Reddit! My new book UPGRADE was published July 12. I also wrote DARK MATTER, SUMMER FROST, RECURSION, and a bunch of other books. Sometimes I write scripts too. Here’s your moment. Ask me anything!
by BlakeCrouch
Reddit! My new book UPGRADE was published July 12. I also wrote DARK MATTER, SUMMER FROST, RECURSION, and a bunch of other books. Sometimes I write scripts too. Here’s your moment. Ask me anything!
by BlakeCrouch
44 Comments
I was sorry to see Good Behavior cancelled. But the real question is: Have we ***read*** the last of Letty Dobesh?
Any updates on a possible 4th pines book? I read somewhere that you had some ideas cooking for one.
What inspired you to write Desert Places and how much research went into it?
Hi Blake~ Which of your characters do you see *most* of yourself in?
Finished Upgrade today! It was lit. Also looking forward to Dark Matter’s TV adaptation. 🖤
Hi Blake,
Question about your writing process…
At your outline or first draft stage, what percentage of the main plot elements are pretty well established and remain generally unchanged all the way through the editing process? What aspects of your writing do you find change the most during the editing process?
Thanks! Big fan of Upgrade, and your back catalog of Run, Abandon, Pines, Dark Matter, Recursion and so many! I’m an aspiring author and really appreciate you doing this AMA.
My whole family has read and loved your pines series so I too am wondering if there is any chance of another book.
I just finished Upgrade a couple of days ago. I was curious about your research process as I was reading because it was very in-depth when it came to the genetic science. Do you pick topics that you are already somewhat familiar with or do you come up with an interesting topic and then have to really dig into the details from scratch?
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Fantastic book by the way! Hats off to Mr. Levya for the immersive narration as well.
I’ve loved time travel stories since I was a kid, but they’ve such brain scramblers. It’s like I’m always just a skosh off from fully grasping what just happened. I was definitely not the kid that got the jail scene at the end of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on my first watch. Have you always been interested in the meaning of time/perception/memory/reality etc? How do you keep track of all the nuances and repercussions of the shifting realities in your stories?
Just want to say that Recursion thoroughly traumatized me on my first read through and you quickly became one of my favorite writers. Talking about Upgrade with my book club this Saturday! Such a fan of your work. Thank you!
What advice do you have for a writer struggling to land on an ending (or even really a middle), when the concept and characters are pretty well baked?
Thanks for doing this AMA for the Crouch Potato Crowd! As an avid fan from the time I picked up Dark Matter, I’ve always wondered about the subjects you tackle. Specifically, when it comes to the “fringe science” tropes, are there any you won’t write about, or that don’t appeal to you? – Molly
Hi Blake, do you have any interesting writing quirks? Favourite place to write?
What’s your favorite book that you’ve written, and why?
What’s your favorite book that you’ve read, and why?
Thanks for sharing with us!
Hi Blake! I’m a huge fan of your work. If you don’t mind I have two questions:
When it comes to writing about science and science-adjacent topics, do you have any go-to research recommendations like books or websites you use?
And on a personal note, I’d love to know which of your works you’re most proud of if you don’t mind sharing?
How much scientific research do you do for some of the conceptually heavy plot points in your books? When do you know that you’ve got enough to stop explaining in depth, know that now there’s enough for the audience to get it and focus on story – telling?
Do you have a daily routine for writing? What processes do you follow?
Hi Blake
What is the scariest book you have read?
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Hey Blake! I need to know- boxers or briefs?
(This is Char btw)
Enjoyed Dark Matter and read the whole thing in a day.
Liked Recursion even more and noticed huevos rancheros kept popping up. I found a place that serves is where I live (Tasmania) and ordered it and it is indeed very delicious.
So thanks for opening me up to a new dish!
Will have to check out Upgrade next.
No question really, but I just wanted to tell you that I had to miss your live Q and A in Milwaukee the other night bc of car trouble. My sister and her best friend went tho, and they said you were absolutely incredibly personable and just an all around nice guy. They also loved meeting your wife.
