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.

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.

Throw the blinds open, gain new insight. A writer’s need.

I’ve just moved into a new office at my workplace. New location, new department, it is a step up from my previous department. I now have the luxury of a bird’s eye view of my surroundings. It great to be on the fifth floor especially when the windows also substitute as a wall for your office. So I merely turn to my right and the view greets me. I love it. I needed it.

In life we need new experiences and views in order to move forward. There are times we get pigeon-holed in a particular location or within a certain mind-set. It is arresting and unhealthy. Situations like that will quickly push you into a state of decomposition. You rot and eventually die from being stagnant. We need new experiences to open up new mind-sets and thought patterns. And with new ideas come inspiration; the very energy a writer thrives on.

Having my fifth floor view energizes me into action. Opens my mind to ideas and inspires me to think differently. It motivates me to think along strange paths or paths least travelled by other writers. Explore subject matters, which none dare write about or create scenarios that defy conventional thinking.

Isn’t that the goal of writing?

To spur, to poke fun at established idea, to be the driver of iconoclastic motives? Writers should want their writings to create a sense of wonderment and thought among their readers. If your reader can have an opinion about your work, then you would have done your job well. You would have ignited a thought within them.

So throw your blinds open, see the world from a higher place or a lower place, and be inspired to write.

Drawing from life experiences for story plots.

Writing is an art fairly dependent on your imagination, yet there are times imagination needs to be sparked into life. It is necessary that writers read and read anything that interest them. You never know how that bit of information about the sleeping habits of Amazonian otters could help out in your next spy thriller. Now before you start subscribing to National Geographic of Nature magazine, another source of inspiration is your own life experiences. Some writers may not agree with me on this one because it could lead to writing that is pompous and bordering on indulgence.

True. Writing from life experience can be inhibiting to the imagination because one can be locked into a plot that is linear. It is always better that one uses life experiences as a guide to a story. Life experiences can give the air of authenticity to the story. Give the story the sense of realism, that is often times missing in a tale. Conversations will sound real, actions logical and reactions will be seemingly recognizable by the reader.

But in using life experiences, one must make liberties to stretch the story a little. To add surprises to the tale. Surprise yourself even. Don’t be muzzled by the outcome of the experiences. Sometimes, in the story, the character may want a different outcome or may guide the plot in a direction totally different then what you know it should be.

Use life experiences but allow room for surprises. Happy writing!

The Reclusive Writer

I am quick to admit that I am a very reclusive person. By nature I am painfully private about things in my life. There was a period in my life where I sought to fit in but that was as successful as trying to drown fish in water. I have since come back home to being the recluse that I am. Yet in being reclusive, intoxicated in my own reality, I find the well-spring of creativity. I imagine the lives of other people. Living and breathing the air of the characters that populate the world of my mind. It is a world undisturbed by the harsh reality of this world.

There is nothing bad about being shy about yourself. In looking myself, I realized that I have a lot of acquittances yet only a handful of close friends. People with whom I can be vulnerable with and comfortable to share my thoughts and ideas.

Yet it is in my own quiet retreat, I am able to write and spin the tales that flash within my head. I put on my beenie, wake up my iBook and type away. Some stories go unfinished, some take flight yet others remain empty pages waiting for another visit.

I sometimes shun writer gatherings for the very reason, I prefer to write alone. I am not saying writer groups are bad. No. By all means join one if you feel it would help your craft. All I am saying is, it may not work for me. I enjoy writing alone. In the comfort of my own thoughts and the quietness of my own space. Do what is best to express your craft. Don’t compromise on what makes you a writer.

If you are a reclusive writer like me, don’t worry. You are in good company.

Talent is crucial to good writing…sorry PERFECT writing.

I’ve met a lot of people who have express their desires to write. Their eyes light up when I tell them I write in my spare time, have a book out and regularly get my articles published on online newspapers and political opinionated websites in Malaysia. Glossy eye and spunky about the idea that people would read their writings they pursue the road I took. But not all roads are meant to be travelled by a bandwagon of wannabe writers.

My path to writing is unique to me. For everyday I spend writing, I had several years of practice. I did not get here by mere chance. I had to sweat it out and develop my own style and voice. I took to blogging in 2003 to better my writing skills. I needed to learn how to connect with an audience, write in words that inspire and move people and what better way than through blogging. From there I joined a writing group and practiced my writing there. I’ve written a short play and it was produced during my college days, written some really bad songs that are only worthy for my shower, poetry has been a dabble of mine since school days and only in the last two years have I seriously written short stories and full length features.

