The Thursday Night Interview
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," the host of one of New York's most watched television programs began, "and welcome to this special edition of the Thursday Night Interview. Tonight, I am extremely pleased and honoured to welcome one of our country's greatest writers. He has just published his autobiography entitled "Building a Castle! ยป. Please give a warm welcome to my dear friend, Mr. Richard Castle."
Music resounded on the set as Rick walked up to the host and sat down beside him on a large red bench.
"Good evening to you and good evening to all the audience!" Rick said once he got settled in. I am also very happy to be back in New York and to be with you tonight to present this book that I am very proud of."
"You've been on a promotional tour the last few months, haven't you?"
"Exactly, for almost a month now I have had the opportunity to meet all my fans all over the country, to receive a lot of kindness and love from people I don't even know and to interact with them. Nevertheless, I must admit that nothing makes me more complete and fulfilled than being at home with my family and friends."
"You've been publishing novels every year since the beginning of your career and each time, you do long tours. How do you and your wife Kate cope with the fact that you are on tour for long periods away from your family?"
"To be completely honest, it had been quite a challenge when our kids were younger, so I used to try to compress my schedule as much as possible to be away as little time as possible while still doing my job. Now they're older, so it's not so complicated. You know, I don't want to put the whole burden of education on my wife either, so I try to take breaks, go home for a week in the middle of the tour and so on. Anyway, it is my wife who got me to start writing again. Consequently, she understands that I need to do my work to be happy, just as she needs to solve crimes to feel fulfilled and complete."
"What you say here about your wife is very beautiful and, by the way, a good part of your book is about her."
"It was important for me to write about her: first because she changed my life, then because meeting her allowed me to write again and finally because she shares my life so she must be in that book which narrates my life. Nevertheless, I decided not to say everything because she is a private person and she values more than anything else in the world her intimacy and her anonymity."
"Comparatively speaking, you're quite sarcastic when you talk about your two ex-wives, aren't you?"
"No, I don't think I am."
"Let me read an excerpt in which you refer to your ex-wife Gina Cowell: For years and years, we've had a perfect working relationship. Since it was working so well, we assumed that this collaboration would translate into a good marriage. This has led us to having proof of the absolute necessity to separate private life from professional life. I call that sentence sarcasm."
"I don't think I'm being sarcastic. I just think that, once again, humor helps me distancing myself from things and thus maintaining a certain amount of discretion that I need in my life. Nevertheless, I would like to specify that each of my two ex-wives read the books and validated what I wrote. I will always have affection for the women with whom I have shared my life and it is important to me that no one is hurt or affected by what I say in my novels."
"You said in some interviews about your previous novels that you have your novels proofread by those who share your life. Was that true of this one, too?"
"Of course, it's obvious that I'm having my autobiography reread even more than my novels, which were fiction."
"How's that proofreading going? Do you gather everyone around a table to make a meeting?"
"No, it's less official, less formal. It's more a good time during which we discussed the sections about them and shared suggestions for improvement."
"Besides, why did you decide to write an autobiography?"
"This book was born out of a desire to open myself up a little more and to share certain parts of my life. You know, just as everyone else, I have pains and problems, so I wanted to somehow stop hiding myself behind fictional characters. I just stopped talking about a character inspired by me, and just started talking about myself, Richard Alexander Rodgers."
"In your opinion, what is the main difference between Richard Rodgers and Richard Castle?"
"I think they're two sides of the same coin. To be quite precise, I think Rick Rodgers is the dark side while Rick Castle is the phase that is in the light and that I show to the world. The purpose of this book is to merge these two parts of myself to reveal the invisible."
"Wasn't it hard for you to reveal the part of yourself you were hiding for years and years from the rest of the world?"
"It's necessarily a little more complicated to show your most intimate part, that's why this took the form of a journey. I tried to travel through my memories and my life."
"Thank you, Mr. Castle, and we will know more about this journey and many other things in the second part of our show, just after a short commercial break."
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are back for the rest of the Thursday Night Interview and we are still accompanied by Richard Castle as he is here to present his autobiography." He directed his attention to his guest. "Before the break, we were talking about the fact that you went through a journey to write this novel. Did you get help from people like hypnotists or therapists in this introspection?"
