Biography

February 24, 1971 · Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Gillian Schieber Flynn

Female villains

Stories usually involve dark subject matter involving crime

I've certainly been called a misogynist and that to me is strange. It feels so old-fashioned to think because you write about awful women that you don't like women. To me, it's worse to only write about good women. I'm tired of women as the supporting character, women as the helpmate, women as the adorably flawed heroine - she can be front and center, but only if she falls down a lot and has trouble with men.

[Discussing her novel Dark Places with her husband] His question to her was: "I'm curious, do you love Libby? Do you like writing her?" And I was like, "Ugh, I can't stand her." You would think I knew her personally. He said he could tell I didn't like writing her or believe in her. So I trashed it all and started over again. Libby became a dark, malevolent creature and the novel took off. Very inefficient way to write, but I get there in the end.

I'd like to scrape up some sense of triumph over the fact that many courageous women have raised their voices. But I don't feel triumphant. I feel humiliated and angry. They hate us. That's my immediate thought, with each new revelation. And them a more sick-making suspicion. They don't care about us enough to hate us. We are simply a form of livestock.