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Interview Overview

In this episode of The Writer’s Chair, Daniel Willcocks sits down with Paul Tremblay — award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts, The Cabin at the End of the World, Disappear Into Devil’s Rock, Survivor Song, and his latest novel, Horror Movie.

Across a wide-ranging and deeply thoughtful conversation, Paul reflects on the long, slow reality of building a writing career, the persistence required to survive rejection, and how success is rarely an overnight phenomenon. They explore the emotional roots of horror, the cultural misunderstanding of the genre, and why fear, discomfort, and transgression are essential to honest storytelling.

The conversation also dives into the creation of Horror Movie, a layered, mixed-media novel blending screenplay, memory, fandom, and fractured timelines. Paul shares how cinema shaped his understanding of story before books ever did, how he approaches complex narrative structures, and why he writes stories in the order readers experience them.

This is a grounded, generous conversation about craft, patience, horror as outsider art, and what it really means to build a sustainable creative life — not through spectacle, but through consistency, integrity, and love for the work itself.

Interview Transcription

Introduction

Daniel Willcocks:

Hi, it’s me, Daniel Willcocks, and joining me in this week’s The Other Stories Writer’s Chair, I’ve got the sensationally spooky Paul Tremblay.

Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Massachusetts Book Awards, and is the author of Survivor Song, The Cabin at the End of the World, Disappearing to Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep to Wonderland, and the short story collection Growing Things and Other Stories. His essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly Online, and numerous Years Best anthologies.

He has a Master’s degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his family. But really, Paul… what have you done with your life? Welcome to the show.

Paul Tremblay:

Thank you, Daniel. Happy to be here. Appreciate it.

Daniel Willcocks:

Very excited to have you. I know we kind of met briefly last year, had very small talks, but it’s nice to get a bit of one-on-one time with you and get a bit indulgent on all things horror.

So just for the listeners who might not know who you are, can you give a little overview of your writing career — how you got to where you are now, and where that love of horror writing came from?

Finding Horror and the Long Climb

Paul Tremblay:

Sure. So, yeah, I mean, it’s been sort of a long, slow climb to wherever it is — I’m holding on by the fingertips now.

In the US, my first novel was published in 2009, although that was a quirky detective novel called The Little Sleep, which is now available in the UK as well. Prior to that, I wrote mainly horror short stories and just sort of stuck with it.

And then in 2015, my novel A Head Full of Ghosts is really what broke me out.

Paul Tremblay:

I’ve been happily horrifying ever since, I hope — for some people, or for most.

Daniel Willcocks:

That’s such a succinct journey — perfect.

I always remember people asking, “How did you get started?” and it’s like, oh, you have to remember all these little building blocks.

So I got my start in writing around 2015, and your name was populating the space then — you made that impression very much. It feels like one of the things that came very, very quickly for you. But obviously, like you say, your first novel came out in 2009.

So what was that like when you had that first big hit from your horror work?

Paul Tremblay:

Yeah, I mean, if you want to go further back — I started messing around with writing in the mid-90s, where it was very much a hobby until the early 2000s, when I got more serious about it because I had started selling short stories.

I don’t know — I’ve always described it as being just dumbly persistent, you know. Writing, getting rejected, writing. It took me two years to find an agent — all those things. I just sort of kept at it.

And it’s kind of funny — people talk about “overnight sensations”, but I wouldn’t necessarily describe what happened with A Head Full of Ghosts like that. It had a bit of its own build. It came out and then, you know, three or four months later, Stephen King tweeted about it, which obviously gave the book a big push.

So yeah — I don’t try to focus on what’s already happened. I really just try to focus on the next story.

Daniel Willcocks:

Yes. Next.

Where the Love of Horror Began

Daniel Willcocks:

I love that — which is ironic because I’m about to dive back deeper into your past. Your love of horror.

So, you’ve written a bunch of horror books now, and I’ve read a fair few of them myself — and they’re all fantastic. I’ve just read the brand new release, Horror Movie, which we’ll go on to shortly, because it’s fantastic.

But where did that first nugget of horror come from? What is it that brought the darkness into being for you?

Paul Tremblay:

I mean, in terms of movies and books and stuff like that, I really can’t remember a time where I wasn’t both interested in — and terribly afraid of — horror.

