Bookwild - Pip Drysdale's The Close Up: Hollywood, A Stalker, and A Book Within a Book

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

This week, I talk with Pip Drysdale about her new Hollywood thriller The Close Up!  We dive into her inspiration for the book, how she made LA come to life, and writing a book within a book.The Close Up SynopsisWhen Zoe Ann Weiss moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, her whole future is wide open. But then Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she’s falling for, ghosts her. Her debut novel, a thriller, fails. And she has writer’s block worse than ever before. Now, three years later, Zach is famous and Zoe is... not.She’s facing her thirtieth birthday, a dead-end job at a flower shop, and a demanding agent, terrified she’ll never get her life back on track. But when she goes to make a flower delivery and Zach is at the address, it’s like no time has passed at all. They start casually dating in secret, her writer’s block disappears, and Zoe begins to feel Zach inspired her first novel, so why can’t he inspire her second? But then the inevitable happens and photos are leaked, landing Zoe in the press. Her first novel goes viral, and now everyone seems to know her name. Except the problem with everyone knowing your name is that everyone knows your name—including the mysterious stalker obsessed with Zach. A stalker who begins reenacting violent events from Zoe’s book, step by step, against her... Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

I sort of start writing with just whatever will get me in. So I do that whole Hemingway one true sentence, and I try to think of the truest sentence I can think of. So for this one, it's the opening line, which I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's something about like the magic outlet in L.A., you know, everything sparkles, golden tangerine, even the trash. And that was like the truest thing I could say about L.A.

and about like, just like, you know, it encompassed everything I wanted the book to say. This week I got to talk with PIP, Drysdale about her new thriller, The Close Up, which is a supremely twisty and fun Hollywood thriller that you know I just ate up. Here's what it's about. When Zoe Ann Wise moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, her whole future is wide open. But then Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she's falling for, ghosts her. Her debut novel, a thriller, fails. And She has writers block worse than ever before.

Now, three years later, Zach is famous and Zoe is nut. She's facing her 30th birthday, a dead-in job at a flower shop, and a demanding agent terrified she'll never get her life back on track. When she goes to make a flower delivery and Zach is at the address, it's like no time has passed at all. They start casually dating in secret, her writer's block disappears, and Zoe begins to feel Zach inspired her first novel, so why can't you? inspired her next. But then the inevitable happens and photos are leaked, landing Zoe in the press.

Her first novel goes viral, and now everyone seems to know her name. Except the problem with everyone knowing your name is that everyone knows your name, including the mysterious stalker obsessed with Zach, a stalker who begins reenacting violent events from Zoe's book, step by step, against her. This one is totally wild, an action-packed, and so much. so much fun. It has a book within a book. It has mixed media elements. And it's a Hollywood thriller. So what more could you want? That being said, let's hear from Pip. So I am super excited to talk about the close up because I love a Hollywood thriller. But I did want to get to know a little bit about you first. So when did you know that you wanted to write a book or when

did you have a moment where you were like, I want to be an author? Look, I was always doing something creative. So I was always storytelling. Before I wrote books, I was an actress for a while. I was a singer-songwriter. You know, I was very big into songwriting. I did a lot of touring with that. And so for me, it was, I was always kind of on the way there. It's just books felt like such a huge undertaking. Like I didn't feel, I kind of just thought, oh, I can't do that. I'll do that later, you know. Other people always thought I'd be a novelist. I mean, I studied it at university. I studied creative writing there in English literature. And growing up, I was always trying to write stories. I remember trying to write my first one when I was seven. And I think I wrote like two pages

about like describing the carpet. And I remember a teacher very sweetly saying to me, maybe we can have a little less about the carpet. And I remember thinking, I'm just bad at this. Do it. So yeah, I didn't do it again until 2015 when I, I, I don't know. I mean, it's always hard to say exactly what suppose you want to finally be able to do something. I'd had this idea that was sort of brimming within me for a while. And I also went through a very bad breakup. And I feel like there's nothing quite like going through a bad breakup to give you the impulse to kind of like better your life,

especially since you want to be a novelist. And I was like, screw you. I'm going to write my novel and it's going to be better. I mean, it's not about it. I love this. But it was kind of like the fury, like definitely gave me the field to keep going. Because writing a novel is hard. So, yeah.

