Melissa Larsen has an M.F.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She has interned and worked extensively in publishing. Melissa stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about her debut novel, Shutter, which Library Journal recommended "for fans of thrillers with unreliable narrators, and psychologically intense plots involving movies and filmmaking."
In the wake of her father's death, Betty Roux pushes away her mother, breaks up with her boyfriend, and leaves everything behind to move to New York City. She doesn't know what she wants, except to run. When she's offered the chance to play the leading role in mysterious indie filmmaker Anthony Marino's new project, she jumps at the opportunity. For a month Betty will live in a cabin on a private island off the coast of Maine, with a five-person cast and crew. Anthony gives her a new identity, "Lola," and Betty tells herself that this is exactly what she's been looking for—the chance to reinvent herself. That is, until they begin filming and she meets Sammy, the island's caretaker, and Betty realizes just how little she knows about the movie and its director.
Melissa takes some "Author R&R" about writing the novel:
At a certain point in the drafting process, once I’d gotten into the rhythm that Shutter demanded, writing became closer to reading. I was working toward a single image—Betty, covered in blood, asking for help—but beyond that image, I was just rushing to find out what would happen next in the story. Deep down, I knew what I wanted to happen, but I was not fully in charge of the narrative, because there was also Betty and Anthony and their agendas dictating where the story would go. The creation of the plot was more of a conversation among Betty’s desires (and Anthony’s plans), this image, and my own fears. To propel the story forward when I was stuck, I would ask myself, What frightens me?
I asked myself this because I had set out to write the book that I was always searching for in a bookstore. I wanted to read a psychological thriller about a young woman who was untethered, as I was. I was not married (still not), I had no children (still don’t), I was in my twenties (still am) and trying to figure out, in basic terms, who I was outside of the regular definitions of daughter, sister, student, employee (working on it!). I didn’t feel equipped to write a domestic thriller about the secrets in a marriage or the stresses of children. I did, however, feel equipped to explore the uncharted territory of the early twenties. The awkward, strange power dynamic of a first date—who pays and what does that imply, are they measuring you against some unspoken standard, are you measuring them, are you projecting a fantasy on them or are you actually engaging with them as they are?—the self-doubts and insecurities of a young woman, the magnetic pull of a cold yet charismatic man, the growing pains and strains of old friends reconnecting.
In short, I wrote close to my own experiences—in an extremely inverted sort of way. Betty’s (and Anthony’s) anxieties can be read as an amplified version of my own. I had also worked on the set of my brother’s thesis film, and had been fascinated by the filming process, by the effort that goes into filmmaking and the transformation that occurs in an actor when the director says “Action!” And the hardware! The glorious hardware! Cameras, microphones, battery packs, headphones, gels, lights! As a writer, I likewise find myself obsessed with setting. I often work my way into a story through its sense of place—the house, the surrounding neighborhood, the geography and corresponding weather patterns—and I, like Betty, am from the west coast and I, like Betty, happen to find the forests of the east coast to be very spooky.
Perhaps the biggest influence on Shutter, and the closest I came to formal research, was a writing residency on a private island off the coast of Maine. I had initially set Shutter on an estate in Upstate New York, with a main house and a small cabin hidden in the trees. This location—a lakeside property—hadn’t felt perfect, but it’d felt eerie enough. After selling Shutter, I searched for residencies in the area to live through some of Betty’s experiences, to breathe that air and feel that forest and also to really work through the revisions my editor had asked for! Instead I found the Norton Island Residency for Writers and Artists, which offered two weeks of living in a tiny cabin hidden in the trees, with a main house for the group to congregate in, on a private island off the coast of Maine. I applied; I was (luckily) accepted. And it was like stepping into my own book. I felt the anticipation and the fear of leaving my comfortable writing nest to live in the woods, dependent upon a group of strangers (very dependent—I did not pack well, it’s by the generosity of the group that I survived!). I got to sleep in Betty’s cabin, got to feel the instant camaraderie with this group of strangers. Everything clicked and I spent my two weeks there changing the story to take place on a private island off the coast of Maine.
Every story has its own demands and rhythms. Shutter initially came out in a breathless rush, followed by a tremendous amount of revision and revisiting the question What frightens me? but then with the twist of Okay, how do I frighten someone else with that? Shutter was born out of fear and excitement and putting myself in Betty’s position as much as I could. It demanded, essentially, a personal interrogation of both Betty and myself—and many phone calls with my brother to discuss cameras! As I explore another story and another set of characters, I feel as though I am learning how to write all over again. The constant between these two entirely different stories is this love of reading. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
You can learn more about Melissa Larsen via her website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter. Shutter is now available via all major booksellers.
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