Gillian Flynn is the bestselling author of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, but before her writing was embraced by the world, she was selling Honey Baked Ham and handing out yogurt samples at a mall while dressed as a giant tuxedo-clad cone. The future thriller writer also spent years working in journalism. That unlikely path eventually led to two bestselling thrillers, major screen adaptations and a career built on turning ordinary homes, marriages and small towns into places where nothing is quite what it seems.
Gillian Flynn’s Unusual First Jobs
Gillian Flynn grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and studied English and journalism at the University of Kansas before earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. She initially focused on journalism, thinking it was a practical way to make a living while keeping her dream of becoming a novelist alive.
Before launching her writing career, Flynn worked a series of unusual jobs, including selling Honey Baked Ham and handing out yogurt samples at a mall while dressed as a giant tuxedo-clad cone.
A California trade magazine job followed, where she wrote about human resources. Afterward, she moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern and eventually made her way to New York, where she joined Entertainment Weekly.
Gillian Flynn Wrote Sharp Objects While Working at Entertainment Weekly
Flynn spent about a decade at Entertainment Weekly, writing about movies and television and eventually becoming a television critic. The job took her to movie sets around the world, but she continued working on fiction during evenings, weekends and vacations.
That novel became Sharp Objects, the 2006 psychological thriller about Camille Preaker, a journalist who returns to her Missouri hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls.
Sharp Objects introduced many of the themes that would become Flynn’s trademarks: complicated women, family secrets, violence beneath the ordinary and the unsettling space between how people appear and who they really are.
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From Sharp Objects to Gone Girl
@finaldraftscreenwritingGillian Flynn – author and screenwriter of Gone Girl, Dark Places, Windows – delves into the difference between screenwriting and writing a novel. Great insight on the type of mindset that lends itself to screenwriting – understanding that people who go to see a movie go for different reasons than to read a book. Knowing that the words will be spoken by actors and that collaboration is a substantial part of the process.
♬ original sound – Final Draft Screenwriting – Final Draft ScreenwritingWhile working at Entertainment Weekly, Flynn followed Sharp Objects with Dark Places in 2009. Then the recession brought an unexpected career setback when she was laid off from the magazine.
Although losing her job was difficult, the experience gave Flynn more time to focus on writing. She went on to create Gone Girl, the 2012 thriller about a woman’s disappearance and the increasingly disturbing secrets inside her marriage.
Gone Girl became more than a bestseller. It became a cultural phenomenon, thanks in part to the 2014 film adaptation directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Flynn wrote the screenplay herself, earning a Golden Globe nomination.
She later adapted Sharp Objects for HBO, with Amy Adams starring as Camille Preaker, and continued working on other film and television projects.
Gillian Flynn’s Journey From Mall Jobs to Bestselling Novels
Despite her success, Flynn spent years working practical jobs and maintaining a day job while writing in her free time. Her career is a reminder that even bestselling authors can begin with ordinary work, uncertain plans and a dream that takes years to become reality.
Before Gone Girl and Sharp Objects made her one of the most recognizable names in psychological thrillers, Gillian Flynn was selling ham, offering yogurt samples and trying to find her way as a writer. Her unusual early jobs make her success story feel all the more relatable: The most successful writers still have to start somewhere.
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