Ask the Author: Gabriella Contestabile
Answered Questions (6)
Gabriella Contestabile
A collection of short stories and a screenplay.
Gabriella Contestabile
Not well. I procrastinate. I take on meaningless projects. I just re-alphebetized my book collection -for the tenth time! And what's with the Bollywood dance classes? Must admit I love those. Or I do the Italian thing-go for an espresso!
Joking aside, the espresso and a long walk usually do the trick.
It took me 15 years to finally finish 'The Artisan's Star' so I'm not one to offer advice worth taking.
Joking aside, the espresso and a long walk usually do the trick.
It took me 15 years to finally finish 'The Artisan's Star' so I'm not one to offer advice worth taking.
Gabriella Contestabile
I think George Saunders said it best in a TV interview. He said he writes to be a 'better person'. I believe that's a lifetime quest. To strive to be a better human being. Art takes us there. Reading a novel, a short story, a great work of fiction or non-fiction is one of life's most intimate experiences. It touches us deeply as readers. As a writer you get to live inside the worlds of your characters. You see and you understand, and you grow. How very exciting -albeit painful and difficult.
Gabriella Contestabile
Just keep writing. Don't edit yourself. The pure emotion that comes out on a page when you just go for that awful first draft is golden. I love when I get a palpable sense of a protagonist's inner world. Edit later. I worked with a great developmental editor who helped me shape my story in its later stages. My book went from 600 -300 pages but I don't regret what I wrote and cut out. It helped me get into the heart of my characters in a profound way.
Gabriella Contestabile
I am passionate about so many things; life, art, social justice, the plight of the less fortunate, education, tolerance. So in the course of a day I tap into those emotions and I think I have to write about this. And sometimes I get disciplined enough to do it. Otherwise I tuck it away and it re-emerges, usually when I'm taking long walks-which I love to do.
Gabriella Contestabile
My father gave me a copy of "A Passionate Sightseer' by Bernard Berenson when I was nine years old. It sparked a lifetime of wanderlust. I fell in love with Florence and with the transformative power of art in all its forms. Many years later I worked in a small family owned perfumery in the city center. That memory stayed with me and when I had to write a short story for a fiction class there it was, front and center. And then it all morphed with memories of my Italian homeland, and the sensory artisan traditions my parents instilled in me over the years. With each visit to this inspiring city I witnessed the love of craft, the pride in one's work, and the seamless melding of the old and the new. I saw how generations of Florentines drew on their art and artisan heritage to move into the next century with imagination and compassion. Art and artisanship matter. They make life more meaningful. They make us better people. I had to write about that.
As life took over and I got older I learned about the craft of perfume creation I learned that the architecture of a perfume parallels the three stage our life's journey. This novel and its protagonist aged with me over the years, so I kept on writing.
As life took over and I got older I learned about the craft of perfume creation I learned that the architecture of a perfume parallels the three stage our life's journey. This novel and its protagonist aged with me over the years, so I kept on writing.
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