Unconsciously I probably always have two or three, not novels, not ideas
about novels, but themes in my mind. I never even think that they might
serve for a novel; more exactly, they are the things about which I
worry. Two days before I start writing a novel I consciously take up one
of those ideas. But even before I consciously take it up I first find
some atmosphere. Today there is a little sunshine here. I might remember
such-and-such a spring, maybe in some small Italian town, or some place
in the French provinces or in Arizona, I don’t know, and then, little
by little, a small world will come into my mind, with a few characters.
Those characters will be taken partly from people I have known and
partly from pure imagination — you know, it’s a complex of both. And then
the idea I had before will come and stick around them. They will have
the same problem I have in my mind myself. And the problem — with those
people — will give me the novel...as soon as I have the beginning I can’t bear it very long; so the next
day I take my envelope, take my telephone book for names, and take my
town map — you know, to see exactly where things happen. And two days
later I begin writing. And the beginning will be always the same; it is
almost a geometrical problem: I have such a man, such a woman, in such
surroundings. What can happen to them to oblige them to go to their
limit? That’s the question. It will be sometimes a very simple incident,
anything which will change their lives. Then I write my novel chapter
by chapter.
The Art of Fiction #9 [The Paris Review #9, Summer 1955)
Use the link below to read more about the life and work of Belgian novelist GEORGES SIMENON:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/11/georgessimenon
You might also enjoy:
Betty (1961) by GEORGES SIMENON
No comments:
Post a Comment