Secrets of Writing Success

Glenda Larke picks up some valuable advice about how to suceed as a writer. (She bases her list on Richard St. John's TED talk.) Her tips :

1. PASSION - don't do it for money, but for love
2. WORK hard, but let it be fun. (For a writer, that would include reading A LOT)
3. GOOD - get good at it through practice
4. FOCUS - on one thing
5. PUSH yourself and push through the self-doubt
6. SERVE something of value to others
7. Get IDEAS - listen, observe, be curious, ask questions, problem solve, make connections
8. PERSISTENCE through the CRAP Criticism Rejection Arseholes (or assholes if you're an American) Pressure

Looks like Glenda is heeding her own advice. Elsewhere she writes :

I intend to start writing book 3 of The Watergivers trilogy (i.e. the Stormlord cycle) on July 1st and maintain a steady 11,000 words a week for 4 months, which should bring me to the end of the first draft in time for revisions and a January 1st delivery.

Everything from Malay Ghosts and Dissenter's Balls to Toy Pianos

Our Saturday Readings@Seksan was a fabulous mixture of political discussion, Malay ghosts, poetry with toy musical instruments, and some fantasy writing which raised real world issues.

Happy I was to hand the MC-ing of this event over to Animah Kosai so I could just relax and enjoy the event. (Anyone else want to have a go another time? I like being lazy!)

Danny Lim started the ball rolling by reading about a couple of local spooks from his Malaysian Book of Ghosts. We learned about the elf-like Bunian of Malay mythology, and it was fascinating to hear about the journalist (formerly with Time magazine) who actually interviewed one for Men's Review back in 1999! We also heard about Hantu Kum Kum :

A roving female ghost carrying a tombstone like a baby, who goes around asking for milk, and attacks young virgins to restore her youth and beauty.

Incidentally, the Malay version of Danny's book, Kitab Pengetahuan Hantu Malaysia, is due to be launched this Friday 8.30 pm onwards at Bau Bau Cafe at The Annexe, Central Market with a whole variety of exciting folks reading ... including me! (I am the star attraction, come and laugh at the Mat Salleh mangling Malay!)

The focus of this particular Saturday after noon was very much on Kee Thuan Chye's March 8th : The Day Malaysia Woke Up which is a collection of contributions in response to the seismic shift in the political landscape of Malaysia following the last elections. Animah read her essay What Do the Children Think?, a very effective and yes, charming piece, blending the personal and political piece to talk about how Malaysians of different are divided from each other and how hard it is for a child to see that.

Kee Thuan Chye who put the book together read extracts which included interviews with former law minister Zaid Ibrahim (The Reforms Will Come), and the extracts from the interview with Raja Petra Kamarudin delightfully titled How Big Are Your Balls? in which he talks about his arrest under the ISA (the first time round, that is) and gives his take on the political landscape.


If there was any danger that we might take ourselves all too seriously with all that politics, all that dissipated when The Happy Unicorn Collective (a group comprising Dianne Dayanna, Priya K., Nurul, Patricia Low, Tan Koon, Fairuz S. and Adam Kharul and formed for Project Connect earlier in the year) took the floor after the break.

The group blended Priya K's eccentric poetry with an unusual mix of musical instuments which included rucksack percussion, kiddy xylophone and toy piano, stylophone, and children's trumpet! The most hilarious poem was one about seagulls being evil and stealing chips when the group went to UK. (The biggest culture shock just has to be one involving the wildlife!)

It was really great to have Glenda Larke (above) with us. As I probably told you before, I knew Glenda as an environmentalist long before I even knew she wrote - let alone was a prominent fantasy writer. She started by saying that it is ironic that fantasy is a genre much looked down on, when many very famous literary authors (among them Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Gunther Grass, Marquez) have written in the genre ... except that of course good fantasy fiction tends to get a different name slapped on it. (This is something we've talked about before on this blog.)

