Our larger project at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods of working with writers in a variety of ways, from weeklong writing residencies to Author Talk events to publishing through our Wellstone Books imprint, depends on the work of our amazing resident interns, who come to live with us for three months at a time and spend their mornings doing physical work, mostly outside, and their afternoons writing or talking about writing. What is the experience like? One of our current resident interns, talented writer Ruth O’Shea of Ireland, interviews our other current resident intern, Chelo Manchego, author of The Want Monsters. They spoke at the Wellstone Center on March 20, 2017.
Ruth: Chelo Manchego, you are originally from El Salvador and I know you’ve been living in Los Angeles for six years, what brought you here to Santa Cruz?
Chelo: Nature and the writing community. I grew up in a loud, crowded city and when I was eighteen I moved to an even bigger city to study film craft and illustration. I definitely love the energy of Los Angeles but sometimes it’s a little bit hard to hear even your own thoughts. The Redwoods have been good for me. I’m growing so much as a writer at the Wellstone Center in ways it would have been hard in LA. There are too many distractions. I’m still such a tourist.
Ruth: So what’s the main difference between writing here and writing in Los Angeles?
Chelo: The quiet! And the rain, there is so much rain here. I feel like I need to start building an ark.
Ruth: I see you often wearing your headphones when you are writing, what do you listen to?
Chelo: Well if I’m doing illustrations I like to listen to podcasts, mostly sci-fi and thrillers and some non-fiction as well. When I’m writing it depends on the mood of the scene, it can be anything from film soundtracks to folklore music. I must confess though I find Bjork extremely inspiring to listen to.
Ruth: Bjork is very inspiring! She writes in both English and Icelandic I believe, do you write in both English and Spanish?
Chelo: Yes, although lately I’ve been writing mostly in English because it is easier to receive feedback from the writers I know. I still make a lot of grammar mistakes but there is a certain poetry and style that I’ve learned from Spanish literature that translates really well into English.
Ruth: You are up at early hours writing, can we know what you are working on?
Chelo: I’m writing a young adult novel! It’s been a blast to write because it’s magic realism and my imagination just runs wild. It’s about the day a set of twins, a girl and a boy, turn fifteen. The girl already looks like a young woman and it’s her day really because of her big quinceañera but it’s told through the point of view of the boy, who is still yet to mature and figure life out.