11/27/2022 0 Comments Charles schmid![]() I was reassured to see that though Oates also stepped away from the reality of the case, she ultimately wove many traces of Schmid, the man she referred to as a “tabloid psychopath,” into her story as well. #Charles schmid movie#Interestingly, in an article about the movie Smooth Talk (adapted from her short story), Oates indicates that she didn’t read the full Life article, because “she didn’t want to be distracted by too much detail.” I totally understand her response in my own research I sometimes felt I was drowning in facts and eventually had to step away from them to write my story.īut in spite of my efforts to distance myself from my research, Schmid became the inspiration for Tony, one of my main characters, and influenced my novel in so many strange and unexpected ways that at times I felt like I was conjuring him. Looking at its stark black and white photos of Schmid and his friends decades later still gave me a chill. The counter-culture was just emerging, but this Life article offered a frightening glimpse of what bored teens could be capable of when their parents weren’t around. His friends knew of the murders but kept his secret, suggesting a depravity that extended beyond Schmid-the charismatic psychopath at the story’s center-to the children of the good citizens of Tucson (hence the nickname Pied Piper). Oates and I both learned of this case from a 1966 Life Magazine article about Schmid, the seemingly charming and popular young man who murdered three teenage girls and buried them in the Arizona desert. But when my novel, Half in Love with Death, was on its way to publication, I finally gave in to my curiosity and re-read her story. My initial inclination was not to re-read it, because I didn’t want to be overly influenced by this literary masterpiece. Oates’ chilling “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” had been one of my favorite short stories long before I learned we shared the same inspiration. There were works of non-fiction, including Don Moser’s excellent The Pied Piper of Tucson and John Gilmore’s true crime book, Cold-Blooded several movies (good and bad) numerous internet posts and one iconic short story by Joyce Carol Oates. ![]() ![]() When I set out to write a novel inspired by the case of Charles Schmid, the “Pied Piper of Tucson,” I knew from the start that I was not the only writer to find a story in this case. ![]()
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