 The development of Imperial Bedrooms began after Ellis re @-@ read Less Than Zero as part of the writing process for his 2005 novel , Lunar Park . The novel takes its name from Elvis Costello 's 1982 album Imperial Bedroom , just as Less Than Zero had been named for a Costello single . After reading his first novel , Ellis began to reflect on what had become of the characters from Less Than Zero . Soon , he found himself " overwhelm [ ed ] " by the idea of what would become Imperial Bedrooms as it continually returned to him . After gestating the idea , and making " voluminous notes " , his detailed outline became longer than the finished book . Ellis felt that this process of note @-@ taking limited him to the novels that he genuinely wanted " to stay with for a couple of years " . To this , he attributed having " written so few novels " . Ellis 's biggest influence in the course of writing Imperial Bedrooms was American novelist Raymond Chandler , " and that kind of pulpy noir fiction " . He found inspiration in Chandler because " He didn 't even know how some of his books ended . That 's part of what makes those books existentialist masterpieces . " To Ellis , " It 's about a journey and a tone and style and this worldview he created . " In terms of his own plotting , however , he opined that " plots really don 't matter " , nor solutions to mysteries , because it 's " the mood that 's so enthralling ... [ a ] kind of universal , this idea of a man searching for something or moving through this moral landscape and trying to protect himself from it , and yet he 's still forced to investigate it . " Part of the " impetus " behind Imperial Bedrooms , which Ellis " wrestled with " , was to try and dispel the " sentimental view of Less Than Zero " that made it , to some , " an artifact of the 80s " alongside " John Hughes movies and Ray @-@ Bans and Fast Times at Ridgemont High " ; he felt he began assessing audience 's reactions to his work when working on Lunar Park . 
