Today we’d like to introduce you to José Ignacio Valenzuela.
José Ignacio, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I always knew I wanted to be a writer, and when I was only 19I took my resume to an important TV network in Chile, in hopes of being an assistant at the time. The secretary told me that they weren’t accepting resumes but only ideas for new telenovelas. I had my book bag from school and I tore out a page of one of my grammar books to write about 20 sentences of what would become my most famous telenovela. 3 days later I received a call from the network saying one of the producers wanted to see me–I had never met him and he wasn’t aware that I was 19. When I arrived to the meeting, it wasn’t only with the producer but with the whole team, more than 10 people in the room. They were confused by my youth and told me this was mistake. I was walking out the door when one of the producers stopped me and asked me if I had the first episode and, if so, to bring it the next morning. I remember crying on my way back to my apartment. I was so nervous because now I needed to write an episode and only had 15 hours to do so. The next morning, after waiting 3 hours for the team to read my episode, the CEO came out to congratulate me. They loved! So, I wrote what would become “Amor a Domicilio” which became the success of the decade.
20 years later, I have had the privilege of writing for Televisa, TV Azteca, Telemundo amigo others in different countries around the world. I was selected by About.com, then part of the New York Times Company, as one of the 10 best Latin American young writers. My script for the film “La sangre iluminada”, co-written with Mexican director Iván Ávila, won the support of the Sundance Institute in 2001. In 2008 I wrote the movie “Miente”, which was selected by Puerto Rico as its representative film for the 80th Academy Awards. “Amores”, a TV series I created and wrote in 2004, was nominated for an EMMY Award (Suncoast chapter). My telenovelas “La casa de al lado” and “Santa Diabla”, both produced by Telemundo US, have been seen around the world beating audience records.
I have published a number of novels and short fiction, and have also served as a professor and instructor of creative writing. My work includes almost twenty books published in Latin America, US and Spain, among which “Trilogía del malamor”, “Malaluna”, “Mi abuela la loca”, “Hashtag” and “El filo de tu piel” are the best sellers. Currently, I’m preparing for the launch of my first book in English called “To the end of the world”, which represents a huge turning point in my career as a writer.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Fortunately, I’ve had a relatively smooth journey as a writer. One of the biggest challenges has been getting used to the rigorous routine working as a writer. Normally, I work around 12, 15 hours a day, 6 days a week. On top of that, have book tours, workshops, and speaking engagements all the time. At the same time, this intense lifestyle has allow me to travel the world and meet fantastic people from different cultures and backgrounds.
What were you like growing up?
I was born in Chile and grew up there until I was twenty. I come from a very eclectic family in terms of profession: my father was an engineer and my mom a social worker. Both of them are very good readers until today. My paternal grandfather was also a writer and the president of the Historic Society of Chile. Also, one of my uncles is a famous doctor in Chile. My maternal grandmother was a very well acclaimed poet and won the National Poetry Prize in the 80’s. My mother’s sister, Ana Maria, is currently one of the most important children and young adult writers in Chile. As you can see, I was surrounded by scientists and writers, an interesting combo. Even though the country was under a fierce dictatorship, I was lucky to be surrounded by critical and opinionated adults always talking about politics, science and literature. As a result, freedom is one of the most important things in my life. I need to feel free to love the person that I want, to travel where I want, to read what I want and to say the things that I want to say.
As a very indoors boy, I was very inquisitive about knowledge, literature and the arts. I was quiet but opinionated, and a very good student. I was the kind of nerds at that time! Even before learning to write, I was creating characters, narratives, worlds, etc. I used to listen to Disney records when I was little and no one told me there was a B side with the ending to each story. I just assumed the stories ended abruptly, it was really weird. So, I invented endings for all of the fairytales I listened to. Years later, I discovered the side B and I believed my endings were better.
That’s why I love to tell stories to provide an alternative point of view that differs from the predictable, classical way that we know.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chascas.com
- Instagram: @elchascas
- Facebook: facebook.com/chascasvalenzuela
- Twitter: @elchascas
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