An author’s insight

Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER

Senior Spanish translation and interpreting major Javier Flores Jr. published his first novel “Memorias de Noviembre” in January 2020. 

Flores’ novel is about romance and resolving issues from the past.

“It is a romantic novel that takes place in Brownsville,” he said. “It’s about one protagonist, David. He has his own problems, like, his bad problems [and] his demons. He’s been through a lot of things with his family and also in the romantic, you know, things. And, he has losses. So, all these things accumulate, and he is trying to solve them. So, he meets someone, and she is his complement, and she helped him solve his problems.” 

Flores said he was inspired by a friend.

“One of my friends, Baruch, told me that a man should reproduce, plant a tree and write a book,” he said. “So, I was like, ‘Well, I can’t reproduce right now … and [I] want to plan my book,’ and I did it.”

Flores’ parents also contributed to his inspiration.

“My parents inspired me to keep on writing because when I first did the manuscript, they both said it was amazing [and] that I should keep on writing and to keep on going with more novels,” he said. 

Flores said the title of his novel was inspired by the month that he finished writing it.

“The first time I wrote the novel was back in 2016, and I started in October, and I finished in November. That’s why the title is ‘Memorias de Noviembre,’” he said. 

Flores also said that while the writing process was short, the editing process was longer.

“So, I finished that, and it was around 30,000 words, but then I edited the following year,” he said. “Then I was like, ‘OK, I’ll finish,’ but I kept on editing it. The following year, like [in] 2018, and on to 2019, I hired a publisher and an editor. We did the whole editing, and the book ended up with 70,000 words.”

Flores encourages people who want to write a novel to continue writing.

“Keep on writing,” he said. “That is the best advice. People think that they have to do things perfectly and [that] they have to have the inspiration and the idea and everything first and then write. … If you don’t have inspiration, just be there and prepare your mind that it’s ready to write.”

“Memorias de Noviembre,” which was independently published, is available on Amazon.com for $14.99.