It took time and that is something all writers (good writers) have to go through. It takes time to polish one’s skills. There’s no shortcuts to being a good writer but if you want to be a PERFECT writer than you need Talent.

Let me say this over and over again. You need Talent to begin with. Some have it, some may not and this means not everyone is cut out to be a writer. Yes, you may have good writing skills but are you a storyteller? Can you capture the attention of an audience?

I learnt the traits of capturing the attention of the audience in my college days when I was part of the theatre group. I took to the stage and was a natural at it. From there I move on to writing for stage and essentially that’s where I learnt my strong point when it comes to writing stories – dialogue. The scene plays in my head like a play and I’m the omnipresent observer jotting down the details that I see. That’s my Talent. This is why I can write.

I met this wannabe writer who wrote a management book and he wanted to branch out into fiction. I read his draft and I told him to stick to writing management books. And he had the knack to tell me he lack creativity. How can you write fiction without being creative?

Talent is inherent in all writers. They write because that is the only thing they can do. We write because the moment you put a pen/keyboard before us, we start fidgeting and all rile up. We want to express ourselves, we want to tell the world what we see in our minds eye. We are picky about words and sentences and prose and how someone would say something. We listen in on conversations at coffee shops and watch people go about life, taking notes of what’s going on. We are loners and thinkers and philosophers and emotional wrecks (after a good movie) and all the while we want to write it down.

Talent is crucial to PERFECT writing. You either have it or not. I hate to bust your bubble but clearly, if your friends tell you your writing is like S*#T then please take up another hobby. Fishing or kite flying or planting roses. Anything else except writing a novel and thinking you’ll make a million out of it. Honestly, I don;t write for the money. I write because all my life I knew I would write and I just want people to hear what I have to say.

Have a reality check and ask yourself whether you’ve got TALENT to write.

Stick to what you know best – 3 Tips for writers.

I am of the opinion that it is always best for one-self to understand their strengths and play to them to the fullest. In writing this translate to the fact, authors need to write within the sphere of their understanding. Meaning, choose your genre, choose your market and understand your own reading taste.

Choose Your Genre
There are a hundred and one different genres to choose from and I bet you will find one that suit your writing style. Each genre has a style of it own, reading Nicholas Evans and Nicholas Sparks tell me that both have a way of tugging at your heart strings and both write in the same genre. Take Stephen King and you see he writes in his genre and his style is suited to it. I cannot imagine Stephen King writing in the same genre as Nicholas Sparks but I reckon it is possible but really weird. Stephen King would be too crude and too direct in showing the movement of emotions and feelings. I would bet most of his characters would be deemed angry people with little feelings of affection towards one another. So look at your style and choose your genre. Not everyone can write a novel, so maybe your genre falls in the motivational writing section rather than romance. Give it a thought.

Choose Your Market
If you’re writing for money then aim for the market that sells. Self-help books, children’s book, educational books, billboard advertising, etc…whichever would draw in the money. But if you’re writing for writing sake than you can pick out the one’s with least competition but with potential to be your own private niche. My friends asked me why write in English when the market is so small (almost non-existent) in Malaysia. Why not write in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia? Firstly, I only think in English and though I can write in Bahasa Malaysia, it will probably turn out to be so formal and with enough emotion as a dry prune. I rather write in english and be among the select few who publish in english in Malaysia and the key thing is…I may be the only one publishing in my genre. Yes, I am in direct competition with imported titles but somewhere along the line, national pride will kick in and people would support their local writers.

Understand Your Reading Taste
We write what we like to read. Repeat that with me, “I write what I like to read.” Yes, we mimic those that have gone before us and we do it well. Let’s be honest, somewhere along the road; you told yourself, “I can write like this.” So, you pulled up your sleeves and bit your lips and pounded away a story about a fly that irritated this girl so much, she burnt down the fire-station much in the same way Carrie did in Stephen King’s – Carrie, when she burnt down the school and wreck half the town. We write what we read. So read as much as you want but know that your writing WILL BE influence by what you like best. Even if that means reading billboards for a living.

So stick to what you know best. If you know how to sharpen pencils to the max than write about sharpening pencils or sharping chopsticks into weapons of mass destruction ala a Ian Fleming – James Bond thriller. I’m floating this idea of red and black fingernails in my head, you never know it could turn out into the next best seller (in my wildest dreams).

