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Scott Smith Grows On You Chris Bolton, Powells.com Scott Smith burst onto the literary scene in 1993 with his blockbuster novel, A Simple Plan, which Stephen King hailed as "simply the best suspense novel of the year." A dark, gritty noir tale of two brothers and a friend who find $4 million in the cockpit of a downed plane, Smith's debut was riveting and unforgettable, and left readers waiting for his next novel.
Flash-forward to 2006. I'm sitting at my desk one fine, sunny day in late spring when Georgie bounds over and hands me an advanced copy of a novel called The Ruins. My eye flashes to the author name: Scott Smith. At long last, the wait is over. The Ruins is brilliantly suspenseful, on a par with A Simple Plan even as it eschews the noir genre to plunge headlong into relentless, abject horror. I devoured the novel in a weekend and immediately began singing its praises to everyone kind enough not to tell me to shut up — all the while tip-toeing carefully around the novel's major plot elements. Half the fun of The Ruins comes from stumbling blindly into its story, as blissfully unaware of what awaits you as Smith's hapless protagonists. (Thus, I've blocked out any potential spoilers. If, however, you've already read the novel, or you're the unfortunate sort who doesn't mind having surprises blown, you can read the blocked text by highlighting it with your cursor.)
Clearly, I'm not alone in my assessment. Stephen King proclaims The
Ruins "the book of the summer." Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review, Entertainment Weekly awards it an A-, and Laura Miller of Salon sums it up best: "Scott Smith shows us an aspect of ourselves and of human nature we'd rather not acknowledge. He's such a master, though, that it's impossible to look away." Add all that praise to the fact that everyone at Powells.com who's read it has done so in a single, horrified burst, and it's clear the wait was worth it.
Scott Smith: I attempted to write another novel for five years. I got about a thousand pages and was maybe a quarter of the way done — optimistically — and finally had to face the fact that it was far too ambitious. But I couldn't really give it up; I kept trying to stop it and start something else, but as soon as I hit any difficulty in the new project, I would think, Well, I should keep soldiering on with this other thing. Then the movie version of A Simple Plan came out, and I got some screenwriting opportunities, and I kind of fled the whole novel-writing thing for the next six years, doing scripts until I finally gained enough distance that I could do something else. Bolton: Having written both novels and screenplays, is there one you prefer? Smith: Not really. I'd like to find a way to do both. More equitably than I've been doing, not binge and bust. They're much more different than I would have thought. It's tough to have done scriptwriting for all those years and then try to come back and write the novel. I had a hard time. I felt much more confident writing A Simple Plan than I did The Ruins. With A Simple Plan, I felt like I knew what I was doing, whereas this time I didn't feel that pretty much at any point. Bolton: So there was no point during the writing of the book when you felt like, Oh, I've got it. There it is? Smith: No, no. Definitely not. I didn't start it thinking, Oh, I'm going to send this out as a book. It was really, I'm going to try to write prose again and see how it goes. It was almost an exercise, in the beginning. I didn't have a plot or an outline. I just wrote each day. Big things in the book, like the rope breaking and Pablo breaking his back — I only knew about that after I wrote it. I didn't plan it out. Which then had, obviously, a huge impact on the subsequent plot. Bolton: I was rereading A Simple Plan this last week, and I was sitting there thinking, There's no way — in both of these books, there's no way he just stumbles into these messes. He has to plan out in advance how he's going to ruin his characters. [Laughter] Smith: For A Simple Plan, yes, I had a thirty-page, single spaced outline. I was very methodical with that. I mean, it changed as I wrote, but it was very plotted out. The Ruins — about halfway through, I finally sat down and decided I need some sort of road map. A lot of it was just whatever the day would bring. Bolton: When I started reading The Ruins I had no idea what it was about. And I've been hoping that the reviewers would respect that, but it doesn't look like they're going to. Smith: Some are, some aren't. Bolton: So when I started reading it, my first impression, with the first paragraph, was that it would be something like The Beach, and thinking, This Greek [Pablo] is going to be trouble. Did you start off thinking that? Smith: I was going to play with the language barrier a little more. There are little moments in the book about how Mathias is not one of the group. I thought somehow that insider-outsider thing was going to come more into play, and not fall by the wayside. Bolton: So at what point did you literally stumble across the plot? Smith: I knew the vine was going to be there. I knew it was going to fall into the horror genre. That was an impulse in terms of going back to prose. I haven't read much horror or watched many horror movies, but I was watching a horror movie and there was a "shiver" moment. I thought, That would be kind of fun, to try to do that. Bolton: Do you think you'd want to do it again? Smith: Not imminently. I definitely feel a desire to try different things. I think that was part of the reason I went into horror as opposed to the noir style of A Simple Plan. Bolton: You say that you wrote most of The Ruins off-the-cuff. So I have to ask: Was there a point when you got to the vine and thought, Little Shop of Horrors? Smith: [Laughter] I knew, all along the way — and I still feel this — that you take one step to the side, and it's just silly, it's preposterous. I was definitely aware of that. My friends would say, "What are you working on?" And I'd say, "A book about a talking plant." Their reactions reminded me that there was an element of