Yes. Okay, I love that. That is like the best answer I've gotten is like, I was like, fuck you. I'm going to write something. Yes, I want to do this. But it was like, it's so funny because like that is like the whole reason I started writing. And thank goodness, because like now I have this career and I wouldn't have had it if I hadn't been so angry. Right.

But like when I wrote that first book, I was so scared to. tell anyone, like what had actually made me want to write because I felt like it made me see crazy. And I'm like, now I'm like, they just have to read my books to know I'm a little bit crazy. So like, you know, let them know. He's worried about it, really. That's awesome. So you mentioned you kind of did lots of other creative endeavors. And I'm assuming that might be why you've lived in so many places. Because living so many places affected. You know, your writing? I've lived a lot of places because my parents moved me around a lot as a kid to start with. And then I think I was used to moving around a lot. So the things, the hurdles that might stand

in the way of somebody else moving didn't really stand in the way for me. So it's like while to someone else moving to the other side of the world might feel like, you know, the biggest undertaking, like don't get me wrong. It's hard and it's scary and stuff. But it's to me because I'd done it before, it was more of a, I don't know, it just seemed like a possibility, you know, in a way that it might. It's not natural still. Yeah. Like, you know, you know that you can do it, right? And the more times you do it, the party you know it is.

So you're a little bit jaded. But also, you know you can do it, right? And so you stop. And also, I think because I didn't have one place, like the whole world had like people in it. It was, I was less like kept in one place because it wasn't like, if I had a party, it doesn't matter where in the world it was, I'd probably have some people to come, but like, I wouldn't have everyone to come, which means that you're less kind of held in one place. So that probably had me moving a lot, plus a huge curiosity about life and like wanting something

bigger and better, which definitely fed into Zoe in this book. And like, because I really feel for her that sense of like knowing there's something more out there and wanting it. And how it's affected my writing, I think when you've moved a lot, particularly as a child, you learn to, like, I'd never thought about this until people started asking me about it. And then I was like, oh, how has it affected me? So I could be, I could be wrong here, but because, you know, you haven't lived both lives. Sometimes that's how you, like, learn about yourself as other people like. I think it helped me because when you move a lot as a kid, you tend to, you tend to need to figure a place out quite quickly because otherwise you can't fit in. And when you're a kid, if you can't fit in,

it just like feels like a matter of survival. And so I think it's helping in that I go somewhere and I immediately can see the deeper levels of things that I might not be able to see if I wasn't there. So then I know where to look. And I'm also really interested in places in terms of living there as opposed to visiting as a holiday. I very quickly figure out the differences between holidaying somewhere and the realities of living somewhere. And I spend a lot of time in places living there as opposed to visiting, which I think then plays into the writing. Yeah. Did you ever live in L.A.? Because this book felt like you were someone who lived in L.A. Good. Thank you. I spent time there a few couple of times before I wrote the book. So I came to it.

And when I was there, I was spending time with people who lived there. And you know, you kind of like, you pick things up via osmosis. And a lot of what I really picked up was how different the realities were to what I might have perceived them to be before I'd spent time in those kind of situations. So, and I was really quite keen when I was writing this book because one of the major themes is appearance and reality to put that across, like the discrepancy between what you might perceive to be how things are and how they actually are. So, yeah, I'd spent time there.

I hadn't lived there for like years or anything. Like I just spent time there a couple of times. And then I went back and did, once I'd already written most of my first draft, I went back and did a research trip, which allowed me to make sure that all the, that I had all the details right, because I wanted to know exactly where she lived

and exactly where her grocery store was. I knew, but I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what she saw on the way. And, yeah. That's cool. Yeah, it really, it opens up like at Golden Hour in L.A. kind of talking about how intoxicating. I can only imagine from what I've seen on like TV shows and stuff. But it like very cinematically felt like I was there. Yeah, it feels like hope.

