Claude Forthomme and I crossed virtual paths when I was the Head of Communications for the Women’s Brain Project and we collaborated on a piece on brain health for Impakter, where she is a Senior Editor. A few years later, after I finally read her book “Crimson Clouds” (yes, I have a monster TBR pile), I reached out to interview her. One of the things I find fascinating about her is that she has done so many different things, and yet one of the red threads throughout the years has been her love of the written word.
Note: Claude also publishes under the pen name Claude Nougat.
Once a writer, always a writer
Claude has always considered herself a writer. When she was eight years old, she published a newsletter for her parents, an 8–10-page booklet complete with clippings, drawings, and articles on what she considered the big news of the day. By the time she was 15, she had written her first novel: A murder story set in Colombia among the mountain rebels.
It’s one of many pieces that sit in literal or digital drawers, gathering dust.
A citizen of the world
Born in Brussels, Claude’s father was a diplomat. She spent her childhood in Sweden, Egypt, Colombia, and even Russia. She studied in the United States and graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Economics, which served her well in the whirlwind that would then be her working life. From banking to journalism, publishing, and college teaching, in 1979, Claude joined the United Nations and was stationed at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy.
Claude went on to direct the UN/FAO Office for Europe and Central Asia, with US$ 35 million in aid projects aimed at aiding the transition of Eastern Europe to a free market system. She also put food safety on the global agenda, organizing a transcontinental meeting in Budapest involving 48 countries to do so.
Along the way, writing was something Claude always did – and still does. From morning to night, whether it’s fiction, articles, essays, or anything in between.
What’s in a (pen) name?
In 2009, when she started her blog, Claude decided to publish under the pen name of “Claude Nougat”. It was an inside joke, dating back to her teenage years. One day, her father mused out loud about nougat, wondering why it existed in two such extremes, one soft and gooey, and one dry and crisp. Claude said she had the answer. Then, she explained that it was because of the way eggs were integrated into the batter and that swirling them or beating them up explained the difference – which was completely made up. Since that day, whenever she offered up one of her theories to explain something, Claude was told she “nougatized” it. A fitting pseudonym, she thought early in her writing career, for a fiction writer.
Today, Claude considers the use of a pen name a mistake. “Now I know you should never be afraid to be yourself online,” she says, “so there is no need to hide behind a pseudonym – especially one like Nougat, which in retrospect does not reflect my personality and would have been more adequate for someone writing humor.”
If you do decide to pick a pen name, Claude recommends ensuring fits the genre you write in. As she pointed out, in her case, Nougat definitely was not a good fit for Sci-fi or serious literary fiction, the two genres she wrote in at the time.
Shifting perspectives and the challenge of a male POV
Writing is highly instinctive for Claude, and the very first novel she wrote when she was 15 was from a male point of view (POV). The reason why she used – and still sometimes uses – such a perspective is because she enjoys the challenge of “getting outside herself” and observing men to better understand them to do them justice on the page.
Although Claude writes fiction, she points out that “Interpersonal communication is critical in life, part of the human condition, so it inevitably becomes part of any novel I write. I consider fiction not as ‘fiction’ at all, but as a mirror held up to contemporary life. A mirror that reflects life, should be as close to reality as possible, and will hopefully give readers insights into their own lives.”
This is one of the things I appreciated the most in “Crimson Clouds” – the realistic depiction of relationships and the role communication plays in how two people relate to each other.
Self-publishing & the importance of marketing
Initially, Claude tried the traditional publishing route. She sent dozens of query letters to literary agents for three years, from 2007 to 2010 or so. Then, with the Kindle revolution, there was a sudden enthusiasm for self-publishing as a way to bypass some of the industry hurdles and make even more money thanks to Amazon. Unfortunately, as far as Claude is concerned, it turned out to be a trap.
There are two reasons why she regrets self-publishing.
First, her novels don’t fall into the two categories she deems best suited to Amazon, notably romance and thrillers. She tends to write crossover genres, including young adult (or “YA”) – such as her Luna Rising Saga – and those can be more challenging to sell online.
Second, Claude learned the hard way that she is not good at digital marketing, and worse, finds it tedious and boring. Which, as a self-published author, is an issue.
She deems that “Self-publishing cuts you off from those who can help you get your book out there and get it out in its best possible form. That’s why I think no young writer should start out by self-publishing unless they only aim to make money —and can do so— through work that happens to fit the mould of best-selling genres such as romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and thrillers.”
However, she also believes that self-publishing can open doors, for example in the case of poetry.
