Pip Drysdale
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale
Author of The Close-Up
A struggling author discovers the dark side of fame when a stalker begins reenacting violent events from her thriller in this electrifying and twisty new novel.
When 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 wonder: 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...
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale
Author I draw inspiration from:
Many! For The Close-Up I drew inspiration from quite a few classics (Zoe, the protagonist, is a writer and loves old books). Some that I read and loved while writing it were: Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls; Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays; Bukowski’s Hollywood; Eve Babitz’s Slow Days, Fast Company. And I also forgot how much I loved F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Bed, bath or beach
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Hmmm... I read a lot of thrillers and definitely would NOT like to be stuck in an elevator with anybody from those. So probably Bridget Jones (Helen Fielding). We’d probably sit on the floor of the elevator crying and talking about everything until we were saved by the local fire department (if Bridget didn't find a way to save us first).
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
For me it wasn’t one moment. It was a lifetime of doing almost everything else. And then one day, I was ready. Writing a book was the only thing that I really wanted to do anymore. It all started there.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Paperback or Hardback. I like being able to underline phrases and make notes in the margins and I can’t do that with an audiobook. I know there are ways to bookmark things, but I just don’t get around to it. As for ebooks, I spend all day reading from a screen so when I’m reading somebody else’s work I need it to be a hard copy.
The last book I read:
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. I loved it—Lisa can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned.
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
Computer. Always. My handwriting is abysmal. I tend to wake up, make coffee and start quickly typing before my inner critic wakes up and ruins everything.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Rachel from Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. We're both sober. I think we'd have some stories to share.
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
If we're dreaming, can I be an FBI agent who can also bake and has a side career as a ballet dancer?
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I love it all. Definitely 1990s because it was so simple and casual and easy. But I also love the 60s and 70s... and the 20s. The only one I’d avoid would be the 80s because: shoulder pads and teased hair.
Place I’d most like to travel:
This changes often, but at the moment I’m really excited to go to Hawaii. Because I’ve just booked to go there later this year and am super excited!
My signature drink:
Coffee. Always.
Favorite artist:
That would be a tie between Rothko, Lana Del Ray and Leonard Cohen. There is a poetry to all of their work; it moves me.
Number one on my bucket list:
So many things! But I can’t tell them to you here because they’ll give away what my new books are about. Except maybe: giving up my iPhone in favour of a flip phone. However, this has been on my list for years (I’m so sick of feeling addicted to that screen!) and so far I’ve failed terribly. But one day...
Anything else you'd like to add:
Not really. But if you read my work and love it, please feel free to get in touch. I love chatting to my readers.
Find more from the author:
Connect with Pip at PipDrysdale.com or on Facebook and Instagram @PipDrysdale.
About Pip Drysdale:
Author Interview - Pip Drysdale
Pip Drysdale is an author, musician, and actor. She grew up in Africa, Canada, and Australia, became an adult in New York and London, and lives on a steady diet of coffee, dreams, and literature. All four of her previous novels—The Sunday Girl, The Strangers We Know, The Paris Affair, and The Next Girl—have been bestsellers in Australia.
