Gifts for Book-lovers and Newbie Writers

Here are some more great Christmas presents for the book lover - this time from The New Yorker*.

I loved the bookcase wallpaper (left - all the ambience, no dusting!) from Spring Designs, and Brian Dettmer's book sculptures. The Book City Jackets are a stylish way of hiding the real title of the book you are reading from the world (so yes, there is a way to read banned books on the LRT!).

The Lovely Rita bookshelves are gorgeous and I want them on my walls.

If it is the newbie-writer in your life that you want to buy a gift for, Margaret Atwood has produced a list of the 10 perfect presents.

One book I have to treat myself to (although it looks as if I'll have to trawl for a second-hand copy) is Mortifications : Writers and their Public Shame compiled by Robin Roberston. Says Atwood :

Everything awful that may happen to you in public has already happened to someone else, almost. Add to the list (I hope not).

(*This link was very kindly forwarded to me by Lydia Chai.)

Making an Exhibition of Authors

Dear sir or madam, My name is Sonya Hartnett, I am fifteen years old. I have written a story about a young adolescent boy and the problems he has with his family, friends and society in general. Many of my friends say that I should get it published. Could you please tell me what I am required to do if I send it to you?

Jane Sullivan attend an exhibition about books and writing in Victoria and finds, among other fascinating literary memorabilia (including Peter Carey's laptop and Tony Wheeler's first travel diary) the above letter written by a young hopeful to a publisher. What is remarkable is the tact and generosity with which the feedback is handled by Frank Thompson, then a general manager at Rigby, who reminds Harnett :

Writing is a bit like playing sport ... Everyone can play most games but only a few play games so well that we will pay to watch them play, and even they have to practise continually ...

She took Thompson's advice to rewrite and her first novel, Trouble All the Way, was published a short time later, to be followed by many others. (And of course, she is listed for the Commonwealth Writers Prize this year.)

Ah, the importance of encouraging emerging writers ... and helping them grow.

The Independent Type: Books and Writing in Victoria is on at the Keith Murdoch Gallery, State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, until October 25.

Another exhibition with an literary link features furniture made specifically for favourite authors! Genevieve Roberts in The Independent reports that fifty of the world's best-known designers (including Christian Lacroix and Paul Smith) have been invited to create a piece for the writer who has most influenced their lives. Esther Henwood's book from the exhibitions Design et Littérature: Une Liaison Inspiré is to be published in Paris this week.

Some examples of the works :

The architect and designer Claudio Colucci conceived a lounge sofa made from carbon fibre for the James Bond writer Ian Fleming. "I have always liked the fantasy element in design," he said. "Too much function bores me. I thought of creating an amphibious car, but that already exists, so I designed a lounge-sofa for drinking champagne, for two, of course." The fashion designer Christian Lacroix imagined a mid-20th Century wrought-iron chair for the French novelist, Patrick Modiano. Lacroix said: "I like his form of melancholy; like him, I'm nostalgic." ... The architect India Mahdavi designed a cat-shaped sofa in homage to Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Mahdavi, who chose a cat because the animal appears throughout Murakami's work, said that when she was introduced to the novelist, "it was like entering someone's dream, in a universe where fantasy and reality are mixed".

Other works :

... have been imagined for great literary figures, such as Proust, Tolstoy and Flaubert. Others were conceived for contemporary writers who will have the chance to see the designs that have been imagined.

I got very frustrated yesterday trying to find some pictures of the pieces online, but I hope that they will appear in the days and weeks to come, and if they do, will post them.

But this news does rather beg the question - what piece of furniture would you design for your favourite author?

A Hobo's Life for Writers

A.L. Kennedy issues a stark warning to wannabe writers ... and knows no-one will heed it :

... I do try to tell other people what it will come to – hence my occasional visits to Warwick University and its creative writing students. They want to write, they have application and vigour, they've all come on since I read them last and yet ... it would be unfair not to remind them of how horrible their futures may become. If they're unsuccessful, they'll be clattering through a global Depression with a skill no one requires, a writing demon gnawing at their spine to be expressed and a delicately-nurtured sensitivity that will only make their predicaments seem worse – and yet somehow of no interest to anyone else. If they're successful, they still may not make a living, will travel more than a drug mule, may be so emotionally preoccupied that they fail to notice entire relationships, will have to deal with media demands no sane person would want to understand and may well wear far too much black. (Yes, it is slimming, but unisex Richard III isn't always what the occasion demands. Trust me: experience is a painful teacher.)

