Plunge into the heart of Joël Dicker's (very particular) writing process

It is customary to say that each artist has his quirks before creating, and Joël Dicker is no exception to this rule.

Guest of the program "Icons" by Michel Denisot on Europe 1, the Swiss-Romand writer who sells each of his novels to hundreds of thousands of copies gave the details of his writing process.

A chaotic method, "without a plan", from which was born 

Goncourt prize for high school students 2012, or more recently 

, which has sold more than 265,000 copies since its release last May.

"Do I want to write a book?"

It all starts with a question.

Not on the plot, the characters, or even the end of a story that has not yet started, but quite simply: "Do I want to write a book?" bestselling writer on Europe 1. "Do I want to devote three years of my life, twelve hours a day, to this adventure? I think that's the most important question when you're doing anything? either that requires a little creation. "

A first step that the writer has already taken with his future sixth novel. 

>> READ ALSO -

 Joël Dicker: "When I write a novel, I see it as a reader"

From chaos to "click"

As soon as the desire to write comes to Joël Dicker, it's time for inspiration.

And for this step too, he has an original method: write everything that comes to mind, but not only.

"I spend between six and eight hours a day doing it, but also waiting for time to pass, drawing on a piece of paper, writing sequences of words."

A process which for a long time made doubt the novelist but which he now sees as a "very boring obligatory step which will allow [him] to embark on the novel".

"I know that at some point, the click will take place," he says. 

And the writing ritual is far from over, since once the "click" has arrived, it remains to be written down on paper.

Fortunately, Joël Dicker is not alone in this ordeal.

"When I started to really get into writing, I was thinking of great writers like Romain Gary, Albert Cohen", icons for Joël Dicker.

"What did they do in the morning when he was circling? Did they smoke a cigarette?" 

>> Find all the interviews conducted by Michel Denisot in "Icons"

The shadow of Bernard de Fallois

But over time the writer turned to his feelings, and stopped thinking about the ritual of writing to devote himself "to the ritual of life, that is to say to thoughts".

A quasi-philosophical reflection that regularly makes him think of his great-uncle, who died in 2012. "He was a thinker, an intellectual and a man of reflection on the subjects of the world that bothered him: the way the world went, the history of humanity. And it's true that I often find myself before writing to read newspapers, not only to be in the information, but also to be in the reflection. " 

A reflection that leads to several questions: "What words do I want to use? What do I want to tell people? What is bothering me? What do I want to share?" 

Another person who accompanies Joël Dicker during the writing: Bernard de Fallois, his editor who died on January 2, 2018 at the age of 91, but above all the man who made his pen known to the general public.

"Bernard de Fallois is the one who comes to mind when I have to solve a problem, something that is wrong. Whether in the book or in life, I still talk to him and I say to myself: 'What- what he would have done? '"And the writer confides that there are four photos of his editor and friend in the room where he writes, which allows the writer to see Bernard de Fallois where [that he is watching".