Alicante author Daniel Hernández Chambers is currently collaborating on a novel with a vast network of students from schools across Spain and Latin America. Through Fiction Express publishing house, a platform used by more than 1,500 educational centers in Spain and over 9,000 worldwide, the initiative aims to keep young readers engaged and strengthen language proficiency by immersing them in a comprehensive reading experience suitable for ages nine through sixteen.
Daniel Hernández Chambers’ “outburst”
The publisher has long embraced a model of co-created writing, beginning with a first chapter that offers three possible sequels. Now it is Chambers who brings the story to life. Readers in participating schools weigh in by voting for their preferred continuation, shaping the narrative as it unfolds. Beyond the book itself, a forum invites students to share comments, pose questions to the author, and offer suggestions.
“This project came to me through the publisher, and at first I wasn’t aware there would be so many creators involved,” the author explains. Students from diverse places join Spain-based schools, including destinations like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Morocco, and the Dominican Republic. The evolving plot is guided by student votes, which means the storyline can veer toward plot twists not initially anticipated by the writer.
We explore with these guidelines The two sides of the mirror A fantasy tale in which the protagonist, Jota, spends a holiday at the home of his uncles, antique dealers in Brighton. A striking mirror appears—one of the last items his uncle purchased—and Jota discovers it does not always reflect what is present. Instead, it sometimes reveals elements from another time and place. A young woman in danger appears, and she will catalyze Jota’s transformation.
The first chapter of this book, a celebration of fantasy, was released on the Fiction Express platform on November 3. A new chapter is written and published every Friday for five weeks, with reader votes guiding the narrative. Readers can interact with the author through the forum. The weekly cadence leaves little room for maneuver, so the author often considers options before writing to maintain momentum.
The freedom granted to co-creators extends beyond embellishment and can alter the direction of the entire novel. The author notes that while other writers may proceed differently on this platform, he is deeply committed to the process and welcomes the input of readers, even when it means choosing a path that diverges from a prior plan.
For the first time, he faces this interactive method of book creation with a global cohort of students. Beyond writing, he has held roles in circulation and projection, and he has worked in administrative support at a TRAM headquarters. His roots in the city run deep, even though his birthplace lies in the Canary Islands. The family settled in the region before he was one year old, and the area has remained a constant presence in his life.
A platform with educational resources
The fully digital Fiction Express model connects readers with professional writers through an interactive forum and a voting system that places students at the center of their reading journey. This approach yields resources for teachers, including surveys, cross-curricular projects, vocabulary development, reading comprehension, writing, and speaking exercises, all aligned with the curricula across the region.
Since its start in 2012, the platform has reached around 9,000 schools in more than 60 countries, with a strong footprint in Spain and Latin America. It publishes three books in Spanish and three in English every two months, totaling 54 books annually across three languages.
Co-founders emphasize the impact of students actively writing within a novel, noting that regular reading correlates with improvements across academics. They envision expanding Fiction Express’s reach to millions of children through continued education-focused initiatives in the years ahead.