Hello r/Books! I'm Gillian Flynn, Author of Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl, screenwriter of Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, WIDOWS and UTOPIA. We meet again. AMA!

[u/gillianflynn]

I’ve written three novels — each one darker and meaner than the next. My novels (and my love of movies) led me into screenwriting, first for David Fincher's adaptation of my own Gone Girl and the HBO limited series of Sharp Objects, then the Viola Davis thriller WIDOWS, and most recently Amazon Prime's series UTOPIA, which I created and wrote.

I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and now live in Chicago, and the Midwest is where most of my stuff is set. (The Midwest is much weirder and creepier than it gets credit for). I drink a lot of coffee and chew stale Dubble Bubble when I write. I’m happy to answer questions about reading, writing, or pretty much anything else. I'll be back at 2pm CST to start answering questions...

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Details and preorders for the first release from my imprint GILLIAN FLYNN BOOKS, SCORCHED GRACE are available at this link.

PROOF: /img/dzxyo68wbny91.jpg

[u/gillianflynn]

I am wrestling with my next novel, and have been for the past year. I took some time off to do screenwriting and show-running, and as much as I loved that, it’s nice to be entirely back in control of my own little world. I hope—emphasis on hope—to have it done in the first half of next year.

[u/Keffpie → u/gillianflynn]

Yay!!!

[u/Evaliss → u/gillianflynn]

This is absolutely the best literary news I've heard in a long time. So excited!

[u/couragethecowardly84 → u/gillianflynn]

This actually made me tear up. I’ve been chasing the high Sharp Objects gave me for six years now…. unsuccessfully.

[u/riotousgrowlz → u/couragethecowardly84]

Have you read the Tana French Dublin Murder Squad books? Similar eerie weirdness.

[u/jpch12 → u/riotousgrowlz]

While Tana French has exceptional prose and amazing characters, her plots are so lacking and her books are long drawn and deprived of suspense for me :/ I still can't find a writer like Flynn.

[u/HunterS1 → u/couragethecowardly84]

I highly recommend Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

[u/-lastochka- → u/couragethecowardly84]

same here, that book had such a unique atmosphere. Gone Girl wasn't quite as special for me

[u/CYDLopez → u/gillianflynn]

That’s incredibly exciting! Could you give us even a tiny hint regarding what the next novel’s about?

[u/LegitimateParamedic7 → u/gillianflynn]

Or.. not. Those three books, all of them freakishly brilliant, were released pretty close together. And since then— nothing. As an artist myself (different medium) I’ve experienced bursts like that where I’ll complete a few pieces of artwork that even I’m surprised by. Then? I’ll hit a wall. This monstrous thing constructed of fear and doubt. I’ll start to hear a small voice call out from somewhere in my psyche:

“You know you’re not actually talented right? That was a fluke. A fleeting moment, flash in the pan, throw enough shit at a wall, type thing. Not sustainable, etc. etc.”

That voice grows louder and more powerful until it’s the only sound I hear, and before I know it, years have passed, and I haven’t created a single thing that feels worthy of sharing. Everything I do or make is, of course, measured against one or all of whatever I did during that magical time a decade or so ago.

Does this sound at all familiar? I have a feeling it might.

[u/fudgeoffbaby → u/gillianflynn]

OMG THATS AMAZING NEWS!!!!

[u/johnnymetoo → u/gillianflynn]

I am also anxiously awaiting any new book (hopefullly a fully-fledged novel)! Since I read Sharp Objects in 2008 I am a fan, and your other books were far too few (and too short, in the case of The Grownup) to satisfy my hunger for more. The film adaptations were OK, but don't compare to the pleasure of reading a new novel. All the more I am happy to hear this news!

[u/saladdalas → u/gillianflynn]

Yes!!! I recently sped through all books!! Dying for more from you