Robert Raymer's Blog, page 16
December 6, 2011
Creative Writing Workshop—Torture or Fun?
Creative Writing Workshop—three words that can send shivers down people's spine! Is it the word "creative" that scares you? Often I'm told, "I'm not very creative," and they cringe at the thought, as if being creative is an affliction akin to some tropical disease. Or is it the thought of "writing" that's haunting you? I know back in school the thought of writing was often equated with torture doled out by masochistic teachers bent on ruining our lives or at least killing a few of our precious weekends. Then there's the "work" part in workshop that doesn't sound terribly exciting. Who wants to pay good money to "work?" There's also the money issue. In reality, though, who are you paying?
Yourself actually.
That's right. You're paying yourself to show up for the workshop and invest your time to do something that you've been meaning to get around to for far too many years. Ever since you've had that nagging idea that you want to write something, or that you have a story to tell. It's not necessarily that you want to be a writer, but just maybe you want to write about what happened to you a long time ago, something that changed you, made you a better person or a little wiser or a little more cautious or very grateful. You've been thinking, if only I had the time. The workshop will give you that time!
When people ask me, "Are you really going to make us work?"
I reply, "No, I'm going to make you play!"
Writing is playing with words, playing with ideas, playing with memories. No one is asking you to write a masterpiece, let alone a book. Just play with your ideas, play with the memories of the events in your life, the significant events that make you special. That make you think.
"You mean I have to think, too?"
Relax, we have pre-writing techniques that will help you think, help you to remember, like clustering or mind mapping, or free writing. Pretty soon you'll have ideas gushing out of you, long forgotten memories from your childhood or when you were an awkward teenager. Soon you'll be recalling events in your life that you either learned from, that helped get you through a difficult time in your life, or maybe even some hilarious mishap that wasn't all that funny at the time, but now looking back, it cracks you up just thinking about it. At the very least, you survived it, or maybe even had the last laugh!
Or maybe you shared a special moment, something spiritual or even miraculous that you want to share with your friends, family, even the world. The Chicken Soup for the Soul series is filled with such stories that move us in so many ways. Many of those stories were first published elsewhere, like in your local paper, under the first-person or a nostalgic section where you get to write about what happened in those days long gone by…
Have you ever done anything interesting? That's what got me writing my first narratives that make up Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an expat's life in Malaysia. I was lucky enough to take part in some movies while living in Penang (Hollywood came to me!), so I wrote about my involvement. Basically I narrated what I did. Unlike writing the short stories in
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
, there were no inventing characters, creating scenes, or any plot developments. This was relatively easy, straight forward.
Then I started to look around my life to see what else I could write about. Around that time, we had a baby, so I wrote about the silly things that our baby cum toddler did, and the silly things I did too as a new father.
I then wrote about my experiences being a teacher, being a writer, being an expat, being myself, and at times, being out of luck—my misadventures! Misadventures, I soon learned pays really well. When things go wrong and you can laugh at yourself over it, and if others can laugh and learn from it too—now that's marketable. I even published an article for Quill "Making Money from Your Mis-adventures"
Of course, another fear we all risk at writing workshops is being "exposed", found out that our grammar is horrible! Welcome to the club! Everyone present feels the same way. You are not alone. Far from it. When I decided to become a writer, I naïvely thought that being a native speaker, with a university degree and a fairly decent grade point average and even getting some of my early work published, that grammar came second nature to me—like breathing; that I didn't have to even think about it. So I didn't.
Then a well-meaning friend asked me if I've ever heard of the term "dangling modifier"?
Vaguely, I did, though I had no idea what it was. Curious, I looked it up. Oh my god, I've been breaking that rule all my life! I flipped through the grammar section of one of my English text books and found all kinds of interesting terms and rules that I shamelessly broke, not knowing they were rules! Infinitives, anyone? Surely my teachers weren't that bad, or maybe, I got a little careless over the years like bad posture.
