Robert Raymer's Blog, page 11

Faulkner-Wisdom: An Unexpected Gift from a Growling Fool, short-list finalist

An Unexpected Gift from a Growling Fool was named short-list finalist in the novel category for the 2013 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition.  There were 362 entries from 37 US states and seven foreign countries.  Last year, A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit was one of the finalists and The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady was a short-list finalist for the second year running.  I’m still waiting to hear the results for the Novel-in Progress category, where The Girl in the Bathtub was a finalist last year, and from the Novella category where I entered for the first time, The Act of Theft.
  So that’s four novels that have made the finals or short-list finals in 2012 and 2013 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition in the novel and novel-in-progress categories.  Not bad.  A fifth book has a chance in the Novella category.
Before entering this year, I revamped my novels and read them out loud, a good way to catch mistakes and sharpen the writing, something I recently blogged about. 
Still, there is a lot of competition out there from all those in master degree writing programs and literature majors that have a leg up on the rest of us.  It sure helps to have some­one, other than yourself, pushing you to raise your writing standards and your storylines.  That’s what I did for years for my writing students and those whom I edit. When living in Penang, where two of my novels are set, I exchanged work with other writers, and did a little of that over here in Borneo with the opening pages.  Perhaps it’s high time I start doing that again.

*Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and forTrois autres Malaisie.

Five Finalists for Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Congrats to the five category winners in this year Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The exposure they are getting is great, and soon there will be one overall winner from the 10,000 who entered back in January.  I wish all five of them the best of luck! 
For those who are considering entering for 2014, here is the link to six lessonsthat I learned from the process that might be helpful.  Last year one of my novels was a quarter-finalist and two made the finals of the Faulkner-Wisdom Novel contest.  All the best.
Also, I would strongly recommend reading your novels out loud when you edit, and do it more than once.  You'll be surprised by what you catch and the changes you make.

 
**Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and forTrois autres Malaisie.

Home for Hari Raya-first look at film by Ohio University

Finally got to see a screening of Home for Hari Raya, based on my short story from Lovers and Strangers Revisted, when a private viewing was sent to be via vimeo.  Frederick Lewis, associate professor, School of Media Arts & Studies, reported that when Home for Hari Raya was premiered on 27 April at Ohio University, it was well received.  For most of those in attendance, it was their first real glimpse of Malaysia, or even Southeast Asia other than the news.    As the author of the story, I didn’t quite know what to expect from the film.  I was cautiously optimistic, but then I quickly became mesmerized from the opening motorcycle ride through a serpentine road leading to Rina who is waiting for her brother at a bus stop.  Visually, I found the film stunning, a lot was going on; they really caught rural Malaysia, the details.  For me, it brought back all these memories that I have of visiting kampungs in Perak and Kedah, from the kampung house, to the villagers, to their traditional clothes, and even Rina sweeping away a dead gecko from inside the house.  The film was rich with sounds too, from the opening call to prayer, to various birds chirping, to wooden wind chimes.
The story had several brief flashbacks of Rina, as a child crying, not in the original story, though it seemed to work as she kept reflecting back to her childhood, to her father who had taken a second wife.  I admit that when her sister Sharifah slapped Rina, I felt it too.  Having worked extensively on the script through numerous drafts with the director/screenwriter, William Holzer, I knew that slap was coming; still it caught me by surprise.  It worked.  I was impressed with the caliber of the acting, particularly the three sisters; the close-ups, the nuances of their facial expressions, their comraderie; and even their closeness when they weren’t getting along.  It was palpable.  This felt like a professional effort, and it was under the guidance of Frederick Lewis, who brings his vast experience to the student-led project.                     Home For Hari Raya, as I blogged about before, and as noted in the article from Ohio Education, is the first international production effort by students from the School of Media Arts & Studies, the result of a cross-cultural collaboration. Fourteen students travelled to Malaysia with Frederick Lewis from December 15 through January 9, immersing themselves in the culture of the region.
According to the article, many of them prepared for their experience in Malaysia by taking a Malaysian culture seminar with Tun Abdul Razak Chair Habibah Ashari of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), whom I had once had the privilege of skypingwith in a session with her students. The students raised more than $3,000 and contributed their own travel expenses to fund the film.

