Author Q&A with Chantal Gadoury

Author Q&A with Chantal Gadoury

Chantal Gadoury is a best selling fairytale-retelling and romance author, living in the beautiful countryside of Muncy, Pennsylvania with her mom and family yorkie, Taran. When Chantal isn’t pursuing her next writing endeavor, she enjoys spending time with her loved ones, and taking long walks to the sounds of BTS. She is a TikTok enthusiast, loves all things Disney and loves a good, romantic K-Drama. Chantal first started writing stories at the age of seven and continues that love of writing today. After graduating from Susquehanna University with a degree in Creative Writing, writing novels has become a dream come true.

Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)

“Until the Last Page” is my love letter to a younger version of myself who loved everything fairytales and Disney. The idea of a young woman being sucked into a book of fairy tales was inspired by different media: a K-Drama called “W: Two Worlds” (about a woman who gets pulled into a comic, written by her father.), an old Hallmark Cartoon series – “Timeless Tales,” (the children would open a book, and the scene would actually pop up for them to watch!), “The Pagemaster,” (Need I say more?) and of course, “Once Upon a Time.” “Until the Last Page” begins when Josephine (Jo for short) reluctantly returns home to her parents after a rough breakup, and she’s gifted a mysterious old book of fairytales during a chance meeting at an estate sale. Josephine had grown up with the promise of the once upon a time’s and happily ever afters, even if she didn’t necessarily believe in them anymore. But when Jo discovers of a mysterious spell just inside the cover, she is thrust head-first into the pages, crash-landing through the fairytale-time continuum. Everything that Josephine had thought she’d known about fairytales, was about to be turned on its head. That’s when Josephine meets him. An annoying, snarky frog prince named Aneurin, seeking the kiss of true love that can break his spell. If she agrees to help him find his princess, he vows to get her home – sort of any commentary he might have on her social status of being a peasant. With such a stuck-up frog prince as her guide, Jo has little hope of returning to the real world. With every turn of the page, their adventure leads them further into the well-known fairy tales. From a sweet-smelling candy cottage where they encounter a cannibalistic witch with a soft spot for frog’s legs, to a tree house owned by seven men harboring a fugitive princess, Jo and Aneurin discover they’re both exactly what each other needs. It is only when they’re forced to face a greedy and dangerous man, who has a talent for spinning straw into gold, that they realize just how quickly this plot can take an unexpected twist.

 

Where’s your favourite place to write?

I love to write in my room, with my twinkle lights, a candle burning and a movie score playlist playing in the background.

 

How do you approach starting a new book?

Well, I try to approach starting a new book with at least a strong idea of who my characters are. I try to approach the blank page with an open mind, and let the character tell me their story.

 

What’s your favourite genre to read?

Fantasy/Romance! Anything with romance.

 

Have you always wanted to write?

Yes! Always. Ever since I was a child. I remember when I first saw the “Harriett the Spy” movie, and knew that I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to write about everything.

 

What do you do when you have writer’s block?

I pull out my copies of the “Court of Thorns and Roses” series and do a re-read. For some reason, it usually sets something in my brain loose and I’m suddenly free to write again. If that really doesn’t work, I’ll create a playlist of movie scores that remind me of what I’m trying to write, and make a pinterest board.

 

Tell us about a scene that you loved but had to edit out of your book

Originally, I took inspiration from “The Never-Ending Story” and “The Pagemaster,” and was going to have Josephine buy this book from a shop, where the male attendant would warn her about how books can be powerful. And then the male turned into an older female, who felt a little bit more like a strange fairy-godmother, but something still just didn’t feel right. What can be found now in the book, was the product of a lot of months going back and forth in how Jo find this strange, magical book. And who gave it to her. There was also a lot of storylines that shifted, and some fairytales that were cut from my outline. I never wrote them, but I was sad to see them not be included in the end.

 

Do you like reading the same books you write?

I do! I love fantasy books and romance books!

 

Do write under a pen name? If so, tell us about how you chose it

I don’t write under a pen name. I write under my own!

 

How do you choose your book’s title(s)?

Very particularly. I don’t really like to write my books without a title. There’s something about having a title that makes the book feel more real and tangible to me. Sometimes I get the help from my friends and my Mom, and sometimes it’s just one of those one-liners I write.

 

What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?

Well, first I’d tell them – just write your book. Don’t worry about editing, don’t worry about all the small details – you can come back to it later, and you will. Second, edit. As much as you may not enjoy the process, editing is super important and you need to make sure that you have other people editing your work (that know what they’re doing!). Do not surround yourself with people who will only tell you the good – there is such a thing as constructive criticism and it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer when you hear it. You want to always be growing with your writing, so don’t be afraid of it! Write about the things that you love, the things that bring you joy. When you stop writing like that, everything stops becoming so much fun.

 

Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?

Of course! My research could be things like what a character might wear (I have googled medieval underwear before), it could be something with the setting (I’ve googled Sweeney Todd Oven before too). It depends on the subject matter and what I’m trying to describe or show. I’ve looked up underwater life when writing about mermaids, I’ve looked up Russian desserts when I was writing about “The Nutcracker.” For this book, I remember googling, “Can frogs float?” My search history is intriguing.

 

How do you fit writing into your everyday life?

It’s not easy for me personally. I balance a full-time job, my life with my family, my life with my partner, a weight loss journey, and sleep. Sometimes it’s taking 5 minutes to write (which isn’t a lot, I know), to spending some time just creating a pinterest board (yes, it counts to me!). It might not happen everyday and that’s okay – but as long as I try, I find if there’s a will – there’s a way.

 

How do you approach ‘world building’?

To be honest, I’ve never been good at “world building.” I love to focus on characters and build a world around them. They sort of shape the type of world a reader is going to see. From there, I use what I know and research what I don’t (even if it means me using Google Maps to see something visually), and writing it down.

 

How do you handle criticism?

As best as I can. Over the years, with lots of different ratings of reviews, I’ve learned that reviews aren’t really for me. If I can pull something that’s useful to apply in writing a new story, I will. I appreciate when someone provides me feedback on something that I can improve – but if it’s just harsh criticism to be critical, I try not to focus too much on it.

 

Describe your perfect character to me

A character that is flawed and complex and feels deeply. That is the best character for me to not only read, but write.

 

Tell me about your current work

I’m not entirely sure that I can at this moment, but you can know that there is something in the works.

 

Tell me about your main character

Josephine Hart is a 25 year old woman, who is headstrong, determined, kind, and trying desperately to move forward in her life after a very hard breakup. She’s someone who wants to believe in love and happily ever afters, but after her experience with her ex – finds it a bit more difficult. Jo was named after Josephine March from “Little Women” which felt really clever to me, and the most fitting. Jo, who was passionate and loved writing, then became a Jo in my story, who is still passionate, but falls into a book of fairytale stories.

 

Would you want your book made into a film?

That would be amazing! I’d love to see this become a film or a mini-series on a streaming platform. I can only imagine how cool that would be! (It would probably remind me a lot of the Hallmark show “The 10th Kingdom.”)

 

How many books do you own?

Probably like 50-100 books. Too many!

 

You can find Chantal Gadoury on Twitter