I just want to talk a bit about how this book came to light. It started out as a short story in 2003 (during my 11th grade in high school) which was called The Black Dog. My English teacher at the time had asked us to submit “anything”…short story, poem, whatever…for marks.
So I cobbled up this story about this bad boy who gets caught up in a scary series of events that heavily draws from the aswang stories of my childhood. I named him after two of my favourite cousins, Pablo and Santos, respectively. He was so cool that he smoked. God, do I feel old now.
My English teacher really liked the story and told me that with the sort of writing skill I displayed, I could get into any university, no problem. Too bad I didn’t like to study and failed about half of my courses before I could crawl into a technical school…but that’s a story for another day. The first paragraph of Birthplace actually refers to something he said in real life. “Why did you name him Pablo Santos? That means Saint Paul. There must be a reason, right?”
In 2010, I was stuck at home after having my daughter and decided to complete a novel version of The Black Dog. This was my first ever attempt at writing in first person and I had a lot of fun doing it. Birthplace‘s plot came to life within the span of a few short months (a project I had dubbed “My anti-Twilight”, in response to a discussion on a forum about how stories are just rehashed and it’s the details that count). I think a lot of it has to do with the chemistry between the main character, Pablo, and his best friend, Rachel Ann. I had never done that sort of playful, love-hate character dynamic before. The introduction of Enrique (as the brooding third wheel) made it all the better. I incorporated my teacher’s thoughts into the story and it moved on from there.
Take a look at Birthplace, if you have time. It’s the first book in a planned series of three.
