Today we’d like to introduce you to Ludovico Crisanti Cucchiella

Hi Ludovico, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

It was thanks to music that I started writing. I was a child, about ten or eleven. I would listen to songs on the tv and then I would ask my parents to buy me a cd. Then I would go through the lyrics that were written in the cd booklet. I wanted to write like those artists did. So I began writing verses. Until the rhyme became a sort of cage. So I broke through into free verse, speech and book writing. Especially with books and speeches I could really write as much as I wanted. I had no constraints. The page was for me the symbol of ultimate freedom. I took college courses in creative writing, poetry and public speaking. I gave up the chance of attending a university master’s course in Economics at my university and dedicated myself to full time writing. I wrote every day for various months. My first novel came out when I was twenty three and they interviewed me on tv. I got there through motivation and consistency. I felt though that the fact that I was writing every day had a negative impact on my writing and it did. I was too hard on myself: I learned to take breaks when I need to and balance my passion for writing and my self care. As my work life balance improved so did my writing. It became more clean, vivid, natural. Now I published my last novel, “Torn Treasure” which blends intimacy, fashion and desire. “Torn Treasure” is the work I am most proud of. I got there by asking myself what kind of eyes my world needed. My answer was eyes that would see beyond the body, to honour the heart and admire the soul.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

The road to my goals was never smooth. Mine was a road full of obstacles, doubts, fears and small minded people along the way. It was hard to deal with people who want small victories, when I needed a great triumph. I dreamed big. To publish two books in two different languages before the age of thirty. People didn’t understand it. They prioritised hype and security when I prioritised quality. For me it was all about quality and values . I wanted the work to be outstanding. High quality. I wanted it to pass the test of time. Most people didn’t understand me and I struggled with them. In the end I found some like minded people. Calmness, hope and hard work allowed me to push through.

On some days I was my worst enemy. I struggled with my own fears, with my own doubts.
I learned to rise higher than the things that blocked me. Breaking through every obstacle is exhausting. I learned to mentally jump over traps and doubts through calmness. Mind you I generally work on intensity. Occasionally I used calmness to slow down and understand how to simplify my writing to make it more seductive.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

I write fictional stories filled with people trapped by their illusions and liberated by love. Of all my novels “Torn Treasure” is the one I am most proud of. What sets me and Torn Treasure apart from others is admiration. Torn Treasure is about two young souls, a boy with mismatched eyes and a girl who never takes off her gloves, on a date, that will change their lives forever. The forces that bring them together are desire, attraction and admiration. Admiration, is what sets me apart, it’s the extremely powerful virtue we seem to have forgotten. We desire, we want, we chase, but how often do we admire? Torn Treasure is about a man admiring the scars, the strength and the soul of the woman he is next to. Of that I am proud of. I am proud of showing how admiration can bring us close together and how it inspires respect, tenderness and compassion. How noble, necessary and beautiful it is. How it can unite us. I portray virtues and vices, the luminous side and the dark side of people, and show that the virtues can prevail.
Also very often we read stories that are black and white, my stories are different. My stories have nuances. shades. Good values and evil temptations are clearly defined, but my characters have many shades, dark sides, luminous sides, vices and virtues that coexist. Variety of colours. No one is perfect or pure, they all have their imperfections and flaws. This contrast between the clarity – of good and evil forces – and the variety within the characters, makes the story different from anything you have ever read.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?

The most important lesson I have learned is to use both intensity and calmness. I love to work intensely to be focused, be sharp and make sure my work has rhythm. I love to be productive and to get things done. Speed makes things exciting and it’s useful. And yet it can get you to spin out of control in terms of structure and size. That is why you need that calmness to slow down and recharge, consider the direction taken. See where the story goes. Calmness allowed me to consider structure, proportion, clarity. In the long term slowing down is as important as speeding up.
I learned this the hard way. When I first started to write a novel I kept writing and writing non stop until I finished it. I didn’t realise it was too long. The beginning had too many characters introduced all at once and was confusing. It never got published. On my last novel, Torn Treasure, I would work intensely for weeks and then I would take a week or two to slow down and re read to make sure everything was clear, balanced and well structured. When Torn Treasure was published the first reviews praised its “compelling structure and captivating plot”.
It was a hard lesson to learn but it was worth it. In the long term slowing down is as important as speeding up.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: ludovico.cris