Author Eriq La Salle has an impressive history as an award-winning actor, director, and producer for TV and feature films. Although known for his role of Dr. Peter Benton on the long-running ER TV series for which he won three SAG awards and three NAACP awards, he has produced and directed multiple episodes of Law and Order SVU, Chicago PD, FBI, CIA, On Call and others. This fall marks the release of the fourth book in his thriller series, A Martyr Maker, titled Laws of Solomon.
Judith Erwin: With phenomenal success in TV and film as an actor, director, and producer, what was your goal when you began writing novels?
Eriq La Salle: To be a critically acclaimed novelist. Obviously, you want to be a commercial success, and you want to be an artistic success, but I wanted to be critically successful, meaning that under scrutiny and examination, it holds up. I used to always tell my agent I don’t want to be some celebrity with the book. That means nothing to me. What means a lot is that people I respect, respect my writing. Even though I’ve been writing for 14 years, I still consider myself a relatively young novelist. One thing I’m really, really proud of with Solomon is when people come up to me and say, โIโve never cried as much reading a thriller as I did.โ People don’t expect thrillers to be emotional. I do action well, but I also want there to be heart.
JE: How would you describe the main theme of Laws of Solomon?
EL: One of the themes in the story is the question: Can a person who’s done some horrible things ever be redeemed? Are they beyond redemption? Solomon, if you look at it as a parable, that’s the driving force of the story. Can someone who’s done horrible things be forgiven? Can they forgive themselves? Can they be forgiven by God, by the universe, whatever you believe in as a higher source? Can they be forgiven by society? Can good come from bad? All of Solomon’s bad, at some point. became directed towards trying to do something good. So, he does a lot of bad things. But now, he’s trying to do bad things ultimately for good reason. Solomon kills for different reasons. If you think about the very first time he kills, it’s for survival, which is for self-preservation. Then he kills for revenge. Then he kills for profit. But the great thing is in his journey. Not to justify killing, but when he matures, he starts killing for love. Killing is killing. I’m not trying to justify it, but I’m simply saying this killer’s journey took him from killing for self-preservation, killing for revenge, killing for profit, and now he’s killing for love.
JE: You have had great success as an actor and as a director where the focus is on interpreting characters. How does writing novels compare?
EL: As an actor, you are focused on one thing, your character. As a director, youโre focused on all the characters, on all aspects of filmmakingโwardrobe, lighting, blocking. As an actor, you just have to show up, know your lines, and know the story well enough to interact with other people. But as a novelist, you’re creating the entire picture. You’re creating worlds that have to be credible and detailed so that people can feel them. I would say writing is more rewarding because of all that you’re creating. When it all comes together, everything from trying to allow the reader to smell the food being cooked. You’re creating these dynamics on so many different levels that it’s really rewarding. So yeah, definitely more challenging, but more rewarding.
JE: What in writing a novel gives you the greatest pleasure?
EL: It’s partly when they [characters] say something clever, or when something clever is said about them. When I say clever, I interpret that as originality. I like to read things and hear descriptions in ways I’ve never heard it before. I don’t like tropes. I don’t like the stereotypical. I feel most rewarded when one of my characters is saying things in a way that you haven’t heard before. I had one line in Solomon that I worked on probably over a year, tweaking and tweaking. I kept pushing myself to go on. It’s a great line. It’s a great description, but it can be better. So, I keep pushing and pushing. For me, that’s pretty cool.
JE: Of all your many accomplishments, what is your favorite?
EL: If I answer this question tomorrow, I’d have a different answer. I’m blessed. I feel very blessed. I feel very fortunate to still love what I do in the various forms. And so, for me, the greatest blessing is I don’t have to choose. I get to explore all of these things. I like all of the things that I’ve created and hope to create. I have different passions for different reasons. Writing a novel is considered one of the most highly esteemed things in our culture. We have this perception that novelists are these born geniuses, and being a novelist is very intimidating. You have to realize; I grew up in the inner city of Hartford. I went to public school, so, the education there wasn’t the greatest. We had amazing teachers, but the curriculum wasn’t the greatest. There was nothing in my childhood that indicated that one day I would write a novel, that I would become an actor, that I would become a director. I come from a very blue-collar family, single mother. All of these accomplishments for me are amazing, because they weren’t necessarily forecasted based on how I was raised. So, that’s why I love everything I do.
JE: Is there anything left not done on your list of goals?
EL: Yeah, the big goal, the big dream has always been the culmination of all of these things intersecting. And that means the acting, the writing, the producing, the directing, and the novel with all becoming one project. So, I do all I do with this series. Now the hope is after I have finished five [books], we turn them into a streaming show that I am co-writing, directing, producing, maybe doing a little cameo just to be able to say I did them all at the same time. I don’t want it to be a gimmick. I don’t know that anyone has done all of those things. I’ve been working for years to make that dream.
JE: Given your history and dedication, that is bound to happen. Thank you.
Judith Erwin is a retired attorney, journalist, and award-winning author of romantic suspense and crime fiction, including the series Shepherd & Associates. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Florida Writers Association, and the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association.
