Born and raised in Middle Tennessee, D.W. Gillespie wrote his first short story in second grade. It involved (unsurprisingly) monsters wreaking havoc on some unsuspecting victim. Some things never change. He began writing seriously after taking a creative writing class in college, and he’s written steadily ever since. He lives in Tennessee with his wife and two kids, and on dark nights, you might find them huddled around a campfire sharing spooky tales. His latest novel, GRIN, centers on a sinister video game. Wanting to learn more about his background as well as GRIN, I was able to interview Gillespie for ScifiPulse.
You can learn more about Gillespie by visiting his homepage.
Nicholas Yanes: Growing up, what were some stories you loved as a kid? Are there any you still enjoy revisiting?
D.W. Gillespie: I was always a sucker for a good short story collection. Of course, everyone loved Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the one that stuck out for me was Harold. It was about a scarecrow that came to life. It ended with such a wonderfully dark moment where you realize that Harold had murdered someone and was stretching his skin out to dry. I didn’t know kids books could go that far, and to this day, it almost feels like an editor accidentally let that line slip in.
The other one, I can’t remember the collection specifically, but it was the story about The Green Ribbon. You probably remember the story about the girl who never removes the green piece of ribbon from around her neck, but when she finally does, her head falls off. The layout of the pages was just perfect. It literally had a jump scare! You turned the page and there was this awesome drawing of her head on the ground. I still love that to this day.
Yanes: When did you know you wanted to pursue a career as a professional creative? Was there a moment this goal crystallized for you?
Gillespie: I started out wanting to make movies. That hunger is still there by the way. Occasionally I’ll veer off and spend a month writing a screenplay no one is asking for. I look back at my childhood as this mashup of just consuming creativity. Books, movies, videogames. I learned quickly that, out of the three of those, only books are easy to do on your own, so I gravitated that direction.
If I had to really nail down a single moment where the entire world of creativity felt possible, it was probably seeing The Blair Witch Project in the theater. I was a senior in high school, the perfect age for it. Just young enough to kind of believe that maybe what I was seeing was real.
That was the first time that I could see behind the curtain. It wasn’t impossibly talented, untouchable titans making the things I loved. It was all just people. Regular folks that just took a shot. It made me think that maybe, if I tried hard enough, I could create things that other people might enjoy.
Yanes: Middle Tennessee has a lot of interesting folklore. Do you have any particularly favorite folk tales from this region?
Gillespie: My cousin had a cabin up in the hills near where I live, and we used to always tell stories, a lot of which were made up on the spot. The Bell Witch was a big legend that wasn’t too far from our area. I feel like what Tennessee is missing is a really good cryptid. We used to go on Bigfoot hunts, which was mostly a bunch of kids wandering around in the woods with cheap flashlights.
Yanes: Your latest book is GRIN, and this is your second book for Penguin Random House. For many writers, securing a book deal with Penguin Random House would be akin to winning the lottery. So I’m curious, was there a moment in which you felt that you made it as a writer?
Gillespie: This is such an interesting question, one that I’ve had to think about a lot over the years. I’m definitely the opposite of those “overnight” writers who made a splash with a big publisher right out of the gate. I cut my teeth in small press for years before I made it to this point. There were plenty of wins and almost uncountable disappointments along the way.
What I’ve learned is, I don’t quite know if you ever have that feeling of completely “making it”. I think, for me at least, the process is more about the next mark in the road, trying to hit the closest target before moving onto a different one. I’ve also learned that success probably won’t be what you expect it to be.
It’s possible that I might have that elusive “I Did It!” feeling in the future. Maybe a mega best seller or a big Hollywood movie would spark that feeling. But my experience tells me that every success, every high point, eventually fades. That’s one of the reasons I never understand writers on social media who seem to hate the writing process. At the end of the day, even with the most soaring successes, you’ll eventually be back in front of the computer, chasing that high again. I can’t imagine doing that if I didn’t love writing.
Yanes: In regards to GRIN, what was the inspiration for this novel? Was the story at all shaped by any of the video games you played as a kid?
Gillespie: Yeah, games are one of the true constants of my life, all the way back to the first time I saw Pitfall! on an Atari 2600. It’s hard to explain what that was like to kids growing up with a PS5. Being able to make a character on TV move around was like some kind of magic.
There’s a point for every writer where you stop writing what I think of as “cover songs.” At first, you’re just learning how it all works, how to tell a story, how to use language, how to edit. It makes sense to just kind of copy the writers that came before, trying to put your spin on something that’s not entirely yours. But, if you do it long enough, you go deeper into yourself, your life, your experiences, and before you know it, you’re writing books that only you could have written.
