Literary art of four hands
MAGAZINE. He works in public safety for the Correctional Service of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He had a career in arts, culture and heritage. Bernard Marquis and Louise Boucher, who have been a couple for 40 years, are starting a new chapter in their lives. They create four-handed literary works distinguished by their unique style.
But don’t look for the names of these authors on the Internet or in a bookstore. They sign their books under the pseudonyms Ben Morris and Lou Benedict.
Their adventure began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Always a film enthusiast, Ben Morris has always enjoyed inventing stories that combine the detective universe, investigations and fantasy. While the couple lived in different cities for work, Ben Morris decided to use his solo evenings to dream up stories and sketch ideas here and there. Page by page story Belleville’s Cursed Legacy took shape.
“I didn’t even know he was working on a book. He lived in Gatineau and I lived in Montreal. I couldn’t believe it when he first made me read it. I won quickly. The story was fascinating and… I fell in love with it all over again,” Lowe said during his meeting with Benedict. Express magazine.
From the first stroke of the pen to the publication of the book, no less than 25 years have passed. “It was the pandemic that made us realize the project and present the book,” says the author, a mother of two children.
The presentation took place in February 2022. Since then, these Drummondville enthusiasts have published two more books: Deadly mixtures as a collection of short stories titled damn news. the fourth book called Double life It is on sale from October 24. All of them can be ordered on Amazon, as they are published both on their own and in Buropro Citation.
“Writing in pairs is better, but more difficult and laborious. Besides, everything that is difficult in life is often rewarded. We ask ourselves a lot of questions and make plans. We each have our own careers and we both have strong personalities. I have a vivid imagination. He too, but a little more poetic than me. It brings different perspectives that lead to a lot of discussion,” shares Ben Morris.
Lou Benedict adds, “Creation is not rest. It’s really intense, especially when we enter a culture of doubt. Over the months, we’ve received a lot of advice and listened to a lot of it master class especially with Bernard Weber (Ants, Thanatonauts, Pandora’s Box). The latter told us not to fall in love with the first manuscript. You have to know how to put it in the drawer and start over. This is a serious exercise that can be painful because the other person is reading your text. It touches the ego.”
Ben Morris wrote the book Belleville’s Cursed Legacy as a script. “This is my style of writing. People should be able to imagine images, but not get caught up in the images. I want it to capture the readers’ imagination,” he explains.
His book has already been presented to several directors, such as Podz (Midnight, 19-2etc.) is well known in Quebec. If the latter showed a beautiful openness, the lovers are far from cut to the lips. They will persevere in their efforts.
It is already known
Regardless of the future of their work, the authors are already gaining literary recognition, which is important for their new entry into the literary world.
Among others, Ben Morris deserved 2e Place in the HP Lovecraft competition: Fantasy literature for the text Marsh And Lou Benedict won first place in the Prix Clément-Marchand 2021 from Mauricie and the Society of Writers of Centre-du-Québec. On September 9, he was also awarded first prize in the Méandres et Memoires literary competition organized by Editions Parantheses. The body tells its own story.
Dreams
While the couple hopes to see their characters come to life on the small screen, they also cherish the dream of creating a new literary event in Drummondville to showcase the talents of local authors. “We are open to anything except a big event like we saw in Montreal, Sherbrooke or Trois-Rivières. We believe that there are enough institutional trade shows in Quebec. We prefer to create a Quebec event that will reflect the new reality of today’s books. We are also interested in his possible second life. More and more authors are releasing books and donating their profits to organizations,” emphasizes Drummondvilloise, who plans to launch this new attraction in March 2023.
One thing is certain, in the eyes of Bernard and Louise, this kind of event is important to promote Quebec talent and start a real discussion about literature from here. Moreover, it would be a valuable source of inspiration.
“Meetings with authors and readers are interesting. I’m a very Cartesian person in life, but I love people. I like meeting people and starting discussions. I find it useful,” concludes Ben Morris.
Ben Morris and Lou Benedict invite people to a signing session at Buropro Citation in Drummondville on Sunday, November 6th from 1-3pm.