the preposterous to it. I just think I shut my eyes and hoped for the best. And continue to do that. Bolton: As I was reading it, I wondered how much of the suspense came from that knife-edge: Oh, man, if we just go a little to the left it's Steve Martin. Smith: Yes! Exactly. "Feed me." Bolton: Did you always know how it was going to end? Smith: I knew the last line of the book pretty much as soon as I wrote the first line. This has come up around discussions with the script, which is in the works — alternate endings are difficult because they open up so many questions that have to be answered. Bolton: Speaking of the film — I've read that Ben Stiller's production company has optioned the film rights and you're working on the screenplay? Smith: Yes. I actually just finished it, just turned in a draft. Bolton: Then I guess you can answer this: One of my favorite scenes is the one where Stacy, Amy, and Eric are talking about the stereotypes they'd be reduced to in a movie version. Did that come up? Was that your way of safeguarding against producers? Smith: You know, other people have mentioned that. Really, the point of that conversation was to get Eric to the point where he cuts himself again. I used that conversation because it ultimately comes around to him talking about how he would die. I saw it more as a bridge towards that moment. Are you asking whether that scene occurs in the script at this point? Bolton: Yes. Smith: It doesn't. It just seemed like it would yank you out of the story too much. Bolton: How was your experience screenwriting in Hollywood? I don't recall seeing other movies with your name in the credits. Smith: Yes, all my scripts are in various states of not being made. Bolton: Are they being held up, or..? Smith: I don't think anything is definitely buried, but it depends when you ask. There will be a moment of this is happening, and it's exciting, but then it falls through. You have to just send it out into the world and hope for the best. A Simple Plan took five years from script to film. There's nothing that is imminently going to be made, but I've been really lucky in terms of who I ended up working with. All these nightmares you hear about writers working in Hollywood, I've been really fortunate. I've worked with smart people I like and respect. They've allowed me a lot of freedom and left me to do the script — Ben Stiller and his production company; there's another producer named Bill Horberg with whom it's the same sort of thing. And a range of scripts, too, which has been great. Bolton: How long did it take you to write The Ruins? Smith: I wrote probably two-thirds of it in about ten months. I actually sent it out at that point because I had the opportunity to write a remake of El Cid, which I wanted to do. I thought that would be fun, and it was time-sensitive, so I had to do it then, at that specific moment. Then I came back after finishing El Cid, and probably took another five months to finish The Ruins. There was a little rewriting after that. Bolton: Did you do any research into plant life, or did you just wing it? Smith: No, I definitely — I've never been to the Yucatan. Bolton: Have you even been to Mexico? Smith: No. I lack that level of integrity. I knew that the bulk of the book takes place in this imaginary hillside, and that it was just something I was creating inside my head. I read tour books, and did some Internet searches to make sure that I could get them in there without any major error of fact. I'm sure I made lots of less obvious mistakes that people who know the Yucatan will hammer me for at some point. Bolton: I've never been, but I was completely fooled. Smith: Good. And as for the other stuff, I've always enjoyed reading survival tales. The polar explorers, some of the western stuff, the Donner party, that sort of thing. I think that probably fed into it, so to speak. Bolton: Have you always had a predilection toward dark subject matter? Smith: I think so. As a reader, I've certainly enjoyed that, and seemingly as a writer. Bolton: What provoked you to start writing A Simple Plan, and how did you get it published? Smith: I went to an MFA program where I was writing for two years, mostly short stories. I published a short story, and the woman who edited that — I told her I was starting a novel, and she offered to read it when I was done. She took the novel and sent it directly to the woman who became my agent; the woman who became my editor at Knopf was a good friend of hers. She was really my fairy godmother. I was very, very lucky. Bolton: So you have some short stories? Smith: The classic MFA stories, what worked in workshops. I've published three in my long, intermittent career. Bolton: Will you expand that into a collection at some point? Smith: In thirteen years, I've written three. I guess it would take another thirty-nine or so years. Bolton: Without picking the movie version of A Simple Plan apart — because I think it's terrific — rereading the book last week, I was struck by all the things that I'd forgotten. I always remembered the Alexander's Market scene — that's one I could never forget — but I had forgotten about Sonny's murder, and the circumstances and timing of Jacob's death, which are completely different in the film. Who decided to make those changes? Smith: Jacob's death was the idea of the producer, Scott Rudin, who, for a while during that long development period, was attached to the movie. I think it was great. It deepened the movie emotionally. I'd written a draft of the script for Ben Stiller — he was going to direct it at one point — and it was much closer to the book, with much more of a thriller feel. That suggestion by Scott Rudin made it more about the relationship between the brothers. Bolton: Were you happy with the changes? Smith: Yes. A) When it's different, it makes you engage with re-telling the story; and B) as I've gone along, because I've done adaptations of other people's work, I do feel like it's good to break from the book. It's tough to try to be literally faithful to the book when you're writing a script. It's better to try to be faithful to the spirit of the book as opposed to the actual moment-by-moment