Admitting my utter ignorance, I sucked it up and relearned some basic grammar. You don't have to know all the rules. Grammarians don't even agree on many of them. Can you split an infinitive or not? We can split an atom, but an infinite? Well I do, when it serves my purpose. Let the grammarians decide if I'm right or wrong. All I want to do is tell my story.
For my Creative Writing Workshops, we don't focus on grammar. That comes with revising, later. All I want to do is help you to write your own story, to help you get it out of your system onto paper, where you can play with it (I was going to say "work with it" but who wants to work?) and make it even better. The more times you go over it, rewrite it, read it our loud, and keep smoothing out the wrinkles, the closer you'll be to getting it published—if you want to. Not all workshop participants want to publish their work. They get their pleasure out of merely writing it.
By the way, this is how all writing begins; a writer gets an idea, plays with it, writes it down, and voila! They've written something. It may not be a masterpiece (that may come later, after they revise it over and over, or get some editing help) but it's a start, and getting started on your idea, your very own idea based on your very own personal experiences, is why you should attend a creative writing workshop. Besides, you might even have some fun (and meet some kindred spirits who never realized writing was so much fun either). You might even at admit, at least to yourself, that you actually like writing, and that you got something to show for the time (and money) spend at the workshop. If not a complete first draft, something well underway that you can finish off when you get home. And if you sell it, you could recoup your investment! Who knows, you might even turn your idea into a book!
And all those years, you thought writing was torture. Shame on you!
*Announcement: Writing Workshop in Kuching-17 December 2011. Here's the link to the workshop announcement and the writing tips, and other workshops.
**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 Trois autres Malaisie.
Yourself actually.
That's right. You're paying yourself to show up for the workshop and invest your time to do something that you've been meaning to get around to for far too many years. Ever since you've had that nagging idea that you want to write something, or that you have a story to tell. It's not necessarily that you want to be a writer, but just maybe you want to write about what happened to you a long time ago, something that changed you, made you a better person or a little wiser or a little more cautious or very grateful. You've been thinking, if only I had the time. The workshop will give you that time!
When people ask me, "Are you really going to make us work?"
I reply, "No, I'm going to make you play!"
Writing is playing with words, playing with ideas, playing with memories. No one is asking you to write a masterpiece, let alone a book. Just play with your ideas, play with the memories of the events in your life, the significant events that make you special. That make you think.
"You mean I have to think, too?"
Relax, we have pre-writing techniques that will help you think, help you to remember, like clustering or mind mapping, or free writing. Pretty soon you'll have ideas gushing out of you, long forgotten memories from your childhood or when you were an awkward teenager. Soon you'll be recalling events in your life that you either learned from, that helped get you through a difficult time in your life, or maybe even some hilarious mishap that wasn't all that funny at the time, but now looking back, it cracks you up just thinking about it. At the very least, you survived it, or maybe even had the last laugh!
Or maybe you shared a special moment, something spiritual or even miraculous that you want to share with your friends, family, even the world. The Chicken Soup for the Soul series is filled with such stories that move us in so many ways. Many of those stories were first published elsewhere, like in your local paper, under the first-person or a nostalgic section where you get to write about what happened in those days long gone by…
Have you ever done anything interesting? That's what got me writing my first narratives that make up Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an expat's life in Malaysia. I was lucky enough to take part in some movies while living in Penang (Hollywood came to me!), so I wrote about my involvement. Basically I narrated what I did. Unlike writing the short stories in
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
, there were no inventing characters, creating scenes, or any plot developments. This was relatively easy, straight forward. Then I started to look around my life to see what else I could write about. Around that time, we had a baby, so I wrote about the silly things that our baby cum toddler did, and the silly things I did too as a new father.
I then wrote about my experiences being a teacher, being a writer, being an expat, being myself, and at times, being out of luck—my misadventures! Misadventures, I soon learned pays really well. When things go wrong and you can laugh at yourself over it, and if others can laugh and learn from it too—now that's marketable. I even published an article for Quill "Making Money from Your Mis-adventures"
Of course, another fear we all risk at writing workshops is being "exposed", found out that our grammar is horrible! Welcome to the club! Everyone present feels the same way. You are not alone. Far from it. When I decided to become a writer, I naïvely thought that being a native speaker, with a university degree and a fairly decent grade point average and even getting some of my early work published, that grammar came second nature to me—like breathing; that I didn't have to even think about it. So I didn't.
