Stephen Fishbach’s debut novel, Escape! (Penguin Audio, Jan. 27), in which fading reality TV stars assemble on a remote island, is inspired in part by his own two stints on Survivor. But the Pushcart Prize–winning author says that he’s also inspired by the works of Charles Dickens. Fishbach told us more about the book by email.

Is there a book or an author that influenced your decision to write—one that caused you to say, I want to do that?

The biggest recent influence on my writing has been Charles Dickens. Bleak House is my favorite novel. It’s filled with so much life, from the deepest tragedies to the silliest people. It has tension and momentum, and then there’s a chapter where three side characters have lunch. There’s just so much joy in his work.

But I also need to acknowledge my dear friend Joshua Max Feldman’s The Book of Jonah, a novel I absolutely adore. I was so inspired by Josh’s discipline. Watching him dedicate himself to his writing and then put out such a profound, big-hearted work of art made me believe that if I committed myself, I might one day finish a novel, too.

Were you involved in the casting of your audiobook? Are you an audiobook listener yourself?

I was involved! I knew Julia Whelan from Bread Loaf [Writers’ Conference], and I reached out to her for the role of Beck. Obviously, she’s simply the best in the business, but I specifically thought that given her warm, beloved persona, she might help listeners empathize with a morally complicated character. For the other roles, I heard auditions. I knew immediately that Sean Patrick Hopkins and Imani Jade Powers were the right people. Sean perfectly captured Kent’s vulnerability, and Imani fully evoked Miriam’s almost naïve optimism.

I love audiobooks. Recent favorites have been Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary (like everybody else), narrated by Ray Porter, and Daniel Pollack-Pelzner’s Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist, read by Javier Muñoz. I’m a big Warhammer nerd, and I’ve been listening to Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn series performed by Toby Longworth. And one last shoutout again to Bleak House, because I’m in awe of the way Sean Barrett and Teresa Gallagher evoke the multitude of Dickens’ characters.

What inspired you during the writing of the book? What were you reading, listening to, watching?

I have to give particular credit to Karen Russell’s short story “The Prospectors” (collected in Orange World). Whenever my prose felt leaden, I would reread it, hoping to get energized by her incredible metaphors and vivid word choice. I read and re-read Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels to learn tips and tricks on writing first person. I also read a lot of books set in jungles or remote locations, like William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, Kea Wilson’s We Eat Our Own, Mat Johnson’s Pym, Alex Garland’s The Beach, Maile Meloy’s Do Not Become Alarmed, and Diane Cook’s The New Wilderness. Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was an inspiration for how to evoke an industry within a book.

I also watched a lot of jungle reality television. I may be best known for my time on Survivor, but I wanted this book to speak to the entire genre, and I particularly wanted it to evoke cable reality shows that have smaller crews, where the whole enterprise feels more precarious. There’s something I find moving about contestants pushing themselves to the limits of their human capacity, struggling through their life’s best and most humiliating moments, and the final product streams on a digital channel with 15 subscribers.

Jennifer Dowell is the audiobooks editor.