Like I remember being there, think, and at that time of day, I'd be like, I can see why everyone comes here thinking their dreams are going to come true because it feels like hope. But, you know, like hope can take the best place is all the worst. so yes yeah it's kind of like literal rose-colored glasses basically at that time of day um so as far as your writing process goes how do you approach that do you outline to the characters kind of come to you i do um look i go in with i sort of start writing with just whatever will get me in So I do that whole Hemingway one true sentence. And I try to think of the truest sentence I can think of. So for this one, it's the opening line, which I can't remember off the top of my head,

but it's something about like the magic outlet in L.A., you know, everything sparkles, golden tangerine, even the trash. And that was like the truest thing I could say about L.A. And about like, just like, you know, it encompassed everything I wanted the book to say. So I started with that. And then I started writing for a bit. And I got a sense of what I thought this and not. would be kind of by virtue of the fact that my agent saying what's it about.

So I was like, you know, I better tell someone. So you come up with concept and you've got all these ideas floating around in your subconscious and you never know which ones are going to come up for which books and stuff. But so that came together. And then I kind of had ideas of what I thought was going to happen throughout the book. But I will say that while I always go in with a plan, the plan always shifts and changes. changes. Like as I work, I find that I, um, I kind of, I pence between plot points, but then the pensing will tell me something. Someone will do something. And I'll be like, oh, wow. Okay,

so that happens. So then I'll have to go back and recalibrate my plan. Right. Yeah. So kind of like, it's kind of a mixture of both probably. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. With your characters, do you do anything to get to know them like ahead of time or you get to know them as you're writing the plot? I do both. Like, I tend to go all method writer with them. So I will, I'll read all their books. Like, I read a lot of Didion and Babbitts and,

and a lot of Bacchowski, actually, for Zoe. And a lot of classics, like, I reread the Great Gatsby and I reread a lot of books that she mentions in the book because that's what she's really into. She's kind of like reading all the classics trying to figure out how they did it, like how maybe she can get past her rider's block. So for her, I did that.

And then I spent a lot of time, like, figuring, like, driving her way from work to home. So I could see exactly what she'd see. A lot of time hanging around behind her florist shop, trying to see what the alleyway looked like. I mean, really glamorous stuff. And then I, like, sprayed myself with, like, a perfume that I chose for her.

So for her, it was Killian's Good Girl Gone Bad. So every time I'd ride, Yeah, because it smells a bit like peaches and also cigarettes, and she's smoking the whole way through. So I was like, this is perfect. Yeah. So, yeah. Yes, that is so cool. I did not know.

This is my first perfume helping someone get into the writing character. I love that. Yeah, I did for all my characters. I feel like, I mean, I just feel like it reminds me who I'm writing. And it kind of gives me the sense of memory of what I've done before. I mean, you never know. I don't know if it helps, but I do it for every single one. It's like I'm almost superstitious about it now.

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I think that's cool. Yeah, it works really. You kind of touched on how, like, a lot of the stories about, like, the facade and then, like, what's actually happening. So faking, faking stuff versus reality is, like, very heavily throughout all of that. So did you always know you want to?

that as a theme in the story or did it just kind of come out? Look, everything kind of evolves, you know, and by the time you get to the end of a book, it's quite hard to isolate unless I go back to the very first versions, because I save every version. So I can go back to the very, very first iterations and go, wow, that was bad, but like get a sense of like where I was, and what I was thinking. It grows as I move. I mean, I think any, I did want it to be around the dark side of fame, and I did want there to be a stalker element, and I did want to be,

and that very first passage about the light, you know, that was the first thing I wrote, and that kind of implies, you know, the light and the dark and, you know, there's, you know, good and bad to everything. So I think subliminally, if not consciously, yes, I was always going to do that. But for me, it really, like, when I'm writing a book,

I wish it was more strategic, but a lot of the time, I'm sure my subconscious has a strategy, but to me it feels like magic, you know, like you look back and you go, oh, that's why I did that. But like, you don't always know it at the time. You kind of get caught up in the flow. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. But yeah.