Glenda read to us from her new, as yet untitled novel, which is to be the first part of a new trilogy, set in a world where water is a scarce and precious commodity (as she predicts it will be for all of us soon). The extract was an engaging piece about two brothers in this arid landscape.

When the book is published we must invite her back! In the meantime, you can find Glenda's excellent blog Tropic Temper here. (She has a nice write-up of this event.)

Brian Gomez was a no show (he got the time wrong) and I was sad about that because I am really enjoying his absolutely crazy novel Devil's Place. Never mind, we will invite him again and send him an alarm call.

But it was a great stroke of luck that Kam Raslan (above) happened to be along (he is now living in China, but back for a visit) and since he also had a piece in March 8th, it was the perfect opportunity to ask him to read his essay The End of Fear, about how the violence that the government warned about if the political order were threatened, failed to materialise, and how :

Fear is a legitimate emotion but it either leads to a desire to leave or extreme caution. It is not a good fertiliser for growing exciting things (although it is manure).

After the readings ended, some folks stayed back to chat with Chye and the other authors about the book and about their thoughts about keeping the spirit of March 8th alive, while we clearer up round them.

Thanks to all who read and all who came. Thanks to Seksan for the wonderful space. Thanks to Shahril Nizam again for making the poster. Thanks too to the setters-up (foremost among them, Chet) and valiant clearers away.

Next month I think Bernice is organising something for teen writers, so I will keep you posted.

Malaysian Political Imagination and the Novel

While Malaysia is anything but a full-fledged democracy, its relative openness permits a spectrum of debate, which allows for a certain flowering of creativity. ...

... Samarasan, Aw, Tan, and Tei matter because, being from an ethnic minority, they provide a different perspective to Malaysia's divided polity, given that Malaysia's preferential policies benefit the majority, and not minority, communities. Furthermore, these writers provide a local voice looking at the country and its past. This is important, because until recently, fiction about Malaysia or Singapore looked at the region from an outsider's perspective, with the natives offering colourful backdrop ...

Salil Tripathy pens a very important piece on the political imagination and literature of Malaysia and Singapore for the current issue of the Indian literary journal Biblio. You will need to subscribe to the journal to access the full piece.

In the same issue there's also a very nice piece about the litbloggers of Asia by Jai Arjun (who blogs at Jabberwock). Jai very kindly writes about my blog, and also mentions other local bloggers doing a great job - namely Amir, Eric, Glenda. (This article can be read for free but you need to register first).

Malay Mail Grabs the Blogger Authors!

Although initially the reason was to talk about my books, my present aims are much wider than that. I highlight conservation issues for a start. I hope in some little way to increase awareness of Malaysia’s stunning biodiversity and its importance. If you want to see photographs of anything from the Imbak Valley or a pill millipede – come to my blog.

I also cater for fans and readers of science fiction and fantasy, and for would-be authors of those kind of books. I post on things like how to get published or how to write a fantasy novel or how to improve your writing. I tell fans about what’s coming out next of mine, and will happily answer questions about my books, past and up-andcoming.

Occasionally I blog about social issues, especially when I feel a grave injustice is being done, or when authorities try to take away our rights on the flimsiest of excuses. I like to point out ironies and idiocies and bigotry. (There is so much material here for a fantasy writer…and of course, I use that material in my books. What writer wouldn’t?)

It's been a lovely surprise over the last couple of days to see a couple more writing friends who are also bloggers featured in the Malay Mail. Yesterday it was conservationist/fantasy author Glenda Larke who blogs at Tropic Temper. (And thanks so much, Glenda for naming me your favourite blogger! Guess we're in each other's fanclubs now.)

Today it's the turn of short story writer Robert Raymer, who blogs as BorneoExpatWriter which is a must-read for everyone interested in learning about the craft of writing.

In the article he says :

Blogging hasn’t changed my life, just my writing life, or how I view writing. Before, I would write or pitch articles for publications, but now I write posts on writing to help inspire other writers. Then later, I think some of these would make pretty good articles, so I would rewrite them and submit them for publication. This is a recent development, but so far one has already been published. So blogging in this sense serves a new purpose for me, it gets me to write articles that I may not have written in the first place, plus they become fodder for paying articles and workshops.

