CR 006: Marcus Kliewer on His Terrifying Debut Novel, ‘We Used to Live Here’

The author of the riveting new thriller discusses his story’s journey from Reddit to novel.

Marcus Kliewer, photo by Brian Van Wyk

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Imagine if a family showed up on your doorstep one day asking to take a peek inside your home. The father used to live in your house, and he’d really love to show his wife and kids where he grew up. You reluctantly let them in, and almost immediately, strange things begin to happen. You soon realize the family is not going to leave and the house you thought you knew isn’t what it seems.

This is the premise of We Used to Live Here, a disturbing new page-turner by Canadian author Marcus Kliewer. Called “a frighteningly good debut” by Kirkus, the novel, which is being adapted into a Netflix film starring Blake Lively, began as a serialized short story on Reddit—a site, Kliewer says, that is perfect for authors interested in honing their craft.

“Writing on Reddit is a great place to go for writers starting out,” he says. “Just having other people read your work [is helpful]. And anonymity is huge, especially if you’re writing about deeply personal things. I was writing anonymously on Reddit for the first few years there, so nobody I knew personally, except for my closest friends, knew I was writing on there. That was freeing.”

Kliewer is already working on his next novel, which he describes as “a gothic claustrophobic house thriller.” He says the Netflix film is still in the works, but on “Hollywood time,” adding, “Some big announcement is coming soon. My second novel is also being adapted into a movie, so there’s lots of announcements. Exciting things are coming, for sure.”

I recently chatted with Kliewer over Zoom about the challenges of expanding a previously published work, the benefits of reader feedback, and his advice to aspiring novelists.

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SANDRA EBEJER: Before we get into the publication of this book and its journey from short story to novel, I’d like to talk about the story’s inception. Where did the idea for We Used to Live Here come from?

MARCUS KLIEWER: I think I was around seven or eight years old. My parents had owned a small house in a beach town out here [in British Columbia] called White Rock. We were driving past it, and there was a guy washing his car. [He] comes up to us and asks why we’re looking at the house, and my dad’s like, “My wife and I used to live here.” They made a bit of small talk, and we were about to leave, and I just remember the look on this guy’s face. He said, “Did you guys ever notice anything weird here?” He had that embarrassed kind of look. There’s a moment in the book similar to this, where there’s almost a reluctance for [the character] to even bring it up. And that really creeped me out as a kid. It stuck in my head. My parents had a lot of weird stories about that house, as well. I think it wasn’t until almost two decades later that it just kind of sparked into [the story].

We Used to Live Here was originally published as a serialized short story on Reddit, along with other short fiction that you’ve written. Why publish there?

I’ve been writing on that subreddit through different accounts since 2014 and I’ve been reading there since 2010. Around the time the pandemic hit, I had seen an article about people picking up success on that subreddit—getting picked up by Netflix and that kind of stuff. So I went in there with the intention of trying to, I don’t know, sell T-shirts or make a Patreon. In the back of my mind, I’m like, “Maybe somebody will reach out to [option the story].” You know, that one-in-a-million thing. Then I just got really lucky. But I think I would have been happy writing on that subreddit alone. It’s such a great community and having that immediate feedback, sometimes I actually miss that.

That’s a perfect segue to my next question. Reddit provides a unique opportunity to hear what people are thinking about your work in real time as you’re sharing it. Did the comments or feedback you received help to guide the story in any way?