And then just being in L.A. Yeah, that definitely helped me basically. It basically come up. Like, I was hugely blocked when I got to about, I'd say, halfway through this book. I just like, I couldn't. for bigger things properly. And I swear I gave it to myself. So he is blocked. And I was like, I go all right. I go like method writer. And I swear I was like, well, we're not ourselves. You were just really getting into character. But I went to LA and when I came back, I could,

I re, like I wrote the second half in, I'd say two months. And a lot of the first half got reworked as a result of like not so much the story, but details. And then those, details feed into what happens later, you know, like, because this book looks, for example, at the beginning, like maybe she's walking into a dream or a rom-com, and that's very intentional, you know, because it's like about the light part of Hollywood and you're slowly moving into the darker, darker, darker, darker aspects. It's mindful. So, so yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it does start with like a meat cute essentially is the vibe. Yeah, exactly. You need to understand why she thinks this is a good idea, right? yes yeah totally totally um so the other fun thing about Zoe for me is she kind of has like a

punchy sardonic tone to her a little bit yeah and i just loved that did you did you have fun writing kind of just like her like witty thoughts on stuff definitely i always have fun with those kinds of things in my books i find um like yeah i didn't even know what sardonic humor was until I started writing books, and then people kept saying that that's what I did. And I was like, that must be me. Oh, thank you. Because a piece of you always like your books. You can't help it.

That's amazing. Funny. But yeah, I love, I mean, like, I really like, um, fleshing out my characters. I don't always read thrillers. Like a lot of the time I'm reading general fiction. And one of the things I love about general fiction is the fact that you get these really well-fleshed-out characters. And so I really try to bring that to my books. Like even though they are thrillers, I really want to make them breathe and give them a heartbeat. And that's really important to me.

So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I loved it. I was highlighting so many things at the beginning. I was like, just her thoughts on LA, like just all of it was, I love it. It's my favorite voice to live in for a whole book, especially. Yeah. There's, you also have this kind of of fun take on a book within a book like it's different than how that's usually done but i really really enjoyed it and without saying spoilers i like i really loved how it completely played itself out into the end did you know that you were going to do the kind of book in a book structure at all yes like i knew that i wanted the stalker to be reenacting scenes from her book because i was really into one of the themes I wanted to be working with was how as creatives, you know, you put yourself out there and

you put yourself in the crosshairs. Like we'd all do that no matter what I'm creating. A lot of the time it's metaphorical crosshairs, you know, just by criticism and what have you. But sometimes it's not. Sometimes you are actually putting yourself in physical process, which is kind of the danger Zoe finds herself in. Because I think that's not something we always think about. We don't always think about as creatives the fact that you're putting something out of the world that gives people far more access to you and your inner world and you're then they would have if you were just like wandering around not doing not doing something creative and also there's a sense of entitlement around you so it's like and if you are you know they can figure out where to find you and you know there's a real

vulnerability that Zoe has in this book um that you wouldn't like for example Zach doesn't have because Zach is like a big star. So he's got more, he's got his own vulnerabilities, but he also has the security, right? So yeah, I needed to have the book within the book in order to pull all that across. And I knew I needed the story to be about a stalker for the stalker to be able to use it as a how-to guide.

But in the very first iteration, I didn't have the full plot formed of fractured, which is Zoe's novel. I kind of just referenced things. And then partially, because I didn't know what the plot was, I just knew some things that would happen. And I was like, that's going to be hard. And then obviously I handed it in and my editors were like, we need more information about fraction. And I was like, damn. So then I had to figure it out. Oh, that's awesome. Well, I loved it. And it's like, again, I'm trying, I'm talking around spoilers, but it is like a unique take on that and the way that books can be important in books,

essentially. The other really cool part is there are these mixed media elements where you're getting like comment sections that to me I always think is such a, it like helps the story understand the public's reaction and like what the public is believing so much by including those comment sections. So was that like something you were doing from the beginning or is that something you kind of added in later? That just came when I got to those paths because one of the things I wanted to do was have us, you know, because usually we're seeing these kind of celebrity romances from the perspective of the viewer like for the most part. I mean sometimes you're in it right, but I mean like

for the most part, you're watching it right. And so I feel like, so I wanted to have us within her perspective and then we're seeing the reality of what's playing out and what's actually going on but then also see the see like what commenters are seeing and like what how the press is it so we could see the discrepancy between the two like the discrepancy between what was actually happening and what she was actually experiencing and how hard it was for her and then understand how unfair it was like how it was being portrayed in the press and then how people were reacting to it and it's not really putting blame on so much on the comment is, although there are a couple there. I'm thinking because they were mean.