Then a well-meaning friend asked me if I've ever heard of the term "dangling modifier"?
Vaguely, I did, though I had no idea what it was. Curious, I looked it up. Oh my god, I've been breaking that rule all my life! I flipped through the grammar section of one of my English text books and found all kinds of interesting terms and rules that I shamelessly broke, not knowing they were rules! Infinitives, anyone? Surely my teachers weren't that bad, or maybe, I got a little careless over the years like bad posture.
Admitting my utter ignorance, I sucked it up and relearned some basic grammar. You don't have to know all the rules. Grammarians don't even agree on many of them. Can you split an infinitive or not? We can split an atom, but an infinite? Well I do, when it serves my purpose. Let the grammarians decide if I'm right or wrong. All I want to do is tell my story.
For my Creative Writing Workshops, we don't focus on grammar. That comes with revising, later. All I want to do is help you to write your own story, to help you get it out of your system onto paper, where you can play with it (I was going to say "work with it" but who wants to work?) and make it even better. The more times you go over it, rewrite it, read it our loud, and keep smoothing out the wrinkles, the closer you'll be to getting it published—if you want to. Not all workshop participants want to publish their work. They get their pleasure out of merely writing it.
By the way, this is how all writing begins; a writer gets an idea, plays with it, writes it down, and voila! They've written something. It may not be a masterpiece (that may come later, after they revise it over and over, or get some editing help) but it's a start, and getting started on your idea, your very own idea based on your very own personal experiences, is why you should attend a creative writing workshop. Besides, you might even have some fun (and meet some kindred spirits who never realized writing was so much fun either). You might even at admit, at least to yourself, that you actually like writing, and that you got something to show for the time (and money) spend at the workshop. If not a complete first draft, something well underway that you can finish off when you get home. And if you sell it, you could recoup your investment! Who knows, you might even turn your idea into a book!
And all those years, you thought writing was torture. Shame on you!
*Announcement: Writing Workshop in Kuching-17 December 2011. Here's the link to the workshop announcement and the writing tips, and other workshops.
**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 Trois autres Malaisie.
December 2, 2011
Take the Fear out of writing and replace it with Fun at the Writing Workshop in Kuching!
Created by Jenny! Thanks!
Take the Fear out of writing and replace it with Fun!
Don't be intimidated by the word "creative". It's just plain writing!
*Here's the link to the full workshop announcement and the writing tips, and other workshops.
**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 Trois autres Malaisie.
Take the Fear out of writing and replace it with Fun!
Created by Jenny! Thanks!
Take the Fear out of writing and replace it with Fun!
Don't be intimidated by the word "creative". It's just plain writing!
*Here's the link to the full workshop announcement and the writing tips, and other workshops.
**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 Trois autres Malaisie.
November 29, 2011
Borneo Post: Writing Workshop in Kuching--17 December 2011!
*To enlarge, click, right click, view, zoom**Here's the link to the full workshop announcement and the writing tips, and other workshops.***Don't be intimidated by the word "creative". It's just plain writing!
****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 Trois autres Malaisie.
November 27, 2011
Creative Writing Workshop—Kuching! 17 December 2011
Are you serious about writing?Are you up to the challenge?
Turn your Personal Experience into a First Person Narrative ROBERT RAYMER takes you through the brainstorming
and the writing process to produce a complete first draft,
if you're up to the challenge!
When: Sat, 17 December Time: 9.00-12.00am or 2.00-5.00pm(one session/two-time slots)
*register 8.30/1.30 Cost: RM120 adults/ RM90 students (full-time), above age 14 Who: 14-70+ years old Where: Kuching, Open University Malaysia, Sarawak Learning Centre, 9 1/2 Mile, Kuching-Serian Road Next: Email your name, contact phone number, email address, and your preference morning or afternoon session to robert@borneoexpatwriter.com
Not Sure? Why not treat yourself or a relative to an early Christmas present or get a head start on your
New Year Resolutions!
