Megan’s Comments (group member since Aug 14, 2012)

Megan’s comments from the Ask Gillian Flynn and Megan Abbott group.

Patrick wrote: "Thank you so much to our authors and to everyone who asked a question today! This has been one of our best, most interesting Goodreads Featured Author Groups. A huge thanks to everyone involved!

A..."

Indeed! Thank you, Gillian, Patrick and everyone else--great time!

Stephen wrote: "Megan wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Gillian and Megan - what is your next book to be published about ? How far are you through writing it and how long does it take you to write each novel ?"

Mine is cal..."

It's set in the present day and it's about a mysterious outbreak in a small town. The rest seems to be unfolding as I write!

Stephen wrote: "Gillian and Megan - what is your next book to be published about ? How far are you through writing it and how long does it take you to write each novel ?"

Mine is called The Fever and I'm about halfway through--but I can never tell how long they will take! Usually a year or so for the first draft?

Gillian wrote: "Kmarko wrote: "What's happened to Megan? Gillian, what did you do??"

Mwahahahaha."

I promise, I'm still here! (for now)

Gillian wrote: "Patrick wrote: "Gillian wrote: "I have a question for everyone: Is there a city you'd like to see featured in a mystery/noir that you feel hasn't been represented fully in fiction?"

Syracuse, NY i..."

Yes! I have written aspects of nearby Oswego NY into my fiction. Very affected by living there.

Gillian wrote: "@Megan, I'd be interested on your take on Ann's question:

It seems like the "evil" female keeps cropping up this summer. Before I read Gone Girl, I happened upon Serena by Ron Rash. Now that's an ..."

Evil is such a subjective word. I admit I never really think of any of my characters (or yours) as "evil." One of the things I find so compelling about good crime fiction is it shows the complexities behind people behaving badly. That actions may be destructive or even cruel but as the book unfolds the picture gets more complicated. What do you think?

Gillian wrote: "@Megan You're so well and widely read. Curious if you have a favorite novel you reread regularly...and do you have a book that stands out from your childhood?"

Oh yes--what a great question. As a kid, Flowers in the Attic and Lois Duncan's novels burned a hole in my brain. Re-reading them recently, I was surprised that they were as dark as I remembered.

I do return, a lot, to Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Chandler,Ellroy's My Dark Places. And I just re-read Secret History by Donna Tartt after having fallen in love with it many years ago. It held up beautifully.

How about you?

Kemper wrote: "@ Megan - Queenpin and Song Is You really felt like old school noir. Did you do anything like read authors like Jim Thompson or James Cain, or watch classic noir movies to try and capture that kin..."

I am a huge, huge old-school noir fan--I think I really only started writing fiction because of them so I am in their debt--and possibly even more the films! My first (nonfiction) book is about Chandler, Cain and Himes and film noir and it's an abiding fixation. Are you a fan of those writers/films?

Ann wrote: "It seems like the "evil" female keeps cropping up this summer. Before I read Gone Girl, I happened upon Serena by Ron Rash. Now that's an evil anti-hero(ine). I keep hearing selfish women in my mus..."

Ann, great question. The frustration element seems key. Seems like there's a pressing need for outlets for/expressions of female anger.

Do you think we're harder on female characters than male ones in terms of judging their behavior?

Laura wrote: "On cities: Waco, Texas; Richmond, Va.; Wilmington, Delaware; Brunswick, Georgia."

Yes! I'd add: Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona....

Dan wrote: "Gillian wrote: "I have a question for everyone: Is there a city you'd like to see featured in a mystery/noir that you feel hasn't been represented fully in fiction?"

I think dying cities like Cair..."

Boy, I agree. As a Michigan native, I'd say so much of the Midwest is underexplored (which is ironic, given how many true crime books are set there, and the Great Plains).

Priscilla wrote: "Megan wrote: "Priscilla wrote: "Megan, I thought Bury Me Deep was terrific. Are there any other true crime stories that you've thought about turning into fiction?"

Thank you so much! That case con..."

