The novelist’s first book in 20 years is a shift from heartwarming to chilling.
It’s a voice Christopher trusts, although it’s not clear that he should.
Not all friends are true ones, especially those that hide who they are.
That was a YA novel, a coming of age story.
How would you describe this one?
A mystery story?Stephen Chbosky:I think it’s all of the above, you know?
But told in a more unsettling way.There’s some mystery in it.
There’s certainly some horror in it.
There’s an epic small town story.
And a lot of fun scares.
He became that way in large part because his mother, Kate, loves him so much.
But he had a very, very difficult early childhood.
However, he has a lot of intellectual problems.
Like what?He’s dyslexic.
He has a lot of problems with math.
And when this story begins, he’s not…
He may be a world class kid, but he’s not a very good student.
That is of course until he goes into the woods.
We’ll avoid spoilers because the book is several months away from being released.
But what leads him away?Imaginary Friendcame from this what-if premise.
Remember when you were a little kid, and you’d lay in the grass looking at the clouds?
We all did it.
You’d look at the shapes, and say, “That looks like a dog.
Or a hammer, or a face, or whatever.”
But he goes, “Hello…?
Can you hear me?”
And there’s a thunderclap in the distance.
And the cloud does, and it blinks, and then it floats away.
And then Christopher follows the cloud.
What I’ve spent the last nine years doing was following the cloud.
In the book, Christopher has a lot of people in his life who are looking out for him.
His mom, Kate.
He has the sheriff.
It seems like his arc is to figure out who to trust.Yes, that is part of it.
Visionaries, and psychopaths."
A good portion of this book is wondering which is it.
What’s really happening here?
There’s no TV.
There’s no internet, and nobody knows what’s going on.
What would that do to a town?
And supernatural moments, too.This book came from my history as a reader.
My absolute favorite writer of all time is Stephen King.
And he said, “Great writers are great readers.”
It was good advice.
There’s a lot of fairytale overtures inImaginary Friendas well.
I got lost once, and I remember how long it took me [to get back.]
In Western Pennsylvania, the woods are unbelievable.
I hope that most people who read this are going to be very surprised by the end.
Until you’re inside it, you didn’t even know it was a trap.