Areas of learning: pre-writing techniques, probing questions; 5Ws and IH; primary and secondary emotions; sensory details; narrative structure; organising and outlining; four killers of narratives; and some valid reasons for editing-it's not just about grammar!
Writing tips: Links to Robert's article in The Writer on pre-writing techniques, (click, right click, view and zoom to read) and the expanded version in Quill Annual 2011 , "Judging Tips" , "The Power of Five", "Writer Envy-Get Some Editing", "Tree Methodology" and "Prove Them Wrong!" Ch Challenge: Start and complete the first draft of your narrative in the workshop and have a final draft before the New Year to start your New Year in a new direction! Workshop Bonus: Plan and start an additional piece of fiction. Help your friends and relatives find out about the workshop by sending them this link! Thanks!
Bonus New Year Tip: A fun way to raise your self esteem and build your confidence for the New Year! Bio: Named as one of the "50 Expats You Should Know" by Expatriate Lifestyle, American Robert Raymer has taught creative writing for 13 years at two Malaysian universities, has judged short story competitions including the 2009 MPH National Short Story Awards, published over 500 short stories and articles, and conducted numerous workshops on creative writing. He is the author of Spirit of Malaysia , Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia and Lovers and Strangers Revisited , winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Readers Choice Awards, taught in universities and translated into French.
Robert's interviews and book reviews can be found on his website http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com
* Comments from recent workshop participants (below article). *Here's the link to the first KK workshop, the second KK workshop, and the third KK workshop.
**Here's my workshop with Malaysian Nurses Association and International Tuition School in Kuching.
***If you are interested to bring my workshops to other organizations or associations in Sabah/Sarawak/West Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei for 2012 please contact me at robert@borneoexpatwriter.com Thank you!
****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 Trois autres Malaisie.
Turn your Personal Experience into a First Person Narrative ROBERT RAYMER takes you through the brainstorming
and the writing process to produce a complete first draft,
if you're up to the challenge!
When: Sat, 17 December Time: 9.00-12.00am or 2.00-5.00pm(one session/two-time slots)
*register 8.30/1.30 Cost: RM120 adults/ RM90 students (full-time), above age 14 Who: 14-70+ years old Where: Kuching, Open University Malaysia, Sarawak Learning Centre, 9 1/2 Mile, Kuching-Serian Road Next: Email your name, contact phone number, email address, and your preference morning or afternoon session to robert@borneoexpatwriter.com
Not Sure? Why not treat yourself or a relative to an early Christmas present or get a head start on your
New Year Resolutions!
Areas of learning: pre-writing techniques, probing questions; 5Ws and IH; primary and secondary emotions; sensory details; narrative structure; organising and outlining; four killers of narratives; and some valid reasons for editing-it's not just about grammar!
Writing tips: Links to Robert's article in The Writer on pre-writing techniques, (click, right click, view and zoom to read) and the expanded version in Quill Annual 2011 , "Judging Tips" , "The Power of Five", "Writer Envy-Get Some Editing", "Tree Methodology" and "Prove Them Wrong!" Ch Challenge: Start and complete the first draft of your narrative in the workshop and have a final draft before the New Year to start your New Year in a new direction! Workshop Bonus: Plan and start an additional piece of fiction. Help your friends and relatives find out about the workshop by sending them this link! Thanks!
Bonus New Year Tip: A fun way to raise your self esteem and build your confidence for the New Year! Bio: Named as one of the "50 Expats You Should Know" by Expatriate Lifestyle, American Robert Raymer has taught creative writing for 13 years at two Malaysian universities, has judged short story competitions including the 2009 MPH National Short Story Awards, published over 500 short stories and articles, and conducted numerous workshops on creative writing. He is the author of Spirit of Malaysia , Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia and Lovers and Strangers Revisited , winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Readers Choice Awards, taught in universities and translated into French.
