Gillian Flynn's Film Professor Dad Helped Her Write “Gone Girl ”(Exclusive)

Gillian Flynn is nary alien to bringing her characters to life, connected nan page and nan screen.

The bestselling writer and patient of Gillian Flynn Books sat down pinch PEOPLE to stock penetration into her penning process and really it differs betwixt her novels and their surface adaptations. Sharp Objects and Gone Girl, published successful 2006 and 2012, respectively, each sewage nan onscreen curen — nan erstwhile becoming an HBO bid starring Amy Adams and nan second transforming into nan 2014 movie featuring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. She's besides presently astatine activity adapting her book Dark Places arsenic a series.

Translating her stories crossed mediums is "no joke," Flynn tells PEOPLE — caller penning and screenwriting are truthful different that she tends to tackle 1 successful nan greeting and 1 successful nan day to springiness herself intelligence abstraction betwixt nan two. Dialogue, successful particular, marks 1 striking difference.

"You don't person nan luxury of person getting wrong a character's caput and proceeding what [they're] thinking," she says. "You person to construe that either into speech aliases into an action that they make."

But Flynn wasn't a full novice erstwhile she first approached a movie adjustment — her begetter was a movie professor, truthful her location life was steeped successful cinematic knowledge. Together they went to "father-daughter movies erstwhile aliases doubly a week" during her childhood, she says, and he would promote in-depth reflections and analyses aft nan last credits rolled.

By nan clip she began moving connected her books' onscreen adaptations, nan mean felt "very integrated to me," she shares.

Gone Girl was Flynn's first surface adaptation, which she describes arsenic "wild" and "surreal" — she sewage to spot The Bar travel to life wrong a real-life type of nan book's Carthage, Miss. (filmed successful Cape Girardeau). Flynn besides praised David Fincher, nan movie's director, arsenic 1 who "really, really liked nan book and didn't want to flip nan book astir that overmuch [and] really respects writers," she says.

With nan Sharp Objects adaptation, Flynn says nan episodes she wrote were nan ones astir important to her, and Adams perfectly embodied nan tortured journalist protagonist Camille.

Though screenwriting has its pitfalls, it's a little isolating acquisition than penning a novel, Flynn says.

"It's awesome going backmost and distant because it's lonely penning a book," Flynn admits. "You're by yourself each nan time. It makes you a small crazy — it's overmuch harder to get retired of."

"I emotion [screenwriting] because it's collaborative and you're bouncing ideas disconnected people. And ultimately, hopefully, it's going into accumulation and truthful that imaginative part, I love, but astatine nan aforesaid clip you're dealing pinch notes from nan workplace and fund crises and casting worldly and each that," she continues. "And and truthful past it's nosy to spell backmost to your ain small realm."

Never miss a communicative — motion up for PEOPLE's free regular newsletter to enactment up-to-date connected nan champion of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy personage news to compelling quality liking stories. 

Up adjacent (hopefully!) is Dark Places via HBO, based connected Flynn's 2009 novel. Though nan task hasn't been officially greenlit, Flynn is successful backmost successful nan screenwriting shape — and backmost to that peculiar page. Since she ne'er re-reads her ain books, she says it's "really painful" to spot them again, truthful nan process "messes pinch maine a small bit." Ultimately though, her takeaway is that it's still a "pretty bully book," she adds.

"I've been enjoying nan hellhole retired of penning it," she says.