"Well, I mostly made a big deal with my drug dealer to get really close to myself... that was a joke. I decided to embark on this journey alone for several reasons. First, I did not want to put another subjectivity into my own. Then I think that having to narrate out loud certain parts would have created too many barriers in me because, you know, your computer doesn't judge you, has no reaction to what you type and is always silent."
"Now we're going to move on to a new part of the show: the interview "All the Truth, Nothing but the Truth". The concept is simple: I give you an example of rumor about yourself and you tell me if it's true or false."
"That's fine by me."
"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?"
"I do, Your Honor."
"Okay, first rumor we found: you have a pretty extensive criminal record, true or false?"
"True, I was arrested several years ago for getting naked and stealing a policeman's horse."
"I assume your relationship with the NYPD has gotten better since then?"
"Indeed, since my wife is a police officer."
"The horse you stole was your wife's horse?"
"False, my wife rides a motorcycle."
"Second rumor: you had an intimate relationship with my sister Kristina Coterra and she seduced you during one of those "swimsuit interviews", true or false?"
"Very false. To tell you the whole story, at the time we're talking about, I was already in a relationship with Kate my wife but we had to keep it a secret because we worked together for the New York Police Department. So, in order to keep a credible cover, I decided to accept a date with Kristina but nothing happened between her and me. She is a very funny and nice woman but I was already very much in love with the woman of my life."
"Third and last rumor: you never managed to leave your mum's house, true or false?"
"I'd say true and false. The truth is, I lived with my mother for a very long time, but she lived at my house."
"By the way, we want to say hello to your mother, the excellent writer and actress Martha Rodgers. We're going to take a short break and feel free to tell us on social networks any questions you want to ask our evening guest."
"We are back for the third part of our show, which is dedicated to the questions that you, the audience, asked our guest, Richard Castle, on social medias. We also asked some of the people around you for questions they want to ask you. So, let's start with a question from someone on Twitter: how did you experience being famous?"
"Fame is a complicated thing but I had to get used to it because being recognized by people on the street means that people appreciate what I write and that my work can be read and thus have an impact on people. Of course it has its drawbacks but it's still quite enjoyable."
"Second question from a Twitter user: we know you're a very good cook, what's the worst dish you've ever eaten in your life?"
"Is there any form of consistency between the questions you have chosen?"
"No, there aren't any."
"All right, the worst meal of my life was a pasta dish that my daughter Alexis prepared for me when she was 4 years old. Too much salt, not enough cooking, it was just awful."
"Another question asked by someone on Facebook: apart from your books, what is your favourite novel?"
"A French novel called "L'Ecume des Jours" by Boris Vian. It is an extremely poetic novel. I like to read this kind of novel that tells in a magical way common stories."
"Let's move on to the next question that was sent to us by an email from a relative of yours who wishes to remain anonymous: what are the sources of inspiration that led you to feed your daughter for many years with a marshmallow omelet?"
"First of all, I would like to say a few words to my family: Alexis, it's very mean to slander the dishes I'm most proud of, the Smorelette. Secondly, I would like to point out that I was only making them for breakfast."
"That's a very good answer." The host leaned over to Rick and whispered in his ear while remaining audible to the audience. "Could you send us the recipe?"
"Of course."
"Previous question asked by a Twitter viewer: how did you and your wife handle working together all day and also being together at night?"
"We managed it quite well since our relationship was built on this close collaboration. We met through my work as a consultant and it was under these circumstances that we fell in love with each other and were able to build our family. Today and for several years now, we no longer work together full time, but when we have the opportunity to collaborate, it remains an enchanting pleasure."
"How did you handle bringing your problems and debates home?"
"It was never a problem because we were not working against each other, we were solving crimes together. The only thing we could debate was the actual methodology. We have never had any problems due to differing opinions, because above all we really know how to listen to each other's opinions. This listening and trust in the opinion of the other one is also something that helped building our relationship and our family."
"That's very wonderful what you're saying. Like you, I worked with my wife, and we decided to stop it to preserve our relationship."
"I think our strength and our advantage is that we have had an extremely fruitful partnership before we got together as a couple."
"Well, last question asked by myself: what are your projects after this book which is your autobiography?"
"I have several projects in progress: I am working on several screenplays and several new literary projects. I am also extremely happy that a part of my life with my wife is going to be adapted into a TV series by Andrew Marlowe and with Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion."
"Well, we'll watch it! Thank you, Mr. Castle, and thank for watching. I'll see you next week. Any last words to finish this interview?"
"Viva the smorelette."