The Writing Life Writing the grotesque body with Heather Parry
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Feb 19, 2024 Author Heather Parry discusses writing the grotesque body, reimagining gothic tropes, voice in narrative, and the impact of writing residencies. She explores themes of obsession, love, grief, power, and women's agency in her debut novel.
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How A Podcast Sparked A Gothic Novel
- Heather Parry discovered the true case that inspired Orpheus Builds a Girl on This American Life and was shocked by its romanticised framing.
- She rewrote the story to challenge the narrative that male obsession was 'undying love', centring women's agency instead.
Deliberate Absence Creates Narrative Weight
- Parry deliberately omits Luciana's voice to make her absence a central, poignant lack in the narrative.
- The novel's first draft was entirely Wilhelm's voice, later balanced by adding Gabriella to avoid silencing women completely.
Using Unreliable Men To Provoke Reader Complicity
- Writing from the perspective of 'terrible men' lets Parry provoke readers and make them complicit in assessing abuse.
- She cites Lolita and The People in the Trees as models that force readers to interrogate moral ambiguity.