Your novel “Our lives in the air” published in 2019 has sold 12,000 copies in France. What is he saying?
It’s the story of two teenagers, Mina and Ocean, who meet one evening on a rooftop in Paris. It’s pure chance: they don’t know each other and chose the same place to commit suicide. Obviously this meeting will change everything: they give themselves one night to take everything that comes their way, challenge themselves and see if they really want to make this desperate gesture. They will make their decision at daybreak.
How did you come up with the idea for this story dealing with such a heavy subject?
I wrote my novel in 2017 following two days of writing workshops with middle school students. We had worked on the theme of oppression and they tackled very serious subjects on their own. At the same time, I came across a study on the mental health of young people: a huge percentage revealed that a large proportion of teenagers had already thought about suicide. From there, everything started to come together to create a story and characters. And I went through this nocturnal story with them: for the first time, I didn’t know what the outcome of one of my novels was going to be, I had to take a break in the middle of writing to think about their destinies.
What does it feel like to see your story adapted for the screen?
It’s very strange! Because I’m both very happy that it’s happening and, at the same time, it’s not my work! It is that of the production and filming team who did a fantastic job. And I’m very proud of them. This project lasted four years.
That’s what’s crazy: the series is very faithful to my story, even though the plot isn’t really! From a novel to the screen, not everything can be transposed, and things must also be added or deepened. For example, they further developed the flashbacks, where Mina and Ocean’s parents become important secondary characters, which is not the case in my novel. But seeing his characters come to life is superb. And their essence has been preserved wonderfully. Besides, fans of the book really liked the series.
A French teen novel on the small screen, is that common?
To my knowledge, it’s the only one. There are very often proposals but it is rare to follow through. There have been TV films, or children’s albums adapted into animation, but into a TV series, I don’t think.
At 37, you will publish your 30th work. What is life like as an author?
Less lonely than you might imagine! Because I write for all age groups, from children’s albums to adult novels, and all genres, I am very regularly invited to book fairs all over France. I also do a lot of speaking engagements in schools. I write all the time, but during the winter, that’s when I’m really in my bubble.
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