Martynchik Svetlana: biography, creativity

Max Fry is the main character of the popular book series. For a long time nothing was known about the author of books, but in the early 2000s the writer himself revealed himself. Or rather, a writer. The article tells about her biography and literary career.

Svetlana Martynchik, or Max Fry

The riddle of the invisible virtual author of three popular series of novels "Echo Labyrinths", "Echoes Dreams" and "Echo Chronicles", which had no gender and was hidden under the pseudonym of Max Fry, was discovered not so long ago - in the 2000s. They were even two people - Svetlana Martynchik, a writer, and Igor Stepin, an artist and part-time husband, who at an early stage participated in the writing of some works.

Max's nickname appeared when the idea arose that the main character of the book and the author should have the same name. Fry's surname is translated as "freed from", "without" (in this case the combination "Without Max" is obtained), which quite eloquently shows the author's idea. Interesting idea was very popular, because gathered around him a large audience of connoisseurs of the creativity of this duo.

Even after the disclosure of the real name Svetlana said that such a "hoax" was not some kind of commercial move, but a purely personal, internal desire. And, perhaps, it was right that in this pseudonym there is much more truth than in real names and surnames, which their essence is still hidden behind masks.

Children's and youthful years

The future artist, writer and leader of Internet projects, Ukrainian by birth, was born in Odessa (then the USSR) on February 22, 1965, and she lived a significant part of her childhood in Germany. It so happened that, together with her father, a military musician who was sent there to serve, she had to move to her.

Memories of Berlin, where she lived until 9 years, remained the warmest. Thanks to the kind and progressive people, the beautiful forest that surrounded their house, Martynchik Svetlana perceived this city as ideal. Therefore, it was so difficult to reorganize and get used to other realities when she returned to Odessa. The native city of the 70's and 80's was remembered as a place of cultural and social stagnation, despair, where it was practically impossible to work fruitfully and creatively.

The aspirations for art were manifested in Svetlana as a child. And they were very diverse. Interest in literature was manifested in the fact that the girl was an amateur to entertain her family and guests with terrible fairy tales of her own composition. Plots she took from the many books that she brought from the library and read from cover to cover. Therefore, it became logical to get a job in the library after graduation. As a child, Svetlana began to take a great interest in photography. Having received his first camera, which was a gift to her father as a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, she discovered the possibility of a visual transfer of the world. This became a harbinger of self-expression in the visual arts.

Higher education Martynchik Svetlana has not received. Being a student of the philological faculty of Odessa State University, she threw him in the third year. At this time the girl begins to look for herself as an artist. And this search became possible after acquaintance in 1986 with his future neighbor, friend and subsequently husband Igor Stepin.

The beginning of the creative path

Svetlana Martynchik and Igor Stepin became an excellent creative duet. They began with an unusual - the creation of the plasticine world, "Planet Homan". This hobby came from the childhood of Igor and was so carried away by the couple that they managed to create not only the toy people themselves, buildings, but also their culture, to describe the history, myths and even the calendar of these characters. Long-term work has borne fruit. It was first presented at an exhibition in Moscow under the title "The Ho People", then in Germany and the US as a project "The World of Homan" and, finally, was described in "Nests of Chimeras" by Max Fry himself.

All this time the couple is actively saving up for their own apartment, participating in many exhibitions, selling their work abroad. In 2004 they moved to Vilnius, where they live now. "Fate is not stupid, people will not be wasting money in vain," - the words of Max Fry, who best describe this productive creative and family alliance.

Max Fry and Literary Activity

Before this character appeared, Max Fry, Svetlana Martynchik did not think about the writer's career. Together with her husband, creating fictional worlds, they came up with a story for them, and in the evenings they told them to each other. Thus, in 1995, a story was created about the adventures of Sir Max in the United Kingdom with a capital called Echo. The adventures of the hero and began to describe Svetlana, and her works have collected the best signs of parody, detective and fantasy.

Already the following year, the publishing house "Azbuka" began to be issued one after another by the story of the author Max Fry of the cycle "Labyrinths of the Echo": "Simple magic news", "Glamor", "Volunteers of eternity", "The Bold Deadman" and others. The main character is also in the works entitled "Nests of Chimeras", "My Ragnarok", whose actions take place in the world of Homan.

Later became the series "Dreams of Echoes" and "Chronicles of Echoes." All these works became more and more popular among readers, and the figure of the mysterious Max Fry just warmed up interest and attracted attention. However, the disclosure of this authorship was not far off with the appearance in 2002 of the "Encyclopedia of Myths" and "The True History of Max Fry, the Author and Character" in it.

The reason for this exposure was Svetlana Martynchik's conflict with the director of the ABC, who wanted to make the character's name the name of the trademark and produce mass works of other authors under him. Disagreement with this led to the fact that the following stories of Svetlana began to be published in the publishing house "Amphora".

Other works and their features

Martynchik Svetlana, after moving to the publishing house "Amphora" has made literary light more than 20 books, including "Coffee Book", "Tea Book", "Russian Foreign Tales." Together with previous works, they are able to be independent stories, from which the reader can begin acquaintance. The combination of different directions and genres - fantastic, heroic novels, postmodern game, humorous and mystical stories - all this also combines the courage of the character's actions with the ease and softness of the presentation.

Svetlana is the author of other works, such as "The Ideal Novel" (1999), "The Book of Solitude", "Tales and Stories" (2004). Whatever they were - individual or in co-authorship, the woman never attributed them only to herself. This applies to Max Fry - she considers it the result of a common work with Igor Stepin, who not only took part in illustrating books, but also appeared with Svetlana as a copywriter.

Literary merit

Martynchik Svetlana is a versatile personality. After all, she managed to become a publicist, prose writer, curator of the book series in a publishing house, leading on radio, an artist and a photographer. During this time, won several awards, such as the award of the magazine "The World of Fiction" for the "Chronicles of Echo" (2005), in the nomination for the best male image received the "Silver Arrow" in 2008.

Itself about itself speaks, that adores the nature (both plants, and animals), travel on cities of the world and good footwear.

Svetlana Martynchik herself, her biography and her work became a unique symbiosis, creating an imaginary but intriguing and unique story that captures an increasing number of readers.