Q and A with Nevada Barr
Nevada Barr's mysteries, as her many fans know, are a balancing act: they probe the evils that folks do and also showcase the splendors of nature in America's national parks and monuments. In her 16 novels featuring law-enforcement ranger Anna Pigeon, Barr has limned the glories of such spectacular American treasures as Guadalupe Mountains national park (Track of the Cat), Carlsbad Caverns National Park (Blind Descent), Glacier National Park (Blood Lure) and even Statue of Liberty National Monument (Liberty Falling).
In her newest novel, Burn, the author stays closer to her own home of New Orleans, with Pigeon uncovering a mystery in and around New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. Barr sat down with Criminal Element editor Bob Hughes to talk about her work.
Bob Hughes, Criminal Element: Did you set your mystery in
New Orleans because you live there now?
Nevada Barr: I've been here for six years but I wanted to set a book here right away. It took me that long even to get to where I could address the city with Anna as a visitor, because the city is so complex. I found a way that would be honest to me, and a way to capture the smells and the sense of wicked and pretend wicked here.
Bob Hughes: How do you decide where to set your novels, which park or monument?
Nevada Barr: The decision on the place comes from a lot of different things. For Burn, I live here and work next door to the Jazz Heritage Center, I would hear people sing the blues in their park service uniforms. But generally, I pick a place because I have a storyline and I find the park that will fit in. Also, I will be at a park and will see if anything will come up.
Bob Hughes: Do you continue to visit the parks for research?
Nevada Barr: I'm an inveterate parks visitor, though in recent years, I'll go to a couple of parks for research and maybe only use one, and that uses up travel energies. It's more for work now. It ain't bad work; it's hard, it's intense - you have two weeks. I try to pay absolute attention and be completely open all the time, and not talk about very much, except to encourage and ask questions.
Bob Hughes: Do you take pictures or notes?
Nevada Barr: I don't take pictures. My husband takes pictures. I can look at them later. I don't take pictures and I don't take notes.
Bob Hughes: For you as a creative artist, the truth is in recollection rather than note-taking.
Nevada Barr: Completely. We're called creative writers - we're creating stuff. And if I filter it through a journal, I've already reinterpreted it once, and then I'm rehashing it with another interpretation. That's one of the reasons I don't start writing until three or four weeks after the research trip. Otherwise, I want to tell readers what every leaf name is in Latin and show off what I know. But when you get back and wait, the chaff blows away.
Bob Hughes: You know the American parks then.
Nevada Barr: I know the country's park system well. But when I go - after I have an idea for story set in a park - lots of times I'm deeply surprised by what I find. I thought Lake Powell would be perfect [for my next novel]. It's just a lake. But when I went out there, I found that it's the most complicated park I've ever been in. The story has now been altered because the truth came upon me.
Bob Hughes: How was it different than your preconceptions?
Nevada Barr: There's a Navaho jurisdiction, several county jurisdictions, two state jurisdictions, there's users of every stripe, like filthy rich people with gigantic houseboats who think rangers are there to make sure nobody annoys them, there are incredible resources, ruins and petroglyphs, and at the same time it's a recreation park. It's an amazing juggling act to keep that park useable for now and for future generations.
Bob Hughes: Your books were probably the first to highlight nature, and touch on the environment. Did you get feedback early on?
Nevada Barr: It was interesting -- the first book, Track of the Cat, was really well received, and it got a bunch of awards, and that pushed it up, and there's a whole lot of fern feelers and tree huggers lurking out there, and they were just delighted to read about something they enjoyed or something that they like to think about. I never got any bad feedback at all; I got all sorts of wonderful feedback, it wasn't because I was the first. People loved Anna Pigeon. I think it might have been slightly groundbreaking in some ways, but mostly it was a good story.
Bob Hughes: In terms of story, do you plot the books beforehand?
Nevada Barr: I don't really plot much at all, I have kind of this idea, and I sit down and open the door and walk in, write it linearly, no outline, no character sketches. I did that [plot outlines] for a book that didn't get published, thinking I'd better do this like a real writer. But it was like the English assignment from hell, I killed any opportunity for true inspiration to come.
Bob Hughes: You were an actor for a while. Did that help you in your writing?
Nevada Barr: It helped a lot because I spent my formative years trying to figure out what people were like, and get into their skins, noticing how they walked and talked, and reading endless dialogue. I think that really helped when I sat down to write.
Bob Hughes: Has your writing style changed over the years?
Nevada Barr: It has. As you go on in a series - this is the 16th one - you have to work harder and harder to make each book fresh, and to keep your sleuth fresh. At first, I could write and everything was fresh, for four or five books, because Anna could go to all of these different places. After that I had to really pay attention and dig deeper. Eventually everybody who writes a series is going to write a clunker. But I never want it to be this one.
Bob Hughes: You've received awards for your work, and recently the National Parks and Conservation Association selected you to receive the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks.
Nevada Barr: That award means more to me than any award I've ever gotten. I am a huge supporter of our parks, and hope that people will go to them, and if they don't go they'll read about the award and vote more money, and we'll keep the parks forever.
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