Samuel Champagne publishes a brand new book, in the collection Extreme destinationfrom the publishing house De Mortagne, a whole new genre for the author of Sainte-Julie, horror.
During his visit to a book fair, the author discovered this collection in whispered conversations. He seized the opportunity to embark on a new creative process. “The project immediately seemed interesting to me. I mentioned my interest, because I am not the author to advocate this literary genre,” explains Samuel Champagne.
With London: The hidden side, the author wanted to take on a new writing challenge. “After fifteen years and twenty novels in the same genre, I wanted challenges. This is the initial idea with this project. »
He has published around fifteen works for various audiences, and a large part of them have the theme of sexual and gender diversity. “I often write for a young adult or even youth audience. There are certain codes for addressing these young people and being accessible in school libraries. I could write without limits with this new novel, which is aimed at an adult audience,” explains the author, for whom this is a first.
“The character visits places that I have seen myself, but fortunately, he and I have not seen the same things. » – Samuel Champagne
The psychological aspect
The book will bring together the horror, but also the psychological aspect of the characters, a creative process inseparable from the author specializing in LGBT studies and the sociology of youth literature. “I am a very selective horror reader. I don’t want to read horror just for horror’s sake, I’m looking for more suspense and the psychological aspect behind the characters. »
This criterion is not only specific to the horror genre. “In any novel, I like to get into the character’s head, so that we can hear his thoughts,” says Samuel.
Through London: The hidden sidethe reader follows a traveler whose journey to London takes a macabre turn. The protagonist will be on the trail of popular serial murderers from London. The novel is anchored in the collection Extreme destination, which offers in each novel “a journey that never turns out as it should”.
-Traveling to London
On several occasions, Samuel visited England, a destination that fascinated him greatly. “The character visits places that I have seen myself, but fortunately, he and I have not seen the same things,” says the author with a laugh.
If the inspiration for the places comes from his observations during these trips, everything else is the fruit of his imagination. To finish writing his novel, Samuel rented a small chalet and devoted several days to developing the adventures that his character will experience. “When I finished writing the novel, I looked in the mirror and said to myself, ‘My God, you’re weird!’ “, he mentions with a laugh.
If his creativity gave way to the novel London: The hidden sideit was not a challenge for the author to dissociate himself from this character, like all the others he created before.
“I wrote twenty other novels, with twenty other characters. This is a story that is not mine. So, I can detach myself quite easily,” he explains, admitting that his Google searches while writing the book could be quite surprising.
London: The hidden side will be on sale in all bookstores from January 29.
Related News :