PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Lastly, we were thankful that this year we were able to talk to one of the most prolific authors alive, Nora Roberts, who has written more than 200 romances and mysteries.
BILL KURTIS: Peter asked her how many books she writes per year.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
NORA ROBERTS: Totally depends. You know, how long does this one take to write? I don't really plan that out in advance. It just - takes till it's finished every time.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: I understand, pretty much. And let's go back. And how did you get started? You, of course, made your name - am I correct in that you made your name first as a romance novelist?
ROBERTS: Yes.
SAGAL: And were you one of those fans of the genre who said, oh, I could do this, or even, I could do this better?
ROBERTS: Yeah, I think a lot of us started that way. And I've - I always thought everybody made up stories in their heads. Never thought about actually writing them down on paper until I was snowed in with the kids in the blizzard of '79 - 3 feet of snow. I live in a rural area and was stuck. No morning kindergarten - it was a nightmare.
SAGAL: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: That sounds more like a horror genre than romance, but go on.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Yeah, I could've, should've, would've started. Maybe I'd be Stephen King now. Who knows?
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: But that's how I started, just deciding instead of another game of Candyland, which, you know, might have been murder-suicide...
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: ...I decided to write a book.
SAGAL: Right, I see. What did you do - so in this scenario, you're stuck in the house with your very young children with nothing else to do. So what did you do with the kids while you decided to sit down and write your first novel?
ROBERTS: We have a lot of closets.
SAGAL: Oh, yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: People say that they love your romance novels more than, you know, the mass-market books because you add a little special something that's not the typical stuff. Could you describe what makes a Nora Roberts romance novel different?
ROBERTS: Well, I don't really write romance at this stage, but I write about relationships.
SAGAL: And you don't like to do, like, the heaving bosom stuff and the Fabio...
ROBERTS: I never have...
SAGAL: No.
ROBERTS: I never have. I don't have any myself, so...
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: In Nora Roberts' books the bosoms remain still. They do not heave.
ROBERTS: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Now, you also write thrillers under the name J.D. Robb. So why are you writing under a pseudonym?
ROBERTS: I write a lot of books. And at one point, way back when, they were building up inventory and my publisher called me and told me I needed a hobby. And I didn't want a hobby. I just wanted...
SAGAL: Wait a minute. Your publisher said...
ROBERTS: Nora...
SAGAL: ...To, like, most and best-selling novelist, perhaps, alive, stop writing books. We're selling too many of them. I have too much money. Stop.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: For some reason, they actually wanted to publish other people, too. And my agent had been encouraging me to take a pseudonym, and I really didn't want to. She said, Nora, there's Pepsi, there's diet Pepsi and there's caffeine-free Pepsi. And that's when my light bulb went off and, oh, let me rethink.
SAGAL: Oh, I see. So Nora Roberts is your Pepsi.
ROBERTS: Yeah.
SAGAL: And J.D. Robb is your Pepsi with murder.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Yeah. There you go.
SAGAL: Now, can I ask - how long have you been married?
ROBERTS: Thirty - oh, it's math, it's math, it's math. Wait a second. Thirty-two years.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Thirty-two years. And that's a long...
ROBERTS: Thirty-two years this summer.
SAGAL: That's a long time to be married.
ROBERTS: Yeah.
SAGAL: And does your marriage provide you inspiration or did it provide you inspiration for your novels?
ROBERTS: No more than - you know, I don't go out and kill people either, to...
SAGAL: Oh, I see.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: ...To be inspired to write a murder scene.
SAGAL: But that touching scene in one of your novels where the guy fell asleep in front of the TV with his mouth hanging open, that was...
ROBERTS: (Laughter).
SAGAL: You're telling me you invented that?
ROBERTS: Yeah.
SAGAL: I have to ask you one thing because you are so prolific. Have you ever, for one minute in your life, had writer's block?
ROBERTS: I don't let myself believe in it. I feel very strongly writing is habit as much as an art or a craft. And if you write crap you're still writing.
SAGAL: Yeah.
ROBERTS: And you can fix that. But if you walk away then you've broken the habit.
SAGAL: Really? But you've never, like, finished a novel and said, I have written about all the relationships I can think of and all the murders I can think of, I got nothing?
ROBERTS: Oh, no. There are 88 keys on the piano, but do you run out of music?
SAGAL: That's a good point.
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE: Ooh.
SAGAL: There she is, ladies and gentlemen, Nora Roberts.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Well, Nora Roberts, we are delighted to talk to you. And we've asked you to play a game we're calling...
KURTIS: You're a recluse who never writes anything.
SAGAL: So as we discussed, you write under the name J.D. Robb because you're writing too many books to publish under one name.
ROBERTS: (Laughter).
SAGAL: So we're going to ask you instead about J.D. Salinger...
ROBERTS: Ah.
SAGAL: ...Who wrote pretty much nothing for the last 50 years of his life.
