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Goon Squad began as procrastination
How It Began
Many chapters of A Visit from the Goon Squad were published first as short fiction in the New Yorker and elsewhere. Jennifer Egan thought she was killing time and avoiding work on Manhattan Beach.
Somewhere along the way she noticed she was enjoying having characters appear more than once and moving back in time. So she decided to write a book out of it.
Drafts and Film Options
She wrote it in a particulate way, one chapter at a time, and certain chapters went through something like 30 or 35 drafts. Film producers have optioned it around six or seven times. Some options run out after a year or two, and some are held much longer, moving in and out of deals with the same producer. She has no ability as a screenwriter and considers the book hard to figure out for film.
How do linked stories add up to a novel?
A book built from connected stories is often called a composite novel or story cycle. Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, published in 1919, ties together tales of one small town. Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, which links stories around one character, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009. Jennifer Egan's Goon Squad won the same prize in 2011.
Why do producers option books they never film?
An option gives a producer the exclusive right to develop a book for a set period in exchange for a fee, which is often small compared with the cost of a film. During that period, the producer can try to attach a screenwriter, a director, and financing. Options typically run for a year or two and can be renewed or allowed to lapse. Many optioned books never reach the screen.
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