Interview

Aline: How did you come up with the idea of ​​writing a novel?

Arnaud: Very strangely! I was in a medieval history class. We were studying a document on the Count of Anjou, a kind of lord typical of the very cruel Middle Ages and who went from time to time Rome to be absolved of her sins. He had a somewhat special name 'Foulque Nerra'. The name has me how to say a little intrigued, I scribbled it down. on a copy, I left my mind wander and I transformed the name very quickly. From there began the delirium of this pseudo story.

Al: What's next?

Ar: to agrave; from there it all started. The next day I went on vacation and on the plane I drew a map, runes, then once on vacation a chronology. Three weeks later I had a base, I specified more and more then in June 2003 I began to write the first few pages.

Al: Why did you write a novel and not short stories?

Ar: The news is nice because it's short, sometimes it's part of a larger work, but the problem is that we don't commit to background on the characters, the setting. I like to make the architecture of a world, its codes. The desire to write a book has existed in me for a long time, I realized it. it's ça less.

Al: From where does your inspiration come from?

Ar: This one is built at from multiple things. We cannot hide that the influence comes from Tolkien and the SDA, but also from the « Books in which you are the hero », role-playing games, manga. There is also a more scientific inspiration such as history and geography so we set a real framework and we can rework and afford modifications.

Al: And did you ever feel like you were sucking ideas or getting stung?

Ar: You wake up one morning, you rent a DVD and you realize that someone has had the same idea as you, you have the impression that you got stung the idea, and then you're afraid to pass for a plagiarism, in the end you tell yourself that everyone is formatted by the same collective unconscious in fantasy...

Al: Some people around you think that your book is inspired by the SDA and maybe a little too much, what do you answer?

Ar: I don't have to hide that Tolkien is the basic inspiration, it was he who created genre. There are people who have written before me who have experience but they too have taken up certain ideas well. Moreover, Tolkien himself does not innovate everywhere, he is inspired by English, Germanic legends of the Arthurian myth. But the creator of the SDA has detailed everything, he has done a titanic thing. To defend my butter I will say that contrary to Tolkien all my characters play a role, women and men unlike Tolkien what was done in the SDA. Yes there is the big bad, yes he is motivated by the thirst for the conquest, afterwards it is necessary to glimpse the why and the how.

Al: And how do you think of separating yourself from the others?

Ar: My characters are more numerous, a small number of main roles but a large number of secondary characters who go on to play. turn of the role take precedence over the « hero » because without them, without a helping hand, luck they cannot succeed or survive. In addition I tried to work on the characters, to search them, to give them consistency.

Al: About writing your novel, do you think you have a classic, personal style?

Ar: A classic style of writing, and then we try to have a thriller/detective novel style in the suspense and action phases. I will also specify that certain moments of the book are « dictated » by a song that I listen to, a good rock for the phases of a fight, very soft music for the tender moments.

Al: In terms of the story and your characters, were you inspired? real things?

Ar: The story has been created ex-nihilo. As for lineages, genealogy is the history of France, geography is all that I learned in DEUG and License: geology, geomorphology all sprinkled with of magic. For characters other than those in third plan, the main ones are taken from me, my friends, my acquaintances who inspired me. by their characters, their bonhomie, the love relationships: these are idealized and modified versions to the fantasy sauce of people close to me. The characters remain very medieval but with more contemporary characters, big mouth, determined, committed and whole.

Al: Writing a novel is long, you've already learned how to write a novel. found lacking in inspiration?

Ar: Never white page syndrome, but problems to bring, to express certain situations or to avoid doing what others have done. There were phases of slowdowns. Since I wasn't just writing this novel, my mind was elsewhere so I never got angry. Sometimes I leaned on a friend or my brother to improve an idea.

Al: And precisely how did you imagine the passages, the actions?

Ar: Quite simply when I wrote the novel, I couldn't see the words, I wasn't telling the story, I was living it as if I were in my armchair in front of my home cinema I visualized the scene. The novel is perhaps more like a scenario rather than a book.

Al: Who did the illustrations? You ?

Ar: Oh no! I know how to draw a little but I have no real talent in this area. I looked for and I found on the Net a person to a grave; who I delegated this work. This allowed me to relieve myself of a weight and above all I had as it were an outside view, that of Marije. She did a lot of work: sketches, paintings on wood. For what is on the website I followed the advice of friends already qualified, I really only made the geographical map in a very parchment-like style. feather

Al: Now that the book is complete what are you going to do ?

Ar: I have to put it back in. The Men of Letters' Company to protect it as much as possible, to print a few chapters for the publishers, even if I already had to a contact, because an illustrated novel it's not super common. You also have to convince of the viability. economical. If an editor asks me to do side stories why not. And then if luck, God and everything else is with me, turn this book into something like a series, a cartoon, a movie. Severe at the moment I am working on the site, I am still waiting for drawings and above all I refrain from correcting the novel.

Al: Other projects in sight?

Ar: The project of a sociological essay, other novels, participation and writing of short films.

Al: Last question, how can you encourage me to buy your book rather than another?

Ar: Escape: adventure, action, love. Characters who have a mouth, who all play a role. One can go from a romantic situation to a battle going through a tavern brawl, the characters are not superheroes, they must and can rely on others, they rely on coordination, strategy. The story does not necessarily end as one would expect: « happy ending » or “ bad end », revelations. There are expected and unexpected species, poems, passion... we will do it through teaser, trailer, cover who throws it and even going down the Champs-Elysées with a t-shirt with the effigy of a character. Especially buy « The last chronicle of Yrneh »

Al: Thanks for responding.

Ar: Thanks to you

All names and locations are registered and copyrighted