Sylvain Reynard's Blog - Posts Tagged "interview"
Interview with Sylvain Reynard - Part II
Dear Everyone,
What follows is part II of my interview with Serendipitous, a long-time reader. Her words are in bold.
There is a lot of humor in
“Gabriel’s Inferno:” professors possibly collecting shrunken heads of graduate
students; Gabriel wishing he had a camera to record Julia so he could twitch in
private; Gabriel coining the term “Angelfucker.” It lightens up what is
often an emotional, dark story. How important is humor to you and your writing?
Humour is very important to me and, I think, also to
my readers. The story could have
been very dark without the use of the narrator and his snarky asides, or the
quirkiness of several characters.
The humour is also meant to communicate to the reader that the Professor
takes himself too seriously.
Gabriel and his Beatrice
started out in their own dark woods at a time when he’d “lost the path that
does not stray.” What is it about Dante and his works that inspired you
to tie Gabriel and Julia’s story to them?
In La Vita Nuova Dante makes it clear that he
admires Beatrice from afar, apart from few brief encounters. I’d always
wondered what it would be like if the story was reversed – if Beatrice admired
Dante from afar. Worse still, I wondered what it would be like if Dante was
oblivious to her existence.
I’ve wanted to ask you
about Chapter 14 of “Gabriel’s Inferno” for a very long time. So much of the
subsequent story hinges on its events because of what is revealed. But
what affected me the most is how Julia finds her voice with Gabriel.
Everything she held inside herself for six years breaks wide open.
It was enormously satisfying to read it. How did it feel to write
it?
I enjoyed writing it immensely. Julia is not a
doormat. She chooses her battles very, very carefully, and in this case, she
decided to tell him what she thought of him. It was very satisfying to write
it.
In general, is it easy or difficult for you to write anger? Do you have
a “favorite” emotion to write?
Anger is enjoyable to write
because it provides opportunity to let the character’s inner musings fly. It
also provides an opportunity for humour.
I'll be posting more of my interview with Serendipitous next week. Thank you, Serendipitous, for the opportunity to speak with you about my writing. And thank you for reading.
If you haven't discovered the website Goodreads yet, you might want to look at it. It's a great resource for finding new and interesting books and for interacting with authors and other readers.
All the best,
SR
www.sylvainreynard.com
What follows is part II of my interview with Serendipitous, a long-time reader. Her words are in bold.
There is a lot of humor in
“Gabriel’s Inferno:” professors possibly collecting shrunken heads of graduate
students; Gabriel wishing he had a camera to record Julia so he could twitch in
private; Gabriel coining the term “Angelfucker.” It lightens up what is
often an emotional, dark story. How important is humor to you and your writing?
Humour is very important to me and, I think, also to
my readers. The story could have
been very dark without the use of the narrator and his snarky asides, or the
quirkiness of several characters.
The humour is also meant to communicate to the reader that the Professor
takes himself too seriously.
Gabriel and his Beatrice
started out in their own dark woods at a time when he’d “lost the path that
does not stray.” What is it about Dante and his works that inspired you
to tie Gabriel and Julia’s story to them?
In La Vita Nuova Dante makes it clear that he
admires Beatrice from afar, apart from few brief encounters. I’d always
wondered what it would be like if the story was reversed – if Beatrice admired
Dante from afar. Worse still, I wondered what it would be like if Dante was
oblivious to her existence.
I’ve wanted to ask you
about Chapter 14 of “Gabriel’s Inferno” for a very long time. So much of the
subsequent story hinges on its events because of what is revealed. But
what affected me the most is how Julia finds her voice with Gabriel.
Everything she held inside herself for six years breaks wide open.
It was enormously satisfying to read it. How did it feel to write
it?
I enjoyed writing it immensely. Julia is not a
doormat. She chooses her battles very, very carefully, and in this case, she
decided to tell him what she thought of him. It was very satisfying to write
it.
In general, is it easy or difficult for you to write anger? Do you have
a “favorite” emotion to write?
Anger is enjoyable to write
because it provides opportunity to let the character’s inner musings fly. It
also provides an opportunity for humour.
I'll be posting more of my interview with Serendipitous next week. Thank you, Serendipitous, for the opportunity to speak with you about my writing. And thank you for reading.
If you haven't discovered the website Goodreads yet, you might want to look at it. It's a great resource for finding new and interesting books and for interacting with authors and other readers.
All the best,
SR
www.sylvainreynard.com