While in Malaysia, the students joined forces with 12 students from UiTM’s School of Film, Theater and Animation on location. The dozen UiTM students assisted with lighting, casting and art direction and rented a kampung (village) house, which served as the film’s primary set location.
Home for Hari Raya, 24 minutes in length, ideal for a half-hour time slot on TV, was premiered with three other short films, Asleep in the Deep, Monhegan Light and Julie in the FunHouse all adapted from short stories set in the US.
Frederick Lewis stated that Amir Muhammad is going to screen Home for Hari Raya at his Malaysian Shorts screening in June.  I approached a film festival in Sabah, also in June, but it looks like the slots are already filled for 2013, a shame we didn’t contact them sooner.  The film will be sent to other film festivals in the US, and possibly around the world.  Hopefully, RTM Malaysia will pick up on it in time for upcoming Hari Raya, 8-9 August, or even for next year.
Joe Battaglia, a director of one of the other films premiered at Ohio University, and also involved with Home for Hari Rayais quoted as saying, “Time, money and effort may make something good, but people, passion and persistence makes things great.” 
I couldn’t agree more, and I feel proud to be associated with this film and honored that my short story “Home for Hari Raya” was adapted by Ohio University into a movie, a first for me.

Faulkner-Wisdom: Reading Your Novel Out Loud for Better Results

After last year when two of my novels made the finals for William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and a third was a short-list finalist, I decided to outdo myself and really push these novels to see if this year I can finally breakthrough, not just with a win, but gaining the interest of both an agent and a publisher, preferably in a two-book deal.  This is my stated intention, my goal for 2013. 
In other words, I’m going for it.  I plotted this the moment I returned from the US last August following my father’s funeral.  Having failed to publish a novel before he passed away and tired of making excuses or glancing away whenever someone asks about my writing or my “job”, I decided enough is enough.
What I love about novel contests are their deadlines.  It gives me something to shoot for.  This time around, I didn’t just want a quick run through each novel as I’ve often done in the past for one novel or another, sometimes three novels back to back . . . . No, this time I gave myself plenty of time, nearly eight months.  I started with A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, a thoroughly revamped novel in 2012, though I went too far in changing it to third person, which I did for last year’s contest.  Although it made the finals, it wasn’t working as effectively as I knew it could.  I wanted to change it back to first person, but using past tense instead (previously it was in the present tense as I mentioned in an earlier blog, inspired by rereading The Great Gatsby).  I had actually started to revise the novel before the 2012 results, before my father passed away.
Often I read my novels out loud inside my own head, but I now and then I’d catch myself on automatic, glossing over sections.  This time around I vowed to read the novel out loud, really out loud, wanting to hear the cadence of each word, all 88,000 of them.  Not one time, but read each chapter aloud three times, editing as I go along.  It was a painfully slow process and required drinking a ton of water (and a lot of toilet breaks), but I was determined to make this novel the best that I could make it.  I found myself making lots of changes and catching stuff that didn’t get caught in previous edits.  Then I read the novel aloud once more in January, in February, and again in April (that’s six times!) before sending it to Faulkner-Wisdom.
Next up was An Unexpected Gift from a Growling Fool, which was a short-list finalist for Faulkner-Wisdom in 2009 under a different title.  Outraged by the first graders being shot in the Newtown school shooting just before Christmas, I was determined that this novel, which also involves a shooting by a child, needed to be in the on-going and future dialogues about guns and children, so I wanted to revamp it.  I changed the title, changed the name of the town, introduced a new opening including an anecdote as to how the town got its name, Growling.  Again, deter­mined to raise the writing to a higher level, I read out loud each chapter three times, all 103,000 words.  I then read it out loud again twice more in February (separated by two weeks), and again in April.
In March, I was happy that the April 1st deadline for the Faulkner-Wisdom contest got pushed back to May 1st (and again to May 15th), so I could wrap up the rewrite of first 50 pages of The Girl in the Bathtubfor their the novel-in-progress category, a 2012 finalist; The Act of Theft, my 12,300 word novella entry; and move onto my third full novel The Lonely Affair (previously titled The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady), short-list finalist 2012 & 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom and a quarter-finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.  Now I had the time to do the same treatment of reading each chapter out loud three times (98,550 words), then again in April and twice more in May, and sending it off with my blessing last night.             So right now I’m feeling pretty tired, but pretty good, too, knowing that I gave the three novels—all five entries—their best shot.  I’m also pretty excited about picking up where I left off with The Girl in the Bathtub, (around the 200-page mark) with one hundred and fifty pages of notes to guide the way.  If I can complete this by using the same discipline that I’ve been using since I got back from my father’s funeral (and reading it out loud, too), then 2013 will be a pivotal year for me and bear fruits for years to come.  And if I can sell one of those novels this year, even better! 
As they say talent and persistence always win out (talent, without persistence, gets you nowhere) and reading your work out loud is the perfect way to take your writing to a higher level (as long as you do the hard work and make those corrections!) even for those expat writers based in the far-flung corners of the world, like me here in Borneo.
*Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award-Six lessons
**Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and forTrois autres Malaisie.

