Frost's upcoming projects
- Thread starter Tulpa
- Start date
- Apr 12, 2022
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I wonder if he'll ever do an adaptation of "The List of 7" - or another "Twin Peaks" book/script.
sneakydave
Waiting Room
- Apr 12, 2022
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If we were never to get anything else from Lynch/Frost in the world of Peaks, I'd certainly enjoy another book set in that world from Mark.
- Apr 12, 2022
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If he does, I'd like it in a more traditional narrative novel form this time rather than epistolary. Think of how great a Twin Peaks novel could be. That's what I was expecting when I first heard he was working on a TP book. So many stories could be told in a novel and, if it's third person, so many characters explored.
Mr. Reindeer
White Lodge
- Apr 13, 2022
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I love the fact that every TP tie-in book to date has been epistolary. I’m biased because I love epistolary novels. They immerse you in the world in visceral fashion, and give such a beautiful potential for simultaneous suspension of disbelief and room to speculate due to the unreliable narrator aspect. And holding the physical book itself is like interacting with a tiny piece of the TP universe. I’m not sure I’d ever want an “objective narrator” TP book. I’d rather that such stories be told on film, where we can see the characters move and talk. For me, the benefit of TP books vs. audiovisual material is the ability to get inside characters’ heads.
- Apr 12, 2022
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That's exactly why I'd like a more traditional third person narrative that emphasizes the characters' thoughts - or I suppose a series of first person accounts could help too. Some epistolary novels can work for me if they're heavy on journal entries - and less on newspaper articles and the like - but I'm not a major fan of them, though I respect and admire the style. I guess I write mainly third person narratives so that's what I prefer predominantly. I just had built up Frost's book when I heard about it to be a more traditional novel, exploring the 25 years between the OG series and The Return. As such, I could never really get into them - though I may yet. I respect your take; it's just for me epistolary novels (unless a lot of journal entries - e.g. Bram Stoker's "Dracula") keep me at a distance from the plot, the complete opposite of immersion. I only get immersed in first or third person narratives. I need to really give Frost's books a proper go before I can comment on them, though. I might find large sections of them quite immersive if I can get past whatever block I have about them. This isn't meant to be a critique of them, just expressing a hope he writes the next one more in the style of "The List of 7" as an example.
Mr. Reindeer
White Lodge
- Apr 13, 2022
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I hear you. I think The Secret Diary and My Life, My Tapes fall VERY much into the “journal entry” genre you’re talking about. The two books Mark himself wrote are a bit more of a mish-mash. The Secret History in particular does contain some very personal first-person journal-style entries, but also a lot of newspaper articles and reports and the like, which are more impersonal (but still fascinate me from the perspective of being written in-world and therefore being multi-layered). For some reason, tie-in novels written from a third-person perspective make me feel more...detached. I guess it’s kind of like the idea that I feel acquainted with these characters from seeing them on film, and who is this third-person narrator who’s suddenly acting as a liaison to tell me what their thoughts are? It feels clunky and impersonal. As I said, I do love epistolary novels in general and find them more immersive, so it’s probably a personal bias. But it does make me happy that Mark seems to agree with my preferences.
- Apr 12, 2022
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That's a great point. I don't think I'd usually be interested in tie-in novels (have never read the LOST ones for example and they do not look good) and would probably view most as kind of cheap - but in this case, Frost is not only an established novelist himself but he's also the co-creator/co-writer so I think if he produced a third person Twin Peaks novel, it would be amazing and immersive and wouldn't feel like those tie-in novels of other TV shows written by writers we either haven't heard of before or didn't originally create/write for the characters. I agree with your point in general - and usually prefer the TV shows or movies I like to be kept separate from novelizations/tie-in books but I think it would be much different given who Frost is. Anyway, I just had it hyped up so much in my mind that it was going to be Frost novel AND a Twin Peaks novel - it just seemed amazing to me that when I heard it was epistolary it just disappointed me. Then again, I'd also hyped up a series with EVERY episode directed by Lynch (and co-written by Frost), thinking it would be like my 5 favourite episodes of the OG series (Pilot, 2, 9, 14, and 29) and it was ... not. (But that's another discussion for another thread.) I guess my disappointment with The Return (though I liked much of it, especially Parts 1 - 4 and 16, 17, 18) in general might have put me off trying to give the Frost books another chance, along with that initial block I got to their style. But they'll remain in my TBR pile - maybe one day.
