Photography: Facebook profile of Toti Martínez de Lezea.
Toti Martinez de Lezea has a long and very recognized trajectory like historical novel writer. There are many titles like The towers of Sancho, The herbalist, And all fell silent, The heath, Enda, Itahisa, The broken chain or Land of milk and honey. And a new one awaits us in October.
In this interview tells us a little about his creative writing, authors y characters favorites, in addition to anticipating that new release and tell us how he sees the editorial panorama figure. I greatly appreciate your great kindness and time dedicated.
INTERVIEW WITH TOTI MARTÍNEZ DE LEZEA
- ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Do you remember the first book you read? And the first story you wrote?
TOTI MARTÍNEZ DE LEZEA: As much as remembering the first book I read… it's been a while! I can tell you that the television set entered my house when I was about 13 years old and that both my parents were great readers and I grew up among books. I also know that my first readings were the Andersen tales, those of the brothers Grimm, Basque legends collected by don Jose Miguel de Barandiaran at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
As for the first story I wrote… I was good at writing in high school! I was television scriptwriter, I assembled two groups of , and also wrote I the scripts, but let's say that the first in my writing was The abbess, although the first to be published was The street of the Jewish quarter in 1998.
- AL: What was the first book that struck you and why?
TML: The answer is more or less the same, I don't remember, although I do remember works like The Count of Monte Cristo, of Dumas, 25.000 leagues of underwater travel, by Jules Verne, or The island of the treasureby Stevenson, which I read when I was very young. Those readings led me to want more and currently our library family contains about 15.000 books.
Why did they shock me? Because they started me in history and travel, in unknown cultures, ways of life, adventure, traditions… and I continue!
- AL: Who is your favorite writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.
TML: I don't have none y I have muchos. Each of my times has had its authors, depending on what interested me at each moment. If I had to mention a few, I don't know ... Victor Hugo, Dumas, Tolstoï, Dostoevsky, Zola… I'm quite nineteenth-century!
- AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?
TML: Heh, heh, what a question! Meet maybe Jean Valjean, the protagonist of The Miserables, and Edmond dantès de El conde de montecristo. As for creating to any character already created, well to none. Each author has his world, and its protagonists are works of the imagination; the experiences and the way of seeing life are non-transferable.
- AL: Any mania when it comes to writing or reading?
TML: I used to light a cigarette, which was normally burned in the ashtray. Now I have quit smoking, but what I do do is play music. Both when I write and when I read I search a sound to accompany me, to help me in some way recreate what I read or write.
- AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?
TML: I have a room to work. Read I do it anywhereEven in the kitchen while I wait for the macaroni to cook! Usually I write after eating and until dinner time. Sometimes I go on even until the wee hours of the morning, between six and eight hours daily
- AL: What writer or book has influenced your work as an author?
TML: I guess some. When you are a vocational reader, when you have read countless books by very different authors, styles, plots, forms, lexicons, everything influences, remains in the subconscious, especially when it comes to writing. I do not have an author or a specific work, but it is true that I am passionate about XNUMXth century literature, so probably the influence comes from there.
- AL: Your favorite genres besides historical?
TML: Anyone who has something interesting to tell me. I am not interested in reading just to read without there being a critical vision of a certain situation, time or events behind it. For example, in addition to being well written, a crime or drama novel, so in vogue right now, you have to tell me more than one or more murders or a description of some sexual intercourse. Have to have a background, a criticism or a judgment of the facts and characters related, otherwise I lose interest and do not finish it.
- AL: What are you reading now? And writing?
TML: I just finished a gorgeous book titled Infinity in a reed, by Irene Vallejo. A test what about the invention of books in the ancient world, a real delight how it is written and what it counts. It has been a discovery. And i just started Mongo White, Carlos Barden, a tough story about slavery in the XNUMXth century and a novel winner of the Spartaco Prize for Historical Novels.
As for writing, I have already told you that I finished this year's novel in February. Will come out in October or over there. Title: The publisher, And it's not historical, or maybe it is?
- AL: How do you think the publishing scene is for as many authors as there are or want to publish?
TML: Bad bad… It always has been, but now it is more so due to the current situation and new technologies: Internet, networks, platforms ... On the other hand, there are no readers for as many books as are publishedAnd there is something else: any job requires knowledge and experience, but it turns out that we learn to write with five years. Putting words together does not mean knowing how to write a book, as singing loudly does not mean that one is an opera singer. There are three conditions to be a writer: have read a lot, spend time and, especially, have something to tell, something that is not as easy as it seems.
- AL: Is the moment of crisis that we are experiencing being difficult for you or will you be able to keep something positive for future novels?
TML: Actually, it's not costing me much. We live in a town, we have a vegetable garden, we are not to go out, and our time passes between music and books. Although it is true that i am lazy vague. I haven't written a line in these four months, maybe because this year's novel was already finished, so I'm in no rush. I don't think I'll keep any of this situation, except for the manipulation and control of which ordinary citizens are being subjected, as always, we pay and will pay the consequences.