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If you could ask Louise Penny anything about The Grey Wolf, what would it be?
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What was the inspiration for writing The Grey Wolf? Did writing State of Terror or discussions with HRC influence the work at all?
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How the idea for the water poisoning idea come about? Were there any historical or real-life inspirations for the plot? And, was The Grey Wolf/Black Wolf always envisioned to be a two book story or did it become two books in the process of writing The Grey Wolf?
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When did you realize you were writing a two book story? Did you decide that in the beginning or did the plot and story line evolve as you were writing into a story of a second wolf?
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Great questions Jane!!! Looks like we were typing at the same time!
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In your interview with the Globe and Mail, you are quoted as saying “I don’t read Goodreads. I find it annoying. I probably shouldn’t say that because they have a lot of power. I hate that Goodreads allows people to give a one-star review for a book they haven’t read that isn’t even out yet because they didn’t like the previous ones or they don’t like my name or they’re having a bad day so they’re going around giving one-star reviews or the book arrived damaged or something outside of my control. It would be like walking into a propeller every day – and I did, initially, and it’s very painful.”
You have also responded to reader feedback for previous books, for example, Kingdom of the Blind. So I wonder: how much does reader feedback influence your work? Specifically for The Grey Wolf, I absolutely loved the development in the relationship between father and son. When did you imagine the storyline and relationship arc involving Daniel? Was this something you have been planning since you first introduced Daniel and his strained relationship with Armand?
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How much of today’s geo-political climate influenced The Grey Wolf? And I can’t help but ask if we’ll learn more about Shona the blogger/vlogger in The Black Wolf?
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Libby these are questions I would definitely ask Louise. I too wonder about Shona and what she’s dug up. Another question I would add would be why did she write that Touissaint invited Shona to the news conference? I’m still puzzling over that one.
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I’d ask Louise if she always had plans to revisit St-Gilbert-Entres-Les-Loups? And why did she decide to introduce all the various other religious groups in the book? I’m curious about that.
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Great questions already posed! I’m curious about all of that as well. As a lot of things I would want to know right now might possibly be answered in The Black Wolf, I’ll focus on things that have crossed my mind –like did you do “field trips” to the various real eating establishments mentioned in The Grey Wolf? If so, is that a difficult thing to accomplish, due to your fame? And is it difficult to decide how much time to devote to each character in the story, knowing that so many are so beloved and we as readers love to read about them? (I do understand that depending on the story line, sometimes some characters have to be left to cameos at best, but full confession– I was absolutely delighted that this book had so much involving Armand and Jean-Guy, and Isabelle, and that Reine-Marie, Daniel, Ruth, and the other villagers still played smaller, yet very important parts in the narrative, though I did miss seeing more of Jean-Guy with Annie and his kids. Yes, I’m greedy, I know! I’m not complaining, though. Their presences were felt, and I think the book was very emotionally satisfying as far as all “my people” were concerned).
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Why did you have Dom Philippe drop “bread crumbs” for Gamache to follow, instead of having him go directly to Gamache? I thought that they seemed to have a trusting relationship from The Beautiful Mystery.
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I would ask, do you outline the story before writing, and therefore know the beginning, middle and end, or do you let your characters take you places you did not expect?
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If I had a chance to sit down with Louise Penny, I would ask: how do you approach having your characters age? Does your own awareness of the passage of time, experienced by yourself and your friends (and even your dogs) make you want to slow their aging (please, please, keep Fred alive for many more books) Do you want to show that they’re getting more frail, or do we get to pretend they are the same age in every book? Do authors dread having some of their favorite characters pass away if a series goes on for a long time?
I am not sure why I am stuck on this after reading The Grey Wolf but I was picking up some vibes.
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