Ramon Erra: "Writing is an explosive mixture, when you try it, it's a hard drug."

BarcelonaFor fifteen years Ramon Erra (Santa Eulalia de Puig-oriol, 1966) has combined his literary career (West Gypsy Lighthouse, Life on rails) with his teaching job at the Ateneu Barcelonès Writing School. Several former students recommended him to me, and I understand why when I encounter his affable, constructive, expert, yet rigorous demeanor. He specializes in leading advanced courses: he guides students toward their goal of writing a novel.

Why are so many people eager to write?

— Some people may idealize it, and there are many who like to read and think they can do it. And when people try to write, when they start doing something that goes beyond Sudoku, that demands your involvement, that takes you inward, that by working at it you can get better and better, and they realize... happiness, but it's something that's hard to compare to any other. It's an activity that is both technical and comes from within, and this explosive mixture, when you try it, is a hard drug.

Are you born as a writer or do you learn?

— It is learned in the same way that one can learn to play the piano or paint.

There are many writing manuals. Could you give me your three rules? "To write well, you must..."

— Writing means knowing the language you're working in well, having the technical tools, and a wealth of reading and life experience, with things to say. With this, you can do a lot of work.

I suppose everyone who comes to take courses imagines themselves writing a book.

— Sometimes they don't make it, they drop out. Others are seduced by the first course in the program offered here at the Ateneo, the narrative course, which is where they learn the main techniques and are encouraged to continue. The point is that people come with different expectations, and we must try to take everyone one step further than their starting point. When I'm in class, I'm like a coach. And when I look at the texts, I'm like a gardener, because it's about pruning, pruning, sowing... The metaphors are always related to gardening and the vegetable garden. Stephen King explains very well what pruning means in the manual. Writing. Memoirs of a Trade (The Other).

What are the main mistakes of the newbie?

— One is haste: they rush into explaining things instead of gradually explaining them at a pace that's engaging for the reader, one that gradually builds them up. The other is a lack of trust in the reader: they tend to tell too much. And the third is that they fill their texts with fluff because they want to make too many pages. As you go from sporing to sporing, the text becomes more polished.

What do you have to fight with the most?

— Beginners are obsessed with the truthfulness of the story, with recounting what happened, whether the novel is based on real events. They also happen to fall in love with what they do. We all do it, right? But since many people believe they wrote that page inspired by a divine revelation, they believe nothing can be changed. "Gosh, don't make me take that out," they tell me. I always tell them to put what they discard in a file, just in case they need it: they'll see they'll never need it.

Have you ever discovered a diamond in the rough?

— Yes, you immediately see the potential of the students, and I, inwardly, might think, "Wow, this guy is brilliant and he'll make it." But then he might drop out; he might not be hard-working enough, because it's not enough to be Messi. To be a good writer, you have to give up the nonsense, as Josep Pla said. Otherwise, you're not going to get ahead. And many people are lazy. On the other hand, others, who struggle at first, can progress much more than you expect.

There's a common misconception that a brilliant writer is a self-taught writer. The authors who have made their mark on the history of literature didn't take any courses.

— Writing skills are passed on. It's not the same as the trades of the past: a painter went to a painter's studio and a blacksmith to a blacksmith's, became an apprentice, and ended up working as a blacksmith. A writer can go to a library and look up what previous writers have done and read them with a critical eye.

There is no such thing...

— Cinema has mythologized the figure of the solitary writer who never leaves home, who lives in his ivory tower, but this is a fantasy. Writing is about each person's personal perspective, which can be very different, interesting, and compelling, based on a technical foundation.

To write good literature, do you have to have lived a lot?

— No. Perhaps we have in mind the great epic novels of great formal scope, like Moby Dick Melville's, Life on the Mississippi of Mark Twain or the novels of Hemingway, who was also a great adventurer, but the English novelists did not travel or live great adventures - we do not know if they experienced any trauma within those houses - and, instead, their literature has endured because it is very good, because the beauty that exists in those novels is still there. It does not matter if you talk about weddings, if you master the art of the novel as Jane Austen.

Must have read a lot?

— Yes. It's essential. Because what comes out when you write spontaneously is the fruit of what you've read. The way you describe a landscape or a character or invent a situation is based on the things you've read, things that have stayed with you and come out intuitively when you start writing.

What readings would you say have shaped you? Which four authors would you cite?

— The Hobbit JRR Tolkien's is a book that has accompanied me throughout my life. I like Russians in general, and especially Nikolai Gogol and Dead Souls (La Casa dels Clàssics), because they transport you to a Slavic landscape, a people who live things and relate to each other differently, something that attracts me a lot. Virginia Woolf Technically I find it spectacular, I always see things to learn and I am interested in what it explains, therefore, I would tell you Towards the lighthouse (The House of Classics). And Josep PlaI read Pla when I was very young, and it gave me a way of going through the world with the eyes of someone who might write it later, observing things in a literary way. Everything I see, I see filtered to be written, and I think I got this from books like The gray notebook (Destination) or Letters from afar (included in The North, Ed. Destino).

Haven't we read what was going to be played?

— Many students tell me, "I read things wrong." Well, no. Everyone has their own reading experience. And the combination of your reading experience and your personality, your life experiences—whether you're the younger or older sibling, whether you've lived in a family that travels a lot or in a farmhouse, for example—all of this creates a unique perspective and is the contribution you can make to the world of literature. The bookmobile came to my town every two weeks, and from the age of six, I'd pick up very different things, things that were too young for me, and things that weren't appropriate for my age. And I think this has helped me greatly in evaluating very different ideas. I like taking risks.

For a writer, is having attended writing school considered acceptable or unconsidered? Are there prejudices?

— There may be people who don't speak out, but I also see a lot of people who do. I think this is changing because of American influence, because American authors thank all their first readers and all their publishers. In the end, it's the result that speaks volumes. Suspense (Chalk Circle), a book about writing Patricia Highsmith —a true Patricia Highsmith: Hitchcock has made films of her books!—explains how difficult it was for her to publish a novel, how a publisher made her cut out forty pages and thought it was a great idea, and she explains it as normal. This is still hard to admit here.

We often feel that too much is published, but we also know that it costs a lot to be published.

— Yes, it's difficult. Some students self-publish their books because they don't want to pursue a career as writers, but they're excited to have the finished novel and give it to their friends. The other option is for a publisher to fall in love with your text and publish it. Publishing is important; it's essential for finding readers, but we set high expectations. Perhaps too high.

In what sense?

— Publishing probably won't change your life. People have fantasies about what it's like to be a writer. You sign books for Sant Jordi, you get interviewed... All of this is very well. But the fact of spending hours writing and improving, wanting to achieve a result and succeeding, that's the greatest reward. Publishing will give you readers, and we need readers. Maybe also money and prizes. But it's certainly not the best thing you'll get. For me, the challenge is more important, the hours you spend improving the text: that's where the writer's happiness lies.