Melissa Broder on the Inspiration for New Novel ‘Death Valley’ and Her High Hopes for the Big Screen

Seija Rankin
·6 min read

In Melissa Broder’s new novel, the protagonist is a novelist dealing with a father in the ICU and a husband with a chronic illness; she escapes to the parched California wilderness in search of figurative (and literal) clarity and discovers a cactus with mythical powers. Death Valley is what the author describes as a “sendup of auto-fiction,” a meditation on both her current ails and the literary form itself. Ahead of the book’s publication, the author joined The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom to discuss the portions of her own life that directly inspired the book — the desert landscape is pulled from her past; the psychedelic plant less so — and offer musings on the painfully slow process of Hollywood adaptations.

Can you talk a little bit about where your inspiration comes from?

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For each book it’s a little different, but every idea starts with an image. For The Pisces, I was on the beach in Venice, where I had moved from New York. I had been in an open marriage, and we had just closed the marriage and I was trying to piece out the question of why a healthy, therapist-ordained relationship feel that is healthy and long-term feels so much less intoxicating than something with a stranger who might kill you. The answer to that may be obvious to some. Like, well because that’s a fantasy and this is reality and it’s not as sexy. So anyways, I was reading this book on the beach, called The Professor and the Siren by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and the idea of writing about an older woman and a younger merman came to me.

With Milk Fed, I had written this really bad short story about a love affair between a woman who is anorexic and an orthodox woman. I was longing for, and feeling nostalgic about, the cultural Judaism of my childhood — which is really tied to food. I had an image of frozen yogurt, and then started thinking about the way appetites are really interconnected to our desires and spiritual yearning. That’s how it all came together.

I know that Death Valley was partly inspired by your experience of losing your father, but was there also a specific image?

I imagined a cactus where you could go in and meet different incarnations of your loved ones. My father was in a terrible accident and then in the ICU for six months during COVID. We couldn’t go see him for several months, which was really hard. My sister lives in Las Vegas so I was driving back and forth from L.A., and trying to escape a feeling. I was in Baker, California, which is home to the world’s largest thermometer, when that cactus image came to me.

You mention sitting on the beach and wondering why you were less attracted to the safe marriage — did you ever answer that question?

I did. Writing The Pisces purged that for me. But Death Valley did not purge me of my grief over my father. I feel that, in a way, I’m still lost in the desert.

Do you feel better at all than you did when you started writing it?

While I was writing it, I still felt very connected to my father. There was a sense of forward propulsion. I didn’t think it would bring him back, but it was like our connection was still ongoing. When I finished the book I was like oh, what now?

Does talking about the book, or knowing that people will be reading it, offer you any more of that forward propulsion?

That’s a good question. I feel like this book has been a really different publication experience than my past books. There’s a lot of mixed feelings. I think some of it might be that Death Valley doesn’t have a neat ending, there’s not a proper resolution. Much like in life, I would love to have complete control over my life and achieve inner peace, but there are always going to be peaks and valleys especially with grief. I think more than any of my other books, I’ve started to see the possibility of a sequel for Death Valley.

A lot of the emotions in the book are autobiographical, but what about the actual lost-in-the-desert element? Did you venture to Joshua Tree or anything similar to research?

I did go on a desert recon trip to Death Valley. I went on a lone hike and didn’t tell anyone where I was going, because I went to the most touristy part of the park. Like, nobody gets lost in that part. Except I got lost. I’m an idiot. (Laughs.) I didn’t have water with me. I had Coke Zero, because I thought it would just be a little walk. I wound up making it back to my car, but I had to climb up this ravine and got all cut up. After I made it back to my car and stopped crying, I realized it was a gift for the story.

What have you learned about your fan base over the years?

The reaction I get the most from readers is people being like, I relate to you so much. And I’m like oh, I’m so sorry! People also really relate to the characters which I think is funny because there’s also a lot of talk about my protagonists being unlikable — and I really like all of my protagonists.

All of your past books have been optioned, and I believe they’re in different stages of adaptation? Claire Foy was in talks to star in The Pisces, and Liz Tigelaar was attached to a TV version of Milk Fed. I’m curious what your relationship is to that process, how much you see it as important or superfluous.

I’ve adapted all of my books for the screen but I have yet to see a camera turn on. And I don’t think that’s going to happen for any of them now. I haven’t done any screenwriting since the strikes began, of course. I find the idea of adaptation extremely exciting, because I like being able to see the characters again after I’ve finished the novel. It’s like fan fiction. I’ve been really lucky to work with awesome people so far, like Liz Tigelaar and Stacy Silverman on Milk Fed. But I do think in my lifetime I’d like to see a camera actually turn on.

Did you know inherently that you wanted to work on these scripts?

The first project I sold was based on my Twitter feed, and I wrote that pilot — with my friend Brad Listi — just for fun. That got us representation and we sold it to MTV. So then when The Pisces and Milk Fed were optioned, I was asked if I would want to write. I was like yes that would be amazing and also mama needs health insurance. Both of those projects were a hybrid of the spirit of creative adventure and the need for insurance.

Which of these stalled adaptations do you feel most invested in?

I would love to see The Pisces become a movie. I also think it would be cool to see Death Valley be a movie. That hasn’t been optioned because of the strike.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

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