CHRISTOPHER DARDEN

Writing is hard work, but a lot of fun, too. It allows me to live out some of my fantasies.

I think that the mere fact that I'm doing it ought to inspire someone. In junior high school the counselor suggested that I focus on wood shop and metal shop.

I did not think that I was angry, but clearly anger was reflected in my writing. I did not think that I had been affected emotionally, but it was clear from my writing that I was still very emotional about the trial some six months after it ended.

I chose to go to law school because I thought that someday, somehow I'd make a difference.

I can't tell you how hard I worked the last year. In fact, I worked so hard that I know I can't maintain that same work level in 2001, so I've got to quit something.

The events of the day inspired me to become a lawyer.

Something's going to happen that's going to make us all pay attention at the type of sentences some people are serving and the conditions in which they are served.

The law has no compassion. And justice is administered without compassion.

I began writing in the 4th grade. As a matter of fact, I produced a play for the entire school. It was about Leif Ericson and the discovery of America.

In some ways I'm still recovering from the trial. My health is not as good as it ought to be. I've gone back to practicing law and it seems to have taken a toll for whatever reason.

It did not prepare me for writing or 'Power of Attorney.' However, what it did is that it forced me out of the DA's office. I stopped getting that county check.

I think it hurt my performance because I stopped being me. That won't ever happen again.

It's too late for that - trying to second guess it. It's over. I'm worried about how to get the kids through school and still write and practice law and take power of attorney.

That's an interesting question. I would say that in general Americans know very little about the law. It's one of those things that most of us take for granted.

I think that as I continue to write, my writing I hope will become more controversial and more provocative.

I'm real bent on dialogue. I'm just a little bit crazy and when you put that along with 20 years as a criminal lawyer, it's pretty easy to come up with some interesting plots.

I no longer teach law. But when I did I advised my students that they should never accept a case if it meant that by doing so you couldn't sleep at night.

In fact, some reviewers have said that as they got into the story they forgot that the protagonist is a black woman. They were moved by the story - by the people as a whole - and not by the little things.

All I can really say is it's bloodier than hell. In this one I'm going to be much more direct and honest in my description of the actual killings and the crime scene.

It's much like writing a screenplay with someone else and that's how we view it, I think.

That's the thing about us lawyers - if at all possible, we will consume each other.

I am a struggling writer. A middle-aged man with two little kids and I'm just trying to earn a living. So buy this book - or my kids will have to go to foster care.

I don't know how the editors are going to take it or how it may be received. But to some extent I'm hoping that with the next book, when people pick it up and read it, it will scare the pants off of them.

It would have been easier to have a male protagonist, but I didn't want people to assume that Nikki Hill was me in her entirety because a lot of people just don't like me and I don't think they would be interested in reading about me, even in the fictional context.

I just did something on a show on UPN called 'Girlfriends' that will be on television in February. I am actually a much better actor today than I was in 1996, believe it or not.