Something I did learn from We Were Liars (which, like Gone Girl, is beautifully written): character really matters. These characters are real to me— the tiny scar Gat works in his eyebrow, the fact that he cares about class, and knows the names of the servants who make their box lunches; the fact that Cady has retreated into a dark, punishing thinness. This is how close we need to get, to make stories live, and once they come alive, they have authority, whether people like them or not.