Sarah Dupeyron, author of the thriller-romance Hashimoto Blues, answers questions about her novel's characters and inspirations. Visit her website.
How did you go
about developing the character of Ellie Fox?
Ellie developed
along with the story. I didn’t have a clear picture of her when I started
writing, unlike some of my other characters. When a situation would arise in
the story, I knew how she felt about it and how she would react, but it wasn’t
a conscious effort to make her a certain way, she just came out the way she did.
In Hashimoto
Blues, Ellie flies an ultralight airplane called the Papy Volant. Why did you
choose to make her a pilot?
In
this case, the plane came before the pilot. The spark for my book ignited when
my husband and I were visiting his parents in France. His father had just
bought an ultralight airplane and we went to see it. The guy who shared the
hanger with him had an old red ultralight with a wooden prop. It looked like it
was held together with duct tape and bailing twine. That plane had character—I
had to write about it! I immediately thought of certain illegal activities one
could do with a plane like that. I needed a pilot for the plane and that’s when
Ellie was born. I had some vague ideas before that about a criminal couple but
I didn’t know who they were or what kind of trouble they were going to get
themselves into. The plane brought all of that together and solidified it.
What was the
inspiration behind the charming yet dangerous Max Cameron, Ellie’s lover and
partner in crime?
My
first impression of Max came one afternoon when I found a piece of sea glass in
my coat pocket that had been left there from the previous summer’s vacation. I held
it up to the light and thought, “That would be a really nice color for
someone’s eyes.” I starting imagining what he would look like and, this may
sound weird, having a conversation with him. I finally realized this was the guy in the
plane with Ellie. I have to admit that my husband played a part in it too—the
funny thing Max does with his hair, that’s totally my husband. Every time he
gets nervous, he pulls on his hair like that. The resemblance ends there,
though.
The titular
villain, Kendo Hashimoto, is a brutally ruthless crime lord. What can you tell
us about him?
Hashimoto
is the kind of guy who would kick a puppy when no one is looking. He goes to
great lengths to look good in front of other people but he’s just a plain old
scumbag. I like to know my characters’ details, their backgrounds, their likes
and dislikes, even if I don’t put those details in the book. With Hashimoto, I
didn’t want to get close to him. The inside of his mind was a burning black pit
that was very hard to explore.
Hashimoto
Blues is at once a thriller about escaping a crime lord and a romance
about Ellie and Max’s relationship. When you started writing it, did you
consider it primarily a plot-driven or a character-driven novel?
I
didn’t consciously think of it either way but the characters definitely came
first and were the more important aspect of it for me. The plot developed
around them. I purposely picked characters that would be considered “bad
people” and tried to make them likable.
If you could
cast anyone in the history of cinema and television for a movie version of Hashimoto
Blues, who would you pick?
This
is a great question. I have a very specific idea of what my characters look
like and the only one who has a corresponding actor is Frank. I’ve always
pictured him looking like Paul Newman, around the time of the Sting. As for the
others? I’m not sure I should answer, especially Max. Imagination is such a
powerful thing that I don’t want to screw up someone’s mental picture of him. BUT,
I think it would be really interesting to hear which actors my readers picked.
Where do you go
for inspiration when writer’s block hits?
I
like to listen to music. I often use lyrics to get me started on a story. The
Rolling Stones played a part in Hashimoto Blues, mainly Tumbling Dice. The
lyrics say “You can be my partner in crime” and that little phrase got me
thinking about a criminal couple.
Are there any
aspects or experiences from your own life that made it into Hashimoto Blues?
Characters you relate to? Locations you’ve been to?
They
always say, “Write about what you know.” I know nothing about being a criminal,
but Ellie has a lot of my own personality traits. She’s at once smarter and
dumber than I am, but we both always have our noses in a book. She goes beyond
anything I would ever do, though. I have a criminal mind but not a criminal conscience;
I can come up with a boatload of devious plans that I would never dare do for
fear of being caught, making someone feel bad, or disappointing my mother.
Ellie, on the other hand, never thinks of any of those things.
All
of the locations in my book are places I have been. I’ve spent a lot of time in
both Burlington, VT and Montreal, QC. A friend of mine lived in Burlington and
used to take photos of people riding the deer statue in front of city hall—that’s
totally taken from real life. If you walk down Sherbrooke Street in Montreal,
you can find the Musée de Beaux Arts, the Ritz hotel, and the very strange
looking house where Hashimoto lives. There is a club SuperSexe on Ste.
Catherine and a crêperie on Rue St. Denis. Eagle Ray’s is a real bar in Roatán,
Honduras. Describing locations adds an aspect of realism to a story and I feel
a lot more comfortable doing that when I know the look and feel of the area.
Are you
currently working on any future projects?
I
am writing a sequel to Hashimoto Blues called Don’t Kill Norman. I also have
been playing around with two more stories that could possibly turn into novels,
a western and a supernatural romance.
Hashimoto Blues is available at: Amazon US (Kindle e-book), Amazon US (paperback), Amazon UK (Kindle e-book)
Hashimoto Blues is available at: Amazon US (Kindle e-book), Amazon US (paperback), Amazon UK (Kindle e-book)
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