JOHN BERENDT: (JP/Ary Hermawan)
To John Berendt, telling the truth is more than just a virtue, it is exciting and makes a story more compelling to read.
That's why the author of best-selling non-fiction novels Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The City of Falling Angels was not tempted to write his two great journalistic projects as fictions.
"I think there's an advantage to writing a book in the form of non-fiction; because if it is a good book, if the story is good and the characters are interesting, it's much more compelling if you know it's true.
"If it's simply a figment of my imagination, that's nice, but not as exciting. If there is a strange story that is absolutely true, wow...," Berendt told journalists at the Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta recently.
The American author was in town on the sponsorship of the American embassy to talk about his two books to journalists and writers before departing to Bali to attend the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2008, which began on Oct. 14.
Also known as creative non-fiction writing or literary journalism, Berendt's style of writing is hard to find in Indonesian literature.
His works are not just based-on-true-story novels where fiction and non-fiction are mixed, with the former usually added to spice up the latter, which is often written dully or, at least, in non-literary way.
"I write about real people and true stories, but I write in the form of a novel," he said.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, his first book, is a story about a murder trial in a small town called Savannah, Georgia. Released in 1994, the book spent a record-breaking four years (216 weeks) on the New York Times bestseller list, was made into a movie by Clint Eastwood and has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
Berendt said he was lucky -- but it didn't mean he did not have to work hard to gain such success.
Four years on the best-seller list was actually only half the length of time he spent producing the book.
"How long does it take you to write your pieces?" he asked the journalists attending the interview, who responded with laughter.
It took him nine years to release his second book, The City of Falling Angels, in 2005. The book chronicles the interwoven lives of the Venetians after the burning of the famous La Fenice opera house.
Berendt did not deny that he was a perfectionist, spending a very long time researching and rewriting his stories again and again, just "to get it the way" he liked it.
"But it doesn't mean that what I have finished is perfect. In my own mind, I am not satisfied until I finally get something that impresses me," the 69-year-old said.
Berendt studied English literature at Harvard University. His career in journalism began when he worked for the Harvard Lampoon, a renowned publication written and designed by Harvard students who often parodied real publications such as The Saturday Review of Literature.
Esquire spotted his literary talent and asked him to join the magazine as soon as he graduated in 1961.
He later worked for the New York Magazine in the late seventies before returning to Esquire to write regularly as a columnist from 1982 to 1994.
It was during that period that he worked on his first piece on the murder in Savannah. At the time, he said, he wanted to cover more than just an in-depth story.
He spent years talking with the people related to the main story; trying to get closer to them, to learn about their lives, and how they thought and talked.
Berendt said he had one main objective -- he wants his readers to "get the experience of reading in the same way as they would get if the book was made up".
"What I write resembles a novel, but it is not a novel. It is a non-fiction. A term in America we use, that I did not create, (is) non-fiction novel, which is a contradiction. Non-fiction is never a novel. A novel is always fiction," he said.
Charles Dickens and Truman Capote are two writers that Berendt said he admired: Dickens for his detail and Capote for his approach to a story.
Nevertheless, he said he did not know if both writers, who also crossed the line between literature and journalism, influenced his writing style.
"The thing is, when I am in the midst of writing I am very hesitant to read a novel, because the rhythm and style of the book I'm reading gets into my brain and it is possible for me to transfer them to my own writing. I don't like to do that," Berendt said.
It was not hard for Berendt to find a publisher for his book; due to a long career in print media, he said he knew how to write publishable material.
But "there's one difficulty", he added, "(my book) was not a novel, it cannot be called or promoted as a fiction. It was not a biography, it was not history, it fell between genres, so the publisher had to figure out how to promote this book, how to introduce it."
Random House, the publisher of the book, had done a good job, he said. The book became a huge success: It not only changed Berendt's life but also that of the people in Savannah, a city that later became a well-known tourist destination, largely due to his book.
"Some people (in Savannah) were annoyed because I wrote about the murder, but most of the people loved the book. Every time I go there, I am welcomed with open arms, people come up to me on the streets and they shake my hands, they say *Nice to see you Mr. Berendt'. I am treated very nicely when I go to Savannah."
So far, Berendt said he had not thought of writing a third book, a project that would perhaps take him another nine years of interviewing and writing. He said he now enjoys reading modern Indian literature and, as an Internet junkie, blogs.
He said the principles he applied when writing his books were the same as those applied in journalism; in the way one observes, researches and writes a piece.
"(But) you don't have to spend as much time as I did. (Writing a book) can be done much faster. I was just in no hurry," he said.