I need to tell you, Dark Matter changed my life. I never read anything that captured science and fiction and rolled it all into such an amazing story. And then Recursion! My grandfather had passed away from Alzheimer’s right before I read that book, and it was incredible to just dive into the science or memory. You are, in my opinion, the best writer in the world…. And I read A LOT.
Keep up the amazing work.
What inspired you to write Dark in Logan Square of all places in Chicago? I live here in Logan and loved it. Just curious
I have read two of your books, and both gave me varying levels of existential crises. This is fine, by the way—I am used to it. The question is: with all of these ideas about reality not being what we think it may be, how do you not exist in a constant existential crisis??
I have really enjoyed your books. Sometimes the everything works out endings are annoying, but your creativity and writing is impeccable! I wasn’t a huge fan of Upgrade, well written, but seemed more like it was written to be turned into a movie. If so, mad respect, but out of curiosity, was it your intention for it to go to film?
Btw, I need to know if you had the opportunity to meet Carla Gugino so I can live vicariously through you.
What drew you to Colorado from North Carolina? They seem so different! And also, what is your favorite season?
Hey Blake, Recursion and Dark Matter are some of my all time favourite reads. One thing I think you excel at is pacing, I constantly see your books paired with “read in a day”, or “couldn’t put down”. So my question is how do you pace a narrative so well?
Hello Blake! If you had to collaborate with any author for a future book, who would it be and why?
Hi, Blake. I really enjoyed Draculas, the collaboration you did with F. Paul Wilson, Jeff Strand and Joe Konrath. I am currently waiting to receive the lettered edition through Gauntlet Press. I’m so stoked. Anyway, do you have any plans to do another collab with any of those authors or others?
Blake, not sure I really have any questions, just wanted to drop in to say thanks for all the great stories. I’ve read 11 of your books. Andrew Z. Thomas (including Stirred), Run, Wayward Pines Trilogy, Dark Matter, Recursion, Summer Frost, and of course Upgrade. What have I missed that I need to read next?
Also, I’ve been living in Albuquerque since 2010, so “Santa Fe was much too small for me to be lingering in, and Albuquerque seemed to be the kind of place where enough violence was happening on a daily basis that I might have a chance at flying under the radar,” gave me a good chuckle.
Man, I have Upgrade, Recursion, Dark Matter and then the Suntup Dark Matter but I haven’t read them yet. They’re on my list for sure. I’ll probably start one of them this week. Which would you recommend?
I’m coming over from Andy Weir’s recommendation.
Recursion is my all time favorite book. Very mind boggling. How did you come up with the concept for it? Is Marcus supposed to be Elon musk?
Hello! Thanks for doing this AMA.
Did you read Michael Crichton growing up?
I ask because when I read Dark Matter, it took me down a similar journey as his books did, and in the best way possible. Same with Recursion. And yet it didn’t feel at all like a rehash or knockoff.
Thank you for taking me down these roads again 🙂 can’t wait to read Upgrade when I’m able to make time for it!
Hello Blake! Love your writing – just bought several of your books in hardcover so I could have them in my permanent collection on the shelf. My question (and one I’m sure you get a ton, but I’m always curious) is how did you break into the industry, and what advice would you give to aspiring writers?
No questions Blake, I just want to thank you. It’s so hard for me to read these days without being understimulated. But once I start your books I just can’t put them down. I don’t know how you do it.
Also thanks for the reminder about Upgrade, I just bought it. Money well spent I’m sure.
I hope I’m not too late to this party, but I have a question about your new book Upgrade. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone else, so I’ll try to be vague.
On your Instagram, you’ve been talking a lot about different research and resources for different books/series. At the end of Upgrade, you referenced a study on empathy and small clans of 150 people. I found the concept fascinating, and was wondering if this was something real that you stumbled across in your research or something invented for the plot.
Great books. Thanks!
