Part Hollywood satire, part eco thriller,Something New Under the Sunis tender and full-hearted but unambiguously bleak.
Did you know from the start that you wanted to tell a story centered on Hollywood?
Its a dream factory.
So, like the disappearance of that labor and creation of the dream is something thats really fascinated me.
Have you had any personal experience with the strange quagmire of getting your work adapted for screen?
It was also interestingly different from writing a book on your own.
Did any real-life writers inspire him?
So, theres some of that in there too.
Because men can be very thoughtful but the pressure to self-scrutinize is lower in them, I think?
And that makes for a compelling character for me.
Do you see that in the world today?
Were in this problem now of scales that need to be collapsed.
One is through Patricks wife, Alison, who goes to a sort of retreat called Earthbridge.
Theyre not really taking action, but at least theyre acknowledging whats happening.
Are they supposed to have the right answer?
So, I think were seeing people move around the problem in the book and not decisively solve it.
Its a tension that always stays with me.
One thing I found strangely moving in your book was the way you wrote the character of Cassidy Carter.
You know, I grew up alongside Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohans breakdowns.
More access, more interiority, but not the actual interiority.
I feel that these people were like canaries in the coal mine for us.
Its almost like they were the prequel toYou Too Can Have a Body Like Mine.
Have you been following the news of Britney Spears and her conservatorship?
Yeah, I watched it all.
And Im so happy that its been on a positive swing recently.
Were watching someones actual body in a moment of intense vulnerability.
Totally, there totally is.
Have you ever looked at yourself with a filter and then removed the filter?
But that never happens; theres always so much seepage between images of ourselves.
Transitioning to the opposite of social media: Whats your writing routine like?
I get no emails during that time; no one needs anything from me.
No one can be contacted.
Its too late for any of that.
so that really is my time.
Unfortunately, it makes the rest of my day feel like garbage.
What time do you wake up?
I wake up at like 11 a.m. or 12 p.m. maybe.
And then I sleep a bunch for a couple days.
So are you drinking a lot of coffee?
Im a coffee drinker, but I actually dont drink that much at night.
Like 3 a.m. TV into 5 a.m. TV.
And I wasn’t enjoying it; I wasn’t entertained.
I just had so much time all of a sudden because I couldnt go to sleep.
Because theyre not using it; theyre all sleeping.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published onSep.