Naturally, I don't believe anyone will be deterred by my mad-eyed rantings. Once somebody wants to write it's almost impossible to stop them without also killing them to some significant degree. Nothing beats that raging delight at three in the morning when sentence number 15 finally agrees to do what you want, and never has banging wiggly marks on to a computer screen seemed so heroic – even if you're simply ensuring that the orthopaedic surgeon ravishing your senior nurse in the sluice room doesn't seem implausibly limber and can meanwhile reawaken echoes of that summer afternoon with her funny uncle ... And if you think you might actually be doing some good, amusing someone other than yourself – making them less lonely, more alive, more informed – well, you're just not going to chuck that over in favour of crafting, long walks and a quiet life. Hence the number of regimes and leaders who have discovered that killing writers until they are entirely dead is a highly effective method of slowing literary output. And may angels and ministers of grace preserve the students and indeed myself from any shades of that. We may feel hard done by, but we're not doing that badly – for individuals trapped in a society intent upon eating its own tongue.

Editors Are Not Magicians

Editors are not magicians; there’s no sleight of hand involved in the editing process. Nobody sees them working. They work long hours. It ain’t a nine-to-five thing. And they get insulted all the time. I do wish things would improve, but I know it won’t. Most of the typescripts I receive are not only badly written but lack content or substance; there’s not much in the way of depth or breadth or width in the writing. It’s rare that I receive one that I can sink my teeth into. I always jump with joy when a good manuscript lands on my table, something I can work with. But that’s rare.

Eric Forbes gives us a glimpse of what he has to face as an editor for MPH (see here and here), and now he gives us some more on his blog ... including the pushy parent of the J.K. Rowling wannabe, the authors who plan the food for their launch before they have written a word. Please do go read.

I really do not envy him his job ...

See - It Can Happen!

If there's a lesson to all this, it's that there are as many paths to publication as there are published writers. Everyone who has managed to reach the summit all writers aspire to can tell a different story of how they made the ascent. For me, it started with the encouragement of a friend when I was ready to give up, and ended with a chance encounter on a crime fiction website. And that's the final lesson for anyone who writes: don't give up. Life can turn on a pinhead, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but you never know when that twist is coming.

After all the depressing publishing news of the last few weeks, here's a story to warm the cockles of your heart and provide the wannabes among you with the inspiration necessary to keep going.

Stuart Neville, a writer from Northern Ireland, describes on his website how he got discovered by a new York literary agent, and signed up for a major book deal. [via Reading Copy].

His first novel, The Twelve, a crime thriller set in Belfast, will be published in the UK and the USA and translated into Japanese, French and Spanish. It has won praise from best-selling Irish author, John Connolly who calls it :

... not only one of the finest thriller debuts of the last ten years, but also one of the best Irish novels, in any genre, of recent times.

Let's wish the author all the best.

Art Chose Wena

Shirley also sent me scan of this article written by Wena Poon from the local edition of Marie Claire. Do read it because there are some lovely words of encouragment for local writers! (Click to full size.)

Sad I actually am indeed that she didn't win the Singapore Literary Prize, because I feel such a strong connection to Lions in Winter (as you will understand if you read this).

Lamott - Telling The Truth

Anne Lamott is a brave woman. At her next writers' conference, she's going to tell her students to give up and go home. They probably don't have much talent and they probably won't get published. And even if they do, it won't make them happy. ... This is just what creative-writing students don't want to hear, but Lamott says that anything else is lies. She's tired of students who want to get published but don't seem to want to write, so ... she said she was going to tell them the truth.

Jane Sullivan in the Age doubts whether Lamott, author of one of the seminal and most inspiring works on creative writing, Bird by Bird : Some Instruction on Writing and Life (a must read for the new writer) would really have the heart, because she herself had to struggle painfully to become an author :

The odd thing is that despite all the angst, Lamott does succeed in making the reader feel that just possibly spending your life writing every day is a noble, worthwhile and even joyful occupation, even if you never achieve any worldly success. In that sense, she's deeply inspiring. ... With writing, she says, "we are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."

You can read Lamott's columns for Salon.com here and I thought you might enjoy this interview from the 2007 Writer's Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University.

What David's Been Doing

I hadn't heard from It's a Long Way to the Floor Author David Byck in quite a while, and the fatwa ruling nudged me into getting in touch with him again, as his book is the most powerful account of the benefits physical and mental of yoga you could hope to find. Not that he managed to tempt me to take it up (despite the gift of the yoga mat still hanging on a peg in my bedroom) - my toes still have to send an email to my fingers when they want to meet, and the only position I've really mastered is the corpse pose!

