Elísabet Benavent: «My biggest fear is repeating myself; “an effective way to hate your job”

–Why did you decide to place the plot space in the offices of Like¡t, a dating application?

–Flirting applications are very popular and I believe that you cannot write a current romantic novel without mentioning them. And what better, to understand them well or to confront traditional love with new models of relating, than a romantic uncle entering the absolute modernity of a company that is not only modern in its dedication, focused on people getting to know each other, but which is very modern in terms of everything else.

–When describing the environment of this company, he also criticizes ‘traditional’ work that forces him to wear a suit in the office and work overtime.

–It is like facing two worlds, the traditional and the most current. In certain things, I think that what is current is ahead and what is traditional is sometimes more reliable. I am more of the romantic idea, a little more traditional, although I am not like Alejo. But in terms of business, I have a vision much more in favor of Like¡t than the world of consulting where Alejo comes from and where I also come from. I am not a consultant or auditor, but I have worked in a Big Four [nombre por el que se conoce a las cuatro empresas consultoras más grandes del mundo] and I know what I’m talking about. I have worked there for 6 and a half years and I think it is a business model that swallows people. People become the gasoline that makes the giant move. You leave your soul when you enter those companies and you pick it up when you leave and I believe that we have much more to give to a business and a happy worker is much more enriching than a tired worker.

–Why this time a man as the protagonist?

–It was a pending subject. For many books now, the male protagonist voice had some alternating chapters and it always seemed to me that it gave more truth to the book and made the story more rounded.

–Have you been clear since you started writing what Alejo would be like?

–I was clear that I had to be a very snobbish person before deciding on the title of the book. The typical boy in a tailored suit, from a well-off family, who aspires to follow in dad’s footsteps and, if he can, climb a little higher. A boy who has planned a standard of living and a future and goes step by step without ever wondering why he is doing it simply has a series of milestones that must be met. It was very difficult for me to find my voice because I am more used to speaking from a female voice. My editor and I experimented until I felt so comfortable with it that I continued. He is a character who evolves from maximum snobbery to asking questions.

–Does your editor have a lot of influence over what you write?

–It helps me a lot. I have been working with the same editor for 11 years and it would be very difficult to publish a book without her correcting it because she would not feel safe. For me she is the voice of experience.

What really matters

–More than twenty romantic novels. Isn’t it difficult for you to create new plots?

–It is the greatest fear one has. It’s no longer even about facing the blank paper, but about repeating myself. Use a formula that has worked in some way in the past and repeat it until exhaustion. I think that’s a very effective way to hate your job and do it poorly. It is very important that we writers set ourselves challenges. I try to make each book have something that is very different. The pillars of the romantic novel are there, as they are in the thriller, but what we have to do is decorate them in different ways.

–He writes in the acknowledgments of ‘Esnob’ that finishing the novel has been the most difficult challenge he has faced in his life. Because?

–There are always concerns that go beyond work and that’s when you realize what really matters. The book is dedicated to my father, an example of what really matters to me. The things that we cannot value are in question and health is one of them. With a concern of this type, one turns to fiction as relief, but as a creator that does not always work. Also, when I was writing the ending, I broke my elbow. I fell on the street in Paris and it was anything but glamorous. I have been left with chronic pain. Every time I strain my hand I feel bad for several days. I had to finish writing this book by inventing ways to do it. I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish it and I’m quite satisfied. I am very happy because it is being liked a lot.

–Were you afraid that the book would not be liked because it featured a man as the protagonist?

–I was afraid of that and I was also afraid that Marieta [uno de los personajes principales] it would fall badly and be too cold. Furthermore, she had doubts about whether the secondary characters were going to eat the main ones. The worst thing is that the doubts do not dissipate over time and every year you have more vertigo. I don’t want to disappoint the reader who has followed me from the beginning. That person who is not only buying you the book and spending 20 euros, but she is giving you the only thing that cannot be returned in life, time. That creates a lot of responsibility for me.

–Can you imagine ‘Esnob’ becoming a series or movie?

–It would be more of a movie. I would quite like it to be, but these things do not depend on me.

–Have you ever been encouraged to write with the intention of having the novel transferred to the screen?

–You cannot write with the idea of ​​achieving something. The process would be lost and that would not make sense. By creating a product to try to sell it in a certain way, the magic is gone. What does happen is that, as I have participated in some projects as an executive producer, the scripts pass through your hands and it is inevitable that something sticks. Writing becomes a little more casual, but I have never done it with the intention of my books being on the screen. On the other hand, if every book had an adaptation, I would die along the way. It entails a lot of work.