Gillian Flynn



Gillian Schieber Flynn (February 24, 1971) is an American writer.

Quotes

 * I wanted to make it clear that the show’s about a matriarchy. I wanted it to be clear that power can be ugly, and a matriarchy is just as ugly as a patriarchy. It may look a little different, but power is bloody.
 * On how the matriarchy is portrayed in Sharp Objects in “Gillian Flynn Isn’t Going to Write the Kind of Women You Want” in Vanity Fair (2018 Jun 28)


 * …I also wanted to make sure no one tried to make her “save the cat.” To me, Camille is an inherently kind person despite everything that’s happened to her. And you see that when you walk through the day with Camille. You see how she treats people. But she’s not running around saving babies and kittens just so the audience can be sure she’s a good person.
 * On how she hoped the television version of Sharp Objects would stay true to the character of Camille in “Gillian Flynn Isn’t Going to Write the Kind of Women You Want” in Vanity Fair (2018 Jun 28)


 * I think there’s a deep societal fear of female rage, partly because it hasn’t been experienced a lot. Men—I speak in vast generalities—are often very afraid of what they don’t know how to handle. And they haven’t had to handle female rage a lot, and they think they need to handle it.
 * On how she perceives female rage in “Gillian Flynn Isn’t Going to Write the Kind of Women You Want” in Vanity Fair (2018 Jun 28)


 * It’s incredibly misogynist to tell me I can only write a certain type of woman. Because that’s saying women must be a certain type of person. That puts us back to the Stone Age—like women are saints and therefore not human and if we stray beyond that model, we’ll be severely punished. It denies us any humanity. It doesn’t even bother me. It just bounces off me. It’s such a ridiculous notion that my novels are misogynist because I don’t write the kind of women you want.
 * On her novels being called misogynistic in “Gillian Flynn Isn’t Going to Write the Kind of Women You Want” in Vanity Fair (2018 Jun 28)


 * I loved being scared as a kid. I loved the darker side of humanity. That was in my brain, even from a very early age. I was always thinking, “What could be the scariest outcome of this situation?” My cousins and I were kind of raised in a pack together—all girls. They always wanted to be princesses. I always wanted to be a witch. Or a killer. My head just went in that direction. Maybe because my father was a film professor, I developed a taste for Alfred Hitchcock. Films like Psycho scared me just the right amount. They didn’t haunt my dreams in a terrible way. I like that sensation of being scared. I’ve always been one of those people who wants to know what’s underneath the rock, what’s down the corner, what’s down the blind alley.
 * On processing fear as a child in “GILLIAN FLYNN BRINGS HER MID-WESTERN NOIR TO A BOIL” in Interview (2018 Nov 12)


 * If you are someone who reads books to feel like you have a friend on the page, my book is not going to be the book for you…I write for people who are readers the way I'm a reader. I don't care if I dislike a character; I care if I find them interesting or they make me laugh, or if I'm trying to figure them out. I am always more interested in that.
 * On what she might say to potential readers in “The Gone Girl phenomenon: Gillian Flynn speaks out” in The Guardian (2014 Oct 3)

Quotes about Gillian Flynn

 * I’m typically not into thrillers, but her books are so pleasurable to read. I can stay up all night reading them because I simply can’t live without knowing what happens next. Her women characters are so flawed and broken and interesting. Those are my favorite kind of characters for reasons that are probably very obvious.
 * Erika Sánchez interview (2022)