You may remember that David turned his energies to writing fiction, and read an extract for us from a novel in progress at Seksan's last year.

As anyone who's read Long Way can attest, David's enthusiasm and energy is catching, and I loved the Facebook message he sent me in reply to What are you up to? so much that I decided to post it here, with David's permission, to inspire those of you (make that, those of us!) who are less than fully committed to our writing. (Links added by me.)

Dear Sharon,

Thanks for asking what I’m up to. I know I’ve been quiet lately; not attending local readings and so on. Maybe when I tell you how I’ve been spending my time you’ll understand.

First off, I’ve decided I want to write for a living. Actually, I want to write novels. Yeah, I know, having these thoughts is one thing but seeing the words on my screen does give me pause.

Of course I’ve outlined a path that will hopefully lead to my attaining this lofty goal of novelist. Firstly, I’ve taken several creative writing courses here in Malaysia. They were very good and covered the basics of writing structure and storytelling but as I continued to write I realized I needed to master the finer details of the craft.

I picked up several books on the topic and digested as much of what the international experts had to say on the subject. Again, good, but it lacked the human factor. I think for some subjects one must participate in open discussions and debates and be able to ask questions and receive feedback. Reading, How To books can only go so far.

By chance, I heard of a New York literary agent, Donald Maass, who, in addition to his normal duties, also assists his clients in becoming better writers. Donald, a writer himself, has authored several books on writing and holds intensive workshops throughout the year.

In 2007 I flew to Oregon to attend his workshop, Writing the Breakout Novel. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every minute of it. We began in the early morning, essentially worked through lunch and finished before dinner. The evening was spent on assignments that were due the following day.

One of the topics he covered was how to weave tension into our manuscripts. I thought the hour or so he spent on this subject was not enough. Several likeminded students approached him afterward and he promised to develop a workshop specifically on adding tension to every page. True to his word he did just that.

This past May I flew back to America specifically for this four-day workshop. On the way home I stopped by Gotham Writers’ in New York and had a one-on-one evaluation of my writing style - a reality check, I guess. It was a good way to end the trip. In addition to pointing out my weaknesses they suggested ways for improvement.

Another step I’ve taken is to increase the amount of time I spend reading. Although I read as much as the next person, I was reminded by you, Sharon, that writers need to read as much as they write. Maybe even more.

Once I admitted you were correct, I rearranged my schedule, cut out all or most of the unnecessary activities I did and diverted that extra time to additional reading. To what extreme have I gone? Well, in addition to reading instead of vegging out in front of the television at night, as often as I can I take the KTM or LRT to my office or meetings and use the time I would normally spend driving, reading. Okay, okay, the other reason I take public transport is an attempt to reduce my carbon footprint.

Of course I’ve been writing on a daily basis. I’ve just completed a political thriller and am beginning the first, self edit. As you know, writing is the easy part. Also, I now have a column in YogaLife Magazine. The column is actually the sequel to my book, It’s A Long Way To The Floor. Since each chapter is a stand-alone essay, I’m releasing the entire book, one chapter at a time. It’s an interesting project.

As for my goal of becoming a novelist, I’ll share with you why my confidence level is so high. I believe writing talent, along with most things in life is not something we necessarily have to be born with. I believe the key to success is to practice, practice, practice.

Gary Player, the South African PGA golfer once chipped the ball in the hole from quite a distance off the green. As he approached the flag he heard someone in the gallery shout out, “Lucky stroke.” Mr. Player turned around and replied, “It’s amazing, the more I practice the luckier I get.”

I have adopted and applied this same theory to many things in my life … my writing being one of them. My recently completed manuscript is my fourth. Holding it up against my first I believe the quality of writing and storytelling has vastly improved. Well enough to hit the New York Best Sellers List? I’m not sure about that. But I do believe if it is not this one it will be the next.

Or maybe the one after that.

Thanks again for asking about me Sharon. Take care and great job you’re doing with the blog.

Spread the peace,

david byck

The Wannabe Parent

When does an (outwardly) perfectly normal, peaceful-looking individual become a parent from hell?

Raman muses on the Silverfish website, before launching into yet another* wannabe horror story, this time about a parent who wants his daughter published ... even before she's written a word.

Then he said, "Unless you are deaf, dumb and blind, everyone knows how much money JK Rowling makes."

Oh God! Not another one!

"How many JK Rowlings, are there?"

"One." He looked puzzled.

"What is the population of the world?"

