Author Bio
An intelligent laboratory technician working at one of the largest hospitals in the Maritimes, Danielle Bouthillier obviously enjoys science. However, she has a creative mind with a large imagination that led her to experiment with writing short stories. After winning a writing contest in elementary school, Danielle always had a goal of publishing a novel that was engaging and entertaining. Her Debut Novel, titled, Hero, took inspiration when a close relative accused Superman of being evil. Danielle wondered what would happen if a superhero had an abusive parent and how it would affect them as an adult crime fighter. It took several years to create this unique and unconventional superhero story and she hopes to publish a second novel in the near future.
Book Summary:
One night the son of a super villain, Johnny, is saved by a mysterious stranger. Years later, Johnny stumbles upon Hero living on the streets and wallowing in self-pity. He invites the superhero into his office, where she tells him her life story, which is filled with abuse, poverty, and anxiety. While telling her life story, she reveals to him her real identity, the identity of her friends and family, and her weaknesses. Hero’s role as a superhero is to save peoples lives in the moment of danger and stress, but it seems, she’s the one who needs real protection and support.
This science fiction, drama, and action novel with a hint of romance is an unconventional and unique superhero story. Throughout the tale, the characterization is strong, memorable, and nuanced, suited to the intricate, powerful, and compelling narrative. This work is an immersive and gripping piece that will resonate deeply with the reader, and the assured writing style and the way that the story builds and sustains tension throughout ensures that it will keep readers engaged and entertained.
An intelligent laboratory technician working at one of the largest hospitals in the Maritimes, Danielle Bouthillier obviously enjoys science. However, she has a creative mind with a large imagination that led her to experiment with writing short stories. After winning a writing contest in elementary school, Danielle always had a goal of publishing a novel that was engaging and entertaining. Her Debut Novel, titled, Hero, took inspiration when a close relative accused Superman of being evil. Danielle wondered what would happen if a superhero had an abusive parent and how it would affect them as an adult crime fighter. It took several years to create this unique and unconventional superhero story and she hopes to publish a second novel in the near future.
Book Summary:
One night the son of a super villain, Johnny, is saved by a mysterious stranger. Years later, Johnny stumbles upon Hero living on the streets and wallowing in self-pity. He invites the superhero into his office, where she tells him her life story, which is filled with abuse, poverty, and anxiety. While telling her life story, she reveals to him her real identity, the identity of her friends and family, and her weaknesses. Hero’s role as a superhero is to save peoples lives in the moment of danger and stress, but it seems, she’s the one who needs real protection and support.
This science fiction, drama, and action novel with a hint of romance is an unconventional and unique superhero story. Throughout the tale, the characterization is strong, memorable, and nuanced, suited to the intricate, powerful, and compelling narrative. This work is an immersive and gripping piece that will resonate deeply with the reader, and the assured writing style and the way that the story builds and sustains tension throughout ensures that it will keep readers engaged and entertained.
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00This is Speaking of Writers. I'm Steve Richards. The book is Hero. The author is Danielle Boutlier.
00:07This science fiction drama and action novel with a hint of romance is an unconventional and unique superhero story.
00:14Throughout the tale, the characterization is strong, memorable, and nuanced, suited to the intricate, powerful, and compelling narrative.
00:23This work is an immersive and gripping piece that will resonate deeply with the reader and the assured writing style,
00:30and the way that the story builds and sustains tension throughout ensures that it will keep readers engaged and entertained.
00:38Happy to have Danielle Boutlier join me now here on Speaking of Writers. Danielle, welcome to this program.
00:44Thank you for having me.
00:45So let's start with the book's plot. If you could summarize it.
00:48What I tell people is that the book is regarding a washed-up superhero that tells her life to the son of a supervillain.
00:57Many years ago, the son of the supervillain is saved by this mysterious stranger.
01:02Years later, he stumbles upon the superhero living on the streets and wallowing in self-pity.
01:09He invites the superhero into his office where she tells him her life story,
01:14which is he realizes that in the moments of stress, usually she's the one that saves others, but she's the one that needs real protection and saving.