“Neighbours” Still Generating Interest

My short story “Neighbours” from Lovers and Strangers Revisited still generates plenty of interest after getting another extension of SPM Literature to 2014, no doubt because of the gossiping over a neighbour who committed suicide.
  This morning I stumbled upon a 14-minute video of the story shot in a secondary school classroom (the first perhaps to be uploaded to YouTube).  It was more of a skit than an actual performance.  The students posted, “Don't judge it. We are amateurs… go read the story!”

The skit reminded me of the students from SMK (p) Sri Aman Petaling Jeya that I met at the Popular BookFest@Malaysia 2010 who put on a full performance of the story.  Of course neither compares to "Home for Hari Raya" being filmed by Ohio University.
I then came across a “Neighbours” exam question from the site MissyMacy:
NeighboursSee! See! That's what happens when grown boys stay at home - they got restless!" Ramli said, his arms raised in surrender. "Only a wife will settle them. A wife and a job will teach them some responsibilities. If you ask me, Johnny had it too easy. Too easy - has a working wife and only two children. One living on his own like that"
a) How does Ramli propose to overcome the grown boys' restlessness? (5marks)b) Discuss the significance of the title. (8marks)c) "Some people may think that gossiping is harmless, but in actual fact it can be very destructive."  Discuss the truth of the statement with close reference to the story. (12marks)
Of course, this is much easier than the question from an e-course that was posted on an earlier blog. 
Sue Ann Teo then referred to “Neighbours” in an "The Art of Secrecy" about gossiping in an article series titled, “Reflections: Can you keep a secret?” awhile back (just came across it).  She wrote: “It suddenly hit me; there is a short story written by Robert Raymer about gossiping among the neighbors in Malaysia. With words, Raymer has painted so vividly in the readers minds the scenarios of a group of neighbours, gossiping about something that they are not supposed to tell anyone - secrets of others.”
This reminded me Denis Harry’s article “Are You Mrs.Koh?” that she wrote about my character from “Neighbours” for The New Straits Times, also about gossiping.
For gossiping in general, we all need to reminded, now and then, that what goes around, comes around . . . . Of course, the best place to gossip is in your fiction.  Just make sure you change the names and identities of your characters and perhaps the settings, too, just in case...
**Here the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and for the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited Trois autres Malaisie.

Trois autres Malaisie review Easy Malaisie-January 2013

Here’s another review of Trois autres Malaisie, the French translationof Lovers and Strangers Revisited, which appeared in Easy Malaisie- January 2013.



Ce recueil ne parle pas uniquement de la Malaisie, il respire la Malaisie. Quelques passages semblent tirer en longueur alors que certains vous aggripent, vous tenant en haleine, pour au final, d'un ton juste, traduire le fidèle reflet de tranches de vies ici. On glisse d'un chapitre au suivant, baignant entre communautées malaise, chinoise et indienne, comme on regarderait à travers un kaléidoscope. Ces quatorze nouvelles sont proches de ces croyances, de ces traditions propres à la Malaisie, de tout ce que l'on ne voit pas non plus, de ce que l'on ne devine pas. "Trois autres Malaisie" se fait le juste écho d'une plongée au coeur de cette terre aux couleurs bigarrées. Il se lit comme un journal, comme un saut dans l'histoire d'un être, puis d'un autre. Comme un voyage, faisant escale d'une vie à une autre, sans fioritures inutiles. Robert Raymer apporte un regard vrai et authentique à celui qui serait curieux de découvrir au fil des mots non pas le, mais les différents visages que porte la Malaisie.Alexandra, janvier 2013, http://www.easy-malaisie.com/des-livr...

Here is a rough, stilted translation into English via the internet (some parts don’t seem to make sense so you can guess at the actual meaning, but overall it still sounds pretty good). 
This collection does not speak solely about Malaysia, it breathes Malaysia. Some passages seem to draw in length whereas some grab you, you holding in breath, for with final, of a tone right, to translate the faithful reflection of slices of lives here. One slips of a chapter to the following, bathing enters communities Malayan, Chinese and Indian, as one would look through a kaleidoscope. These fourteen stories are close to these beliefs, of these clean traditions in Malaysia, all that one does not see either, of what one does not guess. “Three other Malaysia” has made the right echo of a diving in the middle of this ground to the variegated colors. It is read like a newspaper, like a jump in the history of a being, then of another.  Like a travel, making stopover of a life with another, without useless ornaments. Robert Raymer brings a true and authentic glance to that which would be curious to discover with the wire of the words not it, but the various faces which Malaysia carries.
*Here's a link to the intro and excerpts, and to four other reviews of Trois Autres Malaisie ineurasie.net, Malaisie.org, easyvoyage.com, and Petit Futé mag .**Here’s an update to the French blog about Trois autres Malaisie , a link to meeting the French translator Jerome Bouchaud in Kuching, and also to order a copy or recommend it to your friends, especially those who would like to know more about Malaysia or have an interest in Southeast Asia.
***Links to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited,Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks!