"I don't know ... several billions."

"So, the chances of your daughter becoming another JK Rowling is one in several billions. Now, if you go downstairs and buy a lottery, the chances of you winning the first prize is one in three million. Wouldn't that be much better?

Now I love it when people say they want to write and will do my best to encourage them, but expecting that you can become the next big thing without putting in the time and effort it takes to get there is totally unrealistic.

And it amazes me that many of the people I've met who say they want to write don't want to swallow the most basic piece of advice of all - if you want to write something worth publishing, you must read widely and hungrily. There is no shortcut. Sorry.

If you don't want to do this, take up quilting or grow bonsai trees or something like that. You'll probably be much happier.

(*A couple of my own are here and here.)

Iain Banks' Advice

What advice would science fiction novelist Iain Banks give to new writers?

The Three Ps: practice, practice, practice. Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don't try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. Accept imperfections. Get it finished and then you can go back. If you try to polish every sentence there's a chance you'll never get past the first chapter.

And when asked if there's a secret to writing he says:

Some people have just got it and some haven't. Although, I think it can be brought out of some people so it is worthwhile joining writers' groups or studying it. If a creative writing course produces one writer who wouldn't have been a writer otherwise then it's worthwhile. You kind of know if you are a writer or not. The real secret is to do it because you love writing rather than because you love the idea of being a Writer.

So You Want to be Published? Read On.

What should you do if you want to be published?* Boyd Tonkin, Literary editor of the Independent offers sterling advice.

Here's a snippet:

Should I bother to try to publish my novel?

Yes...

• Hundreds of first novels appear each year. Some do well, and not all of their authors are young, beautiful or already famous
• No agent or publisher ever knows for certain what will work. Their doors, and minds, must stay open out of self-interest
• Beyond the traditional houses, digital media have widened the choices for DIY publishing and greatly improved its status

No...

• Serial rejection and long months of disappointment await for the vast majority of wannabe novelists
• Writing your book, and making sure that friends and family can read it, might amount to as much authorship as you really want
• Far too many published novels clog an overcrowded marketplace. Even if you made it into print, your book might well sink without trace

*(At least in Britain and the US - as we've seen the publishing industry works somewhat differently in Malaysia)

Local Writers Sometimes Do Suck! Sorry Jamil!

A response by Md Jamil Abdullah to the interview with MPH editor Eric Forbes last week in Starmag. The letter misses the point so badly that one wonders why it was published in the first place. Indeed, one wonders if Encik Jamil had actually read the interview!

MPH Group Publishing should encourage local writers rather than make such sweeping statements which will mislead readers into thinking that local writers suck.

Well, dear, they try to. But it's hard to find something worth investing the money in among all the substandard stuff. Some local writers succeed brilliantly, both here and overseas, and Eric (who by the way has read all those books Jamil listed, and a great deal more!) did give praise where praise is due. Others (and I know because I also see many manuscripts) certainly do suck, sometimes spectacularly.

And the worst part of it is they don't listen when people like Eric try to give them advice that might make all the difference to getting published.

This is the very lack of understanding that keeps those wannabes in the slush pile. I wonder if Encik Jamil is there himself? He exhibits all the humpfy attitude so typical of the long-term frustatti.

Finding Writers

How nice it was to see my good buddy and MPH senior editor Eric Forbes in Starmag talking about the often search for local writing talent. He gives sterling advice about the necessity for writers to make sure their work is carefully proofread before submission - an obvious fact that seems to elude many wannabes:

Not having to plough through bad grammar and poor punctuation helps tremendously. The fact is, the editing process can be very monotonous and people who submit manuscripts are often not open to criticism, no matter how constructive. ...

He adds:

Being good at language is not good enough. You have to stretch yourself further before your writing sings and shines. The great writers of the world struggle every day with what they produce. And they have doubts all the time.

And he once again hammers home that much-repeated piece of wisdom which too many wannabes close their ears to:

Read as widely, deeply and omnivorously as possible, both fiction and non-fiction.

Omnivorously. Got that?

From time to time I've linked to some of Eric's horror stories about wannabe writers. See here and here. I don't think he's got the end of his supply of horror stories yet!

Meanwhile, MPH are inviting submissions for two anthologies:

The first is a collection of short fiction and creative non-fiction tentatively entitled Urban Odysseys: KL Stories. Writers should focus on life in the city, specifically Kuala Lumpur, with works that show images of the new juxtaposed against the old, urban living with contrasting bright lights and shadowy realities and other short fiction or creative non-fiction that best encapsulate the spirit of the national capital.

