Lawyers, Guns & Money
Jason Dildine:
Thanks for doing this again, Mr. Johnson. Walt walks the Earth with a strong moral compass. As you and other writers have stated, ‘write what you know’. So, with that in mind, how did your upbringing influence your moral compass that you passed along to Walt? I know for me, one of the tried-and-true things I got from my dad was, never talk money, politics, or religion with friends or family. While that’s general on the face of it, I take it to mean to be accepting of all views and to ‘own’ my stance and to not force it onto others. Interested in reading your perspective. Thank you for your time!
Hi Jason,
In answer to your question, my parents walked a fine line and were very clear about their children doing that, too. I think they set us on a trajectory, but then I think it’s pretty much up to each of us as an individual to decide the path we were going to take.
When I was putting the components together to comprise Walt, an awful lot of people were writing noir and many of the crime fiction characters were alcoholic detectives burying bodies in their back yards– I wanted to do something different. I wanted Walt to be a good guy, not a boring one and not perfect but decent. The way I’ve described him is that if I slide off the road in a snowstorm in the middle of the night and a set of headlights pulls up to help me, I want that guy to be Walt.
Money, politics, and religion… Boy, I’ve heard that one my whole life, too. It’s interesting because the rules change in Europe where politics are game, but your personal life is off limits. Well, my personal life is kind of boring, so I get a lot of political questions. I think one is in a unique position as an author and a public figure. I think, early on, I decided that I could deal with those issues but not weaponize them in the novels. I have my own feeling about all three, but I’m also aware that there’s a responsibility that goes along. I think the key is in being respectful of people and their beliefs and that includes the characters I write about.
Some of my favorite conversations are the spiritual knock-down-drag-outs in which Walt and Henry engage. Walt’s a detective, and he’s extremely grounded in his belief with empirical data—nothing but the facts. Henry, whereas is more philosophical and open to the mysticism and spirituality that’s part of Cheyenne everyday life. Both of them are right, and for me one of the joys of their relationship is watching them wrangle it out on a book-to-book basis.
Money is an interesting subject in that it’s hardly ever mentioned in the books although it weighs heavily in the upcoming The Longmire Defense, where we discover that Lloyd, Walt’s grandfather was greatly involved in Wyoming State finance, perhaps a little too involved.
Every once in a while, somebody will ask me a financial question concerning the characters, like how Lucian Connally can afford Pappy Van Winkle’s bourbon… (Hint: he’s a Doolittle Raider and besides being extremely wealthy from his family ranch assets, people like to do him favors.) Actually, money infrequently entersthe novels because Walt lives in what has been described a modest lifestyle. I’m not sure what that means but I’ve also been described that way, myself. There are these wacky websites that pull together information on public figures, their physical traits, how much money they have, and a friend forwarded mine to me because he thought I’d enjoy it… Well, I have to admit that I did in that they had hardly anything right except for my lifestyle, which, by all accounts, is modest.
Recently, in a Belgian interview, I got asked how my life had changed, and I told them, “I can walk into Ace Hardware and buy anything I want.” I’m not sure they had any idea what I was talking about, but for those of us who’ve straightened nails or have those coffee cans with copious amounts of random screws—we know where I’m coming from.
See you on the trail,
Craig
Longmire Book Club 