, “Write what you’re passionate about.” If you do both, you’re 90 percent of the way there.

How do you do two jobs — attorney and writer?
I don’t have a life! That’s the short answer. You know what? If you write a page a day every day for a year, you have a 365 page book. The thing about writing is you just have to do it. I don’t need much sleep. And I don’t watch TV.

 Photo by Chris Tumbusch

Editor's note: Read our later cover story on Mark Linquist from the July 2010 issue.