The Red Book
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THOUGHTS.
Martin’s life as he knows it has turned upside-down, and he decides to embark on a trip to give sense to his existence. Via coincidences and fabricated non-coincidences, he finds a group of people that helps him enhance the power of his thoughts to modify the physical world around him. In a journey within a journey, Martin discovers the powers of visualisation and its pull. And he acknowledges why he’s flooded by negative feelings when he’s close to certain people.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE ENEMIES.
Unless Martin finds the strength within himself to fight, he and everyone around him will cease to exist.
Author Interview
What is your favourite thing about writing books?
The feel of joy I experience while writing. I love putting what I picture in my mind – and what I feel – down onto the page. I love the idea of people reading what I write. I have great affection for storytelling; I always did. When I was in primary school, I used to write short stories for my friends. I love the warmth and lightness I feel when the writing flows. Also, I think that creating a story has therapeutic powers.
Who is your favourite character in your book and why?
Tough question. I love all my characters, as I dislike the antagonists of my stories. When I put my work down between drafts, I miss them as if they’re real people. If I have to choose one, I have to go for Chuck. He has a take on life that regardless of all the negative things that happened to him in his past, he remains positive, he’s loyal, funny, and he’s gifted without knowing it, which makes him even more likeable.
What is your favourite drink to consume while writing?
Coffee.
Do you have any bad habits while you’re writing?
There’re times I cripple my creative stream because I’m fixated on a few pages or even just a single word I’m not happy with, and I need to remind myself that I can correct or even scrap it later in the second, third or whatever draft. Other times, I sit down, face the computer, and the demon of procrastination comes and knocks at the door. It’s not an ordinary procrastination’s demon, it’s a cleaning one, and it has a thing for symmetry. I can leave the blank page on my computer and start rearranging the bookshelves or decide that that’s the day to descale the showerhead. I must say, thanks to this, my home is pretty tidy. Also, I can get lost inside a dictionary looking for words I may never use.
How did you research your book?
I start from the sticky idea I have in my mind, and then I connect that with my own life experiences. I must say I had a very eventful life so far, so, making a connection between the original idea and a correlating feeling I experienced before it’s a thing that comes naturally. After that, I take the two things and put them down on paper, roughly. Once I’ve done that, I read things that can be correlated to what I need, like newspapers, books, videos, the internet, speaking with people. After that, I see if anything I read, watched, or heard can give me something extra. Regarding situations I’ve never experienced or locations I’ve never been to, but I want to use them in my book, I generally watch documentaries, speak with people that may know more than me on the matter or location, I research photos I find online, and surround myself in them and then. If I find anything that inspires me, I fuse it with my imagination.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Both. I plot the points that I want in the story – including the ending – and then I pantser through. I write better if I know what’s the destination, or at least an idea of the destination. Like a boat at sea, it can fight the storms or enjoy the calm. It may take a week or a month to get to the destination, but in the end, it gets there.
If you could live in any fictional world, which would you choose and why?
The world in the Neuromancer. I’m fascinated by the idea of a super technological future I’ll never see. With the past, we can use history to give us an idea of what it was like to live in Sherlock Holmes’ Victorian era. The future requires imagination. I’d also like to live in Wonderland for a while as Alice did.
If you could befriend any fictional character, who would you choose and why?
Santiago, from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. The character transpires good vibes, and I like that. Also, I’d like to meet Alan, from The Hundred-Years-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, as I’d love to sit next to him and listen to his stories.
