Exclusive interview with Paulo Coelho
10 Questions for Paulo Coelho
Goodreads: The Alchemist was first published in 1988. Now 20 years later, how do you feel your writing style or priorities as a writer have changed over the many years of your career? Would you describe writing as your own Personal Legend?
Paulo Coelho: Last year I wrote a column about the way I felt about the release of my book, The Witch of Portobello. I was in Lisbon, just hours before the book was released in Portugal and in Latin America. I was walking along the streets of this marvelous city thinking about the moment when the first reader would touch the book in the shelves of the bookstore. I was excited and realized that I was still able, after publishing many books, to feel exactly the same way as in the release of my first book, The Pilgrimage. Of course, with success, the dimensions change but the inner feeling of sharing my soul with others remains intact.
My personal legend has always been to become a writer. I'm glad I can say that I'm fulfilling my dream. But this must not be interpreted as "the end of the line"-on the contrary, I have to commit every day in order to stay in this path that I've chosen. One is constantly challenged-even by success.
GR: You have stated that each of your books was written over a period of only two to four weeks. Describe a typical day spent writing.
PC: When I finally feel I'm ready to embark on a new book, I always go through the following cycle that takes me from two weeks to a month. Before going to bed I have everything planned: I will wake up early and dedicate myself solely to the novel I'm writing. The only thing is, when I wake up I decide to browse through the net, then it's time for my walk. When I come back I quickly check my mails and before I know it it's already 2:30 p.m. and time to have lunch. After which I always take a sacrosanct nap. When I wake up at 5 p.m. I come back to my computer, check another set of emails, visit my blogs, read the news. Then it is already time for dinner-and at this point I'm feeling extremely guilty for not fulfilling my goal of the day. After dinner, I finally sit at my desk and decide to write. The first line takes a bit, but quickly I'm submerged in the tale and ideas take me to places that I never thought I would tread. My wife calls me to go to bed but I can't, I need to finish the line, then the paragraph, then the page...It goes on like this until 2-3 a.m. When I finally decide to go to bed, I still have many ideas in my mind-that I carefully note down on a piece of paper. I know, though, that I'll never use this-I'm simply emptying my mind. When I finally rest my head on my pillow I make the same oath-that the next day I'll wake up early and that I'll write the whole day long. But this is useless: The next day I wake up late and this cycle starts all over again.
GR: Tell us about The Experimental Witch. How do you envision the finished product?
PC: I'm an "Internet addict" and decided last year to release one-third of The Witch of Portobello in my blog in several languages. Readers from all over the world could read the first 10 chapters and leave their comments. It was a great experience, and last year in July I wanted to further this interaction with my readers by inviting them to adapt the book for the screen. As you know, there are 15 narrators, and filmmakers are invited to choose one and film all the scenes where they interact with Athena [the main character]. Once their video is done, they are invited to post it on YouTube. Composers from MySpace are also invited to show their material until the end of May. The rules are equally on my blog.
Since this is an original idea, it's very difficult to predict how the finished product will be. We have many directors in mind to edit the raw material from the readers, and the aim is to show the film in Cannes next year and then release it in movie theaters.
Read the next seven questions »
Goodreads: The Alchemist was first published in 1988. Now 20 years later, how do you feel your writing style or priorities as a writer have changed over the many years of your career? Would you describe writing as your own Personal Legend?
Paulo Coelho: Last year I wrote a column about the way I felt about the release of my book, The Witch of Portobello. I was in Lisbon, just hours before the book was released in Portugal and in Latin America. I was walking along the streets of this marvelous city thinking about the moment when the first reader would touch the book in the shelves of the bookstore. I was excited and realized that I was still able, after publishing many books, to feel exactly the same way as in the release of my first book, The Pilgrimage. Of course, with success, the dimensions change but the inner feeling of sharing my soul with others remains intact.
My personal legend has always been to become a writer. I'm glad I can say that I'm fulfilling my dream. But this must not be interpreted as "the end of the line"-on the contrary, I have to commit every day in order to stay in this path that I've chosen. One is constantly challenged-even by success.
GR: You have stated that each of your books was written over a period of only two to four weeks. Describe a typical day spent writing.
PC: When I finally feel I'm ready to embark on a new book, I always go through the following cycle that takes me from two weeks to a month. Before going to bed I have everything planned: I will wake up early and dedicate myself solely to the novel I'm writing. The only thing is, when I wake up I decide to browse through the net, then it's time for my walk. When I come back I quickly check my mails and before I know it it's already 2:30 p.m. and time to have lunch. After which I always take a sacrosanct nap. When I wake up at 5 p.m. I come back to my computer, check another set of emails, visit my blogs, read the news. Then it is already time for dinner-and at this point I'm feeling extremely guilty for not fulfilling my goal of the day. After dinner, I finally sit at my desk and decide to write. The first line takes a bit, but quickly I'm submerged in the tale and ideas take me to places that I never thought I would tread. My wife calls me to go to bed but I can't, I need to finish the line, then the paragraph, then the page...It goes on like this until 2-3 a.m. When I finally decide to go to bed, I still have many ideas in my mind-that I carefully note down on a piece of paper. I know, though, that I'll never use this-I'm simply emptying my mind. When I finally rest my head on my pillow I make the same oath-that the next day I'll wake up early and that I'll write the whole day long. But this is useless: The next day I wake up late and this cycle starts all over again.
GR: Tell us about The Experimental Witch. How do you envision the finished product?
PC: I'm an "Internet addict" and decided last year to release one-third of The Witch of Portobello in my blog in several languages. Readers from all over the world could read the first 10 chapters and leave their comments. It was a great experience, and last year in July I wanted to further this interaction with my readers by inviting them to adapt the book for the screen. As you know, there are 15 narrators, and filmmakers are invited to choose one and film all the scenes where they interact with Athena [the main character]. Once their video is done, they are invited to post it on YouTube. Composers from MySpace are also invited to show their material until the end of May. The rules are equally on my blog.
Since this is an original idea, it's very difficult to predict how the finished product will be. We have many directors in mind to edit the raw material from the readers, and the aim is to show the film in Cannes next year and then release it in movie theaters.
Read the next seven questions »