Returning to Area X with Jeff VanderMeer

After ten years, Jeff VanderMeer returns to Area X. In 2014, the author released all three parts of the Southern Reach trilogy within the span of just a few months, and the series became a breakout hit; the original was even turned into a Hollywood film from director Alex Garland. It starts with Annihilation and ends with Acceptancethe books told the story of an abandoned coastal area that was reclaimed – and changed forever – by a mysterious entity known as Area X and a secret agency trying to understand and contain it.

The trilogy solidified VanderMeer’s particular style of surreal sci-fi and environmental activism, and over the years, he has explored similar themes in novels such as Born, Dead Astronautsagain Hummingbird Salamander. But there were questions that always lingered after that Acceptance. And while he was thinking about a possible new Southern Reach book from 2017, it wasn’t until 2023 that all the pieces fell into place.

That book will turn into Absolutionthe prequel comes out on October 22nd. It is divided into three parts and mainly follows two characters from the original trilogy: Old Jim, a resident of an abandoned village in Area X, and Lowry, the only survivor of the first adventure. This book is weird, weird, and funny (just wait until you meet the carnivorous rabbits).

Forward Absolution‘s release, I had a chance to speak with VanderMeer about why he had to return to the Southern Reach saga and how it all came together so quickly.

This interview is edited for length and clarity.

You wrote Absolution in six months. How does that compare to your general writing experience?

I started writing novels later and later, which allows me to think about it more because now I’m more comfortable with it. I’ve noticed, the longer I think about something, the more fully it grows on the page when I write it. I’ve been thinking Absolution since 2017, then lightning struck on July 31 last year. I woke up with a whole vision in my head: the characters; the intersection of three categories; how would they be written. And I started writing. I didn’t stop until December 31. It was like inspiration after inspiration. I wrote morning, noon and night – which is unusual for me. I usually write in the morning.

I woke up, in a sense, on December 31st, and I had a final draft: 150,000 words. That was intense. It was tiring. I’ve put my whole life on hold to do it. It was incredibly satisfying. I was suffering from covid and I haven’t written a novel since then Hummingbird Salamander late 2020, so I think I was really ready to write something.

Did you take a break after that at least?

I just didn’t do anything. My mind almost shut down for a few weeks. Then I told my editor, “Well, this novel is finished. I know it’s kind of unpredictable. Do you want to try to pull it off next year?” And he said, “Yes!” That’s something I’ve always been good about: irregular publishing schedules. We’ve found ways to increase productivity so it can be done without cutting any quality corners.

With the Southern Reach trilogy coming out in quick succession, you didn’t have to worry too much about the kinds of expectations that come with following a big hit. Here, you have a requirement of 10 years. How do you deal with that?

In fact, it was liberating. So many people have read this series, which is about the mystery and the unknown of the universe, and they finish the story in their heads and really share their thoughts. I had a lot of freedom. I didn’t think about the pressure of that. I just felt that they gave me permission to take it. And even when I posted quotes, the readers who responded were so thoughtful, positive, and caring about my art, that they didn’t want to say anything that might confuse what I was writing. They were just happy that there would be more. It was in this unique situation that it was possible to fill the pressure, but in fact, it was the opposite.

How do you know when the time is right to take one of those conception ideas and turn it fully into a novel?

Here, it was helpful that I had this sudden and wonderful… I don’t even know how to describe it. In written interviews, they want you to answer questions about the craft. And sometimes, it means, “I had a dream and ran with it.” How do you give yourself such advice? And how do you talk about it? In terms of the structure of the piece, the fact that Old Jim was a character in some way or mode really helped because there is this mystery involving him and Middle that, as I was writing, I started writing all three parts at once. And I keep going back and forth.

a lot of Absolution it is intended to make students feel confused. I wonder what you think about balancing that feeling and still being understandable.

Another thing the students taught me is to read these books again. So, for example, I saw a lot of analysis of Authority and people say they saw humor in it when they read it a second time as they were preparing Absolution. Here, firstly, I trust the reader, and secondly, every word is important: every sentence, every paragraph. Not a single word in there is unintentional. The answers to many things are obvious. The inconvenience is that, in creating a feeling of claustrophobia or discomfort due to what is happening, some of it may not be successful in the first reading. But actually I don’t think these books are surreal or weird – especially this one, which is very interesting, a weird idea. But that’s up to the readers.

Now that you’ve written it, do you feel like this is really the end of the series? Are you satisfied with where you ended up?

I think so. At one point I was struggling with how to tell the story after that Acceptance. The solution in my subconscious was Absolutionwhich is something of a prequel and, in a nutshell, a sequel and parallel to the events of the first three books. That’s what sparked my imagination. This way of making something visible and living in the body, which is always very important to me, and which expands the story without answering every mystery, which I think would be a mistake again in a series dealing with the unknown.

As for something to come, it will have to be dressed in the same tactile way. You are looking at the same thread A moundparts of which I like, but as you get to the later books, they become more vague and less detailed. And while that creates interesting results, it also means that the series can run out of steam. I definitely don’t want that to happen. So, for now, I believe this is the last of the Southern Reach.

I have read the interview after Hummingbird Salamander he came out and said that he still has two novels that he wants to write. Are you still there?

It’s funny because I’ll always say something, and it won’t come out in the same order. What happened with Hummingbird Salamander that there were several other books that I started, like them Bornwhere I started it for one year and finished it after five years. I realize that there is something missing in my life experience that I need to find somewhere else or that I need to live my life for a few years and find it. Or there is another question that my subconscious mind is dealing with. I think those books are probably still on the table, and will probably follow.

And, it’s kind of liberating. You write something long in a journal, and you get about 30,000–40,000 words to yourself, and you don’t feel compelled to finish it in that time. And then you can revisit it and rethink it when you want, but you still have this whole thing to work with. I like that way more, having a lot of finished material, because I don’t get writer’s block. I just go with something that’s very inspiring, and often works.

That sounds very stressful.

The quality of Angela Carter that I loved was that she was always looking for it. I think that’s really important. It is very important to stay motivated and not worry about failure. In fact, if one of these novels, somehow before it’s typed up, I lose it or burn it or something, I might just write something else. I’ve learned to stop worrying about that kind of stuff, and that’s been very helpful in terms of writing confidence.