What originally made you want to become an author?
I don’t remember a time I didn’t love reading or writing—I was always making up stories and scribbling them down in notebooks. However, I didn’t know that being an author was something a person could just… do—I never considered it a valid career option, so for years I pursued biology, specifically a veterinary degree, writing on the side as a hobby. It was halfway through that degree, haunted by a persistent feeling that something was missing, that I began really looking into the process and reading about how to become an author. That was when the idea took root, and I decided I wanted to pursue it seriously! I signed my first book deal the same year I graduated from veterinary school.
In your opinion, what makes a great story?
A great story, I think, is one that makes you feel. It’s a story that seizes your heart and demands that you pay attention, that you love or hate or cry or laugh through nothing but words. It encourages you to think, to re-evaluate your perspective on the world, to relate to experiences you’ve never lived. Fundamentally, I think anything can be a great story, as long as it holds that essential human desire to connect, to say something and be heard.
Describe a typical workday in your life as an author–illustrator? Do you have any unusual habits?
I am a night owl—I wake up quite late into the day (usually 11 AM) and spend the “morning” drinking matcha and answering emails or doing any other boring adult thing I have on my to do list. I usually don’t start writing until the afternoon, and I work well into the evening. Some of my best writing, in my opinion, happens between 10 PM and 1 AM! My strangest habit is probably that I need absolute silence to write—I am very easily distracted.
What messages or themes do you hope readers take away from your book?
A Treachery of Swans, at its core, is a book about trust, about opening up and the value of connection with others. The main character, Odile, is self-sufficient and cunning, but has been taught all her life that the only person she can trust is herself. It is through the help of her relationship with the novel’s other characters, specifically Marie and Aimé, that she slowly begins to lower her barriers and allow herself to form real bonds and place her trust in her friends. Marie and Aimé are also on journeys of their own, with their own relationships to trust and self-worth, offering various perspectives on the book’s themes.
What advice do you have for kids who are interested in writing or illustration?
My best advice to kids who would like to be writers is to read! Read a lot—read diversely, explore different genres and find out which ones you love most. This is something even the most seasoned authors never stop doing—every new book you read will be a new lesson about plot structure, about writing styles, about the world and all its stories. If you find yourself unsure where to turn next, ask your educators or librarians for recommendations!