For me, the first exposure was movies. We had a programme local to the area I grew up in — a Boston television programme. This is pre-cable TV, so I was like seven, eight, nine. On Saturdays it was called Creature Double Feature.

The first movie was always a kaiju movie — usually Godzilla, sometimes Gamera — and that’s what drew me in. Then the second movie would be a more classically identified horror movie. A lot of horror films, but also a lot of black-and-white films featuring giant things that had mutated.

Those movies would always give me nightmares — but I would still watch them. So horror has always just been part of me.

That’s why, when people ask, “What do you write?” and you say horror, the response is often some form of disgust — or “How do you do that?”

And my response is always: how is it not a part of your life? I don’t understand, because it’s always been a part of mine.

Daniel Willcocks:

Yeah — I’ve got a theory as well, and I don’t know if this will resonate with you, but I think a lot of people are horror fans — it’s just the label “horror” that gives them the ick.

They find different ways to label horror. So all this true crime detective stuff, all this thriller content — they’ll say they won’t watch Cujo because the dog’s too scary, but then they’ll watch Jeffrey Dahmer eat people.

I feel like there’s a weird grounding issue going on with horror — particularly thriller.

Horror, Genre Labels, and What Truly Scares Us

Paul Tremblay:

No, yeah, I totally agree. And I think horror — maybe more so than most genres — is usually identified by its worst representatives. Or maybe that’s a reflection of the 80s horror movie boom, where a lot of people don’t like slasher films, and when you say “horror” to them, that’s what they envision — Friday the 13th or something like that.

When obviously, there are so many other and very different kinds of horror stories — many of which they like, but they just don’t consider horror.

Daniel Willcocks:

So is there a particular genre of horror that you go for? You write creatures, you’ve written psychological stuff — what’s your go-to horror? If you’re sat down on a Friday afternoon thinking, “I’m going to scare the shit out of myself,” what’s your coverage?

Paul Tremblay:

Well, the cool part is there are so many different kinds. Whenever I say I don’t like something, there’s always an example of that sub-genre that I do like.

But I guess I tend to gravitate towards more psychological, supernatural, spooky horror. Mainly because horror that features human monsters is sometimes way too scary for me — it’s hard to deal with.

Daniel Willcocks:

Yeah — have you got an example of one that really, really freaks you out?

Paul Tremblay:

I mean… all of them.

It took me forever to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, partly because of its reputation. Just the title alone. When I first became aware of it — and this was in the 80s — I couldn’t go online and look it up or read the plot description, so I just assumed it was gore-fest, people getting sliced by chainsaws.

And when I finally watched it — actually fairly recently, probably ten or maybe a bit more years ago — I was like, my God, this movie is amazing. I had no idea how bloodless it actually was, while still being so transgressive and disturbing.

So I think about that movie a lot — partly because of how it helped inspire at least the beginning of my novel Horror Movie, which I’ve been talking about a lot lately.

Horror Movie: Origins, Influence, and Inspiration

Daniel Willcocks:

Absolutely — I was going to head there.

So, Horror Movie, your latest book — I’ve literally finished reading it today. I got it through the post on Thursday. One of those beautiful hardback copies with the scaly skin texture and the signature — it’s phenomenal.

It’s a book that, for me — and I know it’s tempting to say this because you’re on camera with me — but it really is a masterclass in slow release. It just creeps forward. I really love it.

Obviously, no spoilers, but I highly recommend people go and check it out — and we’ll put a link in the show notes.

The only way I can describe it is like a camera over someone’s shoulder, watching action across multiple timelines.

Tell us about how the seed for this book came into being, and where the idea for Horror Movie came from.

Paul Tremblay:

Part of it was that I happened to be watching a YouTube video — two writers, one mainly a critic and essayist, the other a fiction writer and musician — Walter Chaw and John Darnielle — discussing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

It was just a really fun discussion: two smart people talking about the movie in smart ways, but also as fans. And I am definitely a fan too.

So I dug into the movie more, read about what happened on set, how dangerous it was — and that made me think about the “cursed movie” subgenre.

I thought, okay, I want to take a crack at that and explore it.

And part of why I was interested was that it let me explore how I first learned story. From about ages five to twenty-one, what I knew of story came through film and television. I wasn’t a big reader as a child or teenager — I didn’t fall in love with reading for pleasure until my early twenties.

