John
asked
Matt Ruff:
How different was writing "Lovecraft County" in comparison with "The Mirage", since I am aware that you had tried pitching "The Mirage" first as a TV series before writing it as a novel? I am especially impressed with your world building in "Lovecraft Country", though it lacks the inventiveness of say, what you dubbed as the internet in "The Mirage".
Matt Ruff
Figuring out how to turn The Mirage into a novel was a lot simpler, which was one reason (besides the timeliness of the story) that I decided to tackle it first. I’d written this detailed treatment for a multi-season TV show, but when I stripped out most of the subplots and side arcs and focused on the central mystery of the mirage, the story arc looked a lot like a traditional novel.
That approach wouldn’t work with Lovecraft Country. As I mentioned in the answer to a previous question, I really liked the idea of giving each of my protagonists a chance to star in their own weird tale. But I didn’t want to write a book of short stories, and I wasn’t sure my publisher would go for that either. The breakthrough came when I realized I could do a sort of hybrid work, an episodic novel that would mimic, in literary form, the experience of binge-watching a season of TV. In the end this notion even carries over into the length of the chapters: Most of them are around 10-12,000 words. The exceptions are the first chapter – the two-hour pilot episode – and Ruby’s chapter – the special “sweeps week” episode, with must-see revelations about what the bad guys' master plan is.
So I tried this, and it not only worked, it actually facilitated the writing in a way I hadn’t expected. I’m somewhat obsessive-compulsive, and with my previous novels I tended to write in strict chronological order. The episodic nature of Lovecraft Country let me break this habit – right from the start, I felt much freer to jump back and forth in the book. If I got stuck on one chapter, I’d just skip to another and keep going. That both saved me time and helped me keep the larger arc story in mind.
That approach wouldn’t work with Lovecraft Country. As I mentioned in the answer to a previous question, I really liked the idea of giving each of my protagonists a chance to star in their own weird tale. But I didn’t want to write a book of short stories, and I wasn’t sure my publisher would go for that either. The breakthrough came when I realized I could do a sort of hybrid work, an episodic novel that would mimic, in literary form, the experience of binge-watching a season of TV. In the end this notion even carries over into the length of the chapters: Most of them are around 10-12,000 words. The exceptions are the first chapter – the two-hour pilot episode – and Ruby’s chapter – the special “sweeps week” episode, with must-see revelations about what the bad guys' master plan is.
So I tried this, and it not only worked, it actually facilitated the writing in a way I hadn’t expected. I’m somewhat obsessive-compulsive, and with my previous novels I tended to write in strict chronological order. The episodic nature of Lovecraft Country let me break this habit – right from the start, I felt much freer to jump back and forth in the book. If I got stuck on one chapter, I’d just skip to another and keep going. That both saved me time and helped me keep the larger arc story in mind.
More Answered Questions
Margot
asked
Matt Ruff:
Hi Matt! Longtime reader here- when I got to Cornell in fall of 1990, a friend handed me Fool on the Hill and said a friend of a friend had written it. I’ve followed your literary career ever since and LOVED Lovecraft Country. Do you see all your books as happening in the same slightly-more-magical version of reality, or are they totally different spaces?
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