Andrea
asked
Tana French:
I LOVE your books and am about to start The Secret Place. I am sure you have been asked this before, but are we ever going to find out, what happened "In the Woods"?
Tana French
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Thank you very much!
The thing about In the Woods is that Rob Ryan is - possibly because of whatever happened when he was twelve, possibly just because of who he is - the kind of person who's incapable of taking any irrevocable leap. Whenever he gets close to anything that's irrevocable, he runs as far and as fast as he can - he does it in his relationship with Cassie, for example. So when he gets to the verge of remembering what happened, that's what he does: he runs.
So when it came to the ending of In the Woods, I had three choices:
1 - Turn the narrator into a totally different character at the end of the book, for the sake of a neat plot resolution: shoddy and dishonest.
2 - Have some other character do a deus ex machina and find out for him: forced and cheap.
3 - Complete the arc of his psychological journey (which for me was the core plot arc of the book) and the arc of the modern-day mystery, but leave the old one unsolved.
I went with the third one - because that was the one that was true to the character and the rest of the book, and because I always saw In the Woods as a book about Rob and what that old mystery resurfacing does to him, rather than a book about the mystery itself. I knew some readers would be furious that it didn't stick to the conventions of the mystery genre, and I could see why - but on the other hand, I also knew some readers would be furious if I sold out my narrator in the last chapter for easy closure. I figured all I could do was write the best book I was capable of writing, and hope it was good enough.
This is a long-winded way of saying that, at the moment, I can't see any way I'd be able to resolve that mystery - again, the answer is in Rob's head, and his nature means that he'll never have the courage to take that leap and find it. But I haven't ruled out the possibility that I'll find a way to clear it up, somewhere down the line.
(hide spoiler)]
The thing about In the Woods is that Rob Ryan is - possibly because of whatever happened when he was twelve, possibly just because of who he is - the kind of person who's incapable of taking any irrevocable leap. Whenever he gets close to anything that's irrevocable, he runs as far and as fast as he can - he does it in his relationship with Cassie, for example. So when he gets to the verge of remembering what happened, that's what he does: he runs.
So when it came to the ending of In the Woods, I had three choices:
1 - Turn the narrator into a totally different character at the end of the book, for the sake of a neat plot resolution: shoddy and dishonest.
2 - Have some other character do a deus ex machina and find out for him: forced and cheap.
3 - Complete the arc of his psychological journey (which for me was the core plot arc of the book) and the arc of the modern-day mystery, but leave the old one unsolved.
I went with the third one - because that was the one that was true to the character and the rest of the book, and because I always saw In the Woods as a book about Rob and what that old mystery resurfacing does to him, rather than a book about the mystery itself. I knew some readers would be furious that it didn't stick to the conventions of the mystery genre, and I could see why - but on the other hand, I also knew some readers would be furious if I sold out my narrator in the last chapter for easy closure. I figured all I could do was write the best book I was capable of writing, and hope it was good enough.
This is a long-winded way of saying that, at the moment, I can't see any way I'd be able to resolve that mystery - again, the answer is in Rob's head, and his nature means that he'll never have the courage to take that leap and find it. But I haven't ruled out the possibility that I'll find a way to clear it up, somewhere down the line.
(hide spoiler)]
More Answered Questions
Brendan
asked
Tana French:
I love how the protagonists in your books are characters we've already seen in smaller roles in previous novels. How far in advance do you plan that? When you're writing a supporting character into a book, do you know that you intend on making them a main character in a different story?
Carrie Lallo
asked
Tana French:
A comment, rather than a question; One of the most powerful devices in your books is auditory description. I have never read an author whose descriptions of the sounds of places are so powerful and haunting. I work hard on visual descriptions when I write, but rarely consider how things sound. I adore your writing. Keep going!
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