Ready for a shock? Nicholas Sparks—you know, the king of the heartfelt and tearjerking romance novel—loves a good spine-tingling scare. “I’m a big fan of horror,” he says. “I’ve seen every horror movie and every Supernatural episode. Vampires, werewolves, you name it.”
Sparks channeled his spooky side big time in his new book … with a little help from an expert on the subject. Remain (released on Oct. 14) follows Tate Donovan, a New York architect seeking a fresh start after the death of his beloved sister. He relocates to Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer beach house and soon meets a mysterious woman named Wren, whose presence shakes his world.
The book is part of a unique collaboration with Oscar-nominated writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Trap) that also includes a 2026 movie of the same name starring Jake Gyllenhaal. After developing the story together, the film auteur worked on the screenplay. Sparks followed with his literary contribution.
“Once our idea became a project, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh—I guess I’m going to have to write a novel!'” says Sparks, whose dozens of novels (including 1996’s The Notebook and 1999’s A Walk to Remember) plus two works of nonfiction have sold more than 115 million copies worldwide. “It was a real tight time frame. I started in October and finished it by January. But here we are.”
Sparks, of course, has the write stuff: He’s currently Zooming from his home office in North Carolina, where various translations of his many books line the shelves behind him. “Some of them are in languages that I don’t even know!” he says.
In this exclusive interview with Reader’s Digest, Sparks talks about his writing process, favorite scary reads and more. Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at all of it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Reader’s Digest: Is Remain a love story?
Nicholas Sparks: It’s a supernatural love story. If you’re a fan of my work, you’re going to see Nicholas Sparks all the way, whatever that means. You’ll also see some Night. That was the challenge. It was fun to make sure it worked for both our genres.
Reader’s Digest: How did you get connected with M. Night Shyamalan in the first place?
Nicholas Sparks: In Hollywood, you have teams. The teams say, “Hey, you should get together with that person.” Most of these things don’t amount to anything. This one did. So we met in May 2023, in person at his office in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The plan was to each come up with an original story that could be both a novel and a film that would appeal to both our fans. We pitched our stories to each other and decided right there to do his story. Then we started hammering out the details like: Who is it? Where is it? When is it? What’s going on?
Reader’s Digest: What happened to your original idea?
Nicholas Sparks: It fell by the wayside. But we did say that if this works, maybe we’ll do my story. Or maybe not. One can never predict the future. But yeah, it’s gone.
Reader’s Digest: How, exactly, did you collaborate on these projects after deciding on the story?
Nicholas Sparks: He started writing his script last summer; I gave him a very long leash because he’s M. Night Shyamalan. He knows what he’s doing! So we would just brainstorm maybe twice a week. He’d call and say, “What do you think about this?” And then after he finished his script, I read it and got to work on the novel. My calls were more like, “I’m going to change something for Chapter 8,” because I could do more introspection and backstory. So it’s the same story, just different mediums.
Reader’s Digest: Did you picture Jake Gyllenhaal when writing the character of Tate?
Nicholas Sparks: I didn’t find out that Jake was in the movie until I was almost done with the first draft of the novel. After that, all I did was make sure the character had brown hair and pretty eyes. But I have done that in the past: When I did The Last Song, I was a producer on the [2010] film and wrote the screenplay first. I knew it was going to be Miley Cyrus in the role of Ronnie. So then when I wrote the novel, every scene I saw Miley.
Reader’s Digest: Why haven’t you written more stories with supernatural elements until now?
Nicholas Sparks: It’s interesting. In my [2010] novel Safe Haven, we did have a spiritual presence—a ghost living next door to the main character. And at the end of the novel, you wondered, Was she really a ghost or a figment of our character’s imagination? It’s funny because when I wrote that, I wanted it to be a nod to The Sixth Sense because I just love that film and wanted to do that in book form.
Reader’s Digest: What are some of your favorite horror books?
Nicholas Sparks: Well, I’m a huge fan of Stephen King. I’ve read all of them. The Stand was great. But my favorite was The Green Mile. He wrote it serialized, like a new chapter came out every month. When the first one came out, I read that he was working on Chapter 3. I couldn’t imagine that kind of pressure as a novelist. Lisey’s Story was also really strong—it was a really sweet, beautiful love story and really strong on family and relationships.
Reader’s Digest: Do you go all-out for Halloween too?
Nicholas Sparks: When I had small children, oh my goodness—the whole bit! I’d do the dry ice to make it look spooky. And I’d sit on a porch in a scary outfit and hand out candy.
Reader’s Digest: After writing 25 books, does the process come easy for you now?
Nicholas Sparks: At this point, it’s getting harder. I’m known for doing a love story set in North Carolina—though Remain is not—so I always think about how to make it new. On book No. 1, it’s easy. On book No. 2, I’ll kill the guy. Then I’ll kill the girl. By the time you get to No. 25, I want the book to be original and surprising at the end. So the conception has become much more difficult, and the challenge is high.
Reader’s Digest: Do you ever just pick up one of your books to bask in the nostalgia of it all?
Nicholas Sparks: It usually takes a few years. By the time I’m done with the novel, I’m pretty done with it. Winston Churchill said something like, “You started writing a book and it’s like having a mistress. But [at] the end, it’s your torment and you just want to fling it into the world.” I fall into the latter category.
Reader’s Digest: On that note, thoughts on The Notebook musical? It played on Broadway last year.
Nicholas Sparks: Oh, it’s a wonderful show! It will be coming to Los Angeles in January. Bekah Brunstetter wrote the book, and Ingrid Michaelson did the music and lyrics.
Rapid response with Nicholas Sparks
Reader’s Digest: Quick question time! Morning or night?
Nicholas Sparks: Mornings!
Reader’s Digest: Would you rather time-travel to the past or future?
Nicholas Sparks: Past.
Reader’s Digest: Favorite breakfast food?
Nicholas Sparks: Coffee, because it wakes me up.
Reader’s Digest: What advice would you give to your younger self?
Nicholas Sparks: Do it again.
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