Interview with author Claude Bouchard

I am fortunate to have Mr. Claude Bouchard joining me today, a fantastic and prolific author who has written seven novels (his seventh called Discreet Activities was released on January 29th 2012). He has one of the largest Twitter accounts in Canada (@Ceebee308), which is where I met Claude about 5 months ago, and we have become good friends since then. He is one of those amazing people who is always optimistic and who always looks for ways to help promote others.

Claude was born in Montreal, Canada, where he still resides with his spouse, Joanne. He completed his studies in human resources, accounting and management at McGill University and worked in various management capacities in the fields of HR and finance for a handful of firms for what seemed like decades, because it was.

His first stab at writing was in 1995, the result being his first novel, Vigilante. This was subsequently followed by The Consultant (1996) and Mind Games (1997), all of the same series. Professional obligations and other creative interests led him away from writing for a number of years but he found himself busy at the keyboard in 2009 with The Homeless Killer followed by 6 Hours 42 Minutes in 2011, also part of the Barry/McCall Series born from Vigilante. In July 2011, he released ASYLUM, his first stand-alone novel and Discreet Activities, his sixth Barry/McCall crime thriller was published in January 2012.

Besides writing, editing and promoting his work, Claude also spends some artistic energy with his guitars, oil paints and watercolours. Other passions include cooking, reading, traveling and attempting to stay fit. It should also be noted that following several years of practice, he excels at being cat furniture for Krystalle and Midnight.

You can find his books at his Amazon Author's page.

You can also find more information from Claude's website.

Interview

DL: What is your new book Discreet Activities about and what is the hook that would get someone to read it?

CB: The central story line deals with an amateur terrorist cell planning an attack and a team of specialists from the clandestine ‘Discreet Activities” group intent on foiling the plan. A number of unrelated sub-plots are scattered throughout the book to further demonstrate the anti-crime talents of these specialists. As in all the previous novels in the series, the concept of ‘an eye for an eye’ is prevalent whereas that of ‘turning the other cheek’ clearly isn’t. My ‘good guys’ aren’t super-heroes, in fact, some die and my ‘bad guys’ aren’t brilliant masterminds, as is the case in real life, The result is highly believable fiction.

DL: Do you think eBooks are as valid as print books, and why?
CB: As an avid eReader user, I most certainly think eBooks are just as valid as print books. The stories are the same, whether read on a screen or on paper so why would an electronic format be of a lesser value. In terms of convenience, be it for travel or subsequent storage, eBooks are superior to printed volumes. From a writer’s point of view, eBooks allow me to make my work available for a much more reasonable cost than print does, all while giving me a reasonable return on the product I’m selling. Long story short, my wife and I share four eReaders so, as you may guess, I’m all for them.

DL: Do you think print books will ever become extinct?
CB: That’s a difficult question to answer as it involves predicting the future, a talent which I have not yet quite perfected. I believe we’ll keep on seeing print books for quite a while though we may see bookstores turn into POD (print on demand) shops at some point in time where one orders a book and waits while it’s printed.

DL: If you could ask one of your favorite authors a question, what would you ask?
CB: I probably would have answered that question quite differently just a few years ago, at which time I didn’t know any other writers. Writers whose work I enjoyed were traditionally published, best-selling authors, celebrities, big-shots, superstars. I was awed by these people but in the end, they are simply that; people. I now chat with and have gotten to know a rather impressive number of other authors, some quite successful, and have come to learn they don’t have any special tricks or methods in their craft. They get ideas and they write. Some map things out and meticulously plan, others just let it flow out from wherever these things flow from. Where I might have asked any of my favourite authors about their writing habits in the past, I don’t need to ask anymore as I’ve discussed these subjects with a great many wonderful writers now.

DL: Do you have any writing rituals or writing schedule?
CB: I don’t have any special writing underpants nor do I sacrifice a sock puppet on an altar before commencing a work. Once I have an idea in my head, and it doesn’t have to be full-blown to the conclusion, I just sit down and write. I can and do write at any time, depending how the ideas are flowing and how much volume I have waiting to rush out. However, my unscheduled schedule tends to work out to my doing most of my writing weekday afternoons.

DL: Could you see yourself writing a full-length novel with a quill and ink bottle like they did 300 years ago? Would it affect how you write?
CB: Ughh… Let me rephrase that… Uh, no. My writing with a modern-day ballpoint is mostly limited to grocery lists, not usually penned in one writing session. I should also point out that I’m a southpaw so writing with a quill and ink would result in massive smears on the parchment. I won’t even get into the editing phase once the first draft would be done. As I said at the start, ughh.

Thank you Mr. Bouchard for taking time to meet with me and discuss your books, and the art of writing.
Best wishes.
Dean Lappi