Please welcome my special guest, award-winning Cuban playwright and novelist Teresa Dovalpage. She is here today to talk about her novel, Habanera.
Theresa holds a doctorate in Latin American Literature and author of five novels, three Spanish and two in English, a collection of short stories in Spanish. Her game is set in Chicago by aguijón theaters and small theaters in Miami. Her articles, reviews and short stories have appeared in Rosebud, Hispanic Today, Afro-Hispanic Review, Baquiana, La Peregrina, Letras femeninas, El Nuevo Herald and other publications. Currently working as a freelancer for the Taos News and bilingual paper Mas New Mexico.
Teresa currently lives in Taos, New Mexico, where he teaches Spanish and Spanish literature at UNM-Taos.
P: Thank you for this interview, Teresa! When you decide you wanted to become a writer?
: Thank you, Chica! Now that I think about it, probably decided to become a writer when I was a teenager. I grew up in Havana in the 80's and entertainment options are fairly limited time camping in a rustic setting or in the Saturday night parties. I have never been cheez boom bah type (in fact, I was a nerd), and was afraid of snakes, so I stayed home in the company books. After reading thousands of pages, the time comes when I thought, "Hey, I bet you could write one too." And I began to write ... some really terrible story, the mother.
P: Did someone in your family or creative writing interest
: My grandfather used to have long conversations with himself, and he often wrote. He copied them carefully, in a dialogue between two characters, "Yo" and "We're not" (I and I). I do not know if this counts as creativity, though ... I tried to show some of his eccentricities in Ponciana, the main character in my grandfather's Habanera novel, A Portrait of Cuban families.
Q: Do you have any fights or problems when you start to write
: When I lived in Cuba I did not think it would be an opportunity for me to write my book so I just keep writing for love, por amor al Arte. But I knew I would eventually leave the island, which occurred in 1996. Once I came to "La Yuma" as we call the United States, it is very smooth roads. I am neither an agent when I started, just sent the manuscript of a girl like Che Guevara on as many labels as I could remember. "Someone will pick it up, one day," I thought.
Q: Do you have a mentor
: Pues Claro! There are two writers who I greatly admire, and consider my mentor, mis maestras. One of them was Lorraine Lopez, author of Gifted Gabaldon Sisters, and a finalist for the 2010 PEN / Faulkner Award. I always learn a lot about plot development and structure of reading her books. And my fellow Cuban Ana Cabrera Vivanco, currently living in Spain and author of Las Horas del Alma, a brilliant novel that I expect to see translated into English soon.
P: Now let's talk about his latest novel, Habanera, which has won some rave reviews. What is it about and what was your inspiration for it?
: It started as a memoir, but at some point I realized I was again too much history. After some prodding from my mother, who called me a liar, among other things, I decided to turn it into fiction. It is partly based on his family, even though I added many events that never happened in reality. (There was a spirit at home, at least that I know.) But the characters are inspired by my parents and grandparents who were and are-weird outfit and crew.
P: Habanera combines quirky humor, compelling drama. How do you decide when to include humor in this kind of novel? Is it a conscious decision, or it comes naturally?
A: Well, some things that people find funny never intended to be humorous at all, hehehe ...
Q: One reviewer wrote: ". Dovalpage is a master of quirky, lovable characters and emotionally resonant narrative," How to create characters and make them real? How to make your windows shine with emotion?
: In this case, I copied most of the characters from reality, thus creating a "real" characters was relatively easy. Anyway, I knew a good model ... As for the emotion part, I try to give as much detail as I can, to get inside characters' heads and let the edge do not speak.
Q: What was your writing process like when working on the Habanera? Was it difficult to go back in time and relive the experience?
: Since I started as a memoir-writing process is like keeping a diary back. I wrote down a series of episodes as they come out in my memory (an unfortunate incident with the Christmas pig at home, visiting the cemetery ...) But, when I decided to turn it into a novel, I changed the deadline from the 80's to 90's, so I had to go back and write some scenes ... It is generally fun to relive childhood experiences. I could see for the first time that the pun it was really like.
Q: Tell us what auditing is like for you. Do you edit as you write or edit later?
: both. I edit as I write and when I finish writing, I have someone read the final draft too much, especially when it is in English. Hey, these proposals intolerable! My husband Gary was very helpful in this regard.
Q: How is your road to publication
: It is not too difficult. After my first novel in English, a girl like Che Guevara, published Soho Press, I had three other novels (in Spanish) published Posesas-de La Habana Posesas de La Habana (Crazy lady from Havana, PurePlay Press, 2004 ) Muerte de un Murciano en la Habana (Havana Death Murciano), who was runner-up for Herralde prize in 2006 and El difunto Fidel (Fidel late) who won the Rincon de la Victoria prize in Spain in 2009. It is a little more complicated to find a home for a collection of short stories in Spanish, Por culpa de Candela and other stories, but I eventually did. And then came the Habanera ...
Q: What do you love most about the writer's life
: The fact that I can write at home when you feel like it, surrounded by my cats and dogs ... and wearing my Moo-Moo, even though I only when my husband is not around. And most importantly, to hear from readers, to get the feedback that he personally does everything Butt-hours spent in front of a decent PC. There is a fan of Cuban literature in Spain, which has created a website called La Biblioteca Cubana de Barbarito (Barbarito the Cuban library). When I get messages from him or from another reader, I feel in seventh heaven ...
Q: What Latina inspired by
: Many of them! No, I would note Elena Avila, who unfortunately passed away in March last year. Written by a woman who glows in the dark, the national bestseller about curanderismo, and a few nice plays. I used a woman who glows in the dark as a textbook in my Santeria and Curanderismo class at the University of New Mexico, and it inspired me to write a book on the subject, 101 Questions for Curandera, that I am currently the co-author of eight generations curandera, Patricia Padilla. The only thing I regret is not able to meet Elena in person.
P: Did you connect with other Latina writers when you started writing? How important is it that you think is the support community for budding writers?
: Bueno, we have great support and active community in NuncaSolas! I also have a wonderful circle of Latina writers, and we trade a first draft and give each other advice. This is an invaluable aid.
Q: What advice would you give desires of writers
: Do not store rejection letters ... I have heard that some writers do, but I can not imagine anything more depressing, plus it seems like a bad Feng Shui. And above all, keep writing!
Theresa Dovalpage Visit the web site.