Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in France but grew up in California and around the world. I’ve also lived in Mexico, French Polynesia, Australia, Switzerland, the UK, Nicaragua and Portugal, and am now living in Spain working as a language coach.
I started writing kind of by accident five or so years ago. One thing led to another, and I’ve now published one short story collection, “The Edge of Reason”. Just the one so far, though I am working on another one, which I hope to publish by next summer.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is “The Edge of Reason”, and it’s just a collection of a dozen completely independent and very different short stories. These were inspired by different writing prompts I found here and there.
The stories cover various genres including romance, thriller, fantasy, horror and historical fiction. My focus when I write is to try to convey as much realism as possible through the style, so as to better immerse the reader in the story.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. But the way I got into writing might be unusual. Remember when I said I started “kind of by accident”? At first all I was doing was jumping on unusual idea associations I saw on friends’ posts on Facebook, trying to be clever and funny. The posts were intended to be about a paragraph long but quickly grew to a couple of pages’ worth. My friends then started saying I should get into writing more seriously. And from there it just kind of snowballed, and as I wrote I gained confidence and honed my style.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I really like Frederick Forsyth’s style, which I discovered reading books like “The Fourth Protocol” and “The Day of the Jackal”. This style helped me develop my penchant for realism and detail. I also took inspiration, for the character development and emotional expression sides, from John Marsden’s “Tomorrow” series.
The rest of my literary inspiration comes from other authors like Rowling, Clancy, and Brown.
For everything else, I draw inspiration from my travels, my empirical experience of humanity and society, and my various nerd tendencies.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a new short story anthology, this one with an overarching theme. It will be a collection of fictional stories illustrating some of the more or less rational behaviors we humans are capable of in our society, including cognitive biases, prejudice, double standards and other similar contradictions. The aim will be to raise awareness of these behaviors, of how necessary they are, but also how we can mitigate them if we know they’re there.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As I’m still on a rather limited budget, I’ve been focusing exclusively on social media. I have a Facebook page as well as profiles on Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads. I also try to find sites like this one to get visibility and/or reviews.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just go for it. Put the pen to the paper – or the fingers to the keyboard – and write. Fine-tune your style. Start by writing something that you yourselves will like, based on what you yourself like in what you read. Get feedback and keep improving. Don’t give up.
And when you’ve decided on a deadline for a project, never forget Hofstadter’s Law: everything takes longer than expected, even when you factor in Hofstadter’s Law.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard for writing is the advice to just go ahead and do it. Writing is just like a whole lot of other things in life: so many people keep saying they’ll do it, but only those who follow this advice actually make it.
Also, never discount or dismiss any constructive criticism. Take the criticism side with a pinch of salt, and use the constructive side to your advantage in order to improve.
And like Nike says, “Just do it.”
What are you reading now?
I’m reading various things, depending on my mood. I really enjoy the whimsically sarcastic and nerdy sides of “Thing Explainer” by Randall Munroe of XKCD fame. I’m also practicing my Italian by reading The Lord of the Rings in that language. Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime” audiobook also keeps me entertained and finding out about the complicated situation he grew up in. And on the more factual side, I sometimes turn to Dubner and Levitt’s “Freakonomics” series.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As mentioned above, I’m working on another short story collection which I’m hoping to release early next summer. My first big project was a novel, but when I realized it was easier to begin with short stories I eventually put it on the backburner for now. But my stories are getting longer and more elaborate, so I may be working my way back up to a novel already, so I may finally release that story at some point in the coming years.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Well I’ve been on desert islands before, and even there one can find so much to do and discover there that reading wouldn’t necessarily be the first priority.
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