01:27Danielle, the character of Johnny, how did you create Johnny?
01:30I had an old story. I had a toy. It was a stuffed animal and went to Build-A-Bear and got him a surgical outfit and named him Dr. Johnny.
01:42So I really loved the name Johnny.
01:45For the character themselves, I just wanted a person who was very compassionate and would listen with an open heart and say,
01:56what's troubling you? What's worrying you? And what can I do to help?
02:00So he sort of plays the role as the audience as well, because he's, while the superhero is revealing their life story,
02:07the audience and Johnny is learning everything about her and what she really needs and what help she desires and things like that.
02:17The title of the book, Hero, what does it mean? And how did you come up with that title?
02:22Well, first of all, this book took about 10 years to make and revisions and edit.
02:30So during that time, I was unable to come up with a cool superhero name.
02:35Most of them seem to be already taken or already copyrighted.
02:38Hero was actually a placeholder name until I could come up with a more satisfying superhero title.
02:47But it just stayed in there and it stuck in there.
02:51Actually, Hero has three definitions.
02:54First is a person who has done a brave act.
02:57It could also be referring to a short for superhero.
03:02It can be the protagonist of a fictional story who is trying to overcome some adversary or some either internal or external threat.
03:15And then the third, which is a little bit off, it's Greek or Roman mythology for humans with superhuman powers.
03:24I pretty much just stuck with it.
03:26It's like, well, the definition works, the title character fits all those categories.
03:32So I just left the name as is.
03:34Are there any hidden meanings or symbolism in your work that readers might not immediately notice and not to give away too much?
03:41I can give out a few.
03:43There's a blanket and a guitar.
03:46And for the main character, it's love and comfort.
03:50A lion is mentioned several times, represents bravery and courage.
03:54There's one chapter where it mentions wolves and that's dangerous or danger.
04:01There's a hidden message of older daughter syndrome.
04:05And what that is, is for an older daughter of usually neglectful parents, they step in as the second or third parent and raise the siblings.
04:16The third, which is sort of related, is the mental health of first responders.
04:22Sometimes real heroes need help and support.
04:25Can you share a behind-the-scenes anecdote or interesting fact about the creation of the book?
04:30I have a few here that's sort of interesting.
04:33One, it was originally supposed to be a short story.
04:36So about three years later, it ended up being a novel of over 100,000 words.
04:42And then it was actually an adult book as well.
04:46So I was able to change it into a young adult novel, trim it down to 75,000 words.
04:52As mentioned previously, it took about 10 years to create and make, just got published recently.
04:58And the main character was originally going to be male, but it was later changed to female to add more drama and emotion to the story.
05:05What was the feeling like when you got it published?
05:08At the time, I think I was more, I wasn't surprised it got published.
05:14But there was like joy and happiness, I suppose, because this was one of my lifelong goals, was to publish a book.
05:21And one of them finally got, the dream finally came true.
05:25So I was happy and satisfied about that.
05:28Danielle Bootley is my guest. Hero is her book.
05:31So what was the original inspiration for that short story that turned into a novel?
05:37I'll have to go way back when, it'd be about 2011.
05:40And I was in university at the time.
05:43I had a graphic artist tablet that broke.
05:46So normally I do digital art.
05:49And I had a limit of a laptop that wouldn't do much except for, it had the basics, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint.
05:58I dabbled with short stories and writing down short stories.
06:02So a couple months later, I was, I came back from university.
06:07I was watching cartoons.
06:09And it was a Superman cartoon from the 60s.
06:13And I had a family member come into the room.
06:16And she accused Superman of being evil and possessed.
06:20It was shocking. It sort of shocked me.
06:23Like, how can someone say such negative things about one of the best superheroes in the world?
06:30Because he, well, it was a cartoon, but he just saved the city.
06:34At the same time, it didn't surprise me because this family member was very bitter and angry.
06:40And it was something that she would say.
06:43So several questions came to mind.
06:45First was, if I was, instead of watching a cartoon, if I was watching the news.
06:51I was at school all day, came home, learned that Superman saved the whole city.