GRIN is the ultimate expression of that for me. I’m sure someone else could have come up with this story, but my absurdly encyclopedic knowledge of video games made it something that feels very distinct to my sensibilities. So, to answer the question of which video games might have shaped the story, the answer is, pretty much all of them.
Yanes: Danny is a fantastic main character. When did you know that his character arc would work?
Gillespie: Thank you so much for saying so. Over the years, I’ve realized that my process is to get a pretty well-defined plot and let the characters sort of tell me who they are. I have a general sense of them, but it’s a lot of fun watching them surprise me. With Danny, I knew that being a massive gamer was the first big point on the board, but as I wrote, more bits and pieces fell into place. His mother was nervous about his week with his uncle, but why? There was some underlying anxiety in his life, but how pronounced was it? And most importantly, how does Danny work through it?
I don’t think it completely solidified for me until I had the lead up to the final confrontation. All those elements of who he was, what he needed to do, and how he worked through it all came together. I’m really happy with how he landed as a character, and it seems like readers are connecting with him, which is a great feeling as a writer.
Yanes: A good portion of GRIN is set in the retro arcade PixelWorks. This setting feels both real and timeless. How did you go about shaping this space?
Gillespie: I’m glad to hear you say that it has a timeless feel. It’s definitely a mashup of the old arcades I used to go to in the 90s and the modern retro arcades that have made a comeback in the last few years. There’s just nothing like walking into an arcade. It still hits me the same way it did back when I was a kid. There’s a connection to my younger self that’s almost hard to explain. I mean, at home I can play Elden Ring on a 4K TV, but when I see Street Fighter 2 in the arcade, my brain says, “Wow, those are really good graphics.” I’m ten years old again!
It doesn’t matter it’s something small like half a dozen games with a few claw machines attached to a bowling alley, or some enormous warehouse with hundreds of games. The way it looks, the way it sounds, it’s all just so special to me. As long as they still hang around, I can picture myself as an 80-year-old man wandering from game to game, watching the hours tick away.
Yanes: GRIN is marketed as horror safe for middle schoolers. What are your guardrails for making things scary while still keeping the story age-appropriate?
Gillespie: I think so much of my approach is defined by being a kid in the 80s and early 90s. The guardrails are definitely closer than they used to be, but I do like to try to get as close to them as I can. I don’t want to traumatize kids or anything like that, but I also have a little bit of an old school mindset. Meaning, if a book is too much for a kid, they’ll just naturally put it down and everything will be fine.
There is a very vocal segment of the population that wants to ban anything even remotely questionable for kids, but I think that’s a huge mistake. The goal, theoretically, is to protect kids, but we all get stronger by being nudged out of our safe zones, by doing progressively harder tasks, by building resilience through experience.
I’m not sure that I understand children in any deeply profound way, but unlike the book-banners, I at least remember what it was like being a kid. It was scary! And these kids nowadays understand some seriously heavy shit, certainly more than we give them credit for. This is the generation that grew up with lockdown drills, and now you’re telling me they can’t handle books?
I try my best to treat young people like…well, people. Some will never love scary books. Some will grow up to be fanatics just like me. For those kids, I’d love to think of my books as a stepping stone to the broader world of horror.
Yanes: When people finish reading GRIN, what do you hope that they take away from the experience?
Gillespie: I’ve written books with deeper symbolism, books with more socially minded messages, books that are a lot heavier. With GRIN, I really wanted to give the reader a fun, fast-paced experience. I’m hoping kids feel like they’re on a roller coaster that’s just a little faster, a little more terrifying than they thought it would be, but when the ride is over, they can’t help but smile and say, “Let’s do that again!”
Yanes: Finally, what else are you working on that people can look forward to?
Gillespie: My third middle grade horror book, THE DOLL HOUSE will launch around this same time next year. It’s sort of a kid-friendly southern gothic horror book, which was really fun to write. I’m looking forward to seeing how readers react to the vibe, which is a bit heavier than GRIN.
Beyond that, I’m also shopping around two different adult horror projects. I can’t share much about them yet, but hopefully some news will be coming soon. It’s exciting to bounce between the different age groups. I don’t have any other middle grade books written yet, but I have several really strong plans. Writing for this age group feels like my second home. I’m hoping I’ll be back soon.
Remember, you can learn more about Gillespie by visiting his homepage.
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