The Painter: On Creative Process
"The Painter" ("Sang Pelukis", as in Indonesian language) is the title of my short story which won a prize in the 2010 Fantasy Fiesta Short Story Competition. It has been published in an anthology with another 19 selected stories since December 2010.
The anthology version of the story is a newer version and not entirely the same with the competition version.
Link to the anthology: Fantasy Fiesta 2010: Antologi Cerita Fantasi Terbaik 2010.
The story itself mainly tells about the ending part of the protagonist's journey to stop the apocalypse which he had seen in one of his visions.
On the last days of the journey, the protagonist (the Seer) got to meet a legendary leader of the Order, namely called by his title, Commandant, and also the mysterious entity, The Painter; though rendezvous with the latter was not really face to face.
Hmm...
I'm not gonna re-tell the story here in this post. :D
I'd just like to share some backgrounds regarding the creative process in the making of the story.
So, here it goes...
The Idea
The idea of "The Painter" came into my mind when I was travelling and having my own journey in Ontario.
This was probably the reason why the story ended up as a part of a big journey.
At a near-end moment of my travel, I had one of "the spark-of-idea attacks" (please refer to my previous post 'bout these "attacks" ^^).
So, the twist came first.
And when the essential question arose, I had the storyline and main plot within my understanding.
The Philosophy
The philosophical concepts in "The Painter" are a combination of my own personal beliefs, some factual information that had happened, and a bit inspirations from my other writing (Project E.).
"Can you define goodness?"
That's the major question that encircles the whole story.
To talk about the philosophical meanings and intentions of the writing would be a quite discussion itself, so probably I will have it posted another time... depends on my mood... :D
The Characters
Regarding the choice of characters and their power, I had the Seer and his premonition power from the first spark.
The Painter had some character modifications, especially concerning the background story and the power, although they're not as much as Commandant.
Talking about The Painter, some people actually had guessing that this character somewhat portrays the concept of god.
Well...
It's not ... entirely wrong. :D
The Painter does resemble "God" (with capital "G" and quotation marks).
If you're wondering, that's the reason why I always use capital "T" when mentioning the character. :)
As for Commandant, his true nature was undecided until the last moment of finishing the storyline when I genuinely thought that the Order's philosophy could only be explained best by an antagonist.
The Seer's sibling (a.k.a. the Grey Parakeet) was added in the last moment of editing because I wanted the Seer to have a notable antecedent for his mission.
The Setting
Then I definitely needed settings to spread the whole story out.
So the idea of repression that had to be undergone by the protagonist came easily from one of my favorites, the most impressive Orwell's "1984".
Honestly, Big Brother had even become the prototype of Commandant. Hehe... ^^
And the partial science fiction set was actually contributed by the prominent novel too.
Scenes of the first half of the story probably came from film noir kinda movies which I had seen until that very moment of writing.
But for the second half, it's mostly based on the famous garden of Eden and its forbidden fruit, taken from "Book of Genesis".
As of the ritual procession of delivering wishes, this is actually a mix-and-match from various religious rituals that are practiced in my country of living.
The Writing Sytle
To combine those elements in one complete writing, I had to compromise with few limitations.
I chose a mainstream literary style of writing to deliver the Seer's visions.
I didn't use this style on the whole writing because I did not want readers to get confused of the messages because of the wordplays. In the end, I might be wrong entirely, but either way, it had been decided.
The debate in the first part of the story is inevitable.
I tried to have it in another way, but it's still the best and most efficient means to introduce things surrounding the main plot.
The overall deliverance of writing also took Miyazaki's style of surrealism into account, especially for the second part. Lots of thanks go to his fantastic movies. ^^
To conclude the post,
yes, I had spent time to resolve plot holes and pamper the writing 'till it became the piece which you are able to read now.
Overall, writing "The Painter" was a challenging creative process for me, and I do feel proud with the achievements.
Apparently, things that I wrote here are not too specific, but I do hope this sharing can at least provide something (insights? ^^) regarding the making of "The Painter".
I'm still trying to translate the whole story into English.
Thus another time, probably I'll post an excerpt here. Just for you guys.
;)
The anthology version of the story is a newer version and not entirely the same with the competition version.
Link to the anthology: Fantasy Fiesta 2010: Antologi Cerita Fantasi Terbaik 2010.
The story itself mainly tells about the ending part of the protagonist's journey to stop the apocalypse which he had seen in one of his visions.
On the last days of the journey, the protagonist (the Seer) got to meet a legendary leader of the Order, namely called by his title, Commandant, and also the mysterious entity, The Painter; though rendezvous with the latter was not really face to face.
Hmm...
I'm not gonna re-tell the story here in this post. :D
I'd just like to share some backgrounds regarding the creative process in the making of the story.
So, here it goes...
The Idea
The idea of "The Painter" came into my mind when I was travelling and having my own journey in Ontario.
This was probably the reason why the story ended up as a part of a big journey.
At a near-end moment of my travel, I had one of "the spark-of-idea attacks" (please refer to my previous post 'bout these "attacks" ^^).
So, the twist came first.
