Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian on Indiana Teller

With the publication of her new book series, Indiana Teller, we met Sophie for an exclusive and fresh interview.

GT: One month until the release of your “paper son”, how do you feel about it ? Are you worried ? Is it different from Tara ?

Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian: Oh my god yes, I’m way more anxious, it’s so different ! I apprehend my readers' reaction. And I really, really, hope from deep down my heart that they are going to love my crazy werewolves' story !

GT: With Indiana, you write from a male point of view, and the book is a first person narrative, did this make the writing more complicated ?

SAM: Yes of course ! I have girl's reactions. The first room Indiana lived in would have gotten any boy running sreaming in no time, fortunatly my friends Martine, Dorothy and Elsa told me so !

GT: Could you tell us more about Indiana ? How was he born, when and how ?

SAM: I was really angry at something and I had the choice between two solutions. Explode a special someone’s face with a baseball bat or write Indiana Teller. As I did not have a baseball-bat on me at the moment, well… I wrote Indiana. This being said, it has been a very long time since I wanted to write about time travelling and werewolves, so instead of making two books, I united both themes in one! And I was tired of drooling in front of Jacobs abs, I had to find one better!

GT: You’re getting involved in a subject that is used and abused nowadays, werewolves. Was this a problem while you were writing ? Did you hesitate to publish it ?

SAM: Not at all. First because I totally get out of the « Hey i’m a werewolf ! » thing. Indiana is not a were, and he regrets it deeply. He’s more like Spiderman. He is less handsome, efficient, less powerful than the others, but he has a power that will allow him to make some good. He’s a lonely hero. That’s where the challenge gets interesting, making a story where there are werewolves but that’s not really about werewolves.

GT: Let’s talk about the novel itself. Since you’re French, why have you chosen to set it in the USA ?

SAM: Well… because hiding a werewolf community in France is almost impossible. Our country is just too small. Montana has little to none population, you can walk for days without coming across anybody. Moreover, I was just coming back from a trip to Canada, just at the borders of Montana, so it was easier for me to describe a place I know.

GT: Indiana has a kind of special power, he is a time-turner. Would you like to be able to turn back time ? And if you could, would you change something?

SAM: In fact Indiana can’t intervene, that’s what’s interesting. He can go back in time, but he can’t get there physically. So he can’t change anything, just observe.
Know who really killed Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe, live great events, that would be really cool! But changing things ? No. It would be way too dangerous. Imagine if I did something for my daughter, Marine, not to break her leg, and that, because she did not break her leg, a skier hits and kills her five minutes later ? It’s the same for huge events, like September 11th. It seems crazy, but stopping them could at term gets us something even worse, and it’s a risk I couldn’t take.

GT: Tara is a huge success, there are multiple adaptations, can we imagine a similar path for Indiana ? Will we see the one who already melts some many hearts on screen? Will there be a Premiere for the next book too?

SAM: Yes, and it’s great because I can now tell you who bought the animated series, in four months since the beginning of the diffusion, which is a real exploit from Moonscoop : Belgium, Norway, Middle-east, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and USA.
As for Indiana, I don’t know. I have received a proposition to buy the rights to an animated series, but I really think the scenario is made for a movie. So I sent the mail to SND/M6, Universal and Europacorp/Luc Besson (The 5th Element). I’m waiting for their answers, mainly the one from SND, which is waiting for Summit approval, the producers of Twilight. Cross your fingers! And it will be less expensive than Tara (no dragons or Otherworld), so easier to turn into a movie.
Concerning the Premiere of book 2, I don’t know yet. I’ve got so much work that organizing two and maybe three Premieres, is getting really complicated. I’m thinking it through.

GT: We know that you are already working on Book 2, that you keep writing Tara (Book 9) and that, as if it was not enough, you went back to writing « La Couleur de l’âme des Anges” (The color of angels’ souls). Aren’t you afraid that your brain may explode ? How do you manage to write three really different novels at the same time ?

SAM: Easy. I work on Tara book 9 Monday, Wednesday and Friday as it is the one I have to finish the sooner. Then Tuesday and Thursday, I work on the Color. In June, I will have finished Tara, and begin working on Indiana 2, even if I have already began to write the first pages. Fortunately, I have some months between each book’s publication. Tara in september, Indiana in March and the Color in January. I’m kind of pushing the limits of my brain, and It’s cool to see how far I can go !

GT: We find in Indiana, as in your other books, your legendary humor. Whatever you write, enven if it’s as bloody as La Danse des Obeses, we always burst out laughing at a moment or another. Are you able to write unfunny stuff or is it just biologically impossible for you ?

SAM: It’s funny that you ask this question as it is exactly what happened with the Color. At first it was extremely funny, but it just didn’t fit with the story. It’s impossible to do both at the same time. So I had to accept for the 30 first pages not to be fun, just to explain the Angels universe. But don’t worry, after I was able to let lose! So to answer, yes I can, but after some time my brain just start working on it’s own, and it’s impossible for me to hold back!

GT: Thank you for according us some of your precious time to answer those questions, and know that we all are behind you for this new adventure.

SAM: Thank you, thank you so much to my wonderful taraddicts to help cross those huge mountains of work and stress me with your love and support!