2023-09-30 04:00:00
A talented, generous and extremely meticulous writer, Sonia K. Laflamme was inspired by her own experience of Parkinson’s disease to write a remarkable thriller: Dopamine. Its heroine is a 49-year-old criminologist suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Bad luck seems to be upon her, because she wakes up in the middle of the night alongside her murdered lover. The police consider her the main suspect. But what if there was something else?
Author of an impressive number of children’s novels and several other works, Sonia K. Laflamme has created a heroine who is both strong and vulnerable for this thriller.
“I have Parkinson’s disease. It will be 14 years in a few weeks. It sure went from there. When I started to get sick, as I was a writer, there were a lot of people around me who asked me if I was going to write on the subject,” Sonia confides in an interview.
“There are already people who write books about personal growth or more of a psychological nature. It wasn’t really my cup of tea. I had read a few of them and I couldn’t see myself doing the same thing, the same exercise. What would I bring new? »
“I always said to myself: if I ever write about this, it’s going to be fiction because that’s what I’ve known how to do for a long time. But I hadn’t found the angle of attack. It didn’t occur to me. And anyway, at the beginning, I had too much difficulty accepting that. I was in denial. To sit down and write, I had to grieve. »
Patients
Sonia K. Laflamme waited. Patiently. Then an idea presented itself. “Quietly, not quickly, I began to imagine what would happen if such and such a thing happened to a Parkinson’s patient. One thing led to another and the story was built. »
She felt ready to incorporate Parkinson’s disease into her novel without being too upset herself. ” Yes it’s heavy. But it’s part of life and there are people who experience even worse things than me. I am lucky not to have my life expectancy affected. I won’t die from this…I will die from this. There is neurodegeneration. She’s there. »
The writing process is much longer for her. “When I have tremor attacks, there are certain operations on the computer that become less easy, less obvious to do. Scrolling through text seems trivial… but little arrows are hard. »
Julie Hamelin
In DopamineSonia K. Laflamme created the character of Julie Hamelin, a criminologist suffering from Parkinson’s disease who finds herself at the heart of a tragedy.
“What I like most about her is that she is strong-willed. She doesn’t let herself be overwhelmed. She wants to get out of it. She takes actions that sometimes put her in danger, but she is not passive,” comments Sonia.
“Julie wants to live. She accumulates experiences as best she can. And not necessarily good experiences. But she wants to live. She has a rage for life that is present, that is intense. She is passionate and wants to be useful. She really wants to live. »
Has she become her literary alter ego? “It’s certain that Julie and I live together, if only in feeling, in emotion. But not in action. »
To create Julie, a very endearing character, she focused above all on her emotions. “How would I feel if something like this happened to me given that Julie and I are the same age, the same type of family? How would I get out of this? »
♦ Sonia K. Laflamme has written several novels, short stories and documentaries for young people.
♦ She is originally from Saint-Romuald, on the south shore of Quebec.
♦ She is working on the sequel to Dopaminein which we will discover how brain surgery is carried out that the author herself underwent twice.
EXTRACT
Photo provided by Éditions Hugo Roman
« That night I was unable to sleep. So, I decided to stop by your house and I looked at you for a long time. You were so calm. I didn’t notice last time that you don’t shake when you sleep. I could have killed you, but it’s still too early. I have someone else in my sights. And you, darling, must suffer a little longer…”
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#Dopamine #criminologist #suspected #murder