So it was fun to look back and explore how that shaped my understanding of story. Even now — thirty years later — after reading so many books and watching so many films, it was fun to mess around with all that and hopefully make something disturbing and fun, especially for people who love horror movies.

Pitching a Mixed-Media Horror Novel

Daniel Willcocks:

How do you pitch a book like this? It’s mixed medium — you’ve got the screenplay sections, multiple perspectives, different timelines. How do you pitch that to a publisher?

Paul Tremblay:

Luckily, I didn’t have to. It just showed up on their doorstep.

It was actually the last book of a book deal I was already in. The first book of that deal — The Pallbearers Club — had to be pitched, but my editor — my US editor — trusts me enough that if I don’t pitch something, it’s still something they’ll want to do.

The funny part is, it always goes to the US editor first, and then to Titan Books, because so far they’ve followed along with the same deals. You know, my US editor is the one that does all the story editing.

Pitching Horror Movie: What It’s Actually About

Daniel Willcocks:

Yeah. And for people who don’t know what the story is about, give them a little pitch — give them a little overview.

Paul Tremblay:

OK, sure — you’re going to force me to make a pitch.

Yeah, so it’s hard. The main story revolves around this film — a movie that was filmed in 1993 by a bunch of twenty-something young filmmakers. Very low budget, independent, art-house, you know… pretentious kind of horror movie, which I always joke is my favourite kind.

And something happens on set towards the end — this is not a spoiler — that prevents it from being shown on screen.

But in the thirty years since that happened, the movie that never was inexplicably has this rabid fan following — partly because in 2008, the director of the movie, before she died of cancer, uploaded three scenes from the movie, some stills, and the whole screenplay.

So the main part of the book — most of the book — is being narrated to us by a man who played the character called the Thin Kid. You never get his name. He’s narrating his experience: what happened on set, what happened in the years in between, and what’s happening now while a big studio is doing this big-budget Hollywood reboot.

And you also get the entire screenplay of the original movie.

So like I said… I’m not good at the pitch — the Hollywood elevator summarisation — but yeah.

Daniel Willcocks:

Yeah, all good.

Constructing a Mixed-Media Novel

Daniel Willcocks:

So I’m going to go more into the writer’s side of this. Writing a book like that — you’ve got multiple timelines, mixed medium — how did you go about constructing it?

Was it a case of writing the full screenplay first? Was it taking one character and building out from there? How does that come together for Paul?

Paul Tremblay:

So for each book, I try to make each book feel a little bit different. Obviously there’s some sameness to approach at times.

But for maybe about sixty per cent — or two-thirds — of my novels, I usually write some sort of summary first before I start typing Chapter One.

In this case, I just took a lot of notes. I didn’t write a summary. I wanted to feel a little more freewheeling with it, as opposed to writing a summary — although I essentially summarised it as I went.

I kept some very unorganised notes — and Titan Books actually includes those in their edition of Horror Movie. So I just kept notes as I went, and sometimes I’d peek ahead.

But even though there’s a fractured timeline — where things bounce around and are broken up by the screenplay — I wrote it in the order you read it.

With one exception: there was one tiny chapter — the first chapter, with the current-day director — that I had a little later in the book, and I moved it up maybe thirty pages or something like that. But that was really the only thing I moved around.

And for me, that worked best.

It was kind of fun to write a chapter, take a break, write a screenplay section, then go back to the general narrative. And I felt like that helped keep me connected — it kept all the pieces connected to each other — as opposed to writing the screenplay separately, then trying to decide where to divvy it up.

I would say the one thing that’s the same with everything I write is I always write it in the order in which I think it’s going to happen. Even if there’s bouncing around in the timeline, I just can’t imagine writing, “OK, I’m going to write this piece, then go back and write this piece.” My brain just doesn’t work that way.

Daniel Willcocks:

Yeah — I’ve worked with a few writers that do that and it blows my mind. I just can’t. I very much have to be that forward driver as well.

Lessons Learned and the Reality of Finishing a Book

Daniel Willcocks:

Is there anything this book has taught you that you hadn’t learned from another book — like a particular lesson? Because I find when I finish a work, there’s always something new I discover. I don’t know if that’s the same for you.

Paul Tremblay:

That’s a great question. I don’t know.

I’m really bad at learning things from what I’ve written. I learn way more from other people’s work — reading things other people write.

Yeah, I don’t know — I’d have to sit and think hard about what I learned.

