Writer in the Cabin are a set of videos that Alan Wake encounters across Bright Falls. These showcase the week that Alan was trapped in Bird Leg Cabin as he was writing Departure.
Episodes[]
Writer in the Cabin #1[]
- Location: Episode 1: Nightmare, Stucky's Gas Station, in the garage.
The visuals depict Alan frantically writing the manuscript, whilst the narration talks of trying to bring Alice back to him, as he can feel her within the Dark Place.
"I’ll write. I’ll keep writing. Outside there’s only darkness, outside the cabin, outside the story, there’s only darkness. I can feel her presence in the dark. Just now, I could smell her perfume in the room. I’ll reach her. I’ll fix it. I’ll bring her back. The story will come true. If I stop, she’s lost."
Writer in the Cabin #2[]
- Location: Episode 2: Taken, Bright Falls Sheriff Station, in the cells.
Whilst Alan continues to write Departure within the visuals, the narration talks about how the world is on the line if Alan does not complete the story he is writing.
"A writer is a light that reveals the world of his story from darkness, shapes it from nothingness, the way a sculptor carves a statue from a block of granite. If I stop, the world I’m making dies. Darkness will reclaim it. It’s a long, hard journey into the dark. Alice’s life is at stake, but I can’t think about it, or I’ll lose it. The dread lingers at the edge of perception. I’ll push on. Anything is possible here. I’ll write the story, I’ll save her."
Writer in the Cabin #3[]
- Episode 2: Taken, Elderwood National Park, in the men's restroom.
"A story is not a machine that does what you tell it. A story is a beast with a life of its own. You can create it, shape it, but as the story grows, it starts wanting things of its own. Change one thing, and you set off a chain reaction of events that spreads through the whole thing. The characters have to be true to themselves. The events need to follow a logic that fits the story. A single flaw and the magic is gone. The story dies. Alice dies."
Writer in the Cabin #4[]
- Episode 3: Ransom, Rose's Trailer, in her bedroom.
The visuals depict Alan pacing around the room, reviewing his work and scrapping pages that don't appear to make sense. The narration discusses his "editor", Barbara Jagger who Alan claims is trying to control most of the narrative of Departure as a way to save Alice.
"I can’t tell reality from dream anymore. But it seems I have an imaginary editor to help me. She’s an old woman in a funeral dress. I call her Barbara Jagger. She’s very strict. I’m writing faster and faster. My manuscript is being heavily revised. The edits are getting very aggressive and each day there’s less of me and more of her. I hate it, but I know she’s right. She promises me I can save Alice this way. She knows more of this than I do. About the complex incantation I’m attempting, about this place. She has worked with another writer under similar circumstances: Thomas Zane. The genre of the story seems to be shifting. It’s turning into a horror story. I’m getting close. I can feel it."
Writer in the Cabin #5[]
- Episode 3: Ransom, Gray Peak Gorge Ghost Town, in the shack near the old train
"Anything outside of writing is a struggle. I feel ill. I managed to make my way downstairs. There's a shoebox filled with books and papers by Thomas Zane. It's very hard to focus but I managed to read some of it. He's a poet and a good one. He writes of muses and creators, summoning fabulous things from a magic lake, using its powers to shape the world, of a realm of gods and dreams, and demons, dark things that wait for a chance to slip through, wearing the flesh of men as disguise. Zane writes about himself, his girlfriend being taken over by a dark presence, about growing scared of the lake. Zane believes it's a mirror to the gaping void of darkness above, where some Lovecraftian presence lurks. I crawled back upstairs. I'll borrow these things for my story. They ring true. They fit."
Writer in the Cabin #6[]
- Episode 4: The Truth, Cauldron Lake Lodge, in the mezzanine floor
"Something's wrong. I'm not myself. It's hard to think. There's a shadow inside my head. I can only focus on writing, everything else is a blur. I'm trapped in this cabin, have been for days, but it's always dark outside. My editor is real, I saw her again. She's not human. It's not human. A dark presence is wearing the old woman's face. She was covered in clinging shadows. There's a hole in her chest where her heart should be. I think I've made a horrible mistake. I don't think I'm any closer to saving Alice. It's been lying to me, using me to get the story it wants. And the story will come true."
Writer in the Cabin #7[]
- Episode 4: The Truth, Anderson Farm, in the second floor of Walter Snyder's cabin
"I've run through every possible course in my head. If I continue like the Dark Presence wants me to, the story I'm writing won't save Alice. It's a horror story and it's going to kill her, and me, and everybody in this town. No one will survive. Darkness will consume everything. This is what it's wanted all along. It will be free, unstoppable. It used Alice to get to me, dangled her in front of me to keep me going. It was never going to release her. I'm going to change this. I'll escape. I've written myself into the story. I'm now the protagonist. This feels like a terrible risk, but it's the only way to save Alice. I'll be bound by the events of the story just as much as anyone else who's been woven into it. The story must stay true for this to work. There have to be victims along the way, near escapes, cliffhangers. In a horror story it can't be certain that the hero will succeed or even survive. He almost has to die. I'll write my own escape into the story next. I need help. Zane's going to be the one who’ll help me. I'll make it happen."
Trivia[]
- Whilst these videos are not explicitly called "Writer in the Cabin" in the game, the Alan Wake Survival Guide names them this, as does downloadable content in the GOG version of the game.
- Almost each of the videos appear to have been filmed as one long take but split up into sections.