8 Questions for... Samuél Lopez Barrantes

if not, Paris

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Samuél Lopez-Barrantes

writes, if not, Paris, and has more or less lived in that city since 2008 as a novelist and musician. He says, “I’m interested in how human beings derive meaning in life, whether it be through love, intoxication, power, friendship, or the myriad fictions & truths we tell ourselves during the in-between.” His latest novel, The Requisitions, is out now.

1.     Why Substack?

I started writing on Substack in early 2022 because I wanted to hold myself accountable as a writer in a different way. I’d been working on my second novel, The Requisitions, for seven years at that point, and I’d begun to feel embarrassed about telling people “I’m a writer” without having much to show for it since my debut (Slim and The Beast, Inkshares, 2015). To this end, why Substack? To honor a simple ultimatum for myself: write something short I can be proud of every. single. week.

2.     How long did it take you to find your groove?

I’m Schrodinger’s Stella: I forever do and don’t got my groove back. There are months when I’m flowing on Substack—reading a handful of writers deeply, engaging in comments sections, and writing creating something I’m proud of every 7-10 days—and there are other times when I wonder if the digital world isn’t sucking the muses out of me, forcing me to question everything and wonder how any artist trying to stay true to their deeper self can focus on promoting a version of their egos online without sacrificing something profound in the long run.   

3.     How has it changed you?

Substack is the strongest literary community I have aside from my few stalwart writing buddies in Paris. It holds me accountable and also connects me with artists across the world. Take you, Eleanor, for example: despite an English Channel between us, I consider you a friend now, even if we’ve never met in real life. And that’s pretty damn cool. I met

Amran Gowani

, another Substack connection, in Chicago for a beer, and I can also now call the fiction writer

Meg Oolders

and the journalist/novelist

Elle Griffin

digital friends even if we’ve never had a glass of wine in real life. Finally, here’s how Substack has changed me: Barrie (Mr. Fable) & Jojo (Mrs. Feast), two artists and inspired wanderers living in rural France, commented on a query letter I sent to Substack about The Requisitions in December, 2023. Lo and behold, thanks to a single Substack comment, in July 2024, my wife Augusta Sagnelli and I spent two glorious weeks in their beautiful country home. I wrote about it, too.

4.     What mistakes have you made?

I’ve gotten lazy at times when I probably could’ve deepened my connections on the platform and benefitted from cross-posting, engaging in the Notes sections, etc., but I know what happens when I start treating writing like a job instead of honoring it as a life’s work passion, and I’ve already got multiple jobs so I can have time to write, so the mistake is on both sides, swinging like a pendulum between making the mistake of putting too little energy into Substack (i.e. not posting frequently, not reading other people) or focusing too much on turning it into something that will make me allergic to the deeper kind of writing I was born to do.

5.     To pay or not to pay?

Capitalism isn’t going anywhere for a while, which means things of value are generally defined monetarily. It’s a pickle, but since we’re stuck in the pickle juice, and since I believe art is valuable, this also means I believe art should occasionally be paid for. Additionally, I work multiple jobs to be able to pay my bills write novels, and if I don’t believe my work is worth paying for occasionally, nobody else will, either.

6.     What artistic and technical choices have you made

I’ve refrained from giving myself any strict parameters aside from just doing the damn thing and trying to post work I’m consistently proud of. Sometimes I’ll share a drawing or poem or piece of music or film, but most the time I share essays or fictional pieces. I’m sure some marketing strategist will tell me this is the wrong way to do it, but I know what happens to my writing when I stop living it as a passion and start treating it like a job.

7.     What’s been the effect on your writing?

Substack has made me ever more conscious of my tendency to write a lot more words than I end up sharing (like a sculptor receiving a big chunk of marble, I tend to lop off a whole lot before I start shaving down the finer features with a scalpel). Given the nature of information technology and social media’s assault on all of our senses spirits, Substack reminds me that when I’m writing well, it’s rarely because I’m sharing information or producing content but rather because I’m sharing a part of myself that deepens my connection to my readers and friends within the Substack community.  

8.     In it for the long haul?

Yes. I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid and don’t expect that to change anytime soon. As a novelist, I always think of publishing finishing a book like a parent placing one of their child’s drawings on the refrigerator as a memento. The final piece isn’t always as pretty or finished as somebody else’s in the classroom, but that’s not the point—the piece is mine, and it represents a specific moment in my life; it’s a totem of a former me. Each of the three novels I’ve written (only two are published, the first was shite and nobody shall see it … NEVER!) helped me become more of the writer human I want to be. It’s how I make sense of the world, spending years escaping into fictional worlds, so yes, I’m in it for the long haul as a novelist. As for Substack: whether it remains a space to engage with over the next years will depend on how much Big Money, “content creators” and “influencers” relegate it to just another place to be sold something sell out. Still, I’ve got faith Substack is in it for the long haul the right reasons, too, because there used to be a time when only cult leaders were obsessed with “gaining followers,” and we don’t need any more cults of personality than already exist. authenticity > content AND community > capital. I can get behind this.

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