INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ROBERT LIPARULO-PART TWO

Hey there, NovelTeeners! Yesterday we got the chance to talk to Robert Liparulo about high school, characters, writing advice, pets, and all kinds of other stuff. Today we’re gonna tackle some of the heavier subjects. So let’s get started!  

Robert, can you tell us about how you came to know Jesus?
I was raised Catholic—even went to a parochial middle school—and during one short time when I was about eleven I considered being a priest. I had a falling out with Catholicism in my teens and wasn’t sure what to do about God. A few years into my marriage, my wife and I weren’t getting along, and I felt terrible about it. For the first time in years, I prayed, and I asked God why this woman who I loved so much seemed like a stranger to me. God answered in a way that I can only describe as an audible voice. To this day, I believed I hear Him with my ears as well as my heart. He said, “The reason this has happened is because I’m not part of your life.”

I immediately went to my wife, who was raised agnostic, and told her what had happened. I said I wanted to bring God into our lives, into our marriage. She responded like someone who’d been holding her breath forever and was just told that it was ok to breathe. We went to a Presbyterian church, had a meeting with the pastor, and have walked with Christ ever since. I wish I had been smarter and more faithful to Him in my late-teens and early-twenties, but I’m sure glad He shook up my life and got my attention again.

If you had the chance to change a scene from one of your previous releases, what book would you choose, what scene would you change, and how would you change it?
In Germ, there’s a scene in which a compound that makes biological weapons is bombed in an air strike. If I were to write that scene today, instead of an air strike, I think I’d have the compound attacked by an elite fighting force, a special ops team. It would be cool to have these guys stealthily infiltrate the compound, setting explosives all around, and slowly working their way to the heart of the operation. It was also allow me to have more human/character contact, between them and the good guys who are already in the compound and the bad guys. More now than ever, I’m always looking for ways to build character, to make the characters propel the story forward. By putting more characters on the page instead of anonymous airplanes, I could have done that better.

A few people I’ve told that to argue that the air strike worked because it put the good guys on the ground at risk and it was exciting to see if they’d be able to get out in time. But I think I could have created the same sort of stakes, the same suspense by giving the special ops team the order to kill everyone they encountered.

I’ve talked to the producer who’s making Germ into a movie and he likes the idea. And it doesn’t hurt that shooting a bunch of guys breaking into the compound is a lot cheaper to film than an air strike. So maybe I’ll be able to have it both ways—one for the book and one for the movie.

You get the chance to star in an upcoming film release. What genre of movie would you star in and who would you pick as your costar?
It’d have to be a thriller—a cops and robbers or bank heist story. I love those. My dream co-stars would be Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, but I’d love to work with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as well. I’ve met DiCaprio and Damon, but not DeNiro or Pacino. For some reason, when I get totally burnt out after a long day of writing, I find myself watching the same films over and over: Heat, Ronin, and Bourne Identity. I think the crazy action of those films lets me sort of check out mentally. I also like horror films—smart horror films—but I’m afraid if I were to star in one, they’d want to cast me as the monster.

You’re invited to a White House function, and you have the chance to give a 10-minute speech to the President and the country watching on TV. What do you talk about?
I love what former Australian prime minister John Howard said: “Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.” (Unfortunately the country’s new PM, Julia Gillard, has proclaimed, “I don’t believe in God.”) I would appeal to our president to take a similar stance as Mr. Howard. We are a Christian country, founded on Christian principles, and anyone who doesn’t like that can leave. That doesn’t mean we don’t have tolerance for other religions, but taking God off our coins and out of our schools is just ridiculous. We can honor God and keep reminders of His presence in public places without violating the rights of people with differing beliefs. We need a president who believes that.

Do you have a favorite Christian band? If so, who is it and what’s your favorite song by them?
I’m partial to Third Day. Mac Powell’s voice floors me, it’s so emotive. I had a chance to hang out with him and the band backstage once, and it was great experience, seeing that they aren’t just talents, but Godly men and fun guys. I like a lot of Third Day songs, but I guess my favorite for now is “Call My Name.”

I also like David Crowder, Randy Stonehill, Casting Crowns, Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Jars of Clay, tobyMac. Dreamhouse Kings was a co-sponsor of one of tobyMac’s concert tours last year, which as totally cool.

If you would meet any celebrity, dead or alive, who would you choose and what would you ask him or her?
Well, I’d love to have a conversation with C.S. Lewis, but I’ve read so many of his books and biographies that I feel I already know him. So for the sake of diversity, I’d choose someone else. There are so many people I admire: Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, Michelangelo. But in the end, I’d love to go through a Dreamhouse portal and meet Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation. The foundation of his Ninety-Five Theses was that God’s grace could not be earned or purchase, but is a free gift. The theme of my next thriller, The 13^th Tribe, is exactly this, so maybe right now I’m especially sensitive to Luther’s teaching.

I can just imagine the two of us discussing theology for hours—days. I think he would do most of the talking, but I’d love to ask him about the nuances of free grace: Is it possible to accept the gift and live by God’s word solely out of gratitude, without ever once thinking, “Doing this makes me a good person; this will bring me closer to God”? Is accepting the gift really all we have to do? I’ve heard that Luther enjoyed a fermented beverage now and then, so maybe we could have this great conversation over a couple pints of ale.

What world issue are you passionate about? Why?
It drives me crazy that there are hungry people in the world. Food isn’t a privilege; it’s a necessity and a basic human right. That there are children, even here in America , who go to bed hungry—I mean with a pain in the gut most of us have never felt—is one of the saddest tragedies I can think of. My family helps out at food kitchens, and I donate to organizations like Feeding America, Freedom from Hunger, and Global Hunger Project. But it’s all just a drop in the bucket. As long as there’s a single starving person in the world, we’re not doing enough.  

God tells you that you’ll never publish another book. Do you still keep writing?
I wouldn’t know what else to do. I believe God wired me to write, but if for some reason He says I won’t ever be published again, of course I’d abide by that, but it wouldn’t keep me from doing what I was born to do. Maybe He has other plans for my words—through oration or some other medium, I don’t know.

I believe God wouldn’t give you a gift and desire to do something without also giving you the opportunities to fulfill that desire. That’s why I tell new writers that every one of them could be published and make a career out of writing. They have a strong, God-given desire, and God will be faithful to that desire. They just have to be faithful to it as well. My favorite verse is 2 Chronicles 31:21: “In everything that he undertook . . . he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.” To me, this verse unites human endeavor with God’s sovereignty and providence. Seek God and work hard. Often, we forget one side of that equation.  

You can visit Robert online at: www.DreamhouseKings.com.