Bookaholic turned shopaholic for just one brief spell this morning. Went to 1 Utama to buy some cakes for an extended session with the Quacking Ducks this p.m. But just happened to pass through Parkson Grand and see THE bag. When you see THE bag, you know it instantly, and I fell in love. Soft leather. Capacious. It passed the ultimate bag test - how many books can it fit? The answer is a whole mini-library, a writer's notebook and a clutch of pens. The essentials of life. Had to have it. No money? What's the credit card for, then?
Then I fell in love with a Mambo t-shirt with a writerly slogan I loved I parted with RM72. It was half-price in the sale, would you believe! What a ridiculous markup on their clothes. Still I might just outdo Nizam Zakaria at the next round of Bernice's readings. (Oh ... talking of which, do go check out the great photos of last week's redings at 67 Jalan Tempinis 1 on Nizam's blog. He captures the whole atmosphere so well.)
The critiquing was fun. As much a chewing over of life as a digestion of texts.
A couple of very short shorts from one quacking duck.
A second quacking duck was jinxed by a car breakdown, but we looked at her story anyway and took a vote on what she wanted to know - which viewpoint worked best. We let her have the verdict on the phone.
We talked about a couple of scientific articles written by a third duck who was concerned not to dumb the science down but to make it accessible to a lay audience. (One of her pieces has already been accepted for publication, which she's thrilled about.)
And then we took on and tossed around some poems from a fourth quacking duck and from the quaking duck.
Altogether a most satisfying day.
17 comments:
Wow! That's a lot of money for a T-Shirt. ;-)
www.yvonnefoong.com
A ridiculous amount of money! Just hope I've also bought the artistic inspiration that goes with it. We can console ourselves with the fact that Mombo t-shirts are quite a lot cheaper here than they are in Australia. How I wish I'd bought one of the big shirts when I had the chance ...
Sorry - gremlins in the machine ...
shopping is good... for a while. =)
please thanks everyone. trust me - after the verdict i thought, what happens if the 3rd POV is really the REAL deal, or the multiple POVs? how how how? sharon, die like this.
hey, let's all go away for a retreat. kuala selangor. one night with fireflies and writing. no?
fretting over POVs
I wish I could reassure you dz, but I can't. Wish I was more experienced critiquer. Maybe you should engage an overseas 'book doctor' for an opinion??
Can just say the 1st person POV is so much more intimate - right inside the guy's head and we feel that we care about him so much more. I don't think it matters that we don't get a panoramic view of the action ... I felt the story was working when I read it before, I didn't have a problem with not holding all the cards in my hand as a reader.
Only real problem for you is that your stroppy publisher don't agree. (The only one of us that would back him up though is the kutu duck.)
One of these days we should start our own Quacking Ducks Press.
ohhh sorry ... and the retreat? done deal. kuala selangor and fireflies is perfect. the only (firefly) in the ointment for me is my significant other who can't understand why i'm suddenly so close to all these writing buddies ... which takes attention away from him. *sigh*
is it a male thing? heh heh. bring along your other half. while you two create poetry, we writers can go crazy and get lost in the jungle.
i really need a break.
truth be told sometimes i wake up and hear my protagonist yelling, it's MY story, not cheggeng's! MINE, all MINE.
oooshhh. why didn't i become a lawyer? no stress.
What's the writerly slogan, lah?
Writers' retreat? I wouldn't mind a sleepover in your house, Ms Bakar. Then we'd be up all night, talking about writing, and going off-topic, and having to be brought back on track by you.
Then at least your OH will still have you nearby.
Quacking Ducks should have a writing get-together, hor?
dz - I think first person POV with a third person POV overlooking his shoulder, and giving us readers asides that the protagonist doesn't know about would be SO cool! Secrets between the third person POV and us would be fun!
Also, the third person POV could be correcting some misinfo given out by the protagonist, etc.
Can you tell I really want a two-person POV in your novel, something like a dialog?
dz - he doesn't do "roughing it" and the only poetry he knows is the words to rude rugby songs.
Chet - good idea to have a retreat at my house. But think better persuade OH to go away for a few days ...
dz - oops sorry, forgot to say ... listen to waht your protagonist tells you because HE is the most right of all.
taking notes. and yes..what an expensive T-shirt!
I don't often splash out Kak Teh, so don't you go making me feel guilty. (It isn't as if I can afford your friend's shoes ;-D)
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