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award: Six Lessons

With a publishing contract from Amazon Publishing and a $50,000 advance at stake for the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (January (9th-27th), that alone should entice 10,000 writers from the far flung corners of the globe, including Borneo where I call home.  Unlike previous years, there are now five categories: General Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, Romance, and Young Adult Fiction.  Last year my novel The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady was a Quarter-finalist; however, I enter the competition for the six lessons that I’ve learned from previous years. 
Lesson 1: No matter how good your novel is, it won’t get read if your pitch is ineffec­tive.  The first round of judging by Amazon-selected editors, whereby 80% of the competition gets cut, is based solely on that 300-word pitch.   Use those 300-words wisely; every word has to count, and pack as much punch as you can.  You will not get a second chance.  This also applies to when you’re pitching your novel to agents/publishers. If the pitch doesn’t entice them, they will quickly delete and move onto the next query. 
They don’t have time to think, ok the pitch is pretty general, the plot a bit vague, but let me read some of the novel—maybe the writing is great.  It’s the opposite, if the pitch is weak, there’s a great chance the novel is weak too.  Instead of complaining about this, accept it and make darn sure your pitch is good!  Your novel deserves to be read. 
The top 400 novels from each category will advance.
Lesson 2: Ok, your pitch got you through to Round 2, which will be judged by Amazon Expert Reviewers.  Congrats.  But despite how brilliant your pitch is, and how great the premise of your novel is, if you fail to deliver the goods in the first 3,000-5,000 word excerpt, you’re out of luck.  Agents/publishers often look at only the opening five pages or the first chapter (or the first three chapters).   If those opening pages don’t grab their interest or if they see too many red flags (grammar mistakes such as verb tense problems, style mistakes like relying on trite expressions and clichés, or point of view problems) they may stop reading.
So put extra time into those early chapters or the rest of your novel may not get read.  Good questions to ask yourself:  Are you starting the novel in the most effective place?  Is there too much backstory and not enough forward momentum?  Is this the best viewpoint character for your story?  Could changing it to present or past tense improve it?  Can you make your writing style or the plot more compelling?  What other changes can you make to improve your manuscript?  The more questions you ask yourself the more likely you'll find the answers.  
The top 100 novels from each category will advance.
Lesson 3:  The Quarter-finals is judged on the full manuscript by reviewers from Publishers Weekly.  Never assume that your novel is good enough to enter, let alone good enough to win.  I’m always surprised when I take out my novel and read it out loud with fresh eyes and fresh ears . . . . I often catch stuff that I previously overlooked or find a better way of saying something or find words (usually adjectives and adverbs) that detract more than they add, or stuff I can cut.  I also look at the pacing, the paragraphing, and the dialogue. 
I look at the logic, too.  Why would a character logically say or do something in that situation?  Are their motives or backstories clear?  The more times I go through each chapter before moving on to the next chapter, the more ways I find to improve it.  Remember, there are a lot of well written books and great story ideas that your book is competing against. Judging is also subjective.  Some may love your novel; others make dismiss it for a dozen valid reasons.
Only five novels from each category will advance.
Lesson 4:  The Semi-finals is judged by the editors with Amazon Publishing.  At this level all the books are probably deserving publication, so how does yours stack up to the others?  If there is any room to improve your book, take the initiative to do so before you enter.  Keep asking yourself questions about your characters, the minor ones, too (do they really add to the scene or detract from it by being bland or predictable?)  Are they memorable?  Do others care about them?  When it comes right down to it, your story is about people (even non-humans) doing something.  Do we like or care about them?  Do we like or care about what they are doing?  
Sometimes a small change can matter, like the title of your novel.  Will it prick a reader’s interest if they hear about it or see it mentioned somewhere?  Is it too literary, too cryptic, or does it immediately resonate with the reader, even tell them what the book is about?  The Hunger Games, for example, raises many questions on different levels.  You’re intrigued, thinking, what’s this about?  Yet you know it’s going to involve a competition.
Run your title by your friends and have them rate it on a scale of 1-5.  Maybe you’re thinking one thing, but it makes them think of something totally different, possibly a turn-off, too.  Then brainstorm for an even better title. 
One of the novels that I entered for this year’s competition, I did exactly that; I not only changed the title from A Gun for Christmas to An Unexpected Gift from a Growling Fool, I changed the name of the town from Sharpton to Growling where the story is set, hoping to make the title a little more intriguing.  That then caused me to add a whole new first paragraph, an anecdote about how the town got its unusual name, thus setting the mood for the opening chapter.  Each change, I’ve learned, can have a ripple effect.
Only one novel in each category will advance to the final   Lesson Five:  The Finals will be judged by Amazon customers based on that 3,000-5,000 excerpt again.  Again if the beginning of your book doesn’t pull the reader into the story and make them care about the characters and what the characters are trying to do, they will never know about your great ending, read your great scenes, cry or laugh with your unforgettable characters, or be swept away by your incredible plot. 
Once I upload my pitch, excerpt and manuscript, I don’t sit back and relax.  Each day I keep revising that pitch, that excerpt, and that novel right up until the competition closes.  Any one of those three could prevent my novel from advancing.  All of them are critical to its success. 
Even if my novel fails to win in Amazon or even advance beyond the first round, I know that the extra work I put into it has vastly improved my chances to land that agent or do well in another competition.  It sure worked last year, when two of my novels made the finals of the 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition and a third was a short-list finalist.
Lesson Six:  Preparing for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is not only a great way to end the year by revising my novels (I usually start by mid-November or early December), but also a great way to start the New Year.  Revising also gives me hope that this year will be the year.  Hope is a good thing to have for all writers, especially those like me who live in the far-flung corners of the world.—Borneo Expat Writer
**Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and forTrois autres Malaisie.

