Part Two of an Interview with Sara Voorhees, Film Critic and Novelist

This is the second part of my two-part interview with Sara Voorhees, author of The Lumiere Affair. The first part was published about two weeks ago. The book comes out this week.

This book is excellent.

I've really enjoyed doing the interview by email with this funny, sharp, clever writer and since we seem to have good repartee -- as some writers have commented upon -- we may be doing some type of writing or work together in the future.

Okay, on with the second part of this two-part interview:

Scott Butki: Is this book the first of a series? 

Sara: Only in my head at the moment. I would like to finish Nattie's story. We'll see what the future brings. 

Scott: Which do you find more enjoyable and more satisfying – writing a novel or writing about film? 

Sara: I was an only child for many years (siblings much older than I am), so I have a very active fantasy life.  As the story and the characters were evolving for Lumière, I carried them around with me, woke up thinking about them, hoped things would work out in their lives, and could hardly wait to get to the computer to find out What Would Happen to them.  It's what catharsis is all about: experiencing someone else's experience as if it were your own. In a movie, this evolution happens in a couple of hours.  Writing a novel extends the catharsis for months and months. 

Scott:  What question are you secretly hoping I will ask you? 

Sara: I think I'd like you to ask me about the impact of movies on our culture — it's an issue every film critic and moviemaker and parent and citizen should think about.  Nobody loves movies more than I do - movies can transport us into marvelous places, both emotionally and intellectually.  We always learn something when we see a movie - sometimes it's good and pure and intentional on the part of the director, who wants us to know about what it was like to be gay in the '60s,  or how one single bullet can alter the lives of a hundred people in every corner of the world or what it feels like to suffer on either side of the Middle Eastern conflict. But even in a movie that seems benign we're learning something that may not be conducive to a happy life or harmonious society - romantic comedies that tell us love is about romance, action movies that teach us to resolve conflict like five year olds.

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education.

He is an in-house media critic, a recovering Tetris addict and a proud uncle.

Visit Scott Butki's author page — Scott Butki's Blog