p.s. I never got into The Secret Diary much either. I did like it and enjoyed some sections - I want to listen to the audio version read by Sheryl Lee one day. That sounds great. I think I did enjoy My Life, My Tapes (can't remember if I read it all now or just sections but I remember liking it) even if was a bit cheesy.
Mr. Reindeer
White Lodge
- Apr 13, 2022
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Man, I love me some Secret Diary—even though the dates don’t line up with the damn show. For a first-timer, Jen Lynch killed it. Definitely listen to the Sheryl Lee audiobook. It’s remarkable how she recaptures her younger self during the 2017 recording.
I never read any of the Lost tie-in books, but I’m highly amused by the backstory of Bad Twin (which was written as an in-world novel, unlike the other ones that I guess were written as third-person novels). Bad Twin was featured on the show as an unpublished manuscript that Hurley and Sawyer read. Once the show runners Damon and Carlton read the final published version of the real world book, they had Jack throw the manuscript into a fire on the show, and retroactively stated that the book’s fictional writer was the guy in the Pilot who gets sucked into the turbine (a fitting punishment).
I never read any of the Lost tie-in books, but I’m highly amused by the backstory of Bad Twin (which was written as an in-world novel, unlike the other ones that I guess were written as third-person novels). Bad Twin was featured on the show as an unpublished manuscript that Hurley and Sawyer read. Once the show runners Damon and Carlton read the final published version of the real world book, they had Jack throw the manuscript into a fire on the show, and retroactively stated that the book’s fictional writer was the guy in the Pilot who gets sucked into the turbine (a fitting punishment).
- Apr 12, 2022
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I own a copy of Bad Twin (or did anyway) lol! Never read it. Ah, 2004+ and height of LOST obsession, a bit like the original TP obsession for me.
Stavrogyn
White Lodge
- Apr 12, 2022
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I own copies of The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and The Secret History of Twin Peaks (so many secrets!), but haven't read them yet.
I loved My Life, My Tapes. Not a masterpiece, but I still enjoyed it so much that I will definitely reread it at some point. (I mean, it has Windom Earle!) It's kind of ironic that the only Frost I ever read was Scott
I loved My Life, My Tapes. Not a masterpiece, but I still enjoyed it so much that I will definitely reread it at some point. (I mean, it has Windom Earle!) It's kind of ironic that the only Frost I ever read was Scott
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AXX°N N.
Waiting Room
- Apr 14, 2022
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I was already a fan of the Diary but Lee's reading absolutely elevates it into being essential.
Re: a Frost third-person TP novel, the back and forth here is interesting and the point about keeping the experiences separate feels like it must have been part of the decision to keep all the books epistolary so far. Especially from Frost's perspective, his contributions to TP go through the adaptation procedure where the directors and actors put their own touch into everything. It would be hard to recapture that and maybe even alienating, and it being epistolary helps create a pretty big buffer of plausible deniability; "this is just how those characters write."
The only other experience with spinoff novels I've had are the Lost books mentioned, and Bad Twin is supposedly the best of them despite the creators throwing the writer into a turbine. Back in the day, I made it through 1 and a half of them before giving up in disgust, and this was at the height of my Lost obsession (I even played the crummy games!) so that says quite a lot. And thinking back, the problems laid out by you guys are part of why they were bad; writers uninvolved in the show, all the problems this introduces when they try to capture characters screen-accurately, a weird distancing effect with the third-person because it felt like I was supposed to be seeing it on-screen, etc., although the biggest problem was that they were nothing more than merchandising / advertising, and bad writing itself.
