Bret Easton Ellis is a novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of seven books, including "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho"—both of which were adapted into successful films. His[…]
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people
Writing a novel isn’t a practical, logical thing to do. The author starts by writing an outline from an “emotional place” and then becomes a “cool technician” to shape it into the context of a novel.
Question: How do you come up with an idea for a new novel?
rnBretrn Easton Ellis: From pain, from an emotional place. I mean, writingrn a novel isn't a practical, logical thing to do at all. I mean, at rnleast not in my case. What happens with me is that something is rnbothering me or I'm feeling alienated, or isolated, or I have questions rnabout things that are bothering me and those feelings begin to form an rnidea for a novel. And I guess that's because that's the only way I can,rn or that's the way I like to express myself in an artistic way.
rn
rnAndrn so what happens, like for example with "Imperial Bedrooms," I had rnreread "Less than Zero" and I was thinking about where Clay was now. rnAnd I was also going through a lot of other stuff in my life that was rnkind of painful and confusing. And these two things came together—the rnidea of where this character was now that I'd written about 20 years rnago, and what was going on in my life at that point. And then I startedrn to have a lot of questions about that character.
rn
rnAnd this went rnon for a year, so the process begins without writing anything for about rn year where I'm just walking around, asking questions about this rncharacter and what's going on in his life. And then I start to make rnnotes and then I start to answer some of those questions, then those rnnotes form into an outline. And then that outline turns into a novel. rnAnd that has been my process for... just about every book that I've rnwritten.
rn
Question: When you start a new book, dorn you know where it's going to end?
rnBret Easton Ellis: rn I know the last line of the book before I actually begin the book. rnYes: I know the first line, I know the last line. And, you know, the rnidea—I've talked about an outline a lot throughout my career and I've rntalked about how the outlines are often very massive and twice as long rnas the texts themselves. And I guess I should just be calling those, rnyou know, "first drafts" in a way because a lot of the novel is in therern but there's also a lot of other things in there. There are questions rnthat are written in the margins and I answer those questions. And then rnthere are examples of how a paragraph should look, and then a note of rnall the things that this narrator wouldn't notice, that I might notice rnor you might notice if we were in that scene. But for example, someone rnlike Clay in "Imperial Bedrooms," who's this kind of entitled raging rnnarcissist... would never notice. He wouldn't notice that detail in thern corner. He wouldn't say that thing. He wouldn't overhear that line ofrn dialogue. And so all of that the reader doesn't need to see. What thern reader needs to see more or less is this very pared down version of rnthat outline.
rn
rnAnd so that's kind of... a big part of the process rnis taking this very emotion-based outline and then I come in as the coolrn technician and in a very neutral way try to take this outline and shapern it into the context of a novel.
rn
Question: Do you writern every day?
rnBret Easton Ellis: It depends on my rnmood. It depends on where I'm at in the novel. It depends on how well rnI'm feeling that day. It depends on a lot of things. As the novel getsrn closer to completion the days get longer and I get more revved up, and rnI'm more excited. But the whole process I find very intriguing and veryrn fun and I look forward to working on a novel because it takes me out rnof, you know, my mundane real life. And it takes me away from the pain rnof the everyday, in a way.
rn
rnAnd I don't understand, you know, the rnidea of a writer sitting at his desk moaning about the fact how hard it rnis to write a novel. Yeah, it can be a tricky and difficult thing to dorn buy it should always be interesting to you and something that you are rnexcited about. It shouldn't be something you complain about at all, rnwhich a lot of writers tend to do.
rn
Question: When rnyou're writing a novel, how much do the characters get in your head?
rnBretrn Easton Ellis: It's not like method acting. It's not like you rnbecome these characters while you're writing them. I mean, to a degree rnyou do. I mean, I told people for example, when I wrote American Psychorn that I became Patrick Bateman while I was working on the book, but rnthat's true to a degree because Patrick Bateman was based on me. And rnPatrick Bateman was based on my frustration and my loneliness and the rnisolation that I was going through at that time in my life.
