Alex Michaelides: You don’t have to take literature so seriously [WYWIAD]

Aleksandra Pakieła: All your books have in common mystery, suspense, and non-obvious solutions to puzzles. Did you know from the beginning of your career that you would write crime stories and thrillers?

Alex Michaelides: I think I knew it much earlier – when I was twelve. I grew up in Cyprus and spent a lot of my free time reading books – I was fascinated by Agatha Christie. I clearly remember the summer when I fell in love with books. Very quickly, reading on the beach became my favorite hobby. I think the dream of writing my own crime novel has been brewing in me ever since. It just had to mature over a few decades.

“The Patient” was number one on the New York Times bestseller list, selling over 6.5 million copies worldwide. The second book “Goddesses” also broke records. I suspect it will be similar with “Furia”. Crime stories and thrillers are the most popular literary genres. Why do we like to read scary stories and dark mysteries?

I think we read such stories because – paradoxically – they bring order to the omnipresent chaos. Crime novels may have crazy, wild plots and resemble a rollercoaster ride, but as a reader you know that there is a solution waiting for you at the end. That you will get the missing piece of the puzzle, the mystery will be solved, and the world will continue to turn. It gives you a sense of security.

Interestingly, research has shown that the greatest popularity of crime stories and thrillers occurs during the pandemic. Is it because of this need to organize reality?

During the pandemic, I couldn’t read anything other than crime novels. In a way, they were… comforting. It is easier to escape into a story with a specific structure that draws you in and takes you to another reality, where at the end you will be rewarded – solving a riddle or discovering a secret.

You’ve talked about your fascination with Agatha Christie. You also mention it in the book. We read: “Everything I have written could have happened – if this story had been written by a surer hand, the implacable, unshakable pen of Agatha Christie. But my hand is not sure. It is weak and unpredictable, like myself. Disorganized and sentimental. It is difficult to imagine worse qualities for a crime writer. Fortunately, I am only an amateur – and I will never make a living this way. And the truth is that the events did not unfold at all as I have just described.

The reason I mention Agatha Christie is that she popularized this type of crime stories – a group of people are trapped on an island where something strange, mysterious is happening, or someone is murdering someone, and we try to find out together with the narrator – Who. This model she created has been used many times by authors – including me. However, I tried to address the reader directly through the narrator – Elliot – and conduct some kind of game or dialogue with the recipient.

You often wink at the reader. Many times I wondered whether some lines were spoken by the narrator – Elliot, or perhaps by the author – Alex.

There is a lot of me in everything I write. In each book I try to combine my experience as a screenwriter and psychotherapist. I want the crime stories and thrillers I write to also have this surplus – a story about childhood trauma, about trying to cope with overwhelming adulthood… Elliot is such a character in the book – he is a complex, ambiguous character. I smuggled in a lot of my own thoughts – including those you mentioned above – about the workshop itself.

You learned this technique while studying English Literature at the University of Cambridge. You also obtained a diploma in screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Can I ask a controversial question?

Sure!

In Poland, there is a recurring discussion about what should be read and what should be read. What is real literature and what is not real literature. Few literary critics take genres like the thriller seriously. Were you not afraid that you, as a writer, would be pigeonholed as someone who writes only for entertainment? That your books won’t be considered noteworthy by critics?

In college, I read a lot of literature with a capital “L”. At that time, I encountered the opinion that nothing after 1940 could be called literature – yet; because we do not have the necessary distance from this literature. This is a very snobbish attitude. I have always tried to read widely – from classic novels to contemporary experiments. From serious political magazines to gossip websites. Literature is also fun! It doesn’t need to be taken so seriously. I wouldn’t call myself a serious writer, nor do I need to. I write to entertain people.

Can good literature and good entertainment go hand in hand?

I hope! But you see – I have no ambition to create great literature. What I’m good at is creating detective stories, crime stories, thrillers. Would I care about criticism from literary reviewers? For me, the most important reviewers are my readers, and I have already met thousands of them. And I heard many warm words from them about what I do.

I think most writers and critics would be jealous of these thousands of readers. On your website you have a longer route planned than Taylor Swift!

