The Young Ones
There's a nice piece in StarTwo's Youth 2 section today about young Malaysian authors. Sharmila Nair and Ian Yee interview Lim May Zhee, Ruzaina Fikri and Muhamad Syrafuddin ... valiant souls all. (And may they continue the good fight as they grow older.)And in a side piece, MPH's Janet Tay talks about how to realise the dream of getting published, tempering encouragment with a dose of realism. And of course the most important piece of advice :
Read, read, read. I can’t emphasise that enough. I think we do encounter a fair bit of writers who want to write but don’t pick up books themselves “ it’s like a chef who doesn’t know how to eat or taste his food.
Labels: janet tay, lim may zhee, malaysian authors, muhamad syrafuddin, publishing, publishing in malaysia/singapore, ruzaina fikri, writers must read
posted by bibliobibuli at 1:35 PM
13 Comments:
Well now that's interesting.. it's odd for me to rad stuff I write professionally because then I see all the things I could have changed. Writing is never finished, just stopped before deadline. So I generally avoid reading the professionally written stuff because I don't want to have to think about it any more. It's done, time to move forward, think of the next one.
PS. Getting published is easy, just needs money. Somebody talk about how to survive as a writer.
September 24, 2008 4:31 PM
"Getting published is easy, just needs money" - like sending a man to space, I reckon. Just needs money.
Janet looks great!
- Poppadumdum
September 24, 2008 4:39 PM
i nearly commented on janet's ringlets :-D
September 24, 2008 6:31 PM
PP :
It really DOES just need money. I mean, that's how we did it :)
"Q: What kind of money can young authors see? Can they expect to get rich after publishing just one book?
JT: Far from it. Very, very few writers make money from writing (another point I can’t over emphasise). I think it’s best to just be happy if one is published"
September 25, 2008 12:06 AM
Hahahaha! True lah...As the crappy boyband The Beatles sang, All You Need is Money...
- PPDD
September 25, 2008 3:53 AM
Attended Susan Perrow's workshop on how to write therapeutic stories for children with problems, and was really inspired by her method of churning a story and her experiences around the world.
Workshops and writing courses are motivational for certain group of people who want to start writing instead!!!
September 25, 2008 11:23 AM
I find Janet's words interesting, especially when talking about the relative ease of being published in Malaysia.
Let me just say that it is also interesting that most of the 'Malaysian' authors published have had to go abroad to do so. Curious no!
September 25, 2008 11:35 AM
rani - you wouldn't like to write a post for this blog about those workshops would you? i'd love to know more. if you would like to write it you can contact me at sharonbakar at yahoo dot com
September 25, 2008 12:55 PM
Hi Yusuf,
It depends on which market the 'Malaysian' writers (as you described them) want to reach...if they're ambitious enough, they know they want/have to reach a worldwide audience, so best to go to the centre of the publishing industries...
- Poppadumdum
September 25, 2008 2:45 PM
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Poppadumdum!
September 25, 2008 10:07 PM
And I think Janet also said it's EASIER to get published now, but it doesn't mean it's EASY...
September 25, 2008 10:40 PM
Anyhow if you have to want to write, then you're not a writer. There's no point in training to be a writer, it doesn't pay and you'd just be wasting your time. You don't "want to be", you either already are, or you are not. If you "want to be" then you don't really, because you'd just be wasting your time Why'd anyone _want_ to be a writer?
September 27, 2008 11:39 AM
Hi,
Speaking of young writers, have you heard of Faïza Guène, a young French woman of Algerian roots who published a book at 19? Here's an article http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/may/10/books.socialexclusion
September 27, 2008 11:50 AM
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