They are Looking at You Now

Publishers in the contemporary market will be interested in a manuscript if there are potential consumers for its story. Let’s discuss the limitations of this assumption and also why the story may have the potential to be appealing to a specific type of audience. 

                        The first step would be to select the appropriate publishers at the right time. Not all publishing companies specialise in the same genres. In the case of our story, we can find some elements that might widen its possibilities within the label of ‘Non-Fiction’. For example, the detailed descriptions about the city might offer some insights to travel writing markets, and its wider thematic context might arise some contemporary debates for those interested in social affairs and international relations. Although these publishing categories are also considered niche, we must also remember that, despite it being written in prose, people interested in poetry – especially the current Spanish readers of Montero and the followers of his political ideas – are a potential audience of this creative piece.

                        Another element to consider is the originality of my narrative in relation with other true stories already published about Montero. It will be the first time the story will be written by someone he has not a personal relationship with, which might add credibility to my piece. I will also incorporate some relatable elements in the settings, but I will disturb this sense of comfort by addressing the plot from an unexpected angle, letting the themes offer the reader a wider meaning and not just a merely linear biography.

                        In order to attract attention to both publishers and general readers, I want my first paragraph to be used as a ‘hook.’ It must be not only well written, but also raise some compelling questions that will be slowly figured out throughout the narrative.

                        My main objective is to create a highly visual piece that might stimulate the senses through the use of imaginary techniques, so that the descriptions of a foreign culture and the Grenadian diverse atmospheres feel purely recreational and yet are essential to understand our poet’s essence and context.

Playing Hide and Seek with the Past

Portraying an ordinary day in the life of Montero has some potential complications. I will take this section of the blog as an opportunity to explore the possible problems and flaws of this specific narrative.

Exaggeration of the relevance of events is one of my main concerns. I am sure that the episode of the immigrant dinghy in Rota holds some symbolism, but maybe it is not the sole aspect to contemplate when analysing the triggers of his stylistic change, and a whole range of events and influences must be considered, which present complications within:

 We have to understand the fact that our still Unaware Character is not isolated from society but plays, on the contrary, a very active role in it. This is interesting from a story-teller’s perspective, as it can enrich and round his protagonist’s journey. The main risk here presents itself in the form of a question: how would the secondary characters feel if they discover themselves being written down in someone else’s story? The wider network of influences and experiences of Montero is tightly interlocked with other members of his family, circle of friends and working partners, which might be more sensitive to some controversial aspects of the poet’s life that of the poet himself. It would not be a true story but an intervened one if I omitted their presence under request.

What worries me the most about this is that Montero might give me his consent to write down this story, but maybe the other secondary characters around wouldn’t if they knew they were going to be in the story as well.

Another aspect to consider is the thin line between particulars and generalisations regarding some possible hasty assumptions about ideology. Is it the romanticised version of the communist values that he cares about or the objective goals of the political party that he follows?

This links with another problematic aspect: not finding enough secondary sources to contrast and corroborate the primary information. Although there are plenty of writings about him, most of them are works created by his circle of personal acquaintances. It worries me that his and his friends’ recollections of events are not reliable enough towards reality.

I will Trap your Story

While we still wait for his email, I had time to put the results of our research in order. There are some strategies that must be considered in order to portray the story of our Unaware Character, such as point of view, plot and diction, among others. In this blog, I will tell you how I will use these strategies and why they will help us create a compelling narrative for the reader.

The creative piece will be written from a third person point of view. I would like to address the reader directly, and walk them, as if by hand, through the streets of Granada, the emblematic places, and ill-lighted bars where Luis spends most of his free time in. I won’t use the first person, however, because it is not a bibliography, and my personal experience shall not influence the objectiveness of the story or the subject. I will only use that experience to enrich the senses while experiencing the place through words.

The city descriptions lead us to discuss another narrative strategy: the plot. While the main setting is in Granada - where I will offer some insights of his daily life as a poet and an ex-professor at university - the dramatic turn-point will take place in Rota. Here is where the culmination of Montero's internal dilemmas takes place and where the resolution for his new creative works is made. 

Our character has, therefore, a fluid persona that shall present itself as most intriguing for the reader. “What’s on your mind, my character? I see your faded footprints at a crossroad, why did you walk this path instead?” These are the questions I want the reader to formulate while they read the piece, and keep them interested.

A linear structure would not serve me of much purpose for this; it would slow the pace of the narrative down and would not allow me to offer a wider perspective of the personal/political context or themes

Ultimately, my purpose is to offer a recreational experience through a specific use of language, for what diction is essential. I would like to imitate the poetic style that Luis employs in both his verse and prose works. I expect this will add flavour to the piece and some insights into his way of thinking and perceiving the world around him.

Following your Faded Footprints

My e-mail to Luis Garcia has been replied, yet the answer has not arrived yet.

With this, I mean the message has been seen by Luis’ assistant but, unfortunately, the explanation I was hoping for must wait until our character has a bit of spare time. Therefore, let me take this space to tell you what my question was, and why I formulated it.