And when the essential question arose, I had the storyline and main plot within my understanding.
The Philosophy
The philosophical concepts in "The Painter" are a combination of my own personal beliefs, some factual information that had happened, and a bit inspirations from my other writing (Project E.).
"Can you define goodness?"
That's the major question that encircles the whole story.
To talk about the philosophical meanings and intentions of the writing would be a quite discussion itself, so probably I will have it posted another time... depends on my mood... :D
The Characters
Regarding the choice of characters and their power, I had the Seer and his premonition power from the first spark.
The Painter had some character modifications, especially concerning the background story and the power, although they're not as much as Commandant.
Talking about The Painter, some people actually had guessing that this character somewhat portrays the concept of god.
Well...
It's not ... entirely wrong. :D
The Painter does resemble "God" (with capital "G" and quotation marks).
If you're wondering, that's the reason why I always use capital "T" when mentioning the character. :)
As for Commandant, his true nature was undecided until the last moment of finishing the storyline when I genuinely thought that the Order's philosophy could only be explained best by an antagonist.
The Seer's sibling (a.k.a. the Grey Parakeet) was added in the last moment of editing because I wanted the Seer to have a notable antecedent for his mission.
The Setting
Then I definitely needed settings to spread the whole story out.
So the idea of repression that had to be undergone by the protagonist came easily from one of my favorites, the most impressive Orwell's "1984".
Honestly, Big Brother had even become the prototype of Commandant. Hehe... ^^
And the partial science fiction set was actually contributed by the prominent novel too.
Scenes of the first half of the story probably came from film noir kinda movies which I had seen until that very moment of writing.
But for the second half, it's mostly based on the famous garden of Eden and its forbidden fruit, taken from "Book of Genesis".
As of the ritual procession of delivering wishes, this is actually a mix-and-match from various religious rituals that are practiced in my country of living.
The Writing Sytle
To combine those elements in one complete writing, I had to compromise with few limitations.
I chose a mainstream literary style of writing to deliver the Seer's visions.
I didn't use this style on the whole writing because I did not want readers to get confused of the messages because of the wordplays. In the end, I might be wrong entirely, but either way, it had been decided.
The debate in the first part of the story is inevitable.
I tried to have it in another way, but it's still the best and most efficient means to introduce things surrounding the main plot.
The overall deliverance of writing also took Miyazaki's style of surrealism into account, especially for the second part. Lots of thanks go to his fantastic movies. ^^
To conclude the post,
yes, I had spent time to resolve plot holes and pamper the writing 'till it became the piece which you are able to read now.
Overall, writing "The Painter" was a challenging creative process for me, and I do feel proud with the achievements.
Apparently, things that I wrote here are not too specific, but I do hope this sharing can at least provide something (insights? ^^) regarding the making of "The Painter".
I'm still trying to translate the whole story into English.
Thus another time, probably I'll post an excerpt here. Just for you guys.
;)
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thx u! thx u! (buat likers juga)^^
pastinya SP ini bakal jadi benchmark gw pribadi kalau2 mau bikin cerita ber-isi yg lain
semoga gizinya lebih berimbang, huehehehe :D
Like this, Fred!Sama, aku juga suka banget sama The Painter a.k.a. Sang Pelukis. Menurutku filosofi yang ada di dalamnya bener-bener dalam (pun
Apa yang aku suka dari Sang Pelukis? Yang pertama, pilihan antara free will dan order nya. Sebagai pembaca, aku seperti dikasih pilihan buat milih di antara keduanya dengan sebebas-bebasnya, tanpa sekalipun kamu sebagai pengarang menentukan yang mana yang lebih baik dari yang lain. Manapun yang pembaca pilih, semuanya benar. It's just a choice, but one that you must have responsibility in it. Dan pilihan itulah yang namanya "hidup" buatku.
Yang kedua, aku suka (banget!) setting di bagian keduanya. Menurutku bukit angin adalah salah satu setting terindah yang pernah kubaca di karya fantasi, lokal maupun internasional. Thumbs up to you! ^_^
Yang ketiga, aku suka line terakhirnya. Memberikan sense finality yang getir, pedih, tapi juga manis dan penuh kedamaian. Menurutku itu ending yang paling bagus dan pas buat Sang Pelukis.
All in all, it's a great piece of fantasy. Thanks for sharing it with me. And keep on writing, Fred!
Thx u, dewi, buat kesukaannya dan input/feedback-nya!Noted all.
Definitely gonna keep on writing! ^^
sebagai catatan (dan dalam Bahasa Indonesia :-P), gue adalah termasuk yang sangat suka dengan cerita Sang Pelukis. gue suka filosofi yang terkandung di dalamnya, suka dengan penggambaran dan imajinasinya, dan terutama kejutan di penutupnya, yaitu ketika sang tokoh pada akhirnya bisa menerima 'kemenangan' maupun 'kekalahan'nya (setidaknya itulah hal penting yang bisa gue tangkap).
cerita yang bagus, dan gue akan menunggu cerita berikutnya (yg tentunya harus lebih bagus lagi) dari Fred. :-)