(Note: A number of other author interviews reflect a much more positive perspective on self-publishing, so stay tuned for those.)
A love of language(s) & children’s stories
With French as her mother tongue, Claude is multilingual and equally fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian. English has become her preferred writing language as she studied and worked primarily in English throughout her career. However, living in Rome since 1974 and married to a Sicilian man, Claude speaks only Italian at home.
In fact, two books she authored in Italian were traditionally published in Italy:
- Le Aventure di Guendolina e Casimiro, a fantasy adventure for children, was published in 1991 and won several awards, including the prestigious Premio Mediterraneo
- Un Amore Dimenticato (Forgotten Love), a mix between historical fiction and what is now called romantasy, was widely praised by critics when it came out in 2008
Writing Resources that make a difference
Advice that comes up again and again when speaking to authors is that a supportive circle of writers, or finding your writing community, is crucial. Claude has two groups she connects with: the “Brussels Writers” (they organize bi-weekly Zoom calls) and her classmates from a Curtis Brown course* she signed up for years ago to help writers with their pitch package (they stay in touch via Zoom and a Slack channel).
A few other resources she recommends include:
- Reedsy, a platform that provides authors and publishers access to talented professionals, including editors and book cover designers, as well as writing tools, and free educational content to assist authors in publishing quality books;
- Jericho Writers, a company offering writers expert editorial assistance to help authors write, edit, and helps them find literary agents to get their books published.
- Book Baby, a website offering self-publishing services for every step of your journey, from editing to book cover design, including marketing.
Advice to writers
Writers and journalists share common challenges, as they are both intrinsically and continuously fascinated with the world around them and driven by a desire to express it in words.
One is to figure out what works in terms of note-taking, ideally making it easy to capture ideas whenever they appear, whether it’s in the middle of the night, navigating online, or when you’re on the move. Claude’s approach combines a pen and paper on her bedside table with Google Drive, where she puts all her ideas and research findings about a topic in a single Google document with subheadings for each facet of the topic. Subsequently, she creates a table of contents for easier navigation. The “find and replace” function is also great for retrieving lost bits of information.
Beyond that, Claude says “Write, write, write, and read, read, read! The two go together because if you don’t read, your writing risks getting stuck in a rut.” It’s also the only way to stay abreast of developments in publishing, which is both an industry and a market, and is constantly evolving.
Some of her favorite reads include Russian classic writers from Tolstoy to Solgenytsin, some Portuguese writers including Saramago and Pexeito, but also more recent authors like French writer Jean-Paul Dubois with his “extraordinary approach to novel writing, heavily mixed with a journalistic style”, and more recent bestsellers such as “Where the Crawdads Sing” which in Claude’s opinion reflects a growing trend of “crossover genres”.
Right now, the latest fad is Romantasy, a heady mix of hot romance and wild fantasy—the hotter and wilder, the better. When Claude was at the 2024 Bologna Book Fair earlier this year, romantasy is all everybody talked about!
What’s in the pipeline
Claude is currently juggling two book projects:
A YA romantasy: “The Curse of the Rain God” is about Mexican-American siblings, Eli (age 15) and her brother Mike (age 12) trapped inside the Popocatépelt volcano in an underground land called Tlalocàn in honor of Tlaloc, the ancient Aztec God of Rain. Inhabited by the descendants of Nahua Indians who took refuge there from the Spanish conquerors 500 years ago, it is the “land of songs and flowers”. But the place is cursed: Its light-giving mist affects human skin, making people invisible except for their hair and eyes. Worse, the land’s High Priest, struck by Mike’s blue eyes, Tlaloc’s favorite color, plans to sacrifice him in the upcoming New Fire Ceremony. Can Eli save him and bring them both back to safety? For Eli, this is a coming-of-age experience. She discovers a different world, and, despite its alien nature, she feels the flutter of first love when she meets Ocelotl (age 17), the brave son of the Tecuhtli (the land’s ruler) who will help her escape. Her own bravery will be tested multiple times, and she will find that freedom comes at a cost she never expected.
A historical fiction (no title yet): The true story of Lievin Bauwens, one of Napoleon’s favorite businessmen who stole from the British the spinning jenny (a key technique in the industrialization of textile manufacturing). The Brits were so angry that they condemned him to be hanged and he never returned to the British Isles. Instead, he made a fortune clothing Napoleon’s army… until he didn’t, when Napoleon lost at Waterloo.
To find out more about Claude Forthomme, you can follow her on X, on LinkedIn or visit her website.
*Claude notes that most major literary agencies offer writing courses nowadays.