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Category: Fiction Writing/Books

Rafe Bartholomew book promo video in Tagalog

This morning, I decided I wanted to share some links to audio and video files of author readings. During my search, however, I stumbled upon something even better. Check it out:

This is author Rafe Bartholomew, giving a promo in Tagalog for his book Pacific Rims.

From his website:

. . . no people in the world love [basketball] like Filipinos. I spent three years following the Philippine game, studying its roots, recording the stories of its former and current greats, and sweating my way through daily pick-up battles. The nation’s passion was sometimes irrational, often impressive and always inspiring.

For the record, it’s true. Filipinos love only one thing more than karaoke, and that’s basketball.

I wanted to share this video because of how it relates to my last post about Filipino writers. Yes, it’s true that Bartholomew isn’t Filipino himself, but his book is about something that is, to me, so quintessentially Filipino. He also seems to really like the Philippines, which is admittedly something novel to me. You always hear people say how much they love Tokyo or Bali or Seoul, but when was the last time someone expressed their lifelong dream to visit Manila? I also love that he’s speaking Tagalog in the video. Though I’m not a native speaker myself, his accent and pronunciation sound very good!

So, while this is not technically a book by a Filipino writer, I think it’s a book that definitely sheds some light on an aspect of Filipino culture. I think I will keep an eye out for this book; it sounds interesting!

July 30, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Let’s talk Filipino writers, shall we?

My friend Teri sent me a link to an interview with the author Miguel Syjuco. To be honest, I’d never heard of him, but Teri thought I might be interested since Syjuco is a Filipino writer and she and I are both half-Filipino. The interview is here.

I don’t want to speak for Teri, but she and I have talked in the past about including “Filipinoness” in our fiction. For myself, it’s been difficult and I could never pinpoint exactly why until I read the Syjuco interview.

He talks about writing “Filipinoness” for a Western audience without feeling the need to explain it. It really resonated with me. How many books have we read by Chinese, Indian, Mexican authors that included names of food we didn’t need to look up, or cultural references we already knew? Filipino society is fairly Westernized already, and when people emigrate from the Philippines, they tend to “blend in” quite easily. As a result, many Filipino cultural touchstones remain hidden from popular view. I mean, when was the last time you went to a Filipino restaurant? And if you’ve ever been to one, where there any non-Filipinos in there? In my experience, Filipino culture happens behind the scenes, with family and family-like friends. I’ve always wondered why Filipinos are always so thrilled to meet other Filipinos – even second and third generation ones – and now I think I understand why.

I was born and raised in Canada and of two very different cultural backgrounds (three, actually, if you count Canada). As a result, I know bits of both but am no expert in either. However, I do know that the Philippines is much more complicated than it appears on the surface. I think more people should write about it and explore it without being modest or feeling unable – myself included!

Anyway, the point is that this was a great interview (salamat, Teri!) and it’s really made me motivated to bring out more “Filipinoness” in my writing while resisting the urge to explain everything.

Also, if anyone knows of any good Filipino writers, let me know!

July 16, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

What writers can learn from Tolkien

I stumbled upon a link to a forum post recently called, “What Fantasy Writers Can Learn from Tolkien.” Yes, I am a Tolkien nerd. No, I don’t write fantasy. Despite these two things, I think every writer can benefit from reading this post.

For those of you who don’t want to read all of it (though I think you should! It’s very well-written), here are the main points I took away from it:

  • Take the time to create a history for your story or novel. Even if you don’t write fantasy, readers need to feel drawn in and surrounded by the world you’re creating.
  • Don’t overexplain everything. It might feel weird, but keep some things mysterious or hinted at and let the reader keep coming back to find out more.
  • Write from your passion – themes and thoughts you keep returning to personally are bound to translate in a complex and evolving way in your writing.
  • Trust that your readers want to participate in and explore your work. By leaving certain things open to interpretation, you are making readers partners in the creative process.
  • Check your facts!
  • When writing, don’t resist letting the story or characters unfold in a different way than you’d intended.
June 23, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Updates on writing and reading

I’ve been a bit silent for a while, haven’t I? Here’s what’s been going on with me lately:

  • I’ve finished one new story (meaning it’s gone through my two beta readers) and am close to finishing a second. Unsurprisingly, it’s a section of dialogue that’s giving me trouble here. Dialogue has always been my weak point.
  • I submitted an earlier story to a magazine, emboldened by dinner with a friend and a couple of glasses of wine. I hope that’s not considered unprofessional to admit – I wasn’t drunk, I was emboldened. My submission letter had no typos whatsoever and I didn’t confess my love for the person on the other end.
  • I’ve finished reading the book I wrote about a couple of posts ago. I bought a book about Richard I, but I don’t feel like reading it – I read a book about Mary I last month and I feel kind of burnt out on historical biographies, even though I love them so much. I’m craving something Victorian. Do you get book cravings? If so, for what?
  • Last weekend, I discovered that Margaret Atwood and Alistair MacLeod, two of my favourite writers, were doing a reading a short walk from where I live. The catch was, the reading ended 30 minutes from when I’d read about it. Yes, I did shake my fist at the heavens.
  • This one might not be a shock to anyone, but I have a new WordPress theme. I really loved my old one, Bueno, but something broke when upgrading to the new version of WordPress and it started displaying my main index page as my blog page. Anyway, I tried all morning to fix it before I gave up and found a new theme. It’s not as perfect as Bueno was, but I do like it!

I hope your past 13 days have been productive and/or exciting!

June 22, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The secret thrill of the uncorrected proof

A few months ago, I entered a Random House draw to win a copy of The Waterproof Bible by Andrew Kaufman. I never win anything, so I was excited when I actually did win the giveaway. I was even more excited when the book arrived and I found it was an uncorrected proof. As you can see in the picture, it’s a plain blue cover. On the back is even more excitingness – a tentative on-sale date, a tentative price and technical info for book reviewers.

Now, I long ago realized I’m awful at reviewing books. When I read, I simply cannot analyze the book at the same time; unless it’s a horrible book, but who wants to write nothing but bad reviews? So it’s kind of thrilling to have a copy of a book like this with no obligation to review it. It feels so very behind-the-scenes. And I’m pleased to report that uncorrected proofs are still quite “correct” – I’ve only found two small errors in 85 pages so far.

Okay, so I said I’m not a book reviewer, but I do have to say that I’m enjoying this book very much so far. My absolute favourite kind of book or story is one that incorporates fantastical or mythological elements into everyday scenarios without it being A Huge Thing. It’s something I’m drawn to in my own writing and so it’s especially exciting when I read something that does it as wonderfully as The Waterproof Bible does. My uncorrected proof has a tentative release date of February 2010, so go out and buy it!

June 8, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Listen to Faulkner reading As I Lay Dying

One thing that’s always felt a little unfair to me is that, because writing isn’t really a visual activity, we’re cheated out of the cool “work in progress” or “finished work” blog posts that artists get to create whenever they like. I mean, what can I post? Me sitting at my laptop? Walking through the park thinking about a character? Yes, I can post a picture of my finished story printed out, but it’s not the same. A story only “activates” and becomes real when it is being read word by word – and most writers aren’t going to post their work online.

So, this is why I get so excited when I find little pieces of the internet where – shock! horror! – you can listen to writers actually reading their work. Yes, it’s not visual either, but it’s the closest thing you can get to reading the thing yourself. It’s finally a space on the internet where a writer’s work can come close to accurate representation.

What I’m leading up to after all that preamble is this: You can listen to William Faulkner read As I Lay Dying at this site. The audio’s not the best, but – it’s William Faulkner reading As I Lay Dying! Enjoy!

June 6, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post
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