Megan Abbott Discusses How to Create an Atmosphere of Dread, Anxiety, and Obsession

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Kristen and Layne chat with Megan Abbott about her deliciously dark (and New York Times bestselling!) ballet thriller THE TURNOUT, the connection between perfectionism and womanhood, and how to write authentic conflict between female characters while avoiding catfight stereotypes. Grab a copy of THE TURNOUT, or any of Megan’s 9(!) other incredible books in the official podcast Bookshop.

From the episode:

LAYNE: One thing we’re both so fascinated by in your writing in general is how you create this atmosphere of extreme dread and tension. It’s oppressive almost when you’re reading your books, it’s incredible. And with this one especially, the real action comes later in the story. A lot of it in the beginning is just these conversations, or people looking at each other from across the room or through the doorway or whatever, like there’s not a lot of action on the page, but it feels so intense and emotional. How do you do that

KRISTEN: Yes, tell us.

MEGAN: You know, it’s sort of leaving that room for the reader to fill in. You have to leave those spaces for the reader to fill in with their own stuff, their own worries and fears. It’s a lot about creating spaces to come into the story. I love movies, and I love Hitchcock, and he would always talk about opening these doors for the viewers, and they’ll fill it in with their own anxiety and obsessions. But you have to open those doors, you have to create that space. It’s a lot about revision, about cutting back, holding back, being patient, and having trust in the reader to sort of come along. And it helps when you’re in a rarefied environment, to create that atmosphere, because it already feels like nothing normal can go on here. You know, this is not the type of world where you’re going to kick back and open a bag of Doritos!

KRISTEN: I read a piece that you had written in The Cut recently about the perfectionism of ballet, and perfectionism in general. And I think that’s also an interesting place to start with thrillers, because characters who are so high-strung or tightly wound or whatever adjective you want to use, these points of tension create all kinds of interesting opportunities for storytelling and conflict. I love that about your books, that you have these women who are in very high-pressure situations. Them being high-strung is just how they are, and then something happens that kicks it up a notch. What do you think it is about that intensification of a situation that really makes good storytelling?

MEGAN: Yeah, I mean, I always hope it’s good, but what it really is is how I experience the world. That is how I feel all the time. It’s so funny, we all are so specific, and you never really realize it until other people say, wait, this doesn’t feel comfortable. I’m that anxious person by nature, and I’m sort of an obsessive person, and I’ve certainly struggled with my own perfectionism, so it’s really easy for me to enter a place of being tightly wound. I think it would be much harder for me to write, like, a hang-out book. It’s just not my jam. So it does come naturally to me, and then it’s really a matter of just what you said: when you’re writing a crime novel, it’s wired in that things are going to be pushed even further. You’ve got a pressure cooker in an overheated kitchen. Things are bound to explode.

LAYNE: I’m just realizing… is this why we all write thrillers and crime novels, because we’re all anxious messes?

KRISTEN: I think so, honestly.

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