Work in progress, writer’s write not sleep.

It’s been a while (a long while) since I last wrote anything. It’s a situation when life and situations come in between you and your craft. In this case, my life came in between me and my writing. When I could have spent hours crafting away the next book, I spent it couching away; over old DVDs and hosting imaginary friends.

There’s a “work in progress” folder in my iBook. It’s there to remind me, I’ve got book projects a plenty. Each time, an idea comes to me; I piece it together and open a project folder. There is no shortage of ideas for a book. The only obstacle is my own perverted laziness. The kind of laziness that causes you to spend all your money, moan about the pains of the world and make you a pain in everyone’s butts.

In short, I’ve been a jackass to my craft.

I’m a writer and writers write. That’s what we do best. It’s the only thing we know how to do well. We put thought into words. We unveil the mysteries of everyday life. We unfold the jigsaw of circumstances that play before us for an audience to understand and remember. We draw laughter, shed tears, inspire minds, create arguments and drive passion with a compilation of words, formed into sentences that spark the intellect.

We are writers and we write; not sleep on the job.

We are people of the script. We fashion words out of thin air. We watch and bother about the lives of those we see pass through our field of vision. This came to mind (as I write this):

The cold washed over her face, and she shudder to think that she was all alone, in the street, walking home in the rain. Her makeup did not hold, her mascara a stream of black on pale skin. Yet it help mask the tears. The pain. The anguish. She was lost for a moment, standing by the street corner, where the stand sold burgers for a ringgit and half. In the rain, all roads look the same and no matter which path she took, it was all the same. She would still be alone. Lonely and depressed. In the rain, all roads lead to the same conclusion. And she stood there, pondering her choices while the burger-stand man stood watching and wondered if he should stop selling burgers for a ringgit and half.

Creativity is 10% inspiration, 90% hard work. We are writers. I am a writer and it’s time I started writing. I’ve got all those “work in progress” folders to clear out.

Dokkodo – The Path of Aloneness

Dokkodo – “The Path of Aloneness” or “The Way to be Followed Alone” by Miyamoto Musashi (1645)

1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.

Two Halves Don’t Make One

There are things in life more important than love or for that matter romantic love. What about the idea of loving someone to just want to see them happy? The idea where one can be happy just because they love someone without expecting anything in return, has long intrigued me. Can it be possible? Is it a pipe dream? Or too hard a concept to put into practice?

We could throw our hands up in anguish and call it a foolish notion. Human beings are selfish creatures by nature. Forever self seeking, wanting to gratify their own desires. Yet we are creatures seeking fulfilment, seeking to fill that empty void within us with some form of meaning. Some manner of order of which we can truly say, we are fully satisfied with our lives. Unfulfilled, we continued on seeking; often times in all the wrong places, that which eludes us. The pursuit of happiness. The chase of a dream. The capture of an aspiration.

So do we really need to burden ourselves with the quest of love? Do we truly need to bind ourselves with a false sense of happiness tied into the persona of a frail being such as a man or woman? Can not one live on their own and still be happy?

If fulfillment is the ultimate aim for us, surely it is one we must find on our own first and then shared. So until one finds their own way, one should first refrain from seeking completion in another person, because two halves do not make a whole person. Rather, it takes two complete individuals to make up a whole complete relationship.

And that is the mystery.

Evening out with photographers

Had the change to attend a talk by four (4) Malaysian professional photographers last night. In true Malaysian style it was late by about an hour. My brother, friend and I arrived, I parked the car, we got lost looking for the hall, made ourselves comfortable third (3rd) row from the front and waited an hour. What kept me from leaving was the fact that with RM10 we had refreshments and I wanted to see Saiful Nang in person.

And after the usual opening speech, the crowd (for those who caught it) were entertained to some stuff from the dark side of the internet. Lesson learnt: never, NEVER, put personal stuff onto a presentation notebook, cause you NEVER know if the file gets opened for public viewing.

All the photographers were wedding photographers, which in all honesty is not my cup of tea, but I was there to listen to their story. I wanted to hear what they had to say about photography and about the pains they had to go through when they first started out as a professional photographer in Malaysia. To his credit, Saiful Nang’s story is an inspiration to all aspiring photographers.

Made me think about my own motivation for photography. The capture of light and the decisive moment.

Time to pick up my camera and express myself.

For Ryan

Within the walls of silence,
I hear the voice of the void,
Within the reach of the speechless,
The cold touch to avoid,

Pass the door of despair,
I hear the reason of the fallen,
Within the glance of the innocent,
Deep calls upon deep; for time stolen,

Not the voice of the crowd,
Nor the voice of the righteous,
But the whisper of prayer said,
Eyes to heaven, voice of the gracious,

Tears to stumbling man,
Comfort in the darkest storm,
Push turn to shove; he’ll turn away,
Heart call to heart; he’ll come home.

Don’t you hate writers block?

I’m having one of those nights where I stared at a blank screen and my mind just refuses to budge. Yup, writer’s block. Or just a classic case of I’ve-ran-out-of-stories.

