Getting to Know Spirals (Episode 3 of 5)

Let's not let anxiety get the better of us! We're going to continue with the radio interview that Pablo A. Bravo, author of Espirales, El Juego del Poder, gave last week. In this third part, Pablo details a bit more about his creative journey. Shall we begin? Of course!

• Now I'd like to talk about Research and Documentation: The novel has certain legal, medical, and technical elements. What kind of research did you have to do, and how did you manage to integrate that information without disrupting the narrative flow?

  That's a job I didn't expect to be so demanding. I've always admired writers like Dan Brown who center their work on specific, real events and places, making their stories entirely plausible. Now I admire them even more. I had to pause my narrative several times to check information or research facts and contexts I wasn't familiar with. At times, it frustrated me to have to stop the story's progress to do research, but it was essential to give the story verisimilitude.

• What was the most challenging moment in writing Spirals? Were there any chapters or plot twists that you found particularly difficult to bring to life?

  
  There wasn't a specific chapter, but there was a moment when I lost my way. I was moving forward with the story, starting with an initial idea, but without much structure. I don't have a degree in literature or any specialization in this area. However, I'm self-taught, and that has led me to read a lot and seek guidance from great writers. Anyway… this made me work almost without a structure, and I reached a point where the story was progressing almost aimlessly. I got frustrated because I didn't know how to get out of the mess I'd gotten myself into. I had a story with a solid and logical evolution, it had rhythm, and it had a beginning I really liked; but I couldn't move forward. I had to put it down for a few days. I'd been stuck for almost a week without finding a way out of writer's block, and while talking to a friend, I asked him for advice, and he asked me what was wrong.

  "I have a powerful opening with a promise to the reader that I have to keep, character development that seems quite solid to me, but I don't know how to continue the story. I don't know what I have to do to reach the end," I told him.

  "Where is that ending? What is, or rather, what is the goal you want to reach?"

  "That's what I don't know."

  "Write it down!"

  That was pure gold. It quickly pulled me out of my writer's block. I didn't finish my coffee. I had to go. I had an ending to write. And so I did; I wrote the ending, which then changed a couple of times with the revisions. And with that ending defined, I was able to return to the point where I had gotten stuck and simply began to connect the dots necessary to reach that goal.

In the next post, Pablo will continue telling us a little more about his journey and the launch of Espirales. Don't miss it!