events. Bolton: And of course you got an Oscar nomination, so it worked out pretty well. Smith: That's true. Bolton: How did that feel? Smith: It's great. A little bewildering, and surprising, I guess. But there's no downside to it. Bolton: I wouldn't think so. Smith: Had to get a new tuxedo, and all that. Bolton: Who are some of your favorite authors, and/or biggest influences? Smith: I read a pretty wide range of stuff. My father's a big thriller reader. He read things like Jack Higgins and Clive Cussler, and I read those as a kid. My mother reads more literary fiction, so I also read that — a little higher-brow stuff. I've continued that as an adult. Lately the guy I've been really into has been Barry Unsworth. Sacred Hunger, Songs of the Kings, Morality Play. There's something about his prose that makes me want to write. At this point, that's what I look for in a book. If it makes me want to write, then I'm drawn to it. Bolton: Reading your novels, they're like crack on a page. You're compulsively flipping one page after the next. Is that intuitive on your part, or is there some kind of formula? Smith: First, thank you. I wish there were more consciousness on my part. The way I described it earlier probably comes through. With A Simple Plan, it felt like I knew what I was doing; I was intending to do something and then following through on it. With The Ruins, I didn't. I felt like I was skiing but not knowing how to ski, hoping to maintain my footing all the way down the hillside. One thing that I did consciously — and this relates to the difference between screenwriting and novel-writing — had to do with pacing. In a script, speed is of the essence; if something's not working, it's usually because you're taking too long at it. I gradually realized that, at least for The Ruins, when something wasn't working, I needed to take more time with it. The suspense became more pitched the more drawn out the scene was. That was my one conscious moment writing the book. Bolton: What about the lack of chapter breaks? Was that a conscious decision? Smith: No. Everyone comments on that. During the very first section, the point of view is more floating, and then I went into Amy's point of view, and at that point I didn't even know whether it was going to just become Amy's book. It wasn't conscious. I just reached right into that chain, and then I jumped into Eric's next. Once I started doing that, it seemed logical not to have any chapter breaks. Bolton: Have you been to the "Enter the Ruins" website? Smith: I glanced at it before they put it up. Bolton: Have you taken the quiz? [The quiz tells you which character in The Ruins you're most similar to.] Smith: I did. I actually came out as Jeff, the character I least enjoyed writing. Bolton: Why did you enjoy him the least? Smith: I don't know. In moving the plot forward, because he is so action-oriented, the logistics of the plot ended up falling into his sections. The character I enjoyed writing the most was Stacy, who is the other end of the spectrum; she's more intuitive and free-associative. I found her voice the easiest to enter. Bolton: How much did you work on the prose in the book, the language itself? Smith: I put a lot of effort into making it clear, to make sure that everything that's happening comes across clearly and in an uncluttered way. I don't have much confidence in myself as a prose stylist. I don't think that's my strength. When I try to do that, it's probably a bad sign. Bolton: Is there something that you feel really confident about, in your skills? Smith: Basic storytelling. That was part of the reason that, of the different ideas I had to write about, I chose The Ruins. Because I was lacking such confidence in terms of coming back to novel-writing. Something about the strong plot and the genre elements felt reassuring to me. Bolton: So you planned for this genre in advance. Smith: Do you know the movie Signs? That's another story where you could take a step to the side and it's just preposterous. There was a moment in there when I jumped. And that was when I thought, God, that would be fun to try and do something that makes people jump. I went through all my old ideas and came across one for a short story. I added a talking vine to it, and it became a horror story. Bolton: What's next for you? Smith: I'm going to see what they want on the script, and I do want to write another novel. Whether it's the end of the summer or the fall, I'd like to be starting another novel. So it won't be thirteen years, hopefully. Bolton: Do you have any idea what it's going to be yet? Smith: I have three or four ideas. I'm going to sit down and see which one pulls me into it. Bolton: Not to end on a down note, but did you see the New York Times review [by Michiko Kakutani] of The Ruins? Smith: [Laughter] Yes, I did. I fully expected that, given her reaction to A Simple Plan; what she especially hated in A Simple Plan became the core of The Ruins. I actually enjoy her reviews, often. There is a performance aspect to them. I like watching reality TV, where you see stuff that you don't often see in public. It can be like, Oh, my God, I can't believe she said that. Bolton: And it's always the meanest character that everybody likes. Smith: Yes, exactly. I feel like, karmically, it's probably just that I get it turned on me, because I have had enjoyment at other authors' expense. Bolton: Entertainment Weekly gave The Ruins an A-, you got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and Stephen King has praised the book right and left. When you read something like the New York Times review, does that have an impact or do you just chuckle to yourself? Smith: You have to chuckle to yourself a little bit. It's not for everybody. There are people in my life that I love and admire, but I would desperately not want them to read this book because I know that it would not be for them. It's a question of taste, and it's not Jane Austen, definitely. Scott Smith spoke to Powell's by phone on Tuesday, July 18, 2006. He will appear at Powell's on Hawthorne on September 12th, 2006. |
1998 saw the release of director Sam Raimi's atmospheric film adaptation of 