In some ways it’s difficult because I’m talking about the book now, but I finished the heart of writing it — the first draft — in March 2022. So it’s been almost two years.

So the experience isn’t lost, but it’s certainly affected by the afterglow. You forget the difficult parts… well, sometimes you forget the difficult parts. Sometimes you dwell on those.

So yeah, it’s hard to know what I learned from it. I hope each thing makes me a better writer for the next one, but it’s hard to say what I learned necessarily.

Daniel Willcocks:

Totally understandable.

What’s Exciting in Horror Right Now

Daniel Willcocks:

You mentioned in the acknowledgements a lot of big names in the genre — John Langan, Stephen Graham Jones. You’re very entrenched in the horror scene.

So you’re probably the person most poised to answer this question — no pressure. If you don’t have an answer, I’ll help out.

But what’s currently out there that’s exciting you in horror? It’s a genre that’s always changing — we’ve had evolutions over the last thirty, forty years. What’s exciting you right now?

The Current Horror Renaissance

Paul Tremblay:

I mean, there’s so much that’s exciting.

Just aside from the fact that horror is actually being published as horror in the United States — which hasn’t been a thing for a long, long time — we’re seeing so many women, people of colour, and queer people getting to publish and tell their horror stories, as opposed to every writer just looking like me. That’s the biggest thing.

Individually, you already mentioned a couple of writers who are doing some of the most exciting horror fiction — John and Stephen — and I’d include Mariana Enriquez.

I think that’s also a reflection of a healthier publishing climate: more translated horror novels being published in the United States. I know Mariana is published in the UK as well — sometimes the UK and US publishing landscapes are slightly different — but it’s a super exciting time.

Other writers like Eric LaRocca in the UK, Alison Rumfitt — it’s just really exciting to see all of this.

In the case of Tell Me I’m Worthless, it’s really transgressive fiction that tackles difficult subjects without blinking and with integrity. To me, that’s the most exciting part.

Because usually when something becomes popular — and this happens all the time in movies — everyone wants to copy it. And those copycats usually come from a cynical place. That’s less from the writer or filmmaker side, and more from the publisher or studio side of things.

Part of me does fear that horror could become “Scooby-Doo horror,” where it has to have a happy ending. That fear comes from conversations I’ve had with Hollywood people — and I even put this in Horror Movie — where they say, “Yeah, we want horror, but it can’t be too grim, and it has to have a happy ending.”

I hope that’s not the case.

But all the writers I’ve mentioned are people who haven’t succumbed to that. I’d describe them all as artists — with integrity.

Daniel Willcocks:

I think we’re fortunate enough to live in a time where even if those rules lock down in one area, there’s always going to be rebellion and independence that bring a truer feel back to the art. That’s somewhat reassuring, given how global everything has become.

Paul Tremblay:

Sure. I mean, if horror has a job — which it probably doesn’t — but if it does, part of that job is being outsider art. Making difficult commentary about the larger cultural sphere.

That’s when horror operates at its best.

One Book Everyone Should Read

Daniel Willcocks:

If you could only recommend one book to the audience — one horror book, or not even horror to be fair — what would it be? I know you just put an article up with about ten, so I don’t know if that guides you.

Paul Tremblay:

Just one?

Well, I’ll keep blabbing about Mariana Enriquez’s novel Our Share of Night. To me, it’s a towering work of genius and something that should be read by everybody. I wish I saw it discussed more widely in horror circles.

I don’t know how she’s presented as an author in the UK, but in the US she isn’t really presented as a horror author — she’s presented as a literary author. Which is fine by me, but it’s interesting.

For years — and it still happens now — people in the horror sphere say, “The wider culture doesn’t take us seriously. Literary folk don’t take us seriously.” But the reverse happens too.

I think some horror fans are reluctant to read people marketed as literary because they think, “Oh, it’s not really horror.” They think it’s just using horror elements. I don’t want to ascribe motivations one way or the other, but I would encourage more horror readers to read Mariana Enriquez if you haven’t already.

Daniel Willcocks:

That’s very reassuring — because you recommended that when we met last year, and I’ve got the book. I’m yet to read it, but it’s definitely high on my list. It’s nice when a recommendation sticks and it’s still the same book.

It’s a big one as well. That’s one thing I’m missing a little in horror — fewer big, chunky books you can really get your teeth into.

