Eva Holland: “When I’m writing some scenes, I do find myself thinking about action movies.”

From a New York Times interview by John Williams of Eva Holland, author of the book Nerve:

In “Nerve,” Holland writes intimately about her fears of falling, of heights and, after she was involved in traumatic accidents, of driving. And she writes about the science behind those fears and the methods she and others have used to try to overcome them. . . .

Who is a creative person (not a writer) who has influenced you and your work?

This is a hard one, when you say not a writer, because I feel like I’ve been so single-minded about reading narrative nonfiction to write narrative nonfiction. But when I’m writing some scenes, I do find myself thinking about action movies. I watch a lot of blockbuster movies, and I reach for analogies from them, particularly when I’m writing action scenes. So I’m going to pick Anthony and Joe Russo, who directed the Captain America and Avengers movies.

I think a lot about the training montage, where the hero goes and gets in shape for the challenge ahead, I often use that kind of idea in my head when I’m trying to deliver a lot of information economically