Yes, I must admit that this is surprising to me – I have only written three books and the interest in what I write is growing. In my private life, I really value peace and quiet, which is why I don’t feel comfortable during such large book promotion tours. I know that when this tour is over, I will be able to return to nature, sit in the forest and… start writing another book. I don’t know how Taylor Swift copes with having less time to wind down than I do!

Speaking of stars – in the book’s blurb we read that this is a story dedicated to Uma Thurman, your friend. And that an attentive reader may notice some similarities between the actress and the heroine of “Fury”…

And have you seen this resemblance anywhere?

I kept seeing Lana, the heroine of the book – with Uma’s face, dressed in her Kill Bill outfit.

Cool vision! I did not include specific people from my environment in the book, but in fact – Uma played an important role in my life and was an inspiration to create and work on the book.

“Fury” features expressive characters, plot twists, short movie scenes… When you write a book, do you have movie scenes in your head? Does screenwriting experience help you write books?

“Fury” was initially supposed to be a film script. Then the idea for the film evolved into a short story, then it evolved into something between a short story and a novel; and ultimately into a thriller. It’s funny – after the publication of this book, I received an offer to adapt it into a film, so I’m currently going back to the initial idea and writing a screenplay based on it.

It feels like you were just having fun while writing this book. Did you let the plot guide you, or did you know from the very beginning how it was going to play out?

It’s true, writing “Fury” gave me a lot of pleasure. I also tried to smuggle a lot of humor into it. I usually have a plan prepared and I try to write exactly according to it. This time the plot developed organically. I created characters in my head and, yes, I allowed myself to be guided by them a little!

At one point, Elliot turns to the readers and says that this is not a book about who killed. That this is not a book about finding the perpetrator. The movie “Anatomy of a Fall” immediately came to my mind. This is also not a movie about whether the main character killed her husband. What purpose do such stories serve? So what is “Fury” about?

I think we have similar patterns here – we don’t focus on who killed and whether he killed, but why he did it or could do it. What events from the past influenced who he is now? What could have pushed him to do this? To create psychological portraits of my characters, I had to write an analysis of each of them’s childhood. To understand them better, to make their characters realistic. For me, “Fury” is about what drives us to do evil. What traumas live with us all our lives.

Probably because each of the characters in “Fury” has a strongly outlined psychological profile and experienced something difficult in childhood, it is difficult to say that anyone is clearly a bad character.

Yes, I wanted these characters to be as realistic as possible. And I didn’t want to judge their motives and behavior. I was tired of movies and books where everything was black and white. The struggle between good and evil? This is not what real life is like.

At one point, Elliot, the most ambiguous character of “Fury”, talks about feeling a pressure in his stomach that has nothing to do with the present. You write in this context: “Character is fate.” What does this mean to you?

Who you are determines what you do. In ancient times, it was believed that our fate was written in advance. I believe that we can shape it – by getting to know ourselves and recognizing certain patterns that guide our lives.

Elliot also says, “I often apply the structure of theater to my own life. It helps me a lot. You’d be surprised how often the same principles apply to it as theater.” Would you sign this as Alex?

In screenwriting school, I learned that in the context of creating a character, you need to ask basic questions: What do you want, why do you want it and how will you get there. I think we ask ourselves similar questions in life. Anything that makes you look at yourself from a distance to see yourself more clearly works to your advantage.

Mariana, Elliot’s therapist, tells him that our true self only appears when we have no one to perform in front of, no audience, no applause.

Do each of your characters act in some way? And when does this game end?

I think so. I really like this sentence said by Marianna. This awareness that each of us is constantly playing allows us to stop and reflect on what happens to us when we are completely alone, when there is no one to play in front of. Only then do we feel truly ourselves. It can be overwhelming and scary sometimes. But it is also a source of enormous strength. It is important to cultivate this in yourself.

You write in “Fury”: “We are motivated by the desire to eliminate pain” and “Creativity is born from the desire to escape.” Do you, as an author, write to take away your pain?

When I was younger, I focused a lot on creating stories that everyone would like. And you know what? Nobody liked them. It’s only when you start writing something that’s close to you that readers start to trust you. When I write, I think about my own experience and build a hero from there. During the writing process, I remember my own childhood, the hardships of growing up, and my time working in a psychiatric hospital. Memories hurt, writing is often a painful process during which we dig up our own wounds, but what is created in this process is incredibly satisfying.