Ohio University in Malaysia shooting “Home for Hari Raya”

Frederick Lewis and his team of students from Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies are in Malaysia shooting my short story “Home for Hari Raya” from my Malaysian collection of short stories Lovers and Strangers Revisited , winner of the 2009 Popular Star Reader’s Choice Award.  Last December they contacted me about filming another story from the same collection, but after I sent them the online link to “Home for Hari Raya”,  they decided to film this instead. They then sent in their filming proposal at Ohio University as part of its Education Abroad program.
The filming project became official in May 2012 when it was announced in the Ohio University Education Abroad, Centre for International Studies with complete details for students to sign up for the six credit program.  There was also this brief announcement in the Faculty Director E-Newsletter:  
“Frederick Lewis, along with students from the School of Media Arts and Studies, will produce a short narrative film based on ‘Home for Hari Raya,’ a short story by American/ Ohio ex-pat, Robert Raymer.  Robert is a writer and teacher who has lived in Malaysia for more than 20 years. This program will run over winter break in December 2012-January 2011.”
During a ninety minute Skype session in October, I finally had a chance to meet with Frederick Lewis, Willem Holzer and Jeremy Parolini who found the old Heinemann Asia version of Lovers and Strangers in their library that led to their decision to contact me.  Mostly I spoke with Willem Holzer the director, who also took over the script writing from another student who had graduated early, answering his questions about Malay culture, religion, and Hari Raya.
The script underwent ten drafts—the last five I got heavily involved with by line-editing each and making several suggestions to improve the scenes and to make them more authentic.  Willem also got plenty of feedback from Malaysians, too, including students from UiTM-Shah Alam and Habibah Ashari, the Tun Razak Chair at Ohio University whom I once Skyped with her class of students.  The script does veer away from my original story (as movies often do), with some minor characters added along with a series of flashback scenes. 
Originally 15 students were scheduled to arrive in Malaysia for the shooting but at the last minute Jeremy Parolini was unable to come.  To help raise funds for their flights and production costs, the students took part in several university activities and even made an over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek video which they posted in early November.  They sure look like they had fun putting this together.
This is a truly a Malaysian-American joint project between Ohio University and UiTM.  UiTM’s Faculty of Film, Theatre and Animation has been handling the casting, the locations, the art direction, the wardrobe, the equipment, the audio, and a lot of other stuff behind the scenes, like transportation and making sure everyone from the actors to the production crew gets to where they need to be for the shooting with the equipment and wardrobe intact.  One day this almost didn’t happen and the whole production came to a halt until some missing wardrobe, needed for continuity, was finally found.  (This happens a lot in Hollywood productions, by the way.) Then a torrential downpour disrupted a whole day of shooting, but that couldn’t be helped.
A Facebook account had been set up a couple of months in advance so students and staff from both universities could introduce one another, exchange production ideas, clarify their individual tasks, sort out what equipment will be available in Malaysia (and how they can get access to it), and work out logistics over their arrival and any last minute glitches.  In addition to exchanging ideas and suggestions, UiTM showed their Ohio counterparts a typical Hari Raya TV commercial, displayed photos of the set from a house that had being loaned for the shooting as well as the casting videos of hopeful actors keen to fill the various roles.
Casting proved problematic when some actors expected large fees as if this was a Hollywood production and not a university project, so last minute changes for some of the roles had to be made.  Also they had to scramble to come up with three children, the younger versions of the three sisters that were needed for a series of flashback scenes.
When I spoke with Frederick Lewis on Christmas Day, he said that he and his team has been working 12-14 hour days since arriving in Malaysia since some of the actors were only available for short time periods and they needed to work around everyone’s hectic schedules, nor could they afford any more weather related delays, if possible.  Once the actual shooting ended, post production took over, which Lewis and his team will continue to work on while they visit Penang for about a week before returning home to Ohio University.
Lewis said that once the film is ready it will be shown with three others film projects at Ohio University at the end of April 2013, and then submitted for film festivals in the US and overseas, including in Malaysia.  If it can generate some interest and manage to win some awards, then who knows how far this film can go.
It would nice it get it on TV in the US to show to a wider audience a cross-cultural production between two countries and showcase Muslims in a whole different light, about three sisters coming to terms with the recent death of their father while celebrating Hari Raya—based on a short story that I wrote over twenty years ago.  
For 2013, I'm wondering (hoping) what other stories from my collection will catch a film director’s eye?  So far the individual stories from this one collection of 17 short stories set mostly in Malaysia, has been published 82 times and filmed once.  Not a bad way to end 2012! 
**Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and forTrois autres Malaisie. 
—Borneo Expat Writer

