ANDRES SEOANE
Updated Friday, December 23, 2022-15:59
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The keys to the 'Wattpad phenomenon' The young writers who are sweeping bookstores
"It's been a totally crazy year. How has everything gone so fast?
I've had five books published and I still haven't had time to stop and really think about what's going on
," reflects an emotional Joana Marcús (Mallorca, 2000) who this 2022 has broken several records with the first two volumes of his tetralogy
Months by your side
, which Montena has just published
After December , and with the
Fire
trilogy
, already released by Crossbooks.
Books that have sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
"I started at the age of 11. Because of my dyslexia, the counselor at my school recommended that I read for a while every day and I ended up becoming a fan of reading. The idea of starting to write didn't come until I found out about Wattpad.
I liked seeing other people from They published books on the internet my age and I was encouraged to try it myself
. At first they weren't books, but short stories, usually romantic ones, that I wrote in the app and didn't bother to correct or revise. It wasn't until I was 15 that I started writing longer novels," he explains.
after december
Joana Marcus
Montena.
432 pages.
€17.95 Ebook: €4.99
You can buy it here.
The icing on the cake, after having swept national fairs and Sant Jordi, has been her passage a few weeks ago at the FIL in Guadalajara (Mexico), the second most important literary event in the world, in which she has been the most sought-after writer.
"
The week I was in Mexico,
After December
it was the best-selling book and
Before December
, the third
. In addition, the level of fans is overwhelming. It is the same number as in Spain, but there they are much more affectionate, they shout It's another level," he says.
"It's all a bit surreal, huh? The moment you get on stage and see all these people, it's hard for you to think that they're there for you. You always look for a secondary explanation like they were passing by, they got bored and they've come to see what this girl said. But
It's hard for you to assume that they're really there because they want your signature," he
shares with a smile.
Who also knows a lot about signatures and avalanches of readers is Alice Kellen (Valencia, 1989), who
entered the literary world in 2013 when Plataforma decided to publish her novel
Take me anywhere
, which the writer had posted on Amazon with great success
.
Since then, she's racked up another 15 books and more than a million readers, but she traces her beginnings back much earlier.
"I have always written, since I was very little, it was something that I loved, like someone who likes to draw or any other hobby.
I remember having written diaries when I was 10 years old, and as a teenager I began to write in forums, but a little for me, for fun
.
In my twenties I was encouraged to upload the first finished novel to Amazon.
I had finished others before, but there are many that are in the drawer."
The archipelago theory
alice kellen
Planet.
288 pages.
€16.90 Ebook: €7.99
You can buy it here.
Kellen kept writing until, little by little, "
writing started to become a bit of my job, and that changes everything. The way you face the blank page, too
. You don't just sit down at the end of the day to spend some time with yourself anymore in something that you like, there are already more things", he explains.
"There is the fear of disappointing, the reader on the one hand and also a team of many people who bet on you. I would say that professionalization adds a little more pressure."
A pressure that has not prevented him from publishing
two novels this year that have also dominated sales lists and bookstores for weeks,
The Map of Longings
and
The Theory of the Archipelagos
, both published by Planeta.
The latter, which tells a fleeting and intense love story between two men set in the 80s, represents a considerable leap from the world of youth to explore various temporal planes, the frustrations of maturity, the guilt that grows over the years... .
The end of prejudice?
"I couldn't have written this novel when I was starting out, because I just didn't know how to write it. Your style and your writing evolve and grow with you, little by little, naturally, and it's exciting to see how readers follow you," says Kellen , a writer with enough strength and quality to escape the clichés and clichés that usually accompany both romantic and young adult novels.
"
I think that the contempt suffered by love stories is an educational issue, since love is associated with women, as if only women fell in love
and it didn't happen with men," she defends.
"Emotions are associated with vulnerability and love is seen as a corny feeling that is not talked about. But it is curious that it occurs in literature in such an obvious way; because,
On a musical level, no one is surprised that almost all the songs talk about love
and on top of that they are much more cheesy and dramatic, and men love them".
"All genres have their stigmas, their prejudices, and romance is always considered to be written by and for women. Also,
I am a young woman who writes mainly for other young people and that has many stereotypes behind it
," Marcús reasons.
"Just as there are going to be people who are going to encourage you a lot, who are going to support you, there are also going to be people who are not going to like anything and, well,
it's something you have to learn to live with, because It's very difficult to make people who don't like anything change their minds
. You have to focus on the good side of the scale."
Regarding the youth genre, the writer believes that "in general, many people consider it as a transitional literature, what you have to read to get to the real one. And
in the end, when you stop to analyze it, the real one It is everything. In other words, literature in general is everything, children's literature, youth literature and any genre
. Personally, I have always thought that the concept of a youth novel focuses on the age of its characters, not on that of its readers. ".
Beyond debates about audiences and genres, both writers also fight against one last prejudice: that of being best-selling authors in a literary market that looks suspiciously at large circulations and continuous reprints.
"I've been guilty of that myself. You feel more special when you discover an indie movie that 300 people have seen and that is very good. But
if something hits you, you think it's not a big deal, it's no longer so intimate, so special
," Kellen says.
"
Everything that succeeds normally carries the label of being of poorer quality. Maybe yes and maybe not
, each case must be assessed."
Explore without limits
After such a hectic year, both authors agree that they need some rest and perspective, although it doesn't seem like it will take long before we see their novelties in bookstores.
Of course, both are very aware, despite their youth and their great success, that literature is a long-distance race.
"
I believe in literature above the market. As a writer it is important to focus on books, beyond everything else
," says Marcús, who updates three other stories on Wattpad weekly.
"The Fire
trilogy
allowed me to try the science fiction genre, and I also have fantasy stories, it's not all romance.
I would like to explore genres that I haven't touched yet, while keeping my style of course
.
As a writer you have to be very aware of where you want to go, even when you're doing something different than usual."
An experimentation that also pleases Kellen very much, who recognizes that with promotion writing can suffer.
"Before, I used to sit down and write for about six hours a day, but now it's impossible. And
the creative process breaks, or at least mine breaks, and I need calm to write without having outside noise around
. "
As for the paths that his novels will take, he warns that he is obsessed with "not making two novels the same, not getting stuck in a fixed formula."
Of course, in them there will always be daily emotions.
"
I am very interested in exploring the subtle, the sensory, the universal themes that somehow we still like and are always there.
.
Narrate them with my current voice, always changing.
I hope to continue learning and that within ten years, or more, this evolution will continue to be noticed in which the readers accompany me.
I wish".
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