Lately, I have been emerging myself in the poems and books written both by and about Montero. I had notice that, at some point during his career, the poet switches from personal sounding poems about love, sex and days of rain such as Tu Me Llamas, Amor…(You Call Me, Love…), to those pieces with strong political themes. The poet's romantic communist ideas and ideals rapidly escalated into his second vocation: politics. The 27th of February 2015, he was proposed by the regional left party as a candidate of the community of Madrid.

People usually do not convert and invest their time so passionately in something they have just discovered. What triggered this change in him and how long ago? It was in this state of mind that I started reading his book No Me Cuentes tu Vida (Don’t Tell me your Life). Although the book is a fictional piece about the life of an ordinary man and his Rumanian housekeeper, I cannot help but remark how much his protagonist seems to mirror the life and internal conflicts of the man who created him. The housekeeper, an immigrant from a country with political hardship, reminds me of collection of poems, Quedarse sin Ciudad (Being Left with no City.) The book also explicitly recalls the incident of Rota on the 25^th October.

As Montero sais for the newspaper El Mundo “su tiempo y su poesia siempre han sido el  reflejo de sus inquietudes (his time and his poetry have always been a reflection on his concers.” Was he raised in a communist family? Or was he influence by the ideologies of other poets he had a great intellectual admiration for, such as Angel Gonzalez? Was the Rota event a trigger, or an unrelated event used to portray the essence of his beliefs?

My question is, which hypothesis tells the true story?

Where Have You Been, My Character?

25^th October, 2013 in a place called Rota.

Rota is a municipality in the south of Spain where almost 28,516 inhabitants live and with one of the most important naval bases for the U.S Marine and Air force units in the Mediterranean Sea. Usually, this town is a quiet place and the holiday destination of many during the summer months. One of the regular visitors is our unaware character, the poet Luis Grarcia Montero, his wife Almudena Grandes Hernandez and their daughter, Elisa.

They are believed to still be in Rota the on 25^th when a dinghy coming from Africa was found. Later that day, 37 illegal immigrant corpses lay on the sand, barely 200 meters away from the beach of Rota.

This is not the first time that a tragedy like this happened in this same place. On Sunday 4^th November, 2003, as many as 34 immigrants lifeless bodies were “rescued” by the Spanish military forces, almost one day after the dinghy had been seen in trouble.

Usually this notorious lack of care and humanity is blamed on political and international relations misunderstandings. Who could believe that the U.S naval forces would not be ready for such a simple mission as picking a dinghy that is approaching the coast?  But on the other hand, should the Spanish military forces expect that a foreign naval force will rescue immigrants coming into Spain?

This issue address, in essence, a problem that goes beyond the personal experience of our poet, yet took part during one day of his life. I want to use him and his family as the conduct to explore further into this particular aspect of global affairs. I don’t want, however, to lose focus on the life of Luis Garcia in the face of a more global episode.

My ultimate goal is to offer the reader some insights of his thoughts, literary achievements and how this one event – the sinking of the dinghy - affected his trait of thoughts and future work. In this aspect, a great amount of research must still be done. I will start by contacting him via e-mail, which can be found in his web-page along with a short biography written by him:

http://luisgarciamontero.com/contacta/

Choosing an Unaware Character

I wanted to pick someone I admired and shared my cultural context with. This criterion is not so that I can easily offer an idealised representation of my character, but for the selfish purpose of discovering more about their every-day live. I believe it will be more interesting for the readers to engage with a piece of writing created by someone who is passionate about the subject from the beginning.


          Poetry has helped me to understand the dynamics between the world and its written perceptions. Still, even a bibliographical truth is rather subjective under the hand of a poet. But, who is he when he drops the pen on the table until the next day?  The answer is simple: the potential character of a true story:

Luis Gracia Montero was my breaking point from classical poetry – his poem “Como Cada Mañana” (As Each Morning) was my only connection to contemporary poetry until recently. Montero executes his profession as a professor at the University of Granada, where one of my childhood friends is now studying (this give me a sense of comfort in case I am in desperate need of primary sources.)

Nevertheless, there is another possible character in my mind:  Francisco Catalan is a well-known artist within the Albacetense region (Spain). This painter and designer caught my attention in his exhibition “La Realidad Imaginada” (The Imagined Reality) on the 6^th of April, 2013. My fascination for his work compensates, however, my lack of knowledge about his private life. Fortunately Francisco is a resident from Yecla, which is barely 15 mins away from my hometown. These geographical conveyances give me a (probably false) impression of him being somehow approachable. It also offers me the (probably false too) opportunity for research that will try to trespass beyond his artistic work and into his countrymen word of mouth and shared stories with his neighbours/friends/ bar partners/family, etc.


Being emotionally involved with what the works of Luis Garcia and Francisco Catalan represent in my understanding of the written and visual art, I am now felt to face my decision. Which man might become a better character to represent a fraction of his life?