Yup. I’m stump and downright frustrated, and I know this can go on for weeks. It happened as I was writing Jasmines and again when writing The Bicycle. I stop writing for weeks, all because my mind just refused to write. I took long walks or merely allowed my imagination to go wild.

So when, you get writer’s block. Don’t worry. It’ll pass. All you need to do is keep yourself healthy and enjoy the vacation your mind has put you into. Pick up a new hobby or something. Anything to keep that mind active. Eventually, you will find yourself sitting at your desk again, and with new found vigor, you’ll write again.

So if you have writer’s block, what would you do?

How to choose the RIGHT language to write a novel.

Let’s keep things simple. You want to write and you want to be published. So what language will you write in? It sounds like a dumb question and I can see some of you rolling your eyes and fidgeting in your seat; ready to flame my blog. But hear me out.

Language choice is a BIG decision, primarily because it can determine whether you would actually finish your novel/short story/article or love letter. Anyone can write, thats why we go to school. We learn to spell words and articulate our minds onto a medium called paper.

Yet, language will determine the feel of the story, the life of the story lies not in the writing itself (per say) but rather in the language used. Language determines the way the words are spoken by that invisible story teller, who sits in reading room of our mind and language moves us to think, to dream and to imagine.

Write in the language you think in.
If you think in Chinese, try writing in Chinese and so on so forth. Writing in the language you think creates flair in your stories. It just means, you have mastery over the language. By being a master of the language you can play with words and sentences and allow yourself to speak your mind. Remember, creative writing is about painting your mind onto a printed medium for people to read. Paint using the colors that you are sure of. Write in the language that you think in.

Now, there will come a time when you choose to write in a language you learnt..

Write in a foreign language if you want to reinvent yourself.
When I write in Bahasa Malaysia, my style changes. It becomes dead formal. My sentencing becomes rigid and it takes on an air of formality. Yet, when I do attempt to write in Bahasa Malaysia, I am not govern by the rules of the language because I don’t know them. My writing takes on a flair akin to a mad-man ranting away nonsenses. So, if I ever want to write in Bahasa Malaysia, it’ll probably be poetry or a compilation of short stories by inmates of the local asylum.

Write in the language you read in.
Writers are in part hugely influenced by what they read. We pick up a writer we love and in time our style matches them to a certain degree. We take on some of the way they sentence their words or speak their minds. My own style is (ironically) greatly influenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes series, and lately by Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Nicholas Sparks. These are the writers I read and they all write in English.

Write in the language you vocalize your stories in.
Writers need to be good story tellers. For example, imagine sitting in a coffee shop with your friends and it’s your turn to tell them your story. You need to grab their attention, keep them hooked, allow them to follow the story, allow them to experience the characters. This imagery is the one I keep in my mind when I write my short stories. I imagine I’m telling the story to a friend. This is what I deem the Voice of the Writer. Every writer has their own unique voice. It’s their fingerprint in the literacy world. We recognize each other by the way we speak on paper. So make it a point to try to translate how you vocalize your stories to people onto paper. Try to mimic the phrasing and sentencing onto paper and you’ll find that your writing has taken on a new dimension.

So why are you still reading this? Go write something.

Goodbye Yasmin Ahmad – Malaysian filmaker

I had the privilege of meeting Yasmin Ahmad some years back and I’ve been a fan of her work since then. She was unforgettable. Her works, incredible. What else can be said of a true Malaysian story teller. Someone who, in her movies and short commercial clips was able to tug at our hearts, making us laugh, cry and wonder. She wrote on a canvas that moved us to believe in simple things. Some deemed her work as a tad controversial or un-Malaysian. Yet she took it in her stride and looking at it another way, there was a response to her works which meant it did what it was suppose to do – touch hearts.

Check out this tribute and I am sure you will feel the same way I did when watching her work – The Best of Yasmin Ahmad.

Knowing the ending helps the beginning.

I amuse my friends when I tell them that I write the ending of my stories before even knowing how it started. I write the end, write the beginning and then fill in the blanks. Often times the ending may change a little to suit how the story pan out but the core points remain the same.

This method works for me. It may not work for some but it works for me. It’s hard to write when you don’t have goals. Milestones to accomplish and without direction. Having the end in mind, points you in the direction you need to go. How you get there is what makes your story interesting. This method not only applies to writing novels or stories but also to scripts or dramas or even a final year thesis paper. Heck, even a love letter…

The end must have resolution. Answers to a question or your hero finding what he is seeking or your hero loosing something. There must be resolution. The beginning can have a question that your hero set out to answer. And the central premise of the story would be to have our hero take the adventure of his life, seeking the answer to his question.

Writing may not have to be so complicated and I hope this simple method makes things easier for you.

Know your friends.

The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret – that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him. Cicero

Love this quote and how true it is. We all have friends and yet how sure are we who are our true friends. How sure are we that we have friends that will hold firm when shit hits the fan?

Most writers will concur with me that they have few friends in their lives. Often times, writers keep a select few, these are the privileged few whom read the first manuscripts or drafts or comment on the latest plots and twists.

Keep friends, real friends and cast out all the pretenders because at times we mirror the friends we keep.