Oh, gosh, I just googled that, natch--talk about haunting. I think you are so right. I wrote about a real-life missing person case in my second book, The Song is You (the Jean Spangler disappearance), and that open-ended quality, the never-knowing-ness, was precisely the appeal for me. We end up projecting so much of ourselves on those cases, somehow--don't you think? It also seems to me to speak to heart of true crime's appeal (and maybe crime fiction's). It's not the darkness of the tales (or not just), but the human emotions laid bare. The way these stories affect us, reach out to us.

Priscilla wrote: "Megan, I thought Bury Me Deep was terrific. Are there any other true crime stories that you've thought about turning into fiction?"

Thank you so much! That case continues to haunt me. I've thought about a lot of them, including (before TJ English wrote a great nonfiction book about it called Savage City) the Career Girl Murders. I have a story coming out next year loosely based on the Casey Anthony case.

Is there a real-life case you find especially compelling (not that I'd steal it!)?

Jim wrote: "Megan wrote: "You are so close to the reader/writer..."

That's a fantastic observation regarding the "relationship" between reader and writer. At the point of the reader reading, the reader and wr..."

Thank you, Jim! And that's absolutely true. And there's the opposite danger that can come after working too intently with the draft, so you lose the "live-ness" of it. Often that happens for me and I have to set it aside long enough to return to it as reader again...to see what feels overworked and what feels (hopefully) like that longed-for whisper in the ear quality!

Kemper wrote: "Megan wrote: "I did talk with a couple cheerleaders, but mostly I "observed" (as in "eavesdropped online") them talking with each other.

Did the online eavesdropping give you any ideas about how ..."

I think a lot of that came from all the media hysteria about teen texting epidemics. In the end, it felt like the same thing as passing notes and slam books for past generations (like mine), but with such velocity! And part of that came from my own experiences--how your cell phone came become this living thing, a demon in your hand!

Gillian wrote: "@Megan, speaking of the evil girls do to each other, it reminds me of that fantastic line in DARE ME, "There's something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls."

Did that line come to you a..."

It came to me as I was writing, though originally it was buried later in the book. It kept sticking in my head, so I knew I had to move it forward.

I wonder with you about the notion of the "Cool Girl," which is one of the most memorable passages in Gone Girl. (It begins: "“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping..." and is quoted in full here: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/...)

Was that an early idea? When I read it, I nearly gasped it was so perfect, so incisive.

Gillian wrote: "Megan wrote: "Gillian wrote: "Megan wrote: "Megan here--so happy to be doing this, and thanks to all for joining!
I will jump in and start with one for Gillian. A couple years back we realized we ..."

Oh gosh, that's totally right. They markered all over their body parts, telling them where they were too flabby. I never forgot that. If it's a fever dream, it's one that returns, like malaria!

Susan wrote: "Thanks Megan! I'm imagining you lurking in cheerleader chats room, ha - but are there even still chat rooms these days? I'm totally adding "trawling" to my vocab."

There are! though mostly in form of message boards/FB walls....but same impulses, just as texts have replaced notes-passed-in-class!

Gillian wrote: "Megan wrote: "Laura wrote: "I am dashing to and fro today, but please, please, please talk about Betty Broderick. And perhaps that Lifetime movie in which Kate Jackson will do anything -- and I mea..."

Ha! you read my mind...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Friend...

Gillian wrote: "Megan wrote: "Megan here--so happy to be doing this, and thanks to all for joining!
I will jump in and start with one for Gillian. A couple years back we realized we both had been strongly influen..."

Oh, what a great question! I think Friend to Die For AKA Death of a Cheerleader with Kellie Martin and (yes) Tori Spelling would be right up there. It's actually a very meaty tale (based on a true crime) and speaks volumes about the pressures of being a teenage girl. Second only to Small Sacrifices with Farrah Fawcett, which I haven't seen in many years but terrified me for years ("Hungry Like the Wolf" never sounded the same thereafter...)

Gillian, what was that one with Hillary Swank we both had watched?