Paul Tremblay is a thrill-making machine. As a runaway author at large, he’s masterminded a multitude of novels that have even managed to grab the attention of genre giant, Stephen King.  We decided to bring him in for questioning.

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I’ve been a fan of Tremblay’s ever since I read one of his books two months ago. While that may not seem like much of a boast, I feel like I’ve invested all the energy of a longtime fan, just over a short period. From following his activity online with the devotion of a stalker ex, to compiling a physical collection of his entire bibliography as quickly as money can buy, the entire process is probably going to drive me to an early grave. If it does, I’d like to buried alongside that first book, please.

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That book (my Tremblay gateway drug) is The Cabin At The End Of The World. On release, it took the world by storm, which helps me to feel better about my sudden obsession.  Attracting hundreds of favourable reviews from well established sources and having been picked up for a film deal, it’s hard to see how it could have done better. Even Stephen King gave praise for ‘tension that winds like a chain’. Incidentally, King seems to be as much of a fanboy as I’ve become. He and his equally accomplished son’s (Joe Hill) words are always adorning at least one edition of Tremblay’s novels. That’s about the best endorsement you can get, unless you value the opinions of High Tensile. We took the pleasure of reviewing, and spoiling, Cabin in our book club podcast.

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Without further ado, Paul Tremblay.  Writer of high tensile fiction by night, mathematics teacher by day.

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Here’s what he had to say.

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What’s your typical writing process? With Cabin, it has so many moving parts that I imagine you locking yourself away in a dimly lit room, with nothing but a pen and paper for company, in order to build that tangled web of connections. Am I close to the truth, or is your process slightly less eccentric?

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Each book/story can be different, process-wise. Some novels I’ve written a 10-15 page plot summary before writing, others I’ve worked without a summary. I do keep a little notebook to jot down character ideas and general images or thoughts relating to the book.

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CABIN started with a sketch of a cabin in one of my notebooks when I was free-writing and trying to come up with an idea. I quickly alighted on the ‘home invasion’ subgenre of horror. A subgenre I’m typically not a fan of, but in a weird way that was part of the appeal: how would I write a home invasion story I would want to sit through? I wrote a really rough summary of the first half of the book but left the rest open ended, and then I dove in.

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You’re a bit of an industry veteran, and you’re a director of the Shirley Jackson Awards. With that experience, have you ever been able to identify any serious problems with psychological thriller, suspense or “dark” fiction in general? Is there anything that needs to change for “dark” fiction to move on?

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I think clichéd writing is the only thing to be avoided, honestly. I don’t mean tropes, as writers prove time and time again that tropes can be reinvented or presented in new and interesting ways.

That said, in a genre (horror/dark fiction) that has often (and with good reason) been accused of being reactionary in its politics and story structure (ie. the re-establishment of the status quo), I’d like to continue to see more progressive stories. Stories that do not re-establish the status quo, that reflect the truth that post-transgression within the story, there’s no going back. There’s never any going back.  

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On a lighter note, is there anything that you feel makes “dark” fiction uniquely great?

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I think dark fiction can really dig at some of the most difficult questions in art and literature: What decisions are you going to make? How are you going to live through this? How does anybody live through this?

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You’ve mentioned your respect for Stephen King in other interviews (In your interview with CulturedVultures, you reveal that you’ve read ALL of his books, which is no small feat). Do you have a favourite King moment, or scene, or memory?

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A fun memory is the first time I tried reading IT. I was 18 and recovering from back surgery. I was going to be home alone for most of the summer so I thought I’d try reading that behemoth. I got one chapter in and threw the book across the room because there was no way I was going to be stuck inside the house and scared out of my mind all summer.

(I did eventually read IT).

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Do you have personal philosophy, or mantra that drives you through life? In other, more morbid words, what gets you out of bed in the morning?

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No mantra to get through life itself, really. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by loved ones and great friends who keep me going. When I get anxious about all the stuff (school work, life, writing) that needs to get time, I do say to myself, “It’ll get done. It always does.”

 So far, so good.

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Do you have any tips you would like to share with aspiring writers?

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Read, read, read, and read some more. Read in and outside of your genre.

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Find a group of writers who have similar interests and goals, and who are at a level similar to you. Sure, you can swap stories and critique and all that, but maybe more importantly, it’s beneficial to have a group with which you can share the burden of the struggle.

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Finally, do you have an all-time favorite psychological thriller we might want to include in our book club podcast?

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So many to choose from, but how about Liz Hand’s Generation Loss. One of my favorites.

 

Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Tremblay. If, like me, you can’t get enough of the fellow, you can find more of him on his blog.