06:56Would she still say those mean and nasty things about him?
07:00If he was real and saved her life, would she again say those mean and nasty things about him?
07:07And then several other questions came to mind.
07:10And one of them was, what if Superman, pretty much he was adopted by a very loving family.
07:17But let's say he came from the heavens and he was adopted by my grandparents.
07:23How would they react once they learned that he had superpowers?
07:26It would be very, very negative.
07:28At the time, I was taking child psychology courses as well.
07:32And learned that a lot of events that happen in childhood affect people when they become adults.
07:38So that's where this short story came from.
07:41We're chatting with Danielle Boutelier. Her new book is Hero.
07:46How did you become a writer?
07:48And when did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
07:50It was back when I was in grade six.
07:53We had a writing competition, actually.
07:56It was a little bit odd.
07:58It was a publication company in Europe.
08:01And they were collecting short stories and drawings for a children's book
08:07to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Titanic disaster.
08:11So the whole entire class had to write either a short story, a poem, or drawing
08:17and submit it to Europe for this publication company.
08:20And I submitted, actually, a drawing and a short story.
08:23Rumor had it that I was the only child in North America who got anything published in that book.
08:29So it clearly surprised the instructor as well, because I thought I wasn't very strong in English.
08:36But yeah, they accepted the short story. It was published.
08:39This was way before Amazon.
08:41So my parents had to phone the company in Europe to get a copy for everyone here and my grandparents.
08:48So after that, I was like, well, this is neat.
08:53I would really like to do a novel maybe in the future.
08:56It was always in the back of my mind, but it wasn't until university where I actually got into writing.
09:02What's been the feedback from readers about Hero?
09:06The publication company themselves, the editor, said the novel reads like a movie script.
09:12Some chapters are quite the page turner and you can't put it down.
09:17Actually, that was on the online book club as well.
09:21Could not put it down. Wanted to know what happens next.
09:24Ended up reading into the night.
09:26There was another online review.
09:28It stated I was expecting a stereotypical superhero story where the bad guy is trying to take over the world
09:34and the superhero has to use their powers to save Earth.
09:37But she stated that she found a much more deeper and compelling story.
09:41I have a co-worker who actually has a grandniece, quite the bookworm.
09:46She's in about grade six, but she reads at like a grade eight, nine level.
09:51And it's hard to find books that she likes that are age appropriate.
09:56And I actually gave her a copy to give to her niece and the niece absolutely adored it.
10:01And especially she loved the main character and was able to connect to the main character.
10:06I have a co-worker who actually speaks four languages.
10:09The fourth one is English.
10:11And I gave her a copy.
10:13And her feedback was she said this is very easy to read because English is not her first language.
10:19And she was concerned that she would not be able to understand what was happening.
10:24But she says I fully understand who the characters are, what are they doing, and what's the setting, and what's the plot.
10:32So that was very nice.
10:34I have one on a comment on Barnes & Noble.
10:37It sort of surprised me.
10:39It said some points seem very poetic.
10:42I don't see myself as a poet.
10:44But maybe there's a few scenes I can recall where it seems very, very poetic at times.
10:50This book, Hero, available at writersrepublic.com, barnesandnoble.com, also Amazon.
10:55Okay, the big question, Danielle.
10:57Will there be a follow-up novel to this story?
11:00Technically, there is no sequel to this novel.
11:03However, I would like to publish the original adult version.
11:07It has extra villains, an alternative ending, and an alternative prologue.
11:13Possibility would be make the novel into a comic book series.
11:17Or again, it reads like a movie script.
11:19So a film adaptation would also be nice.
11:22And again, the ideal reader for this right now is young adult, right, this version?
11:26Correct.
11:27It would be anyone over the age of 12.
11:30Readers even over the age of 20 who enjoy superheroes and science fiction genre.
11:36It can be both male and female readers.
11:38The book is Hero.
11:40The author is Danielle Boutelier.
11:42And it's available at writersrepublic.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Amazon, too.
11:46Danielle, thank you for joining me.
11:48Thank you for having me today.
11:50And this is the Speaking of Writers podcast.