It’s also nice when readers of my stories and former writing students stumble across my website or blog and contact me. Also the website/blog is invaluable for editors, agents, publishers and reviewers to get more information about me and to read samples of my writing. So far I’ve got one US$500 writing assignment from the US, one full page interview and book review ( Borneo Post ), and one workshop presentation (in Miri) from strangers who came across my website.

So you see, blogging is a mighty useful thing!

(Sorry for being away from you all for so long. My computer is repaired and has a whole lot of new parts inserted and I'm really happy with it now. All my troubles have made blogging more effortful than it should have been, and it's a real pleasure to be back to normal.)

Personal Meets the Historical, Authors Meet Audience

We were in celebratory mood at Readings@Seksan on Saturday. We had three authors fresh from the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, a gaggle of poets (right collective noun?) launching their first collection, great music from Singer songwriter Reza Salleh, books to give away thanks to the kindness of Pansing and MPH, lovely cakes baked by Just Heavenly! (Chet's idea) and an audience of beautiful people. (Far right is fantasy writer Glenda Larke, whom I must persuade to come and read for us soon!).

Shamini Flint has won a three book publishing deal with Little Brown for her crime thrillers but today she read to us from two of her children's books The Seeds of Time (which she launched in Ubud) and Ten about a football mad girl witnessing the break-up of her parent's marriage.

Singer-songwriter Reza Salleh gave us a set of songs before the interval which added wonderfully to the festive atmosphere.

The after a break for chat and delicious cake, with much bookselling going on thanks to MPH and authors who brought their own books along, we had our lucky drawer for brand new books with 11 lucky winners!

Preeta Samarasan read from Evening is the Whole Day. The last time she appeared at Seksan's was before the book was published - this time, many of us had read the book and could enjoy her reading from it even more. I was a bit naughty and asked Preeta to read from her most controversial chapter, with Truth and Rumour dancing in the streets on May 13th. It was a section that made me gasp when I first read it because it says the kinds of things folks are afraid to say out loud in Malaysia.

The personal also echoed the historical in the extract Man Asia Prize longlisted Chiew-Siah Tei read from Little Hut of Leaping Fishes where Mingxi's wife dies in childbirth and the reform movement is also still born. Although set in China, this novel illustrates the forces that drove many Chinese (including Chiew-Siah's ancestors) to the Malay peninsula. We really look forward to the next two novels in her trilogy.

Can I just shout from the rooftop how wonderful it was to have these authors here and to celebrate their successes? YAY!!

Lansell didn't make it to this Readings but don't worry, I will not let him off so easily.

Nothing happens without our lovely supportive audience. I was so surprised to see Kadek Kris, one of the organisers of the Ubud Writers Festival. You can see Bernice in the white shirt in the background with her two beautiful daughters, and Na'a Murad (actor and Jit's little brother).

Apologies to the folks I stared through glassy eyed ... I am a bit incoherant sometimes when I'm worrying about everything it's possible to worry about. Jane Sunshine, why didn't I give you a big hug?

Many thanks to Seksan for use of his beautiful space and to my friends who keep me calm and help me set up everything quickly and efficently and then quietly clear up afterwards - Chet, leon, Eugene, Saabdev - very many thanks. Thanks too to Eric and MPH.

Lost Gift!

Aiyoh MPH - so much for promoting local authors! Glenda has a very hard time finding The Gift of Rain:

Today I was in the MPH bookshop in Midvalley. I wanted to buy the book "The Gift of Rain" by Malaysian Author Tan Twan Eng, a novel set in war-torn Penang. It is published in UK, and has been reviewed, reasonably favourably, by the Times Literary Supplement. Seems like an author that Malaysia can be proud of, right?