The 3 things I hate about being a writer

I took a long time to get back into my writing groove. My 2nd book is way behind schedule, in fact there is no exact schedule for me to follow anymore. It went out the window sometime in March. Vacations, work and personal issues have grounded my writing momentum. So picking up the pace (so to speak) is akin to scaling Mount Everest on stilts.

So what do I hate about being a writer? As fulfilling as it is, there are somethings that make me wonder, why I ever bother writing a book? There’s no turning back on my 2nd book, I’ve written 21 chapters and there is no way I will throw that in the waste-basket or in today’s world relegate it to the hidden folder on my iBook.

Number 1: Writing is emotional.
You want your readers to feel what your characters are feeling. Right? So imagine writing a scene where your two characters are falling in love and you’ve just spent the evening chasing after your kids and wifey has a bone to pick with you over junior’s school work. So in the end, your characters actually end up arguing and the plot just goes down hill from there. You blink hard and try to imagine the beauty of the scene when all you see is wifey’s face holding up junior’s homework.

Being in the right mood and right frame of mind is so hard…even in writing.

Number 2: How do you describe that?
Someone told me that my writing lack descriptive elements. My style is minimal, straight to the point and often times devoid of description. So shoot me! But there are times I want to describe the scene. “Show but don’t tell”. We hear that a lot but there are times when you hit a wall and you just wonder, “How do you describe that?”. So I spend a good part of my writing hour just sitting there lost for words. Yes, even writers get lost for words. Worse still, you know the word but you just can’t seem to recall it. It’s at the tip of your tongue but it refuses to transfer itself to your word-processor. So you get stuck! Hate that.

Number 3: God! I lost the plot
You sit over coffee with some friends and they start talking about your book project. Ideas float around and wham! You get an idea to push your plot along. It’s exciting, interesting, unique and darn unexpected. Your friends cheer you on, calling you a genius and show interest in reading your book. You go home all excited at your moment of inspiration, sit in front of your PC or notebook and…blank.

All the excitement has nothing to show for. I hate those moments. Really do. As a writer, I get so absent-minded because my mind is so muddled. You’ve got work issues, family issues and personal issues all crammed into a 6 pound mass of gray material we call a brain and something has to give.

So there you have it. The three (3) things I hate about being a writer. My list may be just these three (3) but what about yours?

The Root of Passionate Writing

I read Vroom’s comment to my article “The 3 Essential Things Never Taught at Writing Workshops” and I appreciate the raw honesty in it and the question posed caused me to think. Here’s the comment in full:

what if, just what if.. i had the passion to write couple of years ago.. and it disappeared one day, in which i am unable to write like i used to, the passion ‘ran away..’ is there anyway i can help myself get over this phase? cause seriously i love writing i love writing more than playing basketball or watch soccer/football! even though the poems i written were depressing because of how i used to feel and i kind of got over the depressing days i didn’t like how depressing they were.. any suggestions?

Passion grows from within and different people exhibit passion towards different things whether in-material or material, an object, a person or even an idea. People are naturally passionate beings, we are hardwired by the Creator in such a manner. I believe the passion never ‘ran away’, I believe the passion is still there but you have put a cap on it and boxed it.

I asked myself this question, as I was writing my first book and even when I’m working on my second one now, “Why are you doing this?” in crude words, “Why write?”

Why write in the first place? Why bother? Why slave away in the wee moments just to get a sentence right? Why spend all that effort if you are not sure people want to read it? Why push on when you get “rejection letters” to your manuscript? Why would someone like me, trained in Information Technology, who hates romance books yet I write about love, heartaches, human struggles and finding one’s place in the world?

Because writing is the ONLY thing I KNOW.

Take away everything from me, all my skills, all my academic training, everything and strip me to my core – writing is still there. I’m a story-teller and writing is the tool I use to tell my story. This is where my passion springs from – the knowledge that I know nothing else except writing.

If you ‘feel’ the passion running away, take time off to ask yourself why you are doing it. What are your motivations?

Another thing, you can do is to simply find passionate writers and sit with them. Have a cup of tea, talk about writing and read each other’s work. Writers just need to be heard even if only one person reads their work, they are elated. After pouring out so much from your emotional tank into your writing, you’ll need to fill it up that tank again. Pass the Passion and absorb the Passion.

