If I wasn't writing I'd be growing resentful in some boring French administration.
Nicolas Fargues
French author of I Was Behind You.
I don't read enough.
Where are you right now?
Paris. In my apartment. At my desk.
Where do you write?
On that desk. But mostly when I'm travelling, in cafés, airports, train stations, trains.
How do you write?
Alone. At any moment of the day when I'm ready to force myself, but with much more pleasure when it comes by itself, in the early morning or late at night. Sometimes I don't write one single line for months. Sometimes I can write for 10 hours non-stop without eating. First drafts by hand, on notebooks. Then nothing compares with the satisfaction of reporting one or a dozen of handwritten pages on my computer when I'm back home.
What keeps you writing?
The fact that I'm considered now as a writer. And also my love of the freedom writing and literature bring me.
Who do you write for?
Myself and my family.
Do you discuss your work with anyone?
No. Or I pretend to.
How do you know if your work is good?
When I don't deliberate too long over my words. When ideas are rushing through my mind faster than my ability to formulate them.
Do you have any unwritten characters in mind?
No, but I would love to. I see shadows of characters.
Which book do you wish you'd written?
White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
What is your literary guilty pleasure?
Enjoying nice people's discreet admiration and respect.
Which writer made you want to write?
Milan Kundera.
Who's the most exciting author writing today?
I don't read enough.
If you weren't writing you'd be...?
Growing resentful in some boring French administration. Or trying to forget my resentment by travelling all the time.
What next?
Carpe diem.
Monday, 9 February, 2009
In How I write
- David Malouf
- Janice Galloway
- Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio
- Alaa Al Aswany
- Nick Laird
- T. C. Boyle
- Nicolas Fargues
- Zoe Heller
- Shalom Auslander
- James Salter
- Ali Smith
- James Frey
- Linn Ullmann
- Julian Barnes
- Joe Dunthorne
- Richard Milward
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