19 Dec 2023

How To Found A Writing School Interview With Elise Nebout, Co-Founder Of The Les Mots School

During last summer, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elise Nebout, co-founder of the les Mots school, a school dedicated to learning writing whose premises are in Paris but which also offers numerous online workshops. A special moment to talk about writing, the profession of author, the importance of training and opening up to the world. ‍

How do you view the profession of the author? What does it mean to be an author today according to you? 

Being a writer for me is a way of being in the world. Being a writer isn’t just about writing, it’s an attitude. The authors are on the lookout for everything, and we find these impregnations in their works. It’s an approach, an attention to the world that can lead to inspiration at any time. 

There is an initial sensitivity I think, but this way of being a writer can also be cultivated. We find it among people who write in general, even in a leisure setting, as an amateur. A desire to put things into words, to show a certain vision of the world, HIS vision of the world. 

For an author, it is almost a question of being inhabited by a passion “without expectations”. It is a huge success when they are published and, even when they succeed, there is little recognition and little fame involved. Those who continue to write demonstrate that it is vital for them because it is a hard job.

Finally, they need to nourish their creativity. The author must today be included in society and not withdrawn into his ivory tower. We must move away from the image of the writer cut off from society because, for me, it is not by being reclusive, withdrawn into oneself, that we grow. 

Certainly, there is a need for moments of solitude, of production, but these must alternate with moments of coming into contact with society. Obviously, each author will have his or her personal response and it remains a question of balance: it is about creating a life that has a social element. In any case, this is what I observe in the authors with whom I collaborate. We cannot separate ourselves from life, from interaction with others.  

How was the Les Mots school of which you are co-founder created? 
The Les Mots school was born from a call for projects — Reinventing Paris — launched by the Paris City Hall in 2015. The initial idea came from Alexandre Lacroix (co-founder of the school but also writer, professor of creative writing and Editorial Director of Philosophy magazine). 

The challenge of this call for projects was to propose concepts, ideas, in-depth editorial lines for exceptional places in Paris.

For us, the Les Mots school was intended for the Hôtel de la Bûcherie, rue Dante. Alexandre (Lacroix) had for a long time this dream of a writing school with a fairly precise idea of ​​the pedagogy that he wanted to establish there. 

For me, although I had been passionate about writing for a long time — I had actually met Alexandre during a writing course he gave at Sciences Po Lyon — I later found myself director of the 39;s Numa startup accelerator. 

It's been a bit of a crazy job with the main objective of creating and maintaining a conducive environment for entrepreneurs and the conduct of their projects. I realize today that there are many similarities with running a writing school. 

At the time, I had already thought that there was no place dedicated to writing in France that adopted the modern Anglo-Saxon approach. During and after my studies, I continued to follow workshops, I tried a lot of them, but no format was really suitable. 

With the Numa accelerator, I was focused on collaboration, digital, an innovative way of thinking, the fluidity of information: a sort of school for entrepreneurs. 

Initially, I had in mind to launch a writers accelerator, that is to say, to help young authors access publication and publishing. 

The exchanges with Alexandre echoed my own thoughts on the subject. From the start, we were very complementary in our know-how and our networks, with the same desire to modernize the writing workshops. 

For the call for tenders, we were finalists without winning it but the Paris City Hall allowed us to learn about the fantastic Semaest system. Smaller, in the same street, via another call for projects system to benefit from beautiful places in the capital at a very reduced rent for project leaders. Previously, we had already experimented through workshops in cafes and as part of a town hall festival in the 5th arrondissement. 2016 was the year of preparation, search for partners and writers and 2017, the year of launch. Immediately, the school was a success because there was a need, a public in demand. 

What role does Les Mots school give itself? What makes it original?

The school's pedagogy retains the principles of the writing workshop. The idea is to say: literature is not learned through theory but through practice. In swimming, you will not progress by devouring books on crawl technique. We practice, we dive, we swim. This conviction of the importance of practice comes from the Anglo-Saxon world, from “creative writing”. You have to read, write, question all the dimensions of writing: narrative, stylistic, structural. 

Often, we have the feeling that writing a book is within everyone's reach when it is not at all. There is a whole lot of know-how involved that needs to be acquired. 

For its “teachers, the guideline of the Les Mots school is to detect “passenger” profiles among authors. They are not teachers with degrees in leading writing workshops, but they are above all writers and/or editors, often self-taught, and have a strong educational background. 

The objective is to make their know-how visible and transferable. This know-how built by people who have been writing for fifteen or twenty years and transmit it to the people attending their workshops. 

For example, when Alexandre (Lacroix) writes, we see that it is his job. He masters all the techniques of writing and this allows him to express his uniqueness. Without technical background, you don't go anywhere. 

It's like gymnastics. From the outside, we have the impression that the movements are easy when it is quite the opposite.

It is still the illusion of the romanticism of writing, of the writer who picks up a pen and writes. But no, it’s a lot of work, willpower, and a feeling of necessity. It is surely because of this illusion of ease that writing was slow to have a solid training offer in France. 

How does the school work? What are its objectives and the target audience?

There are a thousand techniques that one can acquire in writing and, within the school, a person can follow three workshops and derive three very different messages. It won't be contradictory, she will just have to keep those who resonate with her the most. In other words, we give people who have a taste for writing, aspiring authors, the opportunity to build their own toolbox. 

From the start, we set ourselves three principles. First, for the animation of the workshops, to have writers in all their diversity. Not qualified teachers but authors who have a “transmitter soul” of their know-how. They embody the requirement and the notion of accessibility that are close to our hearts. Almost all authors who lead school workshops have published several books. 

Secondly, we wanted to make this writing school an uninhibited, modern place, far from the “stiffy chic of Saint-Germain” (des-Prés). The objective was to offer accessible, affordable workshops, in a beautiful place where you feel good, both in substance and form. We want to ensure that there is no prior selection to register for a workshop.

Finally, accessibility should also be reflected in prices. The workshops are 25 euros per hour for all workshops, excluding the professional training offer, which amounts to the hourly rate of many leisure activities.

The school aims to support apprentice authors in “unblocking themselves”, in letting go, in allowing themselves to do what they refuse to attempt when they are alone. In other words, positive psychology: encourage and solidify. 

But this does not prevent us from maintaining a realistic discourse regarding the author's profession.

It will be four years at the end of the year since the school was born and we continue to respond to changing needs. We are increasingly differentiating leisure practice from professional practice, even if leisure today represents 90% of our offer.