Winners of 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom Writing Competition

Congrats to winners and runner-ups of 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom Writing Competition.  Two of my novels did make the finals this year, A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, novel, and The Girl in the Bathtub, novel-in-progress.  A third novel, The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, was also a short-list finalist for the second year in a row.


Novel, Judged by Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management
Winner:
Jerusalem As a Second Language by Rochelle Distelheim of Highland Park, ILRunners-up:  First:
An Organized Panic, The Author Has Asked to Remain Anonymous
Second:
Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence, David Samuel Levinson, Durham, NC

Novella, Judged by
Winner:
Inspection, Daniel Castro, Madrid, Spain
Equal Runners-up:
Albert's Lark: A Concerto for Black Hole
Gary Bollick, Clemmons, NC
The Odd Sea
Petra Perkins, Highlands Ranch, CO
The Saltonfell Case
Alice Leaderman, University Park, MD

Novel-in-Progress, Judged by Deborah Grosvenor, Grosvenor Literary Agency
Winner:
A Boy Called Riot, Kim McLarin, Mattapan, MA
Runners-up
First:
Chiaroscuro
Jennifer Steil, London, England
Equal:
Lower Case Love, Geoff Schutt, Gaithersburg, MD
Ridgeland, Paul Byall, Savannah, GA

Short Story, Judged by Short Fiction Writer and Novelist Justin Torres
Winner:
The Bottom, Alison Grifa Ismaili, Baton Rouge, LA
Runners-up
First:
Longingly, Milly Heller, New Orleans
Second:
And The Sun Sets on Walker Street, Will Thrift, Columbia, SC

Essay, Judged by Narrative Non-Fiction Writer, Andrew Lam
Winner:
Tango Face, Emily Staat, New Orleans, LA
Runners-up
First:
Fossils, Elsie Michie, Baton Rouge, LA
Second
April's Fool, Mary Ann O'Gorman, Ocean Springs, MS

Poetry, Judged by Laura Mullen, Poet and Writer-in-Residence, Louisiana State University
Winner:
Aftermaths, Peter Cooley, New Orleans, LA
Runners-up:
First:
Sugar Maple, Judith White, Chevy Chase, MD
Second:
Words Then Space, James Bourey, Dover, DE
Third:
Last Will and Testament of L. J., Jennifer Bartell, Columbia, SC

Short Story by a High School Student
Winner:
Leigh Vila, Metairie, LA,  New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
Runners-up:
First:
The Cult of Happiness,
Ryanne Autin, Metairie, LA
Second:
Misery, Agony, Heartbreak
Tyler DeSpenza, New Orleans, LA
Third:
History,
Sophia Derbes, Mandeville, LA
Faulkner-Wisdom, winners and runner-ups 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom

