Heidi Jo Brady; Ballantine Books Gillian Flynn spoke with PEOPLE about writing across mediums, as a number of her books have been adapted for TV and film. Her father was a film professor who encouraged weekly movie nights and in-depth reflections, so by the time she first tackled screenwriting, the process felt "organic." Flynn is currently working on an adaptation of her 2009 novelDark Places —it's not green-lit just yet, but she's "been enjoying the hell out of writing it." Gillian Flynnis no stranger to bringing her characters to life, on the page and the screen. The bestselling author and publisher ofGillian Flynn Bookssat down with PEOPLE to share insight into her writing process and how it differs between her novels and their screen adaptations.Sharp ObjectsandGone Girl,published in 2006 and 2012, respectively, each got the onscreen treatment — the former becoming an HBO series starringAmy Adamsand the latter transforming into the 2014 film featuringBen AffleckandRosamund Pike. She's also currently at work adapting her bookDark Placesas a series. Translating her stories across mediums is "no joke," Flynn tells PEOPLE — novel writing and screenwriting are so different that she tends to tackle one in the morning and one in the afternoon to give herself mental space between the two. Dialogue, in particular, marks one striking difference. Shutterstock "You don't have the luxury of have getting inside a character's head and hearing what [they're] thinking," she says. "You have to translate that either into dialogue or into an action that they make." But Flynn wasn't a total novice when she first approached a film adaptation — her father was a film professor, so her home life was steeped in cinematic knowledge. Together they went to "father-daughter movies once or twice a week" during her childhood, she says, and he would encourage in-depth reflections and analyses after the final credits rolled. By the time she began working on her books' onscreen adaptations, the medium felt "very organic to me," she shares. Gone Girlwas Flynn's first screen adaptation, which she describes as "wild" and "surreal" — she got to see The Bar come to life inside a real-life version of the book's Carthage, Miss. (filmed in Cape Girardeau). Flynn also praisedDavid Fincher, the movie's director, as one who "really, actually liked the book and didn't want to flip the book around that much [and] really respects writers," she says. With theSharp Objectsadaptation, Flynn says the episodes she wrote were the ones most important to her, and Adams perfectly embodied the tortured journalist protagonist Camille. Though screenwriting has its pitfalls, it's a less isolating experience than writing a novel, Flynn says. "It's great going back and forth because it's lonely writing a book," Flynn admits. "You're by yourself all the time. It makes you a little crazy — it's much harder to get out of." "I love [screenwriting] because it's collaborative and you're bouncing ideas off people. And ultimately, hopefully, it's going into production and so that creative part, I love, but at the same time you're dealing with notes from the studio and budget crises and casting stuff and all that," she continues. "And and so then it's fun to go back to your own little realm." Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Up next (hopefully!) isDark Placesvia HBO,based on Flynn's 2009 novel. Though the project hasn't been officially greenlit, Flynn is in back in the screenwriting stage — and back to that particular page. Since she never re-reads her own books, she says it's "really painful" to see them again, so the process "messes with me a little bit." Ultimately though, her takeaway is that it's still a "pretty good book," she adds. "I've been enjoying the hell out of writing it," she says. Read the original article onPeople
