Getting to know Pat Conroy

It wasn't the warmest Mother's Day tale.

Pat Conroy's earliest memory of his mother, Peggy, was of his father beating her to the floor as young Pat watched from his high chair.

Conroy recalled the scene Sunday at USC Beaufort's performing arts center alongside author Catherine Seltzer, who wrote the book "Understanding Pat Conroy" and is working on a biography of the Beaufort novelist.

An audience of about 60 crowded several rows of the auditorium to hear Conroy tell stories both funny and jarring.

He wondered aloud why longtime friend Bernie Schein had not been escorted out by security, talked about how wife and fellow author Cassandra King speeds through typing her books -- laughing all the way -- while Conroy meticulously hand writes each book on legal pads.

He answered questions about the the role of the Holocaust in his novel "Beach Music," about why there was so little sex in his stories and about how his writing affected his relationships with family.

He told the audience there was a novel in each of their seats, that everyone had stories.

"If you can't be a storyteller, there are no stories," he said. "I've told stories y'all can't tell, because of loyalty."

He offered some insight into his processes and characters and the complicated family dynamic.

Seltzer, a Virginia native living in St. Louis, learned about Conroy for her book released this month and wants to know him even better. She is more than a year into what she expects will be three more years of mapping Conroy's life for his biography.

There are many players yet to be interviewed. She talks with Conroy twice a week. He granted her access to his manuscripts, journals and photos before they became part of University of South Carolina archives.

"It's been agony," Conroy said, in a red cap, navy blue blazer and boat shoes ready to exit the building.

"It's been the most fun ever for me, though," Seltzer said.

Of writing about a writer who has covered his own life so thoroughly in his fiction and memoirs, Seltzer said the challenge has been nailing the details. She said getting the nerve to ask Conroy about the project was tough, but that there is plenty of material.

"There is so much of it he hasn't addressed," she said.

Conroy remembers his mother, who died in 1984, for her beauty. He joked that he and his siblings wondered why they had not inherited her good looks, and instead took after "The Beast."

After Conroy wrote "The Great Santini," a book based on his abusive Marine pilot father, Donald, Peggy told Pat he had it all wrong. She said she had controlled the family all that time, using her husband's bull-headedness to manipulate him.

It was his mom who told Conroy in middle school that she was raising him to be a Southern writer.

"I worshiped my mom so much, so that's what I did," Conroy said.

Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.

This story was originally published May 10, 2015 at 9:02 PM with the headline "Getting to know Pat Conroy."