Joël Dicker: "When I write a novel, I live it as a reader since I have no plan"

INTERVIEW

After The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair  and  The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer , the Swiss writer Joël Dicker delivers his latest thriller: The Enigma of the room 622 . Guest of the broadcast "L'Equipée sauvage" on Europe 1 on Thursday, the novelist took the opportunity to discuss his relationship to writing and his relationship with the reader. "When I write a novel, I live it as a reader since I have no plan," he explained.

>> READ ALSO - With "The Enigma of Room 622", Joël Dicker takes us through a labyrinth of enigmas

A "game" between author and reader

It was the passion for reading that pushed this Geneva native to write in his turn. "When you read a novel, you get caught in it, you can't get out of it. It's a very pleasant and very strong feeling." By his pen, he seeks to guide the readers in their own creative process: "When this book is finished and readers read it, I consider that I have only prepared tools for them to be then, them, the creators . "

>> Find all of Matthieu Noël's programs in replay and podcast here

This "game" between author and reader is, according to Joël Dicker, the most interesting aspect of the exercise. He asserts that the reader's necessary adhesion implicates him in fact in creation: "Everything that a reader experiences when he reads a novel, he creates it for himself", he exclaims, continuing: "He can decide everything, he can decide to go against what an author says. He can decide that the decor is not like that, that this character is more like this. He can close the book in saying 'I don't believe it, I don't like it'. "

Difficulty turning the page of writing

Joël Dicker also mentioned his difficulties in concluding a novel. "I feel like I'm coming to the end, I've said everything a bit, I would have to stop," he explains. "Part of me knows that when I stop I will leave this slightly exciting world of the unknown [...] this discovery of my own book." 

. @JoelDicker on the difficulty of writing: "At the beginning, it's great! Then, after a year and a half of writing, I say to myself 'but what is this thing ?!' pic.twitter.com/ZZmgwtYIjk

He describes contradictory feelings, between relief and the fear of moving on. "All these feelings mean that this is the moment when I tell myself that it would be good for me to stop [...] By dint of wanting to start over and do well, we break everything."