It would be funny, given the intense nature of our S4 speculations, if the return to TP we get is another Frost entry. I suppose I would be behind a third-person entry, and the afforementioned problems may not apply if it's, say, from the POV of Carrie, a character we have little exposure to, or even Cooper, who is basically a blank slate at the end, and seemingly so too the world they enter.
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I just recently finished a rewatch of all 3 seasons (well, a fan edit of season 2 and FWWM with the Missing Pieces cut into 3 episodes) as well as rereading the Secret History and Final Dossier. I'm still basking in a little afterglow from it all. Obviously I would love a season 4 but - tbh - I keep thinking of what Mark Frost could do withe a novel or two. I'd love to know what Mr. C & Bob were up to during those 25 years. I don't think that is something that would work as TV or a film (logistically). I'd also love to read all about Gordon Cole and Phillip Jeffries coming together to form the Blue Rose Task Force. I think Mark could make a great read of that (although it could also be an amazing TV/film prequel if they had Lynch & Bowie's sons play them 
). More than anything I really would love for Frost to write about where Chet Desmond went and what happened!
). More than anything I really would love for Frost to write about where Chet Desmond went and what happened!
Ray Monroe_43
Sparkwood & 21
- Apr 16, 2022
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I Would like that was another Twin Peaks book! Frost expand very well the mythology of the series. it could be a season 4 in format book.
secretlettermkr
Waiting Room
- Apr 12, 2022
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HI!
what fan-edit is that?
Hey!
About a year ago I found a trailer for a season 2 fan edit on Vimeo by somebody called MisterCooper (who might have been on Dugpa but I'm not sure). It was a really good edit of season 2 starting midseason that edited out much of the extra... unnecessary parts? It was called "Twin Peaks Revisited: Mid-Season 2 Fan Fix". The trailer is here:
There were a few changes that I didn't 100% enjoy (although I am sure that everybody would have their own personal preferences regarding any sort of editing of Twin Peaks) but, luckily, at the time I had been playing around with OpenShot and had some basic video editing skills (and plenty with audio) so I just edited back in a few little parts I missed. Anyway, he did a an absolutelu great edit and it's a nice option after all theses years of watching Twin Peaks!
(As for FWWM I used the Q2 fan edit and cut it into 3 episodes to see how it would feel watching that in episodic form like the rest of Twin Peaks)
Hope that helps!
secretlettermkr
Waiting Room
- Apr 12, 2022
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THANKS!
- Apr 11, 2022
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- Thread starter
- #18
What does everyone think about those unannounced projects?
We know about his play and its novelisation. I'm intrigued about what the other two projects.
Scrub to 1h.15m in the audio player for response to the question on future projects.
We know about his play and its novelisation. I'm intrigued about what the other two projects.
Scrub to 1h.15m in the audio player for response to the question on future projects.
secretlettermkr
Waiting Room
- Apr 12, 2022
- 387
- 552
I wish he has another TV series on the works,.. would be nice to see something like THE LIST OF SEVEN (not an adaptation but something in that venue) where he is the writer and maybe showrunner.
Steffernie
Sparkwood & 21
- Oct 29, 2023
- 13
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I saw you posted this in 2022 so hopefully I am not repeating what you've already posted -- although it is definitely from a different podcast, as the one I reference is from Nov. 2023. I am such a big Mark Frost fan for completely different reasons than I am of David Lynch. He is absolutely brilliant and fascinating. Every so often I search his name in podcast apps to see if he's done any new interviews, which is how I came across this episode 9 months ago from Ojai: Talk of the Town: link to episode
You refer to a play and novel, and in this episode Frost says he is (was?) working on a play and/or book about FDR. Frost mentions that his uncle was FDR's secretary and was with him on the day he died. He said his uncle kept diaries during the war, including his time with FDR, and that was the impetus for this project. It feels like such Twin Peaks magic that Frost has this personal connection to someone who seems to personify a lot of Frost's own political outlook, which I already found so fascinating -- specifically the way he writes about society and government and history etc. in the Secret History. If anyone knows anything more about the play or book, let me know!