And the bookstore was hung with posters saying: "Proud to be Malaysian". It was a "Buy Malaysian and get a discount" promo...

Now I know I am clueless. All I could remember was that it was by someone surnamed Tan, and I thought Eng was in his personal name. And I couldn't remember the name of the book, but I knew what the story was about and that it was published in UK recently. Should have been enough for them to recognise what book - surely Malaysian bookshops would want to promote that rare commodity, a Malaysian getting overseas attentions and kudos. How many have we had over the past 10 years? Enough to use all the fingers on one hand? And this was a 2007 publication. All told, I asked 4 assistants and they consulted 2 computers - nope, never heard of him or his book.

I eventually found it myself. And I scolded the shop assistants for not living up to their own promo. Tan, I hope they listened.

Book Snobbery

Glenda writes about how genre fiction (and fantasy fiction) is looked down upon by the self-appointed guardians of literature.

She slips in a nice quote from David Langford's March edition of his sci-fi newsletter Ansible in which he talks about UK writer, Iain Banks, who writes both 'literary' works and science-fiction:

Iain Banks's new book... is variously described. An invitation to the related `The Herald Sunday Herald Book Series' event calls it `his first literary novel in almost five years' -- as distinct from illiterary novels like The Algebraist (2004)? ... Private Eye's phrasing is `Banks's first "proper" novel (as opposed to the sci-fi stuff he turns out under the name of Iain M. Banks) for five years.' ... And Radio 4's Saturday Review, after acknowledging this author's habit of alternating the `terrestrial' and the `intergalactic', went on to say: `The Steep Approach to Garbadale is his first novel for five years ...'

Glenda has her own interesting tale of prejudice closer to home:

When I first had books published in Australia, they were unavailable in Malaysia, because I couldn't interest the publisher's distributor in supplying them to book shops here - Australian books, he said, were too expensive for the Malaysian market.

But I was being well-reviewed in Malaysian newspapers, so I approached a bookshop in Bangsar. I also wanted a bookshop I could send people to when they asked where to buy copies. I offered the proprietor a win-win solution. I was willing to supply the books, and he didn't have to pay me until they were sold. He refused the offer, and told me that he didn't stock non-literary works and the kind of people who read 'those' kind of books (i.e. trashy fantasy?) didn't come into his shop anyway.

While saying goodbye to him, a customer caught sight of the sample book I had brought along, started talking to me - and bought the book from me, right there in the shop where 'people who read those kind of books' weren't supposed to shop, right under the nose of the proprietor.

The next time I was in that bookshop, I saw he had copies of Harry Potter all over the place.

I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said "There are only good books and bad books."

Go and grab a book in a genre you don't normally read, today!

Good Stuff On Elsewhere Blogs

This is where I suck you all in to a whirling vortex of local litblog news and spin you out in all directions again.

Deepika is just back from the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka (here and here ... with more to come) where she interviewed Booker winner Kiran Desai.

Another Malaysian writer has begun blogging - master of horror Tunku Halim. I met him for the first time at MPH Writer's Circle the other day, and he wasn't at all what I expected ... much younger and a lot less spooky. Am looking forward to reading his new collection of stories, due to be launched soon.

I hadn't realised that short-story writer and long-term Malaysian resident Robert Raymer has a website, until one of his former students (Yan Yi at Marshall-Cavendish) told me about it. Robert previously taught creative writing at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and is now based in Sarawak. He was the editor of Silverfish New Writing 4 and has a collection of short fiction, Lovers and Strangers Revisited (both avaialble from Silverfish). Robert has put up some very useful tips and exercises for writers.

Eric, as always, has much good stuff on his blog, but this superb list of reading recommendations for the short story is well worth printing off and keeping as checklist.

Daphne Lee has had her first four children's books published (congrats!) and is taking criticism on the chin.

Ted gets steamed up about the ignorance of local teenagers who haven't realised that - yes, there actually is a writing scene here. There is! There is!