Hi Blake! I recently read both Dark Matter and Recursion and I am obsessed! You are my new favorite author. I have never read any sci-fi books before and it turns out to be my new favorite genre.
I was wondering at the end of Recursion Barry’s sentence is cut off with a hyphen. Does that mean there is a reality shift or that it is left up to us to imagine what he might have said and that they live happily ever after together?
Hello! I’ve read a few of your novels now, and I’ve noticed you have a bit of a type for your characters- lots of family men who’ve lost their wife and child in one way or another. It’s given me a sense of who you must be as a person but I want to ask
Is this something you do consciously? Or is this a deep dark fear of yours that tends to come out in your writing?
Dude!!! Is there a Dark Matter movie coming?
Hi Blake,
Your books are great! I’m just finishing Upgrade. I think some others here have touched on this a bit, but I am really drawn to your white-knuckle pacing and minimalist prose. It feels as though you’ve boiled and condensed your prose down to get the maximum impact out of a minimum of straightforward words.
I’m curious how intentional this is? Is this something you work towards or is this how your writing naturally flows? And what, if any, tips would you give for someone who wants their writing to work in similar ways?
Thank you for the great books 🙂
I just finished Dark Matter and really enjoyed it and have just started Recursion. Thank you for writing such fun books.
May I put out one thing for your consideration? I was bummed the wife character in Dark Matter was one of those perfect, soft, will make everything ok dream girls (with impossibly soft lips) instead of just a woman that he loved. It’s just a bummer because it feels like men are written to be normal people with flaws and most women (at least the ones in the major relationships) are written to be these perfect gorgeous but also basically your mother characters. Just putting that out there for consideration on that one book. Maybe the others are different.
But that is one very tiny thought amongst a thousand things that I loved about the book. That beginning was out of this world
not a question, but one of the very first things my boyfriend and I connected over, what made us decide to go on a date, was the fact that we had both just read dark matter at almost the exact same time! so your books will always be a wonderful memory for me!
Hey u/BlakeCrouch – I read Dark Matter a few years back. It was a pretty wild ride. Very enjoyable. After a few months my wife starts telling me about this interesting book she was reading where a man goes shopping for ice cream and ends up being kidnapped and dropped off in another version of the world. That sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Mostly because we don’t often read the same types of books, so I was imagining a totally different setting as she was explaining it. This went on for a few nights, with more details of the plot emerging as she progressed through the story. Finally, things clicked and I asked her if the title was Dark Matter.
We had a good laugh when we figured out we had read the same book, especially since she’s more into historical fiction.
It was a great shared reading experience and we both enjoyed it. Just thought I would leave a comment here to let you know. 🙂
Hey Blake, not a question but I just wanted to say thanks. Dark Matter was probably the second book I have read to completion since I can remember, at least well over 10 years. The first being Lovecraft Country.
You helped me discover a love for reading I never thought I would have had in my adult life. I can now proudly say I finish about a book a month.
Thank you, sincerely, for your artwork! I recommend the book all the time.
Hey Blake! Big fan of your books. In particular, I really enjoy the fast paced nature of your stories.
So here’s 2 questions and 1 comment –
1. I felt that Dark Matter, Recursion and Upgrade, all share a certain underlying template. In subsequent books, would you be bothered by this at all? In other words, does it weigh you down that the story-telling tricks that you’ve deployed in these 3 uber-sucessful books might not “wow” people again?
2. Do you work with a per day writing goal in mind? Or is it more fluid than that?
3. And my (fanboying) comment is – **I LOVED RECURSION**. In ways that I’ve not loved a work of art in a long long time. Firstly I’ve had a bit of experience in IT, and *recursive* blocks of code were very interesting to write, so that piqued my interest initially. And secondly, I wholeheartedly believe that memories totally invalidate time! I feel these “neurological savepoints” are also neat transportation portals. So to a see a book that touched upon these things AND packed a solid emotional punch was brilliant. Really hope that more people read this and that it gets made into a show or a movie sometime soon.
More power to you, my man! 😀
edit – spellings