Manifesto for writing true stories

Going out of the artificial worlds

No kings or princesses here. You will find men and women who could have been (or were) your ancestors. The life of our rural areas, villages and towns is reconstructed around fascinating stories of intrigues, betrayals, love, crimes and mysteries.

Genuine stories without unnecessary fancy or dramaturgy

The author accepts the constraint of established facts, however disturbing or inexplicable, in all their scope and limitations. To revive the characters, he agrees to understand and restore the ways of thinking and reasoning of criminals and victims: men and women so close to us and so inaccessible to our understanding.

True stories to give back all its complexity to the real world

In real life, men are rarely all white or black. When the criminal does not confess, is added the doubt, so intolerable to the juror. In criminal cases, you will have all the evidences that jurors had in order to render their verdict, and you will discover that this role of judge is sometimes very difficult.

True stories at the heart of our roots

The names of places are respected, as well as generally the names of people, except in cases where it could hurt close descendants.

A long process of research, selection and composition

A research work to trace facts, cross-check various archival sources, reconstruct places and historical context.

A selection of the most unusual, troubling, touching and revolting stories.

A work of composition to render to the reader the emotions of the writer.

A creative literary work

To maintain the reader's interest, the writing of "true short stories" leaves an important part to literary creativity by:

the choice of topics
the assembly of the selected facts
the selected viewing angle (criminal, victim, witness, judge...)
the choice of treatment of the subject: neutral, partisan, mysterious…
the style
the setting of context
the reconstitution of missing parts in accordance with the established facts.