writer and journalist rosa montero Return noir novel from start to finish ‘Unknown woman’A collaborative project co-written with French journalist and ‘Quais du Polar’ laureate Olivier Truc.
It’s a throwback to the rather weird black novel. What feelings do you have about the already published work?
Well, I must say it was a very fun experience. Neither I nor Olivier expected to write four manuscripts. But I think the process of working with him went very smoothly. We have known each other for 10 years, sharing the same publishing house in France (Metailié). So we knew how to understand each other in an extraordinary way.
How did this joint offer come about?
An initiative from the detective novel festival ‘Quais du Polar’. Each year they invite a country on the European continent to write a novel together with a French writer from the ‘Polar à 4 mains’ program, which promotes Franco-Romanian and Franco-German cooperation. This year it coincided with Spain. They contacted me for a quote in August of last year.
And how did you react at that moment?
I must admit that I let myself be seduced, but the problem is that there were many difficulties. First of all, we had to do the novel in three months and a week. Additionally, it was supposed to be in a strict format with eight chapters of 20,000 characters each. The novel was supposed to take place between Lyon and Barcelona, and it was crucial that the authors of the chapters alternate. Olivier got the double episodes and I got the single episodes.
I’m guessing all this will add up to your other duties.
Clear. I was promoting my novel ‘The Danger of Being Smart’ and Olivier was covering the war in Ukraine in the newspaper ‘Le Monde’. So, having no other free space and barely staying at home, I had to take advantage of my moments on planes and trains to write my chapters. On top of that, one couldn’t continue the story until they had finished their chapter.
How do you remember the early processes of creating the novel?
The plot idea for the book came to mind, and Olivier generously accepted. From this main theme, we both set to work. The problem came with the ideals that ‘Quais du Polar’ sought for the novel, they looked like a delightful corpse game looking for the surreal and the absurd. This aspect cannot be included in a novel, but it should be like a clockwork mechanism, very sure. There, Olivier and I decided to increase the maximum tension in each episode, yet maintain a consistent and strong ending. Although the work processes were tiring, the adrenaline, rush and excitement of the process took us captive.
Given the limitations of the extension, were you happy with the result or did you have to leave something behind?
No, nothing. We are very pleased. In the end, I believe we are both different writers. Olivier is kind of a narrator, especially a journalist, but I think we can both agree that we both love the story, its creation, the characters, and most of all, the journey to the other. This is the subject of a novel. We both put ourselves at the service of the story and made it happen, make sense, and serve the characters. So create characters and live in them to develop them.
How was this cast of characters formed?
In my case, I created female characters, including the protagonists of the plot, inspector Anna Ripoll, and the unknown woman. Olivier takes care of the male lead Erik Zapori and the supporting characters. And best of all, I had to get inside Olivier’s characters and instill my writing in them naturally and coherently, just as Olivier did with mine. Waiting for each episode was like waiting for a Christmas present, I couldn’t wait to find out what Olivier did to my characters.
What he made clear from the very beginning, from his situation with the heroines, is the personality conflict between them.
The truth is if. Their attitudes and ways of thinking are very different. The stranger appears as a fragile, forgetful and helpless girl. It was later revealed that he had many personal defense and computer resources. On the other hand, it turns out with Anna Ripoll a serious, tough woman and little sense of humor. Also, the stranger comes to be recognized as who he is is discovered. On the other hand, almost nothing is known about their pasts, except that both Anna and Erik are dark due to the concerns they present in the story. The two are the antithesis of each other, and sparks fly from time to time. Regarding the blurring of their past, this was something Olivier and I did on purpose because we thought it would be better to leave it that way.
Would you repeat the experience if the opportunity arose?
Look, Olivier and I are considering the possibility of a second installment. Not in such a hurry, of course, but when there is much more time and a little calmer. But it’s not a confirmed thing right now, it’s just a thought running through our minds.
And what projects are you preparing for the future?
For now, I’m grateful for this year. I think it’s the best on a professional level. But for now, I have to stop and activate the neurons. I have two book projects. The first will be the fourth episode of Bruna Husky. Secondly, it would be another contemporary novel for which I prepared some notes. But I have to stop, right now I’m out of breath and out of perspective.