Paul Tremblay:

No, 100%. We’re all so busy — a short novel feels manageable. But one of the pleasures of that book is the experience of living with a book for two or three weeks, just being in that world for 800 pages.

It’s definitely worth the time investment.

Underrated Voices in Horror

Daniel Willcocks:

So Mariana Enriquez, Our Share of Night. Who are some other authors who might not be getting the attention you think they deserve? Anyone you’ve read where you think, “This needs more heat under the flames”?

Paul Tremblay:

Yeah — it’s always hard to answer, because someone hears it and thinks, “Wait, I thought I was getting noticed.”

But we mentioned John Langan — and I think he only just recently had his first UK publication of The Fisherman with Canelo Books. He’s someone who should be more widely read.

And I’ll mention some smaller press work too — Nadia Balkin. Her collection is a few years old now, but if you’ve never read She Said Destroy, I really recommend it. She’s a wonderful writer.

We’ll stop at those two. How’s that?

Film, Fatigue and What Comes Next

Paul Tremblay:

Yeah — outside of horror in general, I’m really excited to see Longlegs in a couple of days with my daughter. We’ve made a plan to go together. Have you heard of it?

It comes out in the US on July 12th. The director is Osgood Perkins. I love his film The Blackcoat’s Daughter, which is just amazing. I think its title was February in the UK — or maybe it was retitled — but either way, it’s a wonderful movie.

He’s a really interesting director. Longlegs has had a brilliant marketing campaign here in the US, and it’s actually kind of exciting to see. I haven’t seen it yet, but it looks like it’s going to be really disturbing — a cult/serial killer movie — and Osgood has such a distinctive, off-kilter style.

So maybe I shouldn’t be talking about a movie I haven’t seen yet — but I’m very excited about it coming this week.

Otherwise… yeah, my brain’s kind of mushed.

Like we were talking about before, I just finished my first nationwide US tour, which was the last three weeks of June. Then I got COVID straight after that. So I’m sort of emerging from that bunker back into the world, and my brain is still probably a bit COVID-mushy.

Hopefully people read Horror Movie next summer.

I also have a book called Another coming out, which is a middle-grade novel. I sort of wrote it on a whim, right on the heels of finishing Horror Movie.

I’d taken a year off because of the movie adaptation, which allowed me to take a sabbatical from teaching. And I actually got a lot done that year, surprisingly. When you’re not working your full-time job — or second full-time job — your other full-time job suddenly gets a lot more attention.

So yeah, that’s coming out next summer in the US. I’m not sure about the UK yet, but I’m pretty excited about it.

That was actually — going back to your earlier question — I don’t know what I learned from Horror Movie, but I definitely felt like I learned some things writing from the point of view of an 11- or 12-year-old.

Daniel Willcocks:

I bet. I’ve written one story for a younger audience that I’ve never put out anywhere, but adjusting the language, readjusting your expectations of what you find scary versus what children find scary — and how powerful smaller language can be — that’s a real challenge. I struggled with adjusting my own horror expectations.

Paul Tremblay:

For me, I think I was lucky — I came across a story idea that just fit the voice naturally. I didn’t feel like I had to make a lot of “adult concessions” — no swearing, that kind of thing.

My vocabulary probably isn’t that big anyway. And honestly, I still feel like a 12-year-old sometimes. So I kind of felt like, “Oh — this fits. This makes sense.”

Where to Find Paul Tremblay

Daniel Willcocks:

So where can everyone find out more about you and everything you’re working on?

Paul Tremblay:

My website is paultremblay.net. You can sign up for a newsletter — it’s free, and I only clutter your inbox about once a month. I really try not to hurt people too much with emails.

I usually write a goofy little essay and talk about what’s coming next.

Otherwise, I’m on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Bluesky — all at @PaulGTremblay.

That’s pretty much where I am.

Closing the Conversation

Daniel Willcocks:

Perfect. With that, there’s nothing left to say other than thank you so much, Paul, for jumping on the show and speaking to The Other Stories audience.

Paul Tremblay:

Thank you, Daniel. I appreciate it.

Daniel Willcocks:

No worries. And thanks everyone for tuning in. You can find out more about everything going on with The Other Stories podcast over at theotherstories.net.

And I’ll see you next time, when we strap our next willing victim into the writer’s chair.

Bye-bye for now.