I'm still tempted to write "Butterfly Valley" instead of "Where Days Repeat Endlessly" because that was the name with which I developed the entire project. That title referenced the valley in which the town of Kawitzin was established. In the valley, life is born and dies around Azomalli, the rebellious angel of death who cannot resist helping humans even though it is forbidden.
Azomalli's plot is one of my favorites of the entire saga, I developed it while writing the first issue. My process was conceptual since the story's order structure and construction were my most significant concerns during the development. For days, I had my window full of posts with features of the characters and possible episodes for the saga, linked with threads that established possible coincidences and conflicts. I turned to my research when I felt lost in this maze of little stories. I loved having to develop several narratives simultaneously.
The part of the process that excited me the most was writing the utopian and futuristic sections of the story since I love science fiction. I am interested in creating possible worlds that inspire my readers to positively change their lives and the world. By establishing a circular narrative for the saga, I wanted to break with the apparent nihilism that many people have in front of the imminent climate crisis and invite readers to imagine everything we can achieve if we make a collective effort to change the customs and social values that have given us driven here.
By writing about the ancient cultures of Mexico and America, I had the opportunity to use some of the knowledge I acquired in my degree and the courses I have taken in recent years. For example, many of the names of places and characters are words that I learned in my Nahuatl classes. I also paid a small tribute to Joy Harjo, my favorite poet for several years, whose poetry helped me connect with nature during my youth, guiding me toward the ecofeminism that has influenced several of my stories.
Something that surprised me was that, during the part of the novel that takes place in the present, I used many references to Mexico, something that I do not usually do in most of my texts since I like to locate my stories in environments open to interpretation so more readers can identify. I have never wanted my nationality to be a limitation or a determinant of my writing style. Still, I genuinely enjoyed writing references that the PepperBerry team, who are primarily Mexican, could identify with and take advantage of to capture a festive and untamed atmosphere, which is how I perceive my country.
For the first part of the story, which is what you will receive if you support our Kickstarter campaign, I sought to build myths and explain some possible ways in which myths are created. In Latin America and many other cultures, myths are part of collective and individual identity. In many cases, it is impossible to distinguish history from mythology. Myths are also my favorite way to approach cultures I don't know. There is something fun in creating and interpreting ancient myths from a current perspective that responds to different values than those that existed at the birth of the original ones. It is a way to rewrite history and choose new paths for humanity.
I wrote this story with the love and optimism I decided to put in all my stories quite some time ago. The response from the visual and editorial team has been significant in encouraging me to continue writing, even though production is stopped at the moment. I have put a lot of care into ensuring that each of the characters has a unique dilemma, virtues, and desires, and this fuels my hope that I can continue building this universe full of stories.
