After Lifes spiritualist themes, is it wrong to read something into its having thirteen chapters (plus epilogue)?
Ellis: Yes—it’s totally deliberate. In my original vision for the book, I pictured it coming out around Halloween, and the original title (which I will not reveal) had witches in it. There were many times during the revisions that I thought I ought to cut a chapter into two—but then I’d have fourteen chapters! So I didn’t. I’m glad someone noticed. WAG: Which writers (or film directors—David Lynch for his quirkiness and Alfred Hitchcock for his studies of guilt came to my mind most readily while reading After Life) have influenced you the most? Ellis: Actually—though I never thought of it—both Hitchcock and Lynch were huge influences. At different periods of my life, I’ve watched both of them obsessively. I learned about suspense from Hitchcock—was it he who pointed out that a bomb exploding is not suspenseful, but two people having a boring conversation while a bomb ticks under the table is? And Lynch does such memorable characters, of course, and manages to imbue his work with such a
