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Stephen king graveyard shift screenit6/10/2023 Doug focused on telling the story, and it wasn’t until we’d really finished the whole thing that the question came up: What would be the great wish list of things that we could have in there?ĭorst: My wish list was ridiculously long, but that was part of the fun, too. So it was part of the fun to imagine what it could be, but the truth is that kind of stuff can become gimmicky. I just think Doug truly outdid himself.ĬNN: With the hidden messages and codes, the postcards and photos folded into the book, did you set out to create more of an interactive experience for the reader?Ībrams: When we first met it was part of our discussions that we wanted this thing to have not just notes inside but the idea that it could actually have some physical, tangible, removable pieces, of artifacts of their relationship and investigation in there. It’s kind of a wonderful thing to see how it blossoms. While there’s an investigation into this author and the conspiracy that swirls around him, it’s also a love story, actually more than one love story that develops. Lovecraft in a bunker.Ībrams: I think that it is a kind of wonderful cocktail of writing of a period, in a tone that feels really idiosyncratic but then it’s got modern-day language and a very current rhythm. Since then it’s been about two years making the rest of the book happen.ĬNN: To me “S.” reads as if Franz Kafka had written an episode of “Lost.” How would you describe the novel to someone who hasn’t read it?ĭorst: I love that description. Then we put together a sample and sold the book. So we started trying to figure out: How do we make this happen? I was introduced to Doug Dorst, who came in and heard this crazy pitch that had a whole bunch of ideas but far more questions than answers.ĭorst: So, I went away to try and figure out how this book is going to work, given the story we’re going to try and tell, how do we do that? How is the inner novel going to function, who are the characters? I came up with some ideas and we went back and forth developing those for the better part of a year. It was an idea I had for many years and finally I had to share it because it was driving me crazy. What happens if you read the notes in it, what if you responded to those notes? Could there be a story or maybe even a romance that begins between two people over a book? Inside someone had written in pen on the title page of the book, “to whomever finds this book please read it and take it somewhere and leave it for someone else to read.” I just loved this idea that someone would use a book as a means of communication. He’s also a three-time “Jeopardy!” champion.Ībrams: About 15 years ago I was at LAX and I saw a Robert Ludlum novel sitting on a bench. Dorst teaches writing at Texas State University-San Marcos. Dorst is the author of the PEN/Hemingway-nominated novel “Alive in Necropolis” and the story collection “The Surf Guru.”įun Facts: Abrams is a huge fan of “Downton Abbey” and visited the set of the UK-based drama earlier this year. What else have they done: Abrams is the writer, producer and director behind TV shows including “Lost,” “Fringe” and “Person of Interest.” He also has directed a number of movies, including “Star Trek Into Darkness,” and will direct the next chapter of the “Star Wars” franchise. An edited transcript of the conversation is below.įor fans of: Mysteries, romance, puzzles, experimental fiction, the TV series “Lost” ![]() ![]() CNN recently spoke to Abrams and Dorst about how their collaboration came together. Using these clues, Jen and Eric, and hopefully readers, too, discover hidden messages and codes that lead to the book’s climax. Also moving the two stories forward, there are removable photos, postcards, letters, newspaper articles, even a map drawn on a napkin, folded into the book. The “S.” experience is like reading a novel while eavesdropping on a conversation. Both these stories unfold simultaneously and then intersect. In the margins of the book are handwritten messages between two people Jennifer, a college senior and Eric, a former graduate student. ![]() It’s a story about a man with no memory and no identity who is kidnapped and taken aboard a strange ship by a crew of mystery men.
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