Robert's interviews and book reviews can be found on his website http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com
* Comments from recent workshop participants (below article). *Here's the link to the first KK workshop, the second KK workshop, and the third KK workshop.
**Here's my workshop with Malaysian Nurses Association and International Tuition School in Kuching.
***If you are interested to bring my workshops to other organizations or associations in Sabah/Sarawak/West Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei for 2012 please contact me at robert@borneoexpatwriter.com Thank you!
****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 Trois autres Malaisie.
Creative Writing Workshop—Kuching!
Are you serious about writing?Are you up to the challenge?
Turn your Personal Experience into a First Person Narrative ROBERT RAYMER takes you through the brainstorming
and the writing processto produce a complete first draft,
if you're up to the challenge!
When: Sat, 17 December Time: 9.00-12.00am or 2.00-5.00pm(one session/two-time slots)
*register 8.30/1.30 Cost: RM120 adultRM90 (secondary school student) Who: 14-70+ years old Where: Open University Malaysia, Sarawak Learning Centre, 9 1/2 Mile, Kuching-Serian Road, Kuching Next: Email or sms your name, contact phone number & email address, and your preference morning or afternoon session to robert@borneoexpatwriter.com 016-442-6060
Not Sure? Why not treat yourself to an early Christmas present or get a head start on your
New Year Resolutions!
Areas of learning: pre-writing techniques, probing questions; 5Ws and IH; primary & secondary emotions; sensory details; organising & outlining; 4 killers of narratives; narrative structure; use of dialogue; and reasons for editing-it's not just about grammar!
Writing tips: Links to Robert's article in The Writer on pre-writing techniques, (right chick, view and zoom to read) and the expanded version in Quill Annual 2011 , "Judging Tips" , "The Power of Five", "Writer Envy-Get Some Editing", "Tree Methodology" and "Prove Them Wrong!" Ch Challenge: Start and complete the first draft of your narrative in the workshop and have a final draft before the New Year to start your New Year in a new direction! Workshop Bonus: Plan and start an additional piece of fiction. Help your friends and relatives find out about the workshop by sending them this link! Thanks!
Bonus New Year Tip: A quick way to raise your self esteem and build your confidence for the New Year! Bio: Named as one of the "50 Expats You Should Know" by Expatriate Lifestyle, American Robert Raymer has taught creative writing for 13 years at two Malaysian universities, has judged short story competitions including the 2009 MPH National Short Story Awards, published over 500 short stories and articles, and conducted numerous workshops on creative writing. He is the author of Spirit of Malaysia , Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia and Lovers and Strangers Revisited , winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Readers Choice Awards, taught in universities and translated into French.
Robert's interviews and book reviews can be found on his website http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com
*Here's the link to the first KK workshop, the second KK workshop, and the third KK workshop.
**Here's my workshop with Malaysian Nurses Association and International Tuition School in Kuching.
***If you are interested to bring my workshops to other organizations or associations in Sabah/Sarawak/West Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei for 2012 please contact me at robert@borneoexpatwriter.com Thank you!
****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 Trois autres Malaisie.
Turn your Personal Experience into a First Person Narrative ROBERT RAYMER takes you through the brainstorming
and the writing processto produce a complete first draft,
if you're up to the challenge!
When: Sat, 17 December Time: 9.00-12.00am or 2.00-5.00pm(one session/two-time slots)
*register 8.30/1.30 Cost: RM120 adultRM90 (secondary school student) Who: 14-70+ years old Where: Open University Malaysia, Sarawak Learning Centre, 9 1/2 Mile, Kuching-Serian Road, Kuching Next: Email or sms your name, contact phone number & email address, and your preference morning or afternoon session to robert@borneoexpatwriter.com 016-442-6060
Not Sure? Why not treat yourself to an early Christmas present or get a head start on your
New Year Resolutions!
