Harris' debut novel met with only moderate success -until it was adapted for Hollywood. In the end I let them go, as you must let characters go.There is a certain amount of courtesy involved.' Selected Bibliography Black Sunday (1975) 'I dreaded doing Hannibal, dreaded the personal wear and tear, dreaded the choices I would have to watch, feared for Starling. Harris felt particularly protective of Clarice Starling, the young protagonist of The Silence of the Lambs. He does not relish new encounters with the formidable psychiatrist, nor does he wish these encounters on his other characters. Though Harris has written multiple novels that feature Lecter, that sense of discomfort has not diminished. Lecter uncomfortable, intrusive, like the humming of your thoughts when they x-ray your head.' In his forward to the 2000 edition of Red Dragon, Harris writes, 'I found, and find, the scrutiny of Dr. He often speaks of his characters as if they really exist, and he is merely recording events in their lives as he observes them, invisible.

Harris clearly has an unusual relationship with the characters he creates.

'As a sultan once said: I do not keep falcons -they live with me.' Stephen King notes that writing can be tedious for all authors, but for Harris it's like 'writing on the floor in agonies of frustration' because 'the very act of writing is a kind of torment.' Relationship with Lecter He continued to work as a reporter until he began writing Black Sunday in 1974.Ī famously reclusive author, Harris hasn't given an interview since 1976. By 1968, Harris had made his way to New York City to work for Associated Press. He covered the police beat, which undoubtedly stoked his own interest in crime and law enforcement. Throughout college, Harris worked as a reporter for the local paper.

He went to Baylor University, where he majored in English. Thomas Harris is one of the few authors whose novels have all been made into successful films. Born Apin Jackson, Tennessee, Harris grew up in the South. It's all there and you just need to find it.' -Thomas Harris 'You must understand that when you are writing a novel, you are not making anything up.

Hannibal by Thomas Harris