I found my muse in someone who took the time to read my work and tell me it was great. I’ve always wanted to write but I never had the courage to pursue it. In my mind, I thought it was merely a little hobby I just fiddled with in my spare time but then I met people who looked at my writing and told me there was something there. They enjoyed my thoughts, tit-bits of conventional wisdom that seemed to connect with them. I had an audience willing to hear what I had to say. My Passion for writing was ignited by encouragement from readers and then the Passion found focus when I met my muse and my writings were motivated by the pure essence of friendship and love. So my Passion was focused on writing about the pain and joys of love.

My Passion was ignited and focused.

Herein lies the key, we all have passion but it needs encouragement and focus. No matter what style you write in, whether it is depressing or uplifting, focusing your Passion will drive you on. If you find yourself ‘lost’ then take time to find your focus. Maybe it is time for you to find a new focus? Maybe it’s time to try a new style? Maybe it’s time to take a risk and write a full novel? Why not?

Passion never ‘runs away’. It’s still there. It just needs to be ignited and focused and before I forget, writers write with their emotions strapped to their foreheads. But I’ll keep that for another post.

To Vroom, keep writing. To get yourself out of that rut…pass your writing to someone to read. In his book On Writing, Stephen King tells us that he writes in order to make his wife laugh. What about you? Vroom, will your poems make someone cry because they understand the pain you write about? If they do cry, then you’ve managed to pass your passion onto to another soul via your writing.

Technorati Tags: Author, Passiom, Writing

The 3 essential things never taught at writing workshops

I’ve been invited countless times to join writing workshops and as tempting as it seems, I’ve refrain from them for the very reason that I know I may not learn much from them. Partly due to the fact that almost everything you want to learn about writing can be gleamed from the internet or talking to fellow writers or merely hanging out with very opinionated people.

I believe there are several things that writing workshops fail to teach good meaning people who want to jump-start their writing career and I’ll list them here as I think of them. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a workshop basher, heck I run workshops to teach educators how to use technology in their teaching learning practices, but I just want you to think deeply on the need for you to spill out money on a writing workshop when at the end of the day, you gain nothing.

The Passion to write
Passion to write is not a skill. You either have it or don’t. Passion cannot be bought neither can it be given to you in a manual or guidebook. It is birth from within a person’s soul and springs forth in actions that pulsates with the energy from that passion. You look at your book as if it was a new born babe, learning to talk and walk. You want to see it to adulthood, to bring joy to the millions or the few that read it. Such enthusiasm cannot be taught, it exists. Passion can be passed on from another passionate person to another, provided that the other person shares the same passion.

The Art of the Lonely Walk
Writing is a lonely affair and as you embark on it, you will find that for long periods you are essentially on you own. Alone. Alone with your creation as it unfolds and the only person who truly sees the significance of what you write is you. No-one else sees or knows what that gem of a book will be like. The Lonely Walk of a writer is primarily that – lonely. Occasionally, you may meet other pilgrims on that lonely road and you may share a thought or two but then its back to being alone. They don’t teach this at writing workshop 101.

Breaking the Rules
After spending a week at a workshop that taught you every trick in the book to make money writing, you’ll realize that merely applying the rules or laws of writing would not generate that next best-seller. After telling you about the rules did they mention that you can break the rules? Or even better; make your own rules? As an author, the book you write is an extension of your personality. It’s you speaking to the masses. Can rules be put in place to govern personality? Can you box your voice in a particular shape and still be true to yourself? They teach you so much yet at the end of the day, the ones that make it big actually break every rule written and invent their own rules.

So there you have it, the three (3) that I can think of when it comes to Writing Workshop that teach you nothing. Any model that you adopt is merely that- a model. It may help you shape your book but it can never birth the book into existence. The book still rest in the mind of the writer and only the writer holds the key to unlocking the dormant book.

Personally, I read a book by Robert McKee – Story; given to me by best friend (thanks Sam) and read Nicholas Sparks comments on his website and just wing it from there when writing my first book. Mind you I was writing while learning the art of the craft. Once the draft was done, I sent query emails to 38 literary agents (some turned me down, others never got any reply). Eventually, I emailed a local publisher and sent my manuscript in for review and got accepted. Hard work, dumb luck and shooting in the dark kind of paid off for me. I hope you had better luck then me.

Cheers!