Perfect Land of Imperfection

As the story of my novel will have Italy as a backdrop, I would like to share a little bit with you about the Italian culture. I like to think of Italy as 'the perfect land of imperfection'. There are many prejudices and jokes when it comes to Italy and the Italians, mostly based on images that were drawn by Hollywood movies. Stereotypes are many: Italian men are macho, Italians are obsessed by food, Italians are always late, Italians drive like lunatics etc. True, Italy is not the perfect country when it comes to press freedom or bureaucracy. There are so many laws, that the Italians need to go around them sometimes to make life livable, at least...that's the Italian version. Fair enough for me, rules are made to be broken. True as well: it looks like the political system nor the legal system is working sometimes. But let's put all of this aside for a moment...

Think about the beauty the Italians always have been creating in the past, but also nowadays. In music, in design, in art, in fashion, in poetry, in architecture, in writing, in aesthetics in general. Everybody knows and recognizes the typical 'Italian signature', a signature of elegance and style. The Italians are born with a creative mind, and it doesn't matter how they use it. Beautiful, passionate and dedicated people. And here is the funny part: no matter how chaotic 'the Italian way' may seem, in the end everything works perfectly! Probably even better sometimes than in the countries where we think everything is so perfectly arranged, but performed in Italy with much more pleasure, more love, more passion, more dedication, more humanity and yes, a little touch of drama to juice things up a bit. This is why the Italian community works; this is why Italy works. 'The perfect land of imperfection': the perfect setting for my first novel! Love, M.

Just Me, My Notebook and All of My Senses...

So here I am... writing a blog. Because I am at the start of a creative adventure that is totally new to me. A process that is fun, that brings new challenges but also comes with lots of personal insecurities: I have started to write a novel! Writing a book was on my wish list for many years. I was the type of child that wrote essays of 20 pages, always returned by the teacher with a comment in red like: 'Good essay, but PLEASE make it shorter next time!' So after a few short stories during the years, I am now ready for the real stuff. Never wrote a novel in my life, so had to do a lot of research about that first. Where do I start, what kind of structure do I use, how do I create my characters, what are the typical mistakes a new writer makes...? As the novel is set in Italy, not far from Naples, I did some thorough research about that specific region, its history and its people already. In September I will spend a whole week in a sleepy village to interview my Italian friend and to explore the area some more. Just me, my notebook and all of my senses. Experiencing, observing, smelling and tasting the place where the story I have in my head is set. Where the characters I will invent will grow up, become adults and meet other people. If you are interested, I would love to share this creative process with you! That is why I have created this blog.