But for the most part, you're not really putting blame on them. You're just going, see, there is always more to the story, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're just reading these tidbits because someone like catches a picture of something. And that's all you're given, so, you know, fair. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

And then the speculation just turns it into whatever it's going to turn it into, essentially. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So the other thing is obviously like that is through the public we're kind of seeing the scandalous side of Hollywood too. Did you, not like research, but were there any like scandals or like people you were like pulling from for certain characters? No, not really. I mean like I think these kind of stories.

I'm drawing from so many different sources. I'm drawing from things I might have personally either experienced or heard about first, like secondhand from people, or I am drawing from TV shows, or I am drawing from books. And then, or I'm drawing from things I read about in the press. And then I'm kind of like trying to figure out for myself what the truth is around it, based on all the information I have available to me. And some of that is probably very accurate. And some of it is less accurate, like stuff you read about in the press.

And then it's about trying to kind of put together a story that's putting across what you're trying to say about the whole thing. Yes. But yeah, but there's always like so much research stuff. Like you have to research intensely. I mean, every part of it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. What was I going to say?

Just made me think of something. I'm sorry. No, you're fine. You're fine. I clearly didn't have like a big grass model. whatever it was um what was it about news oh it also even reminded me like uh in evelyn hugo like the seven husbands of evelyn hugo she uses it that way too and it reminded me that you haven't read it no it's like one of those ones it's on my bookshelf and i mean planning to

and i'm like i need to like it's one of those huge books everyone loves and i love the author Yeah. Yeah. I like really mostly read thrillers and I still like haven't been able to stop talking about that book. But she uses that as a way like we're seeing like because it's more historical fiction. So it's like this 40s 50, 50, 60, something like that is where it starts. And it's even fascinating to think like over even like even over the course of like 80, 100 years. Yeah. like we're we've still been obsessed with celebrities and just like reporting these little bits

and so then sometimes it'll start a chapter with that and then it goes into like what's actually happening so it's kind of crazy that we've been obsessed with us for such a long time as a culture nature i actually don't even think humans have changed that much people are always talking about how we've evolved i'm like have we though like i mean if we're all holding us back i mean would people really be good or would they descend into the lord of of the flies like i mean right yeah i totally agree yeah especially and especially with women in hollywood like we like to essentially like build them up to like tear them down like is oh my god and it's awful isn't it because it really is it's almost like people that's their favorite part they want to build them up just to watch them fall and i go what is that like

why yeah i know i know it is it's not it's not it's not it's not great but it does make a good setting for thrillers. Was that like at all part of your thought process? Like well I mean Hollywood would be a good place for this. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I loved it so much. Again, I'm trying not to talk about sweaters and I keep almost doing it.

There's only questions you could ask but you can't because I know it's a really tricky one to talk about. Yeah, well everyone should read it still. That's what we can help people, especially. I feel like a lot of my listeners, we love Hollywood and thrillers together. And the fact that there's book and a book, too. Like, there's just so many things going on. I loved it.

Thank you. That's awesome. Yeah. So I've been asking authors at the end if they have any book recommendations, if they've loved what they've read recently. I would, look, I always recommend Jacqueline and Susan's Valley of the Dolls if you haven't read it because I absolutely love that one. And I read it again while I was writing the close-up. The other one that I recommend is Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion because I

hadn't read that yet and I read that while doing the close-up. And I think those are books that, you know, while they're, I think classics, you tend to think, well, I think of those as classics, okay? I mean, they're not Chaucer, but I think of those as classics. And like it's all over and I think sometimes they can seem a little inaccessible, but they're really not. They were so great. it shows you kind of like the shoulders we're standing on and um yeah really i i would recommend both yeah i like those especially thematically they keep with the book yeah definitely do yeah so where can people follow you to stay up to date with everything i'm pretty much pip drysdale on everything like at pip drysdale so um um i'm not on i don't do the ex-twitter thing i haven't done that

since like 2011. But I feel like that was a good choice. I think I was a trend set of man. I think you mean true choice in that. So, but I do like, I'm on Facebook. I barely get on Facebook, but I am on there. I do, I'm pretty good on Instagram. I am on TikTok.

That's a bit hit or miss, but I am on there. And I do post like behind the scenes things. So it's more kind of rule, write a journal, kind of this is my day kind of situations on TikTok. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. I will put those links in the show notes. Thank you so much for talking with me about the close-up.

Thank you for having me.