Isabel Allende is a Chilean-American author who has published 18 books, including works of fiction, non-fiction, and memoir. She is one of the best-known female writers in Latin America, and[…]
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What the “Island Beneath the Sea” author’s desk looks like and why she starts each new novel on January 8th.
Question: How long do books take you to write?
rn
rnIsabel Allende: You know, every idea is like a little seed that rnis inside me and I suppose that I have many seeds. When some of them rnstart to grow and bother me and then they become like an obsession, and rnthen I know that I will probably write about that. Now, what is the bookrn going to look like or what is the story going to be like, I don’t rnknow. If it’s an historical novel, I will do the research. If it’s rnnot, if it’s just an idea of some kind, I sit down on January 8th and rnstart writing. I write between eight and 14 hours a day, sometimes. rnSo, how long does it take, if the research takes very long, I don’t evenrn count it. I would say that in a year I should have a book done. Now, rnhow much work I have done before, I don’t know. A lot.
rnQuestion: Do you work on multiple projects at once?
rn
Isabel Allende: I work with one thing at once, writing. rnBut I can be writing, for example a memoir, and researching about Haiti rnto write "The Island Beneath the Sea." And that’s exactly what I did rnwith my recent book. And in order to write the book I needed a lot of rnresearch. I had done two years of research, I thought I was ready, and rnthen on January 8 it realized it wasn’t there yet. And so I wrote in rnbetween a memoir. But I continued researching for the book.
rnQuestion: Is it true that you start each new book on January 8th?
rn
rnIsabel Allende: Well actually, I started my first novel, "The rnHouse of the Spirits," on January 8, 1991 because I was living in exile rnin Venezuela and my grandfather was dying in Chile. And I could not rnreturn to be with him, so I started a letter for him that turned into rn"The House of the Spirits," my first novel. And it was a very rnsuccessful book. So, out of superstition and Kabbalah, I started the rnsecond book on the same date. But then my life got really complicated rnwith book tours and press and correspondence and fan letters, and, you rnknow, it’s complicated. And so now, I have a foundation also—so I have rnto run a foundation, a family, and my office, plus writing. The way I rndo it is very schizophrenic. I divide the year in half, and the first rnhalf of the year, starting January 8, is my inner time, the time of rnwriting; it’s a quiet, silent time of solitude. And then the rest of rnthe year I do what I have to do.
rnQuestion: What do you envision first when you sit down to write?
rn
Isabel Allende: The story. I love stories and I do rnresearch, let’s say about for my latest book, "Island Beneath the Sea." rn I researched what is today Haiti and New Orleans, the Caribbean. And rnthen that leads me to research about the American Revolution and the rnFrench Revolution and what it was happening with the pirates of the rnCaribbean. It’s like pieces that I sort of put together. And then I rnsit down on January 8th with all this research and all of these pieces rnand I know that I’m going to write about a woman slave, that's all I rnknow. And I sort of see the woman, I know who she is. Now, what’s gongrn to happen to her, her story, I don't really know it. As I write, it rnstarts to unfold, and then when the characters that are unexpected for rnme, then I know that the story has its own course that's flowing. And rnhow do the other characters come? As I need them. If I have a slave, rnof course I need a master, and I need a family, and I need other slaves,rn and I need people who will help the slave to find her freedom. I need rnsomeone who falls I love with her. So, all of that comes in the rnprocess.
rnQuestion: What does your desk look like?
rn
Isabel Allende: My desk is like a “U”, so I have my rncomputer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live rnin English. And in the case of my latest book, everything happened in rnFrench, you know, in a French colony, so I have books in French, I mean,rn dictionaries in French and English and Spanish, and I work like that. rnAnd then I have all of my research around me and my office has all the rnwalls covered with my first editions, and photographs of the people I rnlove, dead and alive, and that’s it. It’s messy.
Recorded on May 3, 2010
rnInterviewed by Priya George
rn
rnIsabel Allende: You know, every idea is like a little seed that rnis inside me and I suppose that I have many seeds. When some of them rnstart to grow and bother me and then they become like an obsession, and rnthen I know that I will probably write about that. Now, what is the bookrn going to look like or what is the story going to be like, I don’t rnknow. If it’s an historical novel, I will do the research. If it’s rnnot, if it’s just an idea of some kind, I sit down on January 8th and rnstart writing. I write between eight and 14 hours a day, sometimes. rnSo, how long does it take, if the research takes very long, I don’t evenrn count it. I would say that in a year I should have a book done. Now, rnhow much work I have done before, I don’t know. A lot.
rnQuestion: Do you work on multiple projects at once?
rn
Isabel Allende: I work with one thing at once, writing. rnBut I can be writing, for example a memoir, and researching about Haiti rnto write "The Island Beneath the Sea." And that’s exactly what I did rnwith my recent book. And in order to write the book I needed a lot of rnresearch. I had done two years of research, I thought I was ready, and rnthen on January 8 it realized it wasn’t there yet. And so I wrote in rnbetween a memoir. But I continued researching for the book.
rnQuestion: Is it true that you start each new book on January 8th?
rn
rnIsabel Allende: Well actually, I started my first novel, "The rnHouse of the Spirits," on January 8, 1991 because I was living in exile rnin Venezuela and my grandfather was dying in Chile. And I could not rnreturn to be with him, so I started a letter for him that turned into rn"The House of the Spirits," my first novel. And it was a very rnsuccessful book. So, out of superstition and Kabbalah, I started the rnsecond book on the same date. But then my life got really complicated rnwith book tours and press and correspondence and fan letters, and, you rnknow, it’s complicated. And so now, I have a foundation also—so I have rnto run a foundation, a family, and my office, plus writing. The way I rndo it is very schizophrenic. I divide the year in half, and the first rnhalf of the year, starting January 8, is my inner time, the time of rnwriting; it’s a quiet, silent time of solitude. And then the rest of rnthe year I do what I have to do.
rnQuestion: What do you envision first when you sit down to write?
rn
Isabel Allende: The story. I love stories and I do rnresearch, let’s say about for my latest book, "Island Beneath the Sea." rn I researched what is today Haiti and New Orleans, the Caribbean. And rnthen that leads me to research about the American Revolution and the rnFrench Revolution and what it was happening with the pirates of the rnCaribbean. It’s like pieces that I sort of put together. And then I rnsit down on January 8th with all this research and all of these pieces rnand I know that I’m going to write about a woman slave, that's all I rnknow. And I sort of see the woman, I know who she is. Now, what’s gongrn to happen to her, her story, I don't really know it. As I write, it rnstarts to unfold, and then when the characters that are unexpected for rnme, then I know that the story has its own course that's flowing. And rnhow do the other characters come? As I need them. If I have a slave, rnof course I need a master, and I need a family, and I need other slaves,rn and I need people who will help the slave to find her freedom. I need rnsomeone who falls I love with her. So, all of that comes in the rnprocess.
rnQuestion: What does your desk look like?
rn
Isabel Allende: My desk is like a “U”, so I have my rncomputer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live rnin English. And in the case of my latest book, everything happened in rnFrench, you know, in a French colony, so I have books in French, I mean,rn dictionaries in French and English and Spanish, and I work like that. rnAnd then I have all of my research around me and my office has all the rnwalls covered with my first editions, and photographs of the people I rnlove, dead and alive, and that’s it. It’s messy.
Recorded on May 3, 2010
rnInterviewed by Priya George
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