VIDEO. Maud Ventura recounts the secrets of the making of “Celebrity”, her second novel

Maud Ventura, a writer, explains that the choice of celebrity as the subject for her second novel came from a real fascination. “I said to myself: this is crazy, it contains the world, like a miniature,” she mentions. Her creative process is inspired by Milan Kundera, who creates “experimental egos” to explore universal themes through her characters. Thus, Maud Ventura gave birth to Cléo Louvent in order to explore in depth the desire for celebrity and its implications.

The writer says that she first wrote many scenes about Cleo’s life, without yet having a defined structure for the novel. It was during a weekend in Saint-Malo that she finally found the structure in three parts: “faith, ascension, glory.” She explains: “During these trips back and forth to Saint-Malo, I see, in fact, this structure, these three parts, the passages on the island at the beginning and to be interposed. And in fact, the book takes shape.” In order to allow the reader to explore the subject without being taken out of the story, Maud Ventura relies on humor as an essential tool. “It’s really a fine line in humor: how much humor will allow catharsis or not. I hope I’ve got it right,” she said.