Interview with Victor Lana, Author of Life and Death in Venice

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Life and Death in Venice?

Many years ago, when I first visited Venice, I saw someone dressed as the Grim Reaper standing in a gondola. It was part of some kind of exhibition, and there were people in a gondola right next to him who were staring at him and looked afraid. When I went back to my hotel, I wrote a quick story of how Death was stalking people in a gondola. When I went back to Venice last year, I started thinking about being there when I was younger, and the story about Death that I wrote many years before, and the people I knew, and then the whole story fell into place.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Life and Death in Venice, what would they be?

Bobby: “I Want to Know What Love Is” – Foreigner
Pietro: “The Joker” – Steve Miller Band Serge: “I Did It My Way” – Frank Sinatra
Paula: “I Am Woman” – Helen Reddy
Mireille: “Theme From A Summer Place” – Percy Faith
Elena: “A Time for Us” (from the film Romeo and Juliet) – Andy Williams
Nino: “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” – Jim Croce

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I enjoy reading books in different genres. I like to revisit ‘The Sun Also Rises’ (Ernest Hemingway), ‘The Bluest Eye’ (Toni Morrison), and ‘The Great Gatsby’ (F. Scott Fitzgerald) every summer. But I also like science fiction and historical fiction. A few years ago, I wrote a science fiction book, ‘The Stranger from the Sea’, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My next novel that I’m working on now is a science fiction novel about an android girl. I am enjoying getting back to that genre again.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Besides those books I mentioned in the previous question, I am looking forward to reading ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak. My niece provided a copy and gave it high praise, so I’m looking forward to it.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

There are so many scenes in the book that I enjoyed writing, but my absolutely favorite scene is when Bobby follows the girl in the purple gown and mask who runs away from a Carnevale party. They meet up on a bridge over a canal, and he takes off his mask, and she dares him to take off hers. This scene is featured on the cover of the book.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

Well, the thing that I do that may seem quirky is that I use multiple storyboards. They are whiteboards, and I use dry-erase markers. One board is a list of characters and a sentence or two about them. As I am going along in the book, and I forget the name of someone’s wife or child, this board is incredibly helpful. Then the other boards list the chapters and what is going to happen in them. I like to write the last chapter first, so then I know where the book is going; however, in this book as I reached about the halfway point, I decided that someone had to die (the book title is ‘Life and DEATH in Venice,’) and that completely changed the last chapter. That’s why I use dry-erase markers, because I can make changes accordingly.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

I think Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” has been a great influence in my life. The quotation is: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

I would hope that readers look at Bobby, the main character, and understand his journey that involves life, love, and death. Perhaps the message is to enjoy life to the fullest, appreciate everything, care for people you love, and realize that no one is getting any younger than they are at this present moment in time.

Victor Lana is the author of the new book Life and Death in Venice

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