Lydia reacts to a comment made by Glenda's daughter that writers websites tend to be self-absorbed and whiny.

Amir is spot on when he talks about how to read like a writer. (Caution though, easily offended sensitivities and young minds should stay clear of this blog entirely.)

Then there are book reviews: YTSL has applauds Adibah Amin's new novel This End of the Rainbow. I was surprised to see a book review on Malaysian Medical Resources, a consistently informative and yes, even entertaining blog. Palmdoc recommends Michael Crichton's Next for stressed out doctors and medical student in need of a good diversion from work!

Okay then, what bookish things have I missed? Fill me in in the comments.

Oh, the frustrations of posting here at the moment! I began this post several days ago but my internet connection kept going down. My internet provider I am rechristening Screamyx. Is it still that cable problem? Very inconsiderate of the Taiwanese to host an earthquake.

Elsewhere Things

Singularly uninspired this morning. Have been trying to get my messy house into some kind of order before my sister and her tribe arrive today, cleaning corners that haven't been touched for ages - probably not since her last visit! Hanging curtains is not my occupation of choice and has cut severly into my reading time, though I'm carrying around The Ghostwriter by Philip Roth, and reading Robert Lowell's poetry in bed and Julia Cameron's Letters to a Young Artist in the loo (the chapters are so short, I don't think I run the risk of piles, Visitor!)

Must also give up drinking Tesco's ground coffee which tastes great but is keeping me awake for hours, heart palpitiating like mad. This morning I feel like a zombie and will probably only come awake once I've had another cup of Tesco's coffee ... (Balzac died of caffeine poisoning so I'm in good company!)

(It didn't help matters that I went to pick up the mob at the airport - only to find I was there a whole day early. Attention deficit disorder!)

So while I cast around for something more exciting to blog - here are some of my favourite posts from elsewhere

Glenda Larke wrestles with the question of image and the author photo :

I look like the "before" shot for someone going on an Oprah makeover show for really desperate housewives. So how the hell is any photo of me going to help sell my books?

before plumping for a more casual look that resembles the Glenda we know and love. (I symapathise - I hate photos of me and the best look I might plump for is ... intereresting.) Worth reading too are her rants about the haze and the Malaysian culture of indifference to breaking the law. And of course her continuing articles about getting published.

Starlight made me go out and buy the Summer reading issue of O magazine (Oprah's venture), and I'm so glad I did because there are a number of very good articles on reading. I'm saving it to read on the beach in a few day's time (gotta do the whole tourist bit, right?). Starlight's really started something with her short-shorts challenge with several people posting on their blogs and others posting her blog. Among those to have posted so far are John Ling and Jerusha. I will get round to writing a short-short soon - promise. (On a beach, where there are no more curtains to hang!)

Our Ted, of course has a lot of interesting stuff. His post about what I said the other night in my writing class about reading 1,000 books seems to have touched a raw nerve and sparked a lot of discussion about "the bloke in bangsar". My take is love him or hate him (and I have very mixed feelings) he's still done more for the local lit scene than any other individual.

Ted also put up the pictures of the Hadiah Sastera Kumpulan Utusan (Utusan Group Literature Prize) award-giving ceremony which Cean (far left) sent to both of us. Here are the prize-winners for the Novel Remaja Bahasa Inggeris (English Young Adult Novel) category. (First prize winner Chin Han is seated far right and Su Ann, second-prize winner, is in the centre.) The novels are being published around September. Congrats again!

I loved Lydia's reworking of a fairytale for hopeless bookaholics!

And I can't help it, The Malay Male makes me laugh more than anyone else. I enjoyed reading about the highlights of his career with the tacky tabloid (before it became the waste of newsprint it is now after its new look).

There's so much good writing on the blogs. But not on this one today. Please enjoy your elsewhere trips while I recover.

Elsewhere Things

Some things to look at elsewhere.

