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Saturday, April 05, 2014

Emma Mars: Hotelles

The first thing to know about me is, definitely, that I am… French! 

Maybe this is a dull detail for you, but I think that who I am as a writer (I’ve written something like 12 novels, under several names) comes from that specific origin. Even when I create a story that does not take place in France (I have, a few times), I guess that the way I feel and describe my characters is French to the core. For instance, I’m obsessed with smell and perfumes, which is a typical French (bad) habit.

Another great source of inspiration for me is to close my eyes and imagine a place I’d like to be. When I wrote the very first lines of Hotelles, I saw a beautiful hotel room, designed as a replica of a famous bedroom in a Napoleonic Castle, and just tried to guess what could happen to a young girl lying in such a gorgeous and mysterious place. Why is she here? Is she alone? What could make her presence here odd?

Then I only had to write her story as I’d like it to be told to me - full of thrill, emotion, and sensuality. Also, before each writing session, I did some breathing exercises; my eyes closed, and tried to slip into Annabelle's mind and body. To feel the same things as her, even what her belly or her sex could feel in such circumstances. To really BE her, before writing like her.

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