ROBERTS: Right.
SAGAL: Answer three questions about the famous recluse, you'll win our prize, Carl Kasell's voice on their voicemail, for one of our listeners. All right, Bill, who is author Nora Roberts playing for?
KURTIS: Allen Bush of Bethlehem, Pa.
SAGAL: All right, you ready?
ROBERTS: I guess.
SAGAL: All right, here's your first question. J.D. Salinger came to literary fame relatively late in life. He was in his early 30s. But - so before he became a famous author, he did which of these jobs? Was he A, a cruise ship entertainment director; B, a professional hand model; or C, a competitive ballroom dancer?
ROBERTS: Oh, geez. Really?
SAGAL: Yes. He was one of those things.
ROBERTS: Oh, he was one of those things. I'm going to say a ballroom dancer.
SAGAL: Oh, I wish. He was actually a cruise ship entertainment director.
ROBERTS: Really?
SAGAL: Can you imagine that?
ROBERTS: No, I can't (laughter).
SAGAL: All right, you phonies, it's time for bingo.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: All right, you have two more chances. Famously, as we now know, J.D. Salinger became a recluse at the height of his fame. Some blamed his difficulty with public attention or his experiences in World War II. But what other trauma might have sent him fleeing from human contact? A, the X-ray specs ordered from the back of a comic book did not turn out to work; B, his girlfriend was once stolen from him by none other than Charlie Chaplin; or C, he once accepted an award and discovered afterwards his fly was down the whole time?
ROBERTS: (Laughter) I would love it to be three. Gosh, he seems a lot younger than Chaplin. I'm going to say the fly just because it's funnier.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Remember, Charlie - I'm going to say about Charlie Chaplin, it wasn't questioned whether Charlie Chaplin was older than J.D. Salinger. The question is whether the girl was.
ROBERTS: Well, that's true, isn't it?
SAGAL: Yes. So I'm trying to give you a big hint here.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Oh, you're giving me a break on that?
SAGAL: Yeah.
ROBERTS: I should go with my first instinct of Charlie Chaplin?
SAGAL: Yes, you should.
ROBERTS: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL, APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Yes. In the '40s, J.D. Salinger dated Oona O'Neill, daughter of Eugene O'Neill. And then she, under short order, became Oona Chaplin, and J.D. was mad. All right.
ROBERTS: Ah.
SAGAL: Your last question. For most of his life, J.D. Salinger did, in fact, remain a recluse up in New Hampshire. And he turned down many tempting offers such as which of these - A, a chance to be a guest judge on season one of "American Idol..."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...B, an offer from Jerry Lewis to adapt and star in his novel "The Catcher In The Rye"; or C, a spot on those American Express do you know me ads from the 1970s in which he would say - do you know me? No? Good - and run off camera.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Boy, they're all pretty good, aren't they?
SAGAL: They are.
ROBERTS: I'm going to go with Jerry Lewis.
SAGAL: And you're right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: It was, in fact, that.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: It turns out that Jerry Lewis was obsessed with the character of Holden Caulfield and constantly demanded that he be given the rights to star in a movie adaptation. Bill, how did Nora Roberts do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Two out of three. Nora, that's really good.
SAGAL: Congratulations, Nora. That was awesome.
ROBERTS: (Laughter) Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Nora Roberts is an award winning and best-selling author of over 200 books. Her latest book, written under the name J.D. Robb, is "Echoes In Death," available now. Nora Roberts, thank you so much for joining us.
(APPLAUSE)
ROBERTS: Thank you, Peter.
SAGAL: Thank you, Nora.
SAGAL: That does it for our Thanksgiving special. Support for NPR comes from NPR stations and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, analyzing the genetic weaknesses of more than 25,000 tumors to craft precision treatments for cancer - more at danafarber.org/beatcancer. Fidelity Investments taking a personalized approach to helping clients grow, preserve and manage their wealth - learn more at fidelity.com/wealth - Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. And Lumber Liquidators, a proud sponsor of NPR, offering more than 400 styles including hardwood, bamboo, laminate and vinyl with flooring specialists in hundreds of stores nationwide - more at lumberliquidators.com or 1-800-HARDWOOD.
WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions - Doug Berman, benevolent overlord. Philipp Goedicke writes our limericks. Our house manager is Tyler Greene. Our interns are Katie O'Reilly (ph) and Gianna Capadona. Our web guru is Beth Novey. B.J. Leiderman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills and Miles Doornbos. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our business and op manager is Colin Miller. Our production coordinator, Robert Neuhaus. Our senior producer, Ian Chillag. The executive producer of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME is Mr. Michael Danforth.
Thanks so much to Bill Kurtis. Thanks to all of our fabulous panelists and the guests who you heard on this week's show. Thanks mostly to all of you listening. I am Peter Sagal, and we will see you next week.
(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.