La Telenovela es un Ser Vivo: An Interiew with a Telenovela Writer

"La telenovela es un ser vivo." 
-Dr. A.

These are my favorite quotes from our interview. It's the inside scoop on telenovela writer, El Chascas of Santa Diabla

On Twitter:
"Mis derechos no se discuten ni debaten. Se otrogan, porque me los han robado desde que anaci. Aburrido de esperar por ese 'gran debate.'"

"My rights are not discussed or debated. They are granted, because they have been stolen since birth. Bored of waiting for that 'great debate.'"
 - Chascas Valenzuela 

 The interview:

"Its the only thing I'm good at. I can cook I can dance... but I can write."

 José Ignacio Valenzuela describes his struggle, in which he wrote his first episode at age 19. Since his first published book at age 14, he written for Televisa, TV Azteca, and Telemundo.

"Novelas in Chile are very localist. Plots have to be Chilean.  When you are writing a telenovela of Chile you must be more Chile than ever.." "...como cuando tienes que ser muy universal, no puedes ser profundo.." 
(like when you have something so universal, you cannot be profound)
"En Latin America, es tan absurdo el tema de la piel, porque todos somos una mescla de todo.."
     Chascas has written universal plots, though he is inspired by the social issues in Latin America.

 "When I worked for Mexico  for more thatn 15 years. The good ones are the blond ones. and the bad ones are the Indian ones. [Los indiesitos.] Never in my soap operas are the villains have dark hair, never. In Don Amor, I have African American people. and I always gave them the best professions." 
 "I hate when you are politically correct because you can't say things that you need to say."

"Mexican producers define a novela as, "Es una oferta de esperanza." (They offer hope.) 
"And when you want to talk about reality... and when you want tot show life as it is... I want to sell hope. But at the same time I want to start a discussion."
"And for me, the meaning of success is not a rating. The minute of success.. It's when I'm able to start a discussion with society"

"Mira, Santa Diabla responde a un tipo de novela, que me gusta mucho a mi en particular que es una novela rara. It's weird. It's like La Casa Alado. Es una novela que mescla suspenso, melodrama, terror, y lo mas importante para mi que son novelas que no se pueden predecir. You can't predict, no puedes saber como va terminar.. The audience is not very receptive to those telenovelas specifically in the first episode. "

"My inspiration is Alfred Hitchcock."

"Thats a very good question actually because I don't believe in inspiration. For me this is a job. I live because of my writing. So I can't wait for inspiration in order to have I have ideas. It's me I'm the one who lives outside my house to capture ideas."

"I'm always reading news, Brazilian telenovelas writers always get their ideas from their newspapers. That's a very good way to find new ideas.. Especially if you want to write about ideas that are important to you."

"We all know that when we are in love, we are pretty close to stupidity."

"I don't like revenge, I like judgment. I start to think of the very thin line between revenge and justice." 

"Yo odio cuando en las telenovelas,they thing the audience is stupid, because I don't think that. I think it's the opposite. I think the audiences are clever than they think. And I try to honor that."

 I simply went over our interview. It was a great experience. Thanks to Dr. A and El Chascas.
It was an honor. 

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