It's all in the emotions for 'Locket' writer

Richard Paul Evans doesn't write books with reviewers in mind, which in his case is an especially good idea. Evans was in town recently to promote his seventh novel, The Last Promise, and his third Hallmark-produced TV movie, "The Locket." It airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS. From the moment his book The Christmas Box turned its author into a New York Times chart-topper in 1994, the former ad man from Utah has been a dependable source of revenue for booksellers and cannon fodder for critics. His books have been called "treacly" and compared to Kathie Lee Gifford's much-maligned Christmas specials. Evans considers it the price of fame. As evidence, he cited the USA Today reporter who gave him some useful advice on an early promotional tour. "You're making a lot of money and everyone knows it," Evans recalled the reporter telling him. "You write things that are emotional. You're going to get hit and hit hard. You'd better get used to it." Sure enough, Evans said, right after that interview USA Today ripped his novel. "They said it was some of the worst dialogue ever committed to print," said Evans, smiling good-naturedly, as if he just recalled an amusing anecdote. And how can you be anything but amused at critics who have nipped at your heels every step of the way to million-sellerdom? Evans seems uninterested in earning the praise of book reviewers. He suggests - half joking, half not - that it would be a bad omen if he did. "If I read a review and it said my book was skillfully written," he said, "I'd want to shoot myself." Though Evans thinks critics are mellowing on him somewhat, reviews for The Last Promise seem as brutal as those of his previous books. The Baltimore Sun critic called it "a romance from and for the recycling bin." Even the Salt Lake Deseret News, in the author's hometown, panned the book for its "wooden and cliched" language. Evans' point, however, is that reviewers are so busy thinking of new ways to eviscerate his writing they overlook the real reason people read him. "I judge my books on their emotional effects," Evans said. "When I was a kid my favorite books were Charlotte's Web, Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows ... What did they have in common? They left me bawling at the end." As a novelist, Evans said he tries "to write something that is sweet, honest and not boring. That's difficult." Don't forget "squeaky-clean": His romances are sex-scene-free, a rarity in non-religious fiction. (Though a Mormon, Evans believes his readership "transcends religion.") He did a marketing survey of readers on his mailing list. To his surprise, he found that in many families, the mother and daughter - and sometimes the grandmother - were all reading his books. "And they thank me," he pointed out, "for giving them something they can share." His book signing at Unity Temple on the Plaza included a preview screening of "The Locket," Sunday's "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation starring Vanessa Redgrave. Hallmark certainly understands the appeal of Evans. "The Christmas Box," produced by Hallmark Entertainment for CBS, was the highest-rated movie of the 1995-96 season. "The Locket" has much in common with "The Christmas Box." Both involve a male protagonist who makes an emotional self-discovery with help from an older, wiser woman. The woman, who has suffered tragic loss, helps the hero understand he must grab onto what is most important to him and not let go. After the screening, Evans signed books. In line were mostly women in their 30s, 40s and 50s, the ideal Hallmark audience. That included Sylvia Brush and Jill Josepher - friends, co-workers and Evans aficionados. Brush had a bagful of books, while Josepher was holding The Last Promise. They planned to read and trade the books with each other. "I call it the Interpersonal Loan System," joked Brush, a media resource librarian at Eastwood Hills Elementary. To his fans, Evans does more than simply speak to the heart. "He empowers you to understand a little better the reality of your emotions with other people," Brush said. "His process helps you be in touch with your own relationships." Evans, who said his readers "tend to be salt of the earth" people, started meeting them in 1993 and 1994 when he went store to store, hawking self-published copies of The Christmas Box around the Salt Lake area. The Christmas Box sold 8 million copies and spawned a prequel and a sequel, also best sellers. That success story, in turn, produced two side ventures for Evans. He became a motivational speaker, converting his experience into pep talks to teens and adults (sample speech