Interview (English version) for Lettres-de-Malaisie by Jerome Bouchaud

Jerome Bouchaud, who translated Lovers and Strangers Revisited, now Trois autres Malaisie, interviewed mefor Lettres-de-Malaisie.  Here is the English version.
First, about your writing habits: Long-hand or computer? What is your daily writing routine?
I started out writing the first draft of my fiction in long hand, including most of the stories in Lovers and Strangers Revisitedand several novels.  Now I use a computer—it’s easier to work with, cleaner, faster, too.  In looking back, some of my best stories began in long hand.  There’s a special connec­tion that you make with the page.  Working with a computer the writing is faster but not necessarily better.   It’s also rife with distractions a click away.  Perhaps for my next novel, I should seriously look at writing the first draft in long hand.  Many writers swear by it. 
I like to write first thing in the morning, after my children go to school, before I get distracted with email requests or attention grabbing headlines—the writer’s worst enemy; it steals your time and kills your momentum.  If I get my work locked in early, my whole day goes smoother.  If not, it’s all catch-up and I kick myself for not sticking to my plans and letting my limited writing time get away.
When did you realize you wanted to become a writer?
While backpacking through Europe after college, I met several people writing books and that fascinated me.  Then I met a writer copying his manuscript about India, and thought, perhaps, I could write about my own travelling experiences.  Later, I married a lady from Malaysia and while travelling there to meet her family, I knew I had to write this story, which became “Mat Salleh” from Lovers and Strangers Revisited, my first published short story.
Lovers & Strangers was first released in 1993 (Heinemann), then revised a first and a second time, to be re-published in 2008 with the title Lovers & Strangers Revisited (MPH). What changes did you bring to your stories? Why did you feel the need to revisit them?
The book was going to be taught in a course on Malaysia and Singapore Literature; since I had been revising the stories to sell them as individual stories, I didn’t want to republish that old version.  So I saw an opportunity to revisit my stories.  I went back to the original inspiration, even revisited several of the settings.  I also worked with an American editor familiar with my stories and asked her to “rip them apart” from an international perspective (what may make sense to Malaysians may not make sense to Americans unfamiliar with Malaysia—I experienced this again with the French translation.) 
It was a humbling process, since all of the stories except one had been published; several, several times.  But I had grown as a writer, thanks to all the writing I had done, all the teaching as a creative writing instructor, and all the line editing of my students’ works (and exchanging stories with other writers).  
Some stories doubled in length, having whole new endings added on or back-story added in.  Mostly the writing style, the descriptions and the details became more precise, more vivid.  The challenge was to make these stories resonate with readers around the world.  So far the 17 stories have been published 81 times in 12 countries (18 countries when I include the French translation). The MPH version won the 2009 Popular-Star Reader’s Choice Award, validating my efforts, as did the French translation.
On your blog, you write about the story behind each story of Lovers & Strangers. Does it help you reflect on the challenges writers need to overcome when putting together a story?
Sometimes we forget that our published story may have been rewritten numerous times, and that our first draft barely resembles the finished product, so it‘s easy to become frustrated with poor uninspiring writing.  When I began the Story Behind the Story blog series,  I compared the first published versions of my stories to the Heinemann Asia (1993) version and then the Lovers and Strangers Revisited version.  It was the same “story” but the contrast was quite stark.  The writing and the story itself had under­gone a major transformation, so I began to document the significant changes that led to publication, first locally in Malaysia/Singapore and then overseas in the US or Europe.   
I thought other writers could learn about the writing process by comparing each story to the story behind the story.  The blogs are now being taught in universities and private colleges alongside the stories as a teaching aid and for the student’s benefit. 
Your stories have been praised by Malaysians themselves for truly reflecting the Malaysian way of life. Some are told from a foreigner’s point of view, some others through the voice of a local. Was it difficult to achieve authenticity when speaking as a young Indian girl, an old Chinese man or a blind Malay lady? How did you go about it? Is there a lot of research involved, or mostly personal experience and imagination?
Being married into a Malay family, when I first moved here, gave me a unique perspective, especially on kampong life.  Most of the Malay characters were based on my relatives, including my late mother-in-law.  She didn’t speak English, so I had to imagine myself being her and get inside her head based on my observations, talking with my ex-wife, and doing some research.  Also my Chinese and Indian friends and neighbors served as models as to how my characters should act, talk, think.  It’s important as a writer to be really observant when writing about others.  You can’t make assumptions based on your own culture—that will quickly get you into trouble!  Basically, you got to ask a lot of questions and follow it up with some research.
How would you describe the writing scene in Malaysia? As a writing facilitator, do you sometimes come across truly talented youths? Do you see potential in the new generation?