Areas of learning: pre-writing techniques, probing questions; 5Ws and IH; primary & secondary emotions; sensory details; organising & outlining; 4 killers of narratives; narrative structure; use of dialogue; and reasons for editing-it's not just about grammar!
Writing tips: Links to Robert's article in The Writer on pre-writing techniques, (right chick, view and zoom to read) and the expanded version in Quill Annual 2011 , "Judging Tips" , "The Power of Five", "Writer Envy-Get Some Editing", "Tree Methodology" and "Prove Them Wrong!" Ch Challenge: Start and complete the first draft of your narrative in the workshop and have a final draft before the New Year to start your New Year in a new direction! Workshop Bonus: Plan and start an additional piece of fiction. Help your friends and relatives find out about the workshop by sending them this link! Thanks!
Bonus New Year Tip: A quick way to raise your self esteem and build your confidence for the New Year! Bio: Named as one of the "50 Expats You Should Know" by Expatriate Lifestyle, American Robert Raymer has taught creative writing for 13 years at two Malaysian universities, has judged short story competitions including the 2009 MPH National Short Story Awards, published over 500 short stories and articles, and conducted numerous workshops on creative writing. He is the author of Spirit of Malaysia , Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia and Lovers and Strangers Revisited , winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Readers Choice Awards, taught in universities and translated into French.
Robert's interviews and book reviews can be found on his website http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com
*Here's the link to the first KK workshop, the second KK workshop, and the third KK workshop.
**Here's my workshop with Malaysian Nurses Association and International Tuition School in Kuching.
***If you are interested to bring my workshops to other organizations or associations in Sabah/Sarawak/West Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei for 2012 please contact me at robert@borneoexpatwriter.com Thank you!
****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 Trois autres Malaisie.
November 24, 2011
"Dark Blue Thread" published in Westerly 56:2
Westerly 56:2, a literary journal in Australia, with the tagline "the best in writing from the West" arrived in the mail yesterday. It was a special issue of Westerly, "South/East Asia", and it contained my Malaysia-set short story "Dark Blue Thread" from
Lovers and StrangersRevisited.
It's always exciting for the author to get their hands on that first copy, a validation. For years I believed in the story, which had a lot of early success as noted in The Story Behind the Story, but then I kept changing the characters' names and finally overhauled the story, adding more backstory and a whole new ending that doubled the length of the story. This was the version I had believed in and frustrated me that it wasn't getting out of Malaysia.
Persistence does pay off, so does rewriting. The final rewrite came earlier this year, when I went through all of the stories in Lovers and Strangers Revisited again before passing them to Editions GOPE for the French translation, Trois autres Malaisie . I wanted the best version out there both in English and in French. Ironically, "Dark Blue Thread" was one of three stories left out of Trois autres Malaisie (since the theme was similar to another story, "Only in Malaysia" that was added to the MPH version of the collection). Editions GOPE wanted to keep the length of the collection down—seems translating into French adds about 20% more words.
Then Westerly, after accepting it, gave me another chance to revise it, so I went through the story again, tweaking it here and there, and now I have this latest testimony to the endurance of those short stories from Lovers and Strangers Revisited that I first wrote over 20 years ago that are still being read today. *** 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 for Trois autres Malaisie.
"Dark Blue Thread" published in Westerly 56-2
Westerly 56-2, a literary journal in Australia, with the tagline "the best in writing from the West" arrived in the mail yesterday. It was a special issue of Westerly, "South/East Asia", and it contained my Malaysia-set short story "Dark Blue Thread" from
Lovers and StrangersRevisited.
It's always exciting for the author to get their hands on that first copy, a validation. For years I believed in the story, which had a lot of early success as noted in The Story Behind the Story, but then I kept changing the characters' names and finally overhauled the story, adding more backstory and a whole new ending that doubled the length of the story. This was the version I had believed in and frustrated me that it wasn't getting out of Malaysia.
