Click Here To View Francisca Matteoli's Books

Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest Francisca Matteoli. Chilean with a Scottish mother, Francisca spent her childhood in Latin America.

After living in Brazil, she currently resides in Paris and writes travel stories and contributes to the National Geographic France and Condé Nast Traveller. Francisca has also authored several travel books.

Good day Francisca and thanks for participating in our interview

Norm:

How did you get started in writing? What keeps you going?

Francisca:

Norm, thank you so much for inviting me. I started writing after I came to Paris with my family. We lived in Chile near Santiago, in the middle of the countryside but my family decided to come to France because of the political situation. It was not an easy time. We were deeply isolated and I started reading to escape. Then I discovered I could also escape by writing. Like many other people in my situation, writing was my refuge.

I continued because it makes me feel good. I grew up in a multicultural family, a family of adventurers (my family originally came to Chile from Spain during the 17th Century). We have always been interested in many different cultures and ways of living. Also, I love to write -the freedom, the solitude, to be out of reach – this gives me enormous satisfaction. I have been on all sorts of journeys. I have traveled to disadvantaged countries with my husband, a plastic surgeon, who was working with humanitarian associations, to totally lost islands, to all kinds of cities... Every time I learned something. If you don't see things for yourself, it's very easy to get the wrong idea. When I arrived in France, nobody knew anything about Chile and we felt very isolated. So now I like to write about the diversity of people and cultures and I am really happy when someone says to me "I had no idea it was like that". It gives me immense pleasure. And as long as this pleasure is there, I'll keep on writing.

Norm:

Can you briefly tell our readers something about the books you have authored and what is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Francisca:

Each book I have authored is a collection of stories. A mix of history, adventure and my personal impressions of a place. I wrote six books of hotel stories because my family lived in hotels and I wanted to celebrate those very strange places. But also about flea markets around the world, because you learn a lot about a country strolling around a flea market. My books are about travel and people but I hope they are entertaining too. Before sitting down to write, I try to absorb every bit of inspiration I can find. Generally it comes first and foremost from my husband and family. I am lucky as they are all very creative people! It is important to be open to all kinds of ideas and suggestions. I travel, I take notes and photos. I do research, write ideas down on paper. With all that, I construct a story. 

Norm:

Do you believe you have already found “your voice” or is that something one is always searching for? As a follow up, why have you been drawn to travel writing?

Francisca:

Well, I always wanted to be a writer and I love what I'm doing but I would like to go even further. In the future, I would like to write more about my own experiences. Maybe short stories about my family. Maybe a novel. I would like to be more complex, write with more abandon, and take more risks. 

I was drawn to travel writing by a variety of things.  For about 10 years, I traveled to escape. During the same period, I tried various jobs but I was not very good at any of them. Then one day, my friend Janie Samet, a famous French journalist, said to me "Why don't you write about your travels?" I had never thought about that because for me it was something natural, not a job. I had not made the connection between my travels and my writing aspirations. And it never occurred to me that I could earn money doing that! I offered my travel stories to magazines that accepted them. Then I went to see François Marot, editor of National Geographic France, with a proposal for a story about French Doctors because my husband, who is a plastic surgeon, was going with them to Rwanda. It was an exceptional opportunity to see things that very few people see. The story was accepted and that was the real point of departure. From that moment on, I wrote more, I listened to what people had to say, I learned about my work.

Norm:

What do you see as the influences on your writing?

Francisca:

Firstly the people close to me. My mother, my husband, my sister (she owns a uniform company and travels the world for her job). They have interesting personal experiences. As for literary influences, writers such as Peter Fleming. For me he is the ideal I'd like to attain. Interesting, funny, elegant, ironic without being mean. American Literature, because I think it's much more modern and direct than French literature, and I like that. Newspapers, also. From different countries. Le Nouvel observateur, The Daily Telegraph and many others. My life in Chile. The South American countryside has made me who I am. It conjures up fantastic worlds. It is very inspiring.

Norm:

How has travel and writing evolved over the past few years? As a follow up, how has the Internet affected this evolution?

Francisca:

When I wrote my first book in 2000, if I missed something during my travels, I had to telephone all the places I had visited to get the missing information. I can still remember the emotion I felt when I was finally able to hear a human voice in the middle of Patagonia. Contacts with the other side of the world and travel were still a huge adventure. Without mobile telephones & Internet. It was really very exciting. Now everything seems so easy compared to 10 years ago. You can receive a photo in a second. A reply in 2 seconds.  I always dreamed of being an old fashioned explorer so it's rather sacrilegious for me. But last year I decided to “go with the flow” and so I started a travel blog. That was also an adventure! At first I did it because my mother bought a computer at the age of 80, and I thought, if she can, so can I. Now she is my most avid reader! I don't believe what Paul Theroux said, that you don't write when you write a blog. I try to write a real story every time I post something, and I take as much care as when I write my books. My aim is to enable readers to experience a similar sense of discovery and escape that I feel.  I just have to do it faster than when I write my books. It forces me to be more direct, to find a new story every 3 days. It's a good exercise, and any exercise that makes the brain work and gives me the opportunity to write, is interesting I think. 

Norm:

What sites do you frequent on-line to share experiences or information contained in your articles and books?


Francisca:

I read newspapers. I connect with bookshops such as Galignani’s in Paris. Bertrand Pizzin's advice is always very good.  On my blog you will see sites I visit. They all inspire me because they are written by inspired people.

Norm:

What do you do when you are not writing?

 Francisca:

I get bored. So I swim, I go to exhibitions. I also love going to the cinema  and am always interested in Director’s ideas. I recently saw on the Agamemnon Film web site that they are working on an adventure-documentary that looks sensational. I can't wait to see the result. 

Norm:

Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work? 

 Francisca:

As I mentioned before, Peter Fleming is my favorite author. I think that he is the perfect writer and the perfect travel writer. 

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you, your books and articles?

 Francisca:

Everywhere! But also on my WEBSITE  and on my BLOG.

Norm:

What is next for Francisca Matteoli?

Francisca:

More books. And my next book is about my favorite places that are also closely connected to nature. It will be published in the USA and in Europe in March 2012, in French and translated into English. 

Norm: 

Is there anything else you wish to say that we have not covered? 

 Francisca:

I'd like to add that I am actively involved in my husband's humanitarian association : Association Chirurgie Plus. The association welcomes surgeons from disadvantaged countries and offers them training in the field they need, in the best hospital services in Paris. It is another kind of adventure and, since it was created, the Association has welcomed over 40 surgeons.

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors -

Thank you very much, Norm.


Click Here To View Francisca Matteoli's Books