The four minds carry out a creative collective writing process, taking the Benidorm Festival as a starting point. Roberto Santiago, Begoña Oro, Belén Gopegui and Nando López, four leading writers of children’s and youth literature in Spain, created the first collective novel written by eight hands.: love and hateFrom SM publishing house.
The story focuses on four friends Erik, Allegra, Nil and Ras. They go to Benidorm to have a unique experience at Benidorm Fest. A romantic youth novel with a touch of tension.It takes place in the music festival most followed by Spanish European fans.
The idea of bringing these writers together was this: Berta Márquez, editor-in-chief of Children’s and Young People’s Literature at SM, will reflect on “whether the dialogue between four writers can emerge from such a solitary activity as writing.”. They each designed a character and went to Benidorm together to become more familiar with the setting of this story.
The book was introduced in Costa Blanca, the capital of tourism. In this exhibition, Benidorm’s first deputy mayor, Ana Pellicer, stated: “There is something about Benidorm that is defined and valued only by those of us who live here.On the contrary, the millions of people who choose us every year do so: there is no monotony in Benidorm, and this is very attractive from a vital and literary point of view.”
bulk write
The main question that emerges from this study is the importance of a unique creative process. Inside love and hate The four characters created by each writer meet the night before the finale; Here you will have escape, weapons, explosions and endless traps to avoid. To write the YA novel, it took a week and 10,000 characters to be distributed from one person to another, without any prerequisites. Already at the rewriting stage, the dots were connected so that everything fit together perfectly.
“It was a really challenging process,” says Roberto Santiago (Rebellion of the good guys, great football), The bestselling author of children’s and adult literature reveals that the hardest thing is “contributing to the best of all worlds and at the same time going with the flow and trusting your fellow travelers.” a group of very talented people; It has been amazing with our editor’s encouragement, motivation and guidance.
For Belén Gopegui, the famous writer of Spanish literature (Scale of maps, I would like to be a punk), This became a “gift” that allowed him to “be alone with the story, that secret part of writing, and at the same time enjoy the luxury of working with this team, accompanying each other, exchanging ideas, clearing doubts and sharing.” imagination”. For Gopegui and the rest of the team, the hardest part of the process was the deadlines, and the most rewarding thing was the company. They all agree that it has made them better writers and, above all, great friends.
Nando López admits: “The camaraderie of this team is a treasure that I carry with me.”Age of Wrath, Eric’s Version), who writes about topics like inclusion, identity, and gender. “Our characters were freer than we could have ever imagined, taking on new layers through the work of others, forcing us to always be on our toes.We are aware that our novel is alive and that it is ours and someone else’s at the same time,” explains López.
Begoña Oro, creator of children’s and youth stories (Grapefruit and lemon, magic pantry), “I set out reluctantly and fearfully. I thought I neither liked nor knew how to write in a team; but now I have the unbridled enthusiasm of a convert.” “I have never experienced a project with this much anxiety, this much tension and emotion.”
Benidorm, a character in history
“A small country, half a story, half almost real,” Belén Gopegui describes it, explaining that it now represents the time they shared when “Benidorm lived and dreamed through our characters.” For Roberto Santiago, this is the city of his adolescence and the place where he spent and continues to spend many summers with his family. “I love Benidorm, I know that very well“But I rediscovered this while writing the novel,” he admits.
A fun and bright music festival took place here. criticizes Nando López, a writer devoted to young people, who “also brings together much less friendly truths like this hate This is what gives our book its title and what I think is necessary to think about. “The violence we can trigger with impunity on networks targeting real people; although we talk more and more about mental health, we sometimes pay little attention to it when giving our opinions on the work of others.”
Begoña Oro says the festival is almost as complex as the city and that it is “the stuff of literature.” “He is fascinated by the mixture of such different elements: European fans and people enjoying their retirement, the cold night and the sun reflecting on the sea, towers and palm trees.”love of music and wild rivalry, love and hate… ”