Persistence does pay off, so does rewriting. The final rewrite came earlier this year, when I went through all of the stories in Lovers and Strangers Revisited again before passing them to Editions GOPE for the French translation, Trois autres Malaisie . I wanted the best version out there both in English and in French. Ironically, "Dark Blue Thread" was one of three stories left out of Trois autres Malaisie (since the theme was similar to another story, "Only in Malaysia" that was added to the MPH version of the collection). Editions GOPE wanted to keep the length of the collection down—seems translating into French adds about 20% more words.
Then Westerly, after accepting it, gave me another chance to revise it, so I went through the story again, tweaking it here and there, and now I have this latest testimony to the endurance of those short stories from Lovers and Strangers Revisited that I first wrote over 20 years ago that are still being read today. *** 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 for Trois autres Malaisie.
November 23, 2011
Boy Swallowed by a Python
A 16-year-old boy was found dead in Malaysia after being swallowed by a 10 meter-long python. Camping in the jungle is always a risk, even on a school outing to a national park. I don't wish to name the national park to give it any bad press--I spend four wonderful days there and even used it for the setting for one of my short stories. I once sketched out a story about a man on a death wish who gets swallowed by a python, so this story struck close to home. Besides, this could happen anywhere where pythons live. In the late 1980's, a man was attacked behind his rural house and the photo was on the front page of all the newspapers with the python wrapped around the man with its head over the man's head and shoulders where it apparently became stuck—it was a rather large man. (Yes, this was the inspiration for my story idea.) I've also seen photos of a python trying to eat a wild boar. So a boy would not be a too big of a problem.
I've also seen plenty of photos of children and adults being cut out of crocodiles, including one at a different national park taken days before I had visited there with my then 16-year old son, and we had even come upon crocodile on a trail; it was crossing an old river bed into the nearby sea. The moment it saw us, it fled. It was either him or us.At a third national park, a park ranger told us about how we had just missed a ferocious fight between a python and a proboscis monkey in plain view. At the same park, as far as I know, a python still lives beneath a popular canteen feeding off the rats and perhaps a stray monkey or two.
In my 25 years of living here, I have heard plenty of stories of adults being killed by wild boars, elephants (they grab you by the trunk, throw you down and stomp on you) and of course tigers. 
Anytime you go into the jungle and camp you're at risk, but the odds of you seeing a python, a wild boar, an elephant, or a tiger are quite rare, let alone being attacked by one. So don't worry too much about it. Enjoy the beauty, but also don't take unnecessary risks.As for me holding that crocodile, that wasn't in the jungle or along a river but on the set of Anna and the King, also filmed in Malaysia The handlers were right beside me along with a couple of edgy elephants that looked like they too wanted to have a go with me.
As a father of three boys, my heart goes out for the parents. This is an awful way for your child -- for anyone -- to die. Borneo Expat Writer
*** 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 for Trois autres Malaisie.-
November 19, 2011
Introduction and Excerpts for Trois autres Malaisie
Trois autres Malaisie is printed and now available! Editions GOPE has just provided me the introduction to Trois autres Malaisie, written by the translator, Jerome Bouchaud, as well as the excerpts to four of the stories. Orders for Trois autres Malaisie, the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, a collection of short stories set in Malaysia and winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Reader's Choice Award, can now be made at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=H99NTFBMDJGN4 Editions GOPE is offering free shipping to anywhere in the world and 5% discount.
Again, please inform others who speak French, even as a second or third language (or are learning French), and who has an interest in Malaysia or would like to know more about it. Think of your family and friends back home or those living overseas, even those who might have been here years ago or are thinking about visiting someday. Or send them a copy of Trois autres Malaisie as a present! Thank you!
228 pages, 13x19 cm, ouvrage illustré.17.90 € au lieu de 18.85 € (-5%)Livraison gratuite
La Malaisie vue de l'intérieur avec 14 nouvelles de Robert Raymer.
Vous pouvez réserver votre exemplaire dès maintenant en suivant ce lien : https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=H99NTFBMDJGN4 (paiement sécurisé en ligne par PayPal ou CB, frais de port offerts, remise de 5%).
Here's an update to the French blog about Trois autres Malaisie .
***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 to Trois autres Malaisie.
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