If I could give an award for blogging above and far far beyond the call of duty, I'd have to give it to Lainie for her amazing coverage (with photos and even soundclips, for heaven's sake!) of the Panic Buttons - Culture and Crisis event at Actor's Studio. Now I feel I didn't miss a thing!

Aneeta picked up on my post on the struggles of Singaporean writer O Thiam Chin and inteviewed him for her How to Tell a Great Story website.

And local fantasy writer Glenda Larke has some great advice on writing a novel on her blog Tropic Temper. For the too-lazy-to-browse, here's Part 1 and Part 2.

I met up for coffee and a chat with Glenda before she left for Sabah. (Really sad that no-one from the Malay Mail was around to write a feature about spotting us in Bangsar Shopping Centre. I've always wanted to be featured in that column!).

We were talking about the way beginning writers see getting their first work published as the holy grail, and believe that all will be plain sailing once they get there. Glenda was telling me about her own experiences of the publishing world - a rollercoaster of triumphs and crushing disappointments which you can read about on her blog.

My thanks to all these bloggers for putting up great content.

The Role of the Reviewer

I don't think that a writing community can really grow strong without the feedback reviews provide, and I feel that too few books get reviewed here in Malaysia where the newspapers give very little space to them. Books by local writers continually slip through the net, and the public don't even get to hear about most of the titles from overseas that they might be interested in. (The bookshops fight their own corners, but still ...)

Local fantasy writer and environmentalist Glenda Larke (whom I wrote about some time back) talks about the role of the reviewer, and her own feelings about being reviewed:

... a good review should do one major thing: it should give a reader who hasn’t read the work an idea whether he would like it or not (or alternatively give a reader who has read it something more to think about).

It is not enough to retell the story, obviously. And it is certainly not enough to criticise the work – favourably or otherwise – without saying, coherently, why. There are three kinds of reviews which particularly bug me: the one that is dismissive from the start, e.g. the snide reviewer given a science fiction book to review by a newspaper editor when he loathes the genre, and who then has fun ridiculing it for being science fiction; secondly, the reviewer who attacks the author rather than the work, e.g. on his or her politics; and thirdly the reviewer who slams (or praises) a work but never gives a thoughtful reason.

As an author, I look upon all reviews as a chance for me to learn. What worked, at least as far as this particular reviewer is concerned? What didn’t? And why? If the reviewer can tell me any of that, I am pathetically grateful.

I'm usually on the other side of the equation, reviewing writers. Just hope I get it right.

A Touch of Fantasy

Last night was invited to a reading at a private art gallery. (Wonderful art - wish i had money and walls enough!) I'd known Glenda for a number of years (as a birdwatcher and environmentalist.) Only learned that she wrote some months ago when I was on the phone to her about quite a different matter. I was sad I hadn't known, as I could have invited her to the Litfest. "I didn't think you were interested in fantasy writers," she said. Actually I'd have loved to welcome in writers from a whole range of genres ...

About Glenda

Turns out that she's published several titles (including The Tainted, Gilfeather and The Aware) in Australia, Britain (even making the best sellers list!) and now also in the US. And she's being translated into other languages.

She read from her trilogy - well-turned prose, and I'm curious to read more - and then talked about her experiences of being published (painful) and her life as a writer (3,000 words a day!). Realise that fantasy is a genre I've more or less neglected (last one I read was Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy).

Also interesting is the idea, and this is why I have to read them, that although she is writing about a fantasy world, there is a great deal in them about the state of things in Malaysia. Things that you wouldn't be able to say out loud in a more direct way.

Met some of my friends there. Keep hearing from folks who were involved in the Litfest last year "When's the next one going to be? We want to take part ... ." For which I have no easy answer. I want to help organise it, but ... let's politely say I'd like things to be managed differently.

Also met members of a book group I hadn't known previously existed. "We keep ourselves very quiet. We have eight members and we want to keep it that." So how long have they been going? "Oh ... about 35 years ...".

Felt a little ... jealous .. can't help it ... to see Glenda's husband Ramli taking photos, being so proud and supportive of her ...