Stories must be original and between 3,000 and 5,000 words. The deadline for this anthology is Jan 31, 2008.

The second anthology is of short fiction that will be published under the tentatively title Chinese Stories. The theme is Chinese life in Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere, with writings that explore questions of fate and destiny, culture, spirituality, language, human longing and its consequences, ironies of life, identity and family. And love, of course. Stories could be sweet or sour. Or a combination of both. Or they could explore issues that have not been addressed before.

Stories must be original and between 3,000 and 7,000 words. The deadline for this anthology is March 31, 2008.

Guidelines for submission can be found here.

Stalked by a Wannabe

Ye gods. I had the Pushy Wanna-be from Hell turn up at my house last night to foist her manuscript on me to read.

She wouldn't take "no" for an answer when she spoke to me on the phone earlier, battered through my "It really isn't a good day and I have other problems to deal with".

"Just leave your work at Silverfish and I'll pick it up," I added. The bookshop is my drop off/pick up point in Bangsar and I'm in the area most days.

Wanna-be wouldn't hear of it. She must put the manuscript in my hands now and get immediate feedback.

When my friend in the bookshop refused to give my number out, this lady actually tried to snatch the address book out of her hands! (I had actually given wanna-be my card when we met so don't know what this was all about!)

Wanna-be is actually a nice woman who has done someone's else's creative writing course which has equipped her with a lot of enthusiasm and plenty of expectations of being published.

I sat with her in Starbucks one morning some months ago giving her feedback on a couple of chapters after she had contacted me. There was a lot that didn't work, one section that did that I told her she could build on.

Then I had time and it was good to felt I could help someone. But how did the expectation that I was on call for her at all times and with no notice form in her head?

I do try to help writers by reading something for them when I can, but haven't enough energy for everyone all of the time. (Sometimes I don't feel I even have enough energy for me!)

I think the best thing I can do for Wanna-be is to give her the contacts of a good "book doctor" overseas (or perhaps locally) who can give her the detailed analysis she needs for a fee. And some websites where she can post chapters and get feedback for free. (Have been intending to blog about these resources and hope to do so.)

Must add here a note about the most horrendous wanna-be I met up with who argued vehemently with me every time I tried to tell her what was wrong with her manuscript!

"I'm not sure how this character dies at the end," I say.

"He was hit on the head with a golf club, of course."

And she doesn't believe me - even when the evidence is clear - when I say that there is not a single mention of the weapon or even that the murderer plays golf in her story!

Postscript:

Eric blogged some horror stories the other day and I think we may have been blogging about the same person!

Instant Author, Just Add Water

Conversations with budding authors. (What follows is fiction, thinly disguised as life.)

Author 1 (of potentially best-selling thriller) :

Can I meet up with you? It's about an organisation for writers I'm thinking of setting up. ... I wonder if we could set up something to local help writers to market their books overseas. ... You know enough, you could be an agent. ... What I'm bothered about is getting ample rewards for the time and effort I put into it. What kind of books are they looking for overseas? ... Harry Potter, I read it and it wasn't much. What kind of books do you like? ... Annie Proulx? What do you see in her writing? ... No, I don't have time to read.

Author 2 (Graham Greenish wannabe)

I spend several hours reading his manuscript, meet up with him, brace myself to tell the truth ... which is that I don't find the characters credible, the attempts at writing local dialect don't sound right, parts of it I find downright racist, there are a lot of confusing sentences and I'm not too sure what it is trying to say.

Him: Do you think I need to revise it before I send it out? (He has big American publishers in mind.)

He pays for my air limau.

Author 3 (Short story writer because it's all he has time for)

I meet him in passing at an event for writers and give him my card. A few days letter I find a story he's written in my inbox. Please critique this, he says, I have a deadline. The story has to be in on Monday. He keeps calling me and calling me to see if I've done it. I'm busy so I finally sit down and go through it with him over the phone - there's a fair bit wrong with it, so this takes some time. (I later find that he's sent it out to every other writer and enthusiastic reader he met at that event.)

The story gets published. He's made all the changes I suggested. He doesn't say thank you. His stories keep arriving in my inbox.

Author 4 (Travel writer wannabe)

I meet him at a booksigning.

I have this great idea for a book. Can I tell you about it?

He does. He sits and tells me all about his great idea . It's quite good actually - but it turns out that he hasn't written a single word yet. He finally plucks up courage to ask the question he's been waiting to ask:

Could you be my ghostwriter?