rn
rnAnd rnthat's how that character was based. And so I did—yeah sure, I lived rnPatrick Bateman for the four years or so. And I mean, I guess the same rngoes for Clay in "Imperial Bedrooms. " Yeah, it's a situation—the plot rnin Imperial Bedrooms—it's a situation and a milieu that I was part of torn a degree. Of course, in the book it's heightened and the book is also arn bit of a Ramond Chandler, neo-noir. But yeah a lot of what Clay was rnfeeling I was empathic about. So yes I had empathy for these dark rncharacters and they become darker because it's fiction. It's a made-up rnsituation.
rn
rnThey're made-up characters but they do come from a rnplace of pain and they do come from a place of darkness. That does not rnmean, however, that I am an extremely dark dude who was walking around rnwhile I'm working on this book, you know, with a set of fangs and a capern and a really angry face, and I'm like, you know, "I want to kill rnpeople." So no, it's easy to slip in and out of it.
rn
Question:rn Do you show your work to anyone while you're writing?
rnBretrn Easton Ellis: I show my work to no one. The only person who sees rnmy work after all the time I spend on it is my agent. She's the first rnperson who reads the manuscript. I've never shown any manuscript to rnanybody except for "Less than Zero" which was being worked on while I rnwas at college and my professor at the time, Joe McGinnis, read a couplern drafts of that book. But since then no. And the reason is because, rnagain, it's a person thing . I mean, I'm not writing a novel to be rnaccepted and I'm not writing a novel for a consortium. You know, I'm notrn writing a novel for an audience and I'm not writing a novel for a rnreader.
rnrn
rnrnSo this idea that you need to show your work to people and you need to rnget feedback, and "Oh is this section working? I mean, I really want rnyou to... Paula tell me... Hey Joe what do you think about this?" It rnjust doesn't play a part in the process because to me it's my emotional rnjourney in a way and it's a very personal thing. There's... it doesn't rneven cross my mind to show the book to anybody.
rn
rnRecorded June 23, 2010
rnInterviewed by David Hirschman
rn
rnBretrn Easton Ellis: From pain, from an emotional place. I mean, writingrn a novel isn't a practical, logical thing to do at all. I mean, at rnleast not in my case. What happens with me is that something is rnbothering me or I'm feeling alienated, or isolated, or I have questions rnabout things that are bothering me and those feelings begin to form an rnidea for a novel. And I guess that's because that's the only way I can,rn or that's the way I like to express myself in an artistic way.
rn
rnAndrn so what happens, like for example with "Imperial Bedrooms," I had rnreread "Less than Zero" and I was thinking about where Clay was now. rnAnd I was also going through a lot of other stuff in my life that was rnkind of painful and confusing. And these two things came together—the rnidea of where this character was now that I'd written about 20 years rnago, and what was going on in my life at that point. And then I startedrn to have a lot of questions about that character.
rn
rnAnd this went rnon for a year, so the process begins without writing anything for about rn year where I'm just walking around, asking questions about this rncharacter and what's going on in his life. And then I start to make rnnotes and then I start to answer some of those questions, then those rnnotes form into an outline. And then that outline turns into a novel. rnAnd that has been my process for... just about every book that I've rnwritten.
rn
Question: When you start a new book, dorn you know where it's going to end?
rnBret Easton Ellis: rn I know the last line of the book before I actually begin the book. rnYes: I know the first line, I know the last line. And, you know, the rnidea—I've talked about an outline a lot throughout my career and I've rntalked about how the outlines are often very massive and twice as long rnas the texts themselves. And I guess I should just be calling those, rnyou know, "first drafts" in a way because a lot of the novel is in therern but there's also a lot of other things in there. There are questions rnthat are written in the margins and I answer those questions. And then rnthere are examples of how a paragraph should look, and then a note of rnall the things that this narrator wouldn't notice, that I might notice rnor you might notice if we were in that scene. But for example, someone rnlike Clay in "Imperial Bedrooms," who's this kind of entitled raging rnnarcissist... would never notice. He wouldn't notice that detail in thern corner. He wouldn't say that thing. He wouldn't overhear that line ofrn dialogue. And so all of that the reader doesn't need to see. What thern reader needs to see more or less is this very pared down version of rnthat outline.