In KL, all kinds of readings, book launches, and workshops take place on a weekly or monthly basis.  Penang has some, too.  Plus there are plenty of local writers and expat writers who come and go.  I used to exchange novels with two expat novelists, one of whom had her novel published in the US this year.  Being around other writers who are doing what you’re doing is extremely helpful and encouraging.
The talent is here, but not necessarily the discipline; too many young writers seem to hate rewriting, not appreciating that this is a necessary step to improve the story, especially when writing fiction.  They seem to feel that’s the editor’s job after it gets accepted for publication.  They’ll do two or three drafts, enter it into a contest and then move onto the next story.  When I tell new writers that some of my published stories have been rewritten about twenty times, they look at me with horror!   
Writers who have studied writing overseas get it.  They see the potential and that it’s going to involve a lot of work.  They are willing to work with and even hire editors so they can improve their writing ability.
Do you read any of the local writers? Which one(s) would you recommend?
When I first moved here, I met writers like KS Maniam, Lee Kok Liang, Kee Thuan Chye and Rehman Rashid, and read their work, which I strongly recommend.  I have also met and worked with many upcoming writers when I was the Editor for Silverfish New Writing 4, a judge for some short story competitions, and through my workshops.   
Now I see a trend of writers rushing their work into print both here and in Singapore, especially fiction, without having any of their stories previously published.  Sudden­ly they’re having book launches and being paraded around as published authors, some still in their teens!  But where is the quality of their work; okay, it might be acceptable on a local level in a small publication, but on a national or international level?
I attended a book launch of one young writer who had received heaps of praise from the press and good reviews, too, but then it was discovered that she had plagiarized at least one of the stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul!  She was coy about doing it!  For me, all of her stories are now (and forever) suspect.  Ideally, writers should have a publishing track record or are winning contests before they publish a collection of short stories like Shih-Li Kow’s Ripples and Other Stories, which was short-listed for the 2009 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.   
For novels, it’s different, and Malaysia is producing some fine writers that are making an international splash, such as Tash Aw, Tan Twan Eng, and Preeta Samarasan.  Tan Twan Eng’s second book being shortlisted for the Booker Prize (with a chance to win) speaks volumes.  These three, by the way, live abroad as expats.  Their own expectations as writers are much higher and Malaysia is richer for it.
Can you tell us more about your ongoing projects?
I’ve spend most of 2012 rewriting two Penang novels, both finalist in the 2012Faulkner-Wisdom Award, A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, for novel, and The Girl in the Bathtub, for novel-in-progress.  This gives me hope.  Both novels are part of a series; I have plans for novels set in Sarawak, Singapore and Thailand.  I had a chance to publish the first one in Singapore many years ago, but novels published locally rarely get out of this region, so I backed out. I’m glad since the novel has evolved. 
I also have a third novel, set in the US that was a short-list finalist for the 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom Award for the second year in a row (also a Quarterfinalist in 2012 AmazonBreakthrough Novel Award).  A fourth novel was a short-list finalist in 2009 Faulkner-Wisdom.  I am considering the e-book option to see if I can develop a track record that will interest a mainstream publisher.  The rules to publishing is in a huge state of flux; creating new opportunities for writers.   I’m excited that “Home for Hari Raya” from Lovers and Strangers Revisited is being filmed by Ohio University by Frederick Lewis, professor of film/video, who will lead a team of 13 students to Malaysia in December 2012.  I find it fascinating that a short story I wrote twenty years ago about three Malay sisters has attracted a film maker in the US.   It’s not Hollywood calling, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.  The story that initially grabbed his attention was “Mat Salleh.”  Maybe it’s time for me to dig out my screenplays and see what I can do with them.  You just never know unless you try. 
20 over years have passed since you first settled down in Malaysia. Do you feel like you finally belong here after so long?
As an expat who has spend half of his life in Malaysia, I’m not so sure where I belong, especially after recently spending five weeks in the US following the death of my father.  I felt pretty comfortable there; there’s a lot that I miss, like people going out of their way to be polite and helpful.  Cars actually waited for you to cross the street or back out of a parking spot.  But then I don’t miss winter.
A piece of advice for aspiring writers?
Believe in your story and never compare your writing with others.  Every writer began full of doubts about their abilities, yet they stuck with their story and completed it.  That’s the key, complete your work.  Then keep going over it to make it better.  The writing is in the rewriting, so finish the first draft!  Later, when you’re done the best you can, get some perspective on your writing by working with an editor with lots of writing experience.  This is what I did at two critical junctures in my writing career.  Then learn from it so you’re not repeating the same stylistic or grammar mistakes over and over.  If you do that, your writing will go to the next level.  That’s what we all want—get to the next level and get your work published.
*Here's a link to the intro and excerpts, and to four reviews of Trois Autres Malaisie ineurasie.net, Malaisie.org, easyvoyage.com, and Petit Futé mag .
**Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and forTrois autres Malaisie.