2024-07-23 07:30:35
At this time Benedict Wells showed extraordinary personal worth. For the first time, it is not a historical material. Since his debut around 20 years ago, he has been celebrated as a unique talent. What is bothering you today?
This document should not exist. And then it turns out to be a very amazing material – for the first time it is not a story and with a very large number of personal descriptions. In his new title “Inside Stories About Writing and Life,” Benedict Wells reveals more private things than ever before. The best-selling author, now 40, wrote her first novel at the age of 19 and was considered an exceptional young talent just a few years later.
Now he really wants to take a break from writing after his last novel “Hard Land” (2021), Benedict Wells told the German Press Agency. But then on the reading tour for “Hard Land” there were many questions for him about his writing process, and during the pandemic not many people could come to his readings – and so he wanted to write a text for the page your first before a planned vacation.
The author reports that he “slid spectacularly away from it”: “I just could not stop and felt a great passion for this topic, and in the end it became a book.”
We look back at childhood, youth, chaos and home
For the new title – it will be released this Thursday (July 24th) – he returns to childhood, remembers the five-year-old in his room in Munich, who will soon go to Switzerland for a few months because his parents are separated . Think back to the chaos at home, to the little boy who “basically didn’t happen” and who “would later use fictional characters as masks and hide his feelings behind their feelings.”
Now you have to “push this boy into this book” against his will. You can’t ignore your childhood and growing up when you write about becoming a writer. But it is not a documentary. Benedict was sent home at the age of six and spent 13 years in Bavarian boarding schools. Even as a child he read a lot – even on the toilet at night. “Reading can save you.” As a child, it is an “insecure, shy late bloomer.”
He has a romantic relationship with his father, who is described as chaotic, and his mother, who has been hospitalized several times in a psychiatric hospital; But they are “broken”. He grew up with them “end in life” and lived in total chaos. “Nothing fits and I can’t say any of it, a soul that has been silenced for years,” Wells describes, who always writes in touch, sensitive and fragile.
The personal path to becoming a writer seems to be an obstacle for the youth. The original voice from a high school teacher who only had a fourth grade in German: “Uh, Benedict, don’t you have anything else you can take as a career?” Wells really wanted to become a writer after graduating from high school and moved to Berlin – with 120 euros in his pocket and many book ideas in his head. The period leading up to the first publication was tough – my own doubts, rejection from publishers, exhausting part-time jobs, little drain in my wallet.
Wells describes all this not in a sweet way, but in a light tone, with a wink, humor, an open mind – and it is very worth reading. “Ten years ago I would not have been able to write these few lines about my childhood and youth.” And: Pain can be “strong ink”, but pain has to be cooled first. The pages show a reserved, modest, self-important person who does not like being the center of attention – regardless of success.
Wells and his works have been a frequent author for over 20 years
The first novel “Spinner”, which he wrote at the age of 19 but was published only in 2009, was followed by “Beck’s Last Summer” (2008), which was later made into a film. The third novel, “Almost Genius” (2011), has been on the best lists for a long time. “From the End of the Common” (2016) was translated into 38 languages, followed by the collection of short stories “Truth about Lies (2018) and “Hard Land” (2021) – and there are many awards named by Diogenes Verlag “non-fiction”.
Instead of taking a planned break from writing, Wells now talks about the magic and excitement of writing, sharing his experiences and insights as a writer: how to deal with conflicts and, more importantly, how the characters in The novel becomes real and alive, discussions. succeed, and growing tension can be created – how difficult writing can be and at the same time make those happy.
Also unusual for Wells, who currently lives in Zurich after years in Barcelona: he speaks directly to readers. Working on a novel is “the means by which you change yourself.” And: “You grow new with every book.” It is also inspired by movies, music, other novels and shows. He himself is kind of a mess when it comes to writing, with a high rate of rough drawings.
What drives you and what will happen in the future?
Wells told dpa that he doesn’t give much thought to who exactly a speech should be aimed at. “This time I want to write a non-fiction book that looks like a novel, but mostly I want to write something that I will enjoy – and hopefully some others who want to tell stories themselves or who love the book.”
The 40-year-old revealed: “I am now in a place where I can imagine many things. He is currently studying – “one of the best decisions of my life. “But you want to keep yourself the subject you are. I want to learn from the past. It’s good to learn something new again, fail and humbly try again.”
But he’s already missed writing — at the time he’s thinking more about genres like short stories, plays or non-fiction about dealing with grief and loss, Wells said. “But I also have ideas for novels, but this will still take several years because I want to finish my studies first.”
(dpa)
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