Erick’s Comments (group member since Oct 03, 2010)

Erick’s comments from the Q&A with Erick Setiawan group.

Hi Jane,
No, I have not heard of Hothouse Flowers but will look it up based on your rec. Thank you for recommending Bees to your friends!

This is wonderful to hear, Jane. Thank you! I am working on the next one, which I'm hoping to finish this year (fingers crossed). Hope your toe is all healed up!

Thank you, Rachel. I'm glad the book is the showcase on your shelf! I'm working very hard on the next one, which I'm hoping to finish this year. Give it another year or so for the publisher to work their magic, I'll say it will be out 2014-2015.

It's Indonesian, Calvin

It was difficult to say good-bye, but I think any author can tell you that when it's done, it's done. In truth, I got a bit sick of them after having them in my head for years . . .

The book wasn't meant to be culture-specific, so I'm thrilled you visualized an Indian family. Other readers have told me they saw Russian, Latin American, Chinese--it's all good to me!

Thanks for getting in touch.

Erick Setiawan

Thank you so much, Stephanie. This means a lot to me.

Erick Setiawan

Indeed, Oscar, Indonesia is such a fertile ground for a writer's imagination. Congratulations on your book--I will check it out. Thank you for your support and keep writing.

Erick

Thank you, LuAnn. So lovely to hear from you.

I must thank your local librarian or whoever it was who showcased BEES along with other "Halloween Treats"--what a great idea. I do believe that some books find you and grab you just at the right time. Too early, and you'll hate it. Too late, and it won't matter. I'm glad BEES is such a book for you.

All best,
Erick

If it's any consolation, it doesn't come any easier to me, Marley, but that is what being a writer is about . . . persevering despite all the odds, isolating yourself at the expense of being with people, and focusing on the words in front of you when all you want to do is quit and drink yourself silly at the nearest bar. And all this isn't going to go away after you've become published (trust