13 May 2016

Author Q&A Session #75: With Sylvain Neuvel



Good evening and Good afternoon to my dearest readers,

Hope you're having a great day and having an awesome read with your current book. It's time for another new author Q&A session where I can bet, you, my readers, are going to have an amazing time, as I present you the debut author, whose first book from the science fiction genre about an alien robot has created a lot of positive noise in the literary world. Yes you're right, today we have, Sylvain Neuvel, who is here to talk about his book, Sleeping Giants and his life beyond books and all.

So let's not waste any time and get down with the interview with this talented new writer in the block!


Read the review of Sleeping Giants


Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Sylvain. Congratulations on your new book, Sleeping Giants. How will you express your feelings about this book that has already won the hearts of so many readers?
Sylvain:
It’s hard to put into words. I put my heart into this book. It’s such a strange feeling to see it on the shelves and hear people talk about it. I have to say, the response thus far has been fantastic. Sleeping Giants is… different. I wasn’t sure how people were going to react, but never in a million years would I have imagined this kind of enthusiasm.


Me: How did you research for your book? Can you tell us briefly about it?

Sylvain:
Everything in Sleeping Giants is researched. There’s the science, of course, all the military stuff. But I researched every little thing, from what is good in the restaurant where the characters eat, to how long the drive will be between two places. I spent days looking at close-up maps of Syria searching for a good route for a low-altitude helicopter incursion. I wanted to know where it crashed on the way back. I saw these little dots that looked like trees on satellite view and I researched what grew in that part of Turkey. Turns out what I saw was a pistachio farm. Kara doesn’t crash in “a” pistachio farm, I can show you which one.


Me: Tell us one trait about your main characters, Dr. Rose Franklin and Kara Resnik, that intrigues you the most.

Sylvain:
Rose is good, profoundly good. She’s proud, and curious, but she is the least selfish person I’ve come across in real life, and certainly in this book. I’ve always been fascinated by genuinely good people. I’m a nice guy, but I feel like a jerk next to Rose. Kara is much more like me, flawed and complicated. We see eye to eye on most things. She’s a million times more courageous than I am, but she really comes out naturally.


Me: How will you describe your journey so far as an author?
Sylvain:
Insane. This is my first novel. I was going to self-publish it after about fifty literary agents turned me down. I got a great review in Kirkus Reviews and a month later I had sold the movie rights to Sony and gotten a multi-book contract from Del Rey. Now David Koepp (Spider-man, Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park) wrote a script, the book is being published in 14 languages so far. Like I said, insane.


Me: Was it always your one true dream to be an author?

Sylvain:
I dream about a great many things. When I was younger, my dream was to be a popular author, emphasis on popular. Over the years, I realized that what I liked the most was the actual writing. I want to be successful. I want it with every fiber of my being. But I get my satisfaction from doing what I love most. I’m forty-three now, and one of the great things about getting older is that you really get to know yourself. I know who I am, so I don’t need to be anything. I’m an author. I’m a geek. I’m a dad. I’m me.


Me: What other passions do you have apart from writing?

Sylvain:
I love sci-fi in all shapes and sizes, but I probably love toys more than anything else. I build them, I collect them. I got the idea for Sleeping Giants after I offered to build a toy robot for my son. He wanted to know everything about it before I built it. Suddenly, I had to come up with a backstory for a toy. Somehow that turned into a book. In many ways, Sleeping Giants is really about a dad building a toy for his kid.


Me: What's next up on your writing sleeves? Please tell us briefly about it.

Sylvain:
I just turned in book II. It’s called Waking Gods. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’ll say this: there are answers in Waking Gods that I know people are looking for. Hopefully, there are a few interesting new questions in there as well. One thing is for sure, the stakes are much higher in this one, for everyone.


Me: Thanks Sylvain for joining me today on this interview session. I wish you luck for all your future endeavors.

Sylvain:
Thank you for having me.
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Sylvain's Bio:


Sylvain Neuvel dropped out of high school at age 15. Along the way, he has been a journalist, worked in soil decontamination, sold ice cream in California, and peddled furniture across Canada. He received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Chicago. He taught linguistics in India, and worked as a software engineer in Montreal. He is also a certified translator, though he wishes he were an astronaut. He likes to tinker, dabbles in robotics and is somewhat obsessed with Halloween. He absolutely loves toys; his girlfriend would have him believe that he has too many, so he writes about aliens and giant robots as a blatant excuse to build action figures (for his son, of course).



Connect with Sylvain on: WebsiteGoodreadsTwitter

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