TERREBONNE, QC | MAI 2022

1997. The first notes of the theme song for Buffy, the vampire hunter, echo in the living room. In front of the television: Julie Brassard, who knows the melody by heart. At that time, the teenager did not yet know that her love for vampires would project her into the world of children’s literature decades later.

However, although she had not yet projected her imagination into literary creation, she had thousands of ideas for fantastic scenarios to create with the young people on her street. Camera in hand, she encourages her friends to join her amateur films, telling herself that she would be the next great director in Quebec. Her favorite script is about a vampire movie she calls Fairuka, a heroine who is a vampire confronted with her human values. It will sleep in its drawers until the 2000s.

In the meantime, Julie Brassard is enrolled in cinema at Cegep but realizes that being a recreation technician is also a job that she would like. This alternative leads her to relive her first love: animation, as when she involved her friends in her projects. However, it lacks a little something… that’s how she decides to turn Fairuka’s screenplay into a novel.

It only took her a year to convert the screenplay into a novel. She sent this manuscript to several publishing houses, but only received refusals, claiming that the vampire theme was a thing of the past… a few years before the great success of Twilight! It is strangely at this moment that her desire to realize her dream of being part of the artistic world returns at a gallop. She evolves within it for several years, occupying positions ranging from technical to artist management. She travels across Quebec, and all that brings her a lot of happiness without however wholly satisfying her.

In 2016, she took all her courage and decided to enroll in a Mastermind of writing. These bi-monthly meetings made her rediscover her passion for literary creation. She regains a taste for it, has fun, and decides to rework Fairuka, but with the help of her friend Mélissa Malboeuf. The latter practically moves in with Julie for an entire summer, where they rewrite the novel of the vampire lover.

Sitting at the kitchen table, Julie writes. At the same time, Mélissa takes care of the research to obtain a well-crafted novel where reality intertwines with fiction, to the point where it would be impossible to guess the true from the false. She finally gets the desired result: a story that plays with the vampire who can become human. Where these have emotions, where they distinguish between good and evil. She likes to raise the anxiety in a story, and besides, the stalking scenes are the ones she prefers. This co-writing formula works so well that the duo signs a sequel to Fairuka!

It is essential to understand that it is not for lack of confidence that the author writes as a duo. It’s really out of a desire to write together because she loves it. She likes that dynamic. This sharing of ideas leads her to grow and enrich her art. She likes the division of labor and that the whole co-creation process is focused on improvement. By exchanging, they manage to encourage each other, criticize each other and arrive at a result they both like. They arrive at a shared pride.

It’s also why she proposed to Rachel Graveline to participate in a second co-creation project. Rachel suggests the writing of a horror novel that is a fun addition to Julie at first glance since she hates horror films. And yet, she got caught up in the game of horror writing. In Hauntings, we’re introduced to Xavier, who moves into an old house… that is haunted, of course! Through the supernatural, she will weave real relationships with real emotions.

While the third volume of Hauntings will be available in bookstores in June, Julie has also just completed her first solo writing project : a Christmas romance ! The big fan of the Home Alone movies took the liberty of exploring that time of year when anything seems possible, even love !

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