Nicholas Sparks
"Remain" by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan is out Oct. 14.
Joy Woods (Middle Allie) and Ryan Vasquez (Middle Noah) in "The Notebook" on Broadway.

NEW YORK – Nicholas Sparks is telling me a ghost story.

It’s not the conversation I thought I’d have with the bestselling author of romantic stories that make you swoon, not scared. But it’s quiet enough to hear a pin drop in USA TODAY’s New York studios as he relays the tale, elements of which he used in “Remain,” his new novel and upcoming movie adaptation developed with filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.

“Remain” is a supernatural love story set on Cape Cod, following New York architect Tate Donovan (Jake Gyllenhaal will portray in the movie), who hopes to make a fresh start after a psychiatric facility stay. He’s saddled with grief after losing his sister, who told him on her deathbed she could see spirits “still tethered to the living world.” That, plus meeting a beautiful woman (Phoebe Dynevor) at the bed and breakfast he’s living at, challenges everything he thought he knew. The book publishes Oct. 14 from Random House, and the Shyamalan-led movie will release next year.

Nicholas Sparks goes paranormal with new novel ‘Remain’

Yes, Sparks believes in ghosts. His own story goes something like this: Sparks and his family were staying with their longtime family friends, Olympic athlete Billy Mills and his wife. Mills, who is Native American and has a substantial Indigenous artifacts collection in his home, had recently been gifted an eagle bone whistle, Sparks says. It wasn't too long before Sparks started noticing fluttering light from the corner of his eye. Then, at night, his wife woke up to the sound of drums. In the morning, Sparks approached the Mills jokingly and told them they had a ghost.

“They’re like, ‘Oh, you mean George?” Sparks says. “Then they start telling us other stories, flickering lights and doors that slam and weird smells in the house and unexplained cold breezes. Eventually they realized all these things came with the arrival of this whistle.”

If you read “Remain,” you’ll catch little bits of this. But even outside of his own experiences, Sparks has been a longtime scare junky. The first novel he wrote – which remains unpublished – was a horror novel. He loves Stephen King and his dad was a “big horror movie nut.” Working with Shyamalan was an opportunity to lean into that.

M. Night Shyamalan movie already in the works for ‘Remain’

It isn’t Sparks’ first time working on a manuscript and screenplay simultaneously – he had to write the screenplay for “The Last Song” before the novel because of Miley Cyrus’ schedule, he says. What was different with “Remain” was that Shyamalan approached him with the original idea and the pair fleshed it out together. It filmed in Rhode Island, and Sparks visited the set to see the story come to life with Gyllenhaal as the protagonist.

“Jake is a terrific, professional actor,” Sparks says. “He's there on set, he knows his lines, he knows what to do. He takes good direction from (Shyamalan), and at the same time brings his own element in, and it is really a lot of fun to watch it work.”

Nicholas Sparks, king of hearts

Having sold over 130 million copies worldwide, Sparks is known for so many beloved stories – “The Notebook,” “Dear John,” “A Walk to Remember” – that “Nicholas Sparks” has nearly become a subgenre of romance literature itself.

Over the decades, each love story still feels meaningful. But Sparks doesn't necessarily agree with the sentiment that asking an author to pick a favorite book is like asking them to pick a favorite kid: "They're like irritating kids. You gave me a lot of heck when I was working on you," Sparks says, faking a conversation with his bestsellers. "Now that I'm done with you, now that you're an adult, you're OK. But man, you were tough when you were growing up."

The movie adaptations also take on a life of their own. “The Notebook” musical is now touring after months of making Broadway goers weep into show-branded tissues in New York.

“There is a rumor that there are some sad elements to ‘The Notebook,’” Sparks says. “I’m neither confirming nor denying.”

And while “Remain” may differ in that it will give you goosebumps, like with any Nicholas Sparks novel, you know you’re in for a love story.

“I personally believe that all the great things in the world come from love,” Sparks says. “The things you do for your kids, things you do for your pets, your job, people, your siblings, your parents, your friends, and of course romantic love. What better topic? It's all the good stuff in the world. The world is filled with vehicles for the bad stuff − news, social media. OK, I accept that. I don't want to write it. I want to write where the good stuff comes from. And the beautiful part about that genre is, because it's an emotion that everyone experiences in some way in their lives, you're allowed to add elements of other genres into it to make it original.”

Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nicholas Sparks talks new supernatural book, watching Jake Gyllenhaal film the adaptation

Reporting by Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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