rn
rnAnd so that's kind of... a big part of the process rnis taking this very emotion-based outline and then I come in as the coolrn technician and in a very neutral way try to take this outline and shapern it into the context of a novel.
rn
Question: Do you writern every day?
rnBret Easton Ellis: It depends on my rnmood. It depends on where I'm at in the novel. It depends on how well rnI'm feeling that day. It depends on a lot of things. As the novel getsrn closer to completion the days get longer and I get more revved up, and rnI'm more excited. But the whole process I find very intriguing and veryrn fun and I look forward to working on a novel because it takes me out rnof, you know, my mundane real life. And it takes me away from the pain rnof the everyday, in a way.
rn
rnAnd I don't understand, you know, the rnidea of a writer sitting at his desk moaning about the fact how hard it rnis to write a novel. Yeah, it can be a tricky and difficult thing to dorn buy it should always be interesting to you and something that you are rnexcited about. It shouldn't be something you complain about at all, rnwhich a lot of writers tend to do.
rn
Question: When rnyou're writing a novel, how much do the characters get in your head?
rnBretrn Easton Ellis: It's not like method acting. It's not like you rnbecome these characters while you're writing them. I mean, to a degree rnyou do. I mean, I told people for example, when I wrote American Psychorn that I became Patrick Bateman while I was working on the book, but rnthat's true to a degree because Patrick Bateman was based on me. And rnPatrick Bateman was based on my frustration and my loneliness and the rnisolation that I was going through at that time in my life.
rn
rnAnd rnthat's how that character was based. And so I did—yeah sure, I lived rnPatrick Bateman for the four years or so. And I mean, I guess the same rngoes for Clay in "Imperial Bedrooms. " Yeah, it's a situation—the plot rnin Imperial Bedrooms—it's a situation and a milieu that I was part of torn a degree. Of course, in the book it's heightened and the book is also arn bit of a Ramond Chandler, neo-noir. But yeah a lot of what Clay was rnfeeling I was empathic about. So yes I had empathy for these dark rncharacters and they become darker because it's fiction. It's a made-up rnsituation.
rn
rnThey're made-up characters but they do come from a rnplace of pain and they do come from a place of darkness. That does not rnmean, however, that I am an extremely dark dude who was walking around rnwhile I'm working on this book, you know, with a set of fangs and a capern and a really angry face, and I'm like, you know, "I want to kill rnpeople." So no, it's easy to slip in and out of it.
rn
Question:rn Do you show your work to anyone while you're writing?
rnBretrn Easton Ellis: I show my work to no one. The only person who sees rnmy work after all the time I spend on it is my agent. She's the first rnperson who reads the manuscript. I've never shown any manuscript to rnanybody except for "Less than Zero" which was being worked on while I rnwas at college and my professor at the time, Joe McGinnis, read a couplern drafts of that book. But since then no. And the reason is because, rnagain, it's a person thing . I mean, I'm not writing a novel to be rnaccepted and I'm not writing a novel for a consortium. You know, I'm notrn writing a novel for an audience and I'm not writing a novel for a rnreader.
rnrn
rnrnSo this idea that you need to show your work to people and you need to rnget feedback, and "Oh is this section working? I mean, I really want rnyou to... Paula tell me... Hey Joe what do you think about this?" It rnjust doesn't play a part in the process because to me it's my emotional rnjourney in a way and it's a very personal thing. There's... it doesn't rneven cross my mind to show the book to anybody.
rn
rnRecorded June 23, 2010
rnInterviewed by David Hirschman
rn
