In a post on ScreenCraft, Shanee Edwards shares excerpts from an interview with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects). Some highlights include:
- Write for Yourself. “Never, ever write what you think the market wants,” Flynn says, noting that none of her novels were written to a market. In fact, that made finding a publisher more difficult, as none liked the difficult protagonist of Sharp Objects.
- You Don’t Have to Write What You Know. “If you write too close to what you know, you’re basically journaling and that can really get in the way of the fiction part of your story,” Flynn remarks. “You can get hung up on over-explaining things. Or tying yourself to the truth when it’s supposed to be fiction. If I feel like I’m getting too close to who I am, I pull myself away.”
- Pick Your Editorial Battles. “Some notes just aren’t worth pushing back on,” she says. “Some just aren’t going to affect the overall vision. But then there are certain things worth fighting for. I’m not a big, ‘Oh I’m the ARTIST!’ But you have to respect your producer.”
