David B Gil | Photography: author's website.
David B Gil He is from Cádiz and graduated in Journalism. he started self-publishing a first novel, El warrior in the shade of the cherry tree, who was a finalist in the Fernando Lara Award and was the first self-published title to win an Award hislibris of Historical Novel. then they came Children of the binary god, award finalist ignorant y Eight millions of gods which won the X Hislibris Award for Best Novel in Spanish. Last May he published forged in the storm. He tells us about her in this interview I thank you very much for the time and kindness dedicated
David B. Gil—Interview
- ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Your latest novel is titled forged in the storm. What do you tell us about it and where did the idea come from?
DAVID B. GIL: It is a novel by classic investigation and mystery in its approach, but atypical in its setting, since it develops in the XNUMXth century rural Japan. It is difficult for me to establish the origin of the seminal ideas of my novels. I imagine that as happens to all authors, they arise from that tidal wave of affiliations, influences, references and curiosities that boils in our heads. In the case of forged in the storm clearly connects with my previous works, since at the heart of all of them there is a mystery which serves as narrative engine.
- AL: Can you go back to that first book you read? And the first story you wrote?
DBG: Probably the first book I read on my own would be some asterix comic, bologna o Clink. My parents read them to me and, apparently, at the age of three it was already common to see me with a comic in my hands.
The first story I wrote must have been some essay for school, which are usually the first structured stories that we all face. I kept writing reports on my own throughout my school and university years, but they were short, no more than five pages. The first text narrative long what i faced was The warrior in the shade of the cherry tree.
- AL: A head writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.
DBG: Sure, we all have various influences, some more conscious than others. The one who planted in me the passion for narrative was J. R R Tolkien, from whom I learned that a book can have life beyond its own pages. At the level of prose and literary style, a clear referent is Gabriel García Márquez, and in terms of structure of a story and construction of characters, Alan Moore y Naoki Urasawa.
- AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?
DBG: Probably Dracula, the most elegant villain in the history of literature.
- AL: Any special habits or habits when it comes to writing or reading?
DBG: Am a writer organized. As I write, I like to have everything I need close at hand and in its place. Also I usually read half an hour before starting the writing day; not necessarily an attractive story or related to what I'm writing, but an author who stands out for having good prose. marks me a bar of excellence to achieve and helps me get rid of mannerisms.
- AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?
DBG: Writing is my job, so it's not a matter of preference. At 9 I am sitting in my office and the day is prolonged until 15:XNUMX p.m.. In especially intense writing periods, usually when I am near the end of the manuscript, I may also write the weekends wherever it catches me.
- AL: Are there other genres that you like?
DBG: Sure. curiously I'm more of a science fiction reader than a historical novel. But I consume all kinds of stories in all kinds of media: novels, comics, movies, TV, video games, anime... I do not close myself to any gender; if the story is good, I can be captivated by historical fiction, fantasy, thriller or romance.
- AL: What are you reading now? And writing?
DBG: I usually read several things at the same time, and it's one of the reasons I'm a slow reader. I'm reading Ilium, Mario Villen, which seems to me to be a work of documentation and updating of the Iliad awful. The battle of the Tengu', by Stan Sakai, and various books by documentation.
As for what I'm writing, you can't say yet, but it is not a novel.
- AL: How do you think the publishing scene is?
DBG: Against the forecast, the pandemic has been a turning point in terms of sales, which have begun to pick up. That does not mean that we have suddenly become a country of readers, nor that the industry has changed its model. Many titles continue to be published each year and the market is unbalanced: Most titles sell little or very little, and a few sell a lot. Everyone seems to agree that there is an excess of launches and that there is no space to consolidate a mid list, but nobody wants to be the first to lift their foot off the accelerator
- AL: Is the moment of crisis that we are experiencing being difficult for you or will you be able to keep something positive in both the cultural and social spheres?
DBG: The advantage we writers have is that, in times of crisis, we can withdraw into our own world, create our own reality, at least for a few hours a day. Personally, all this episode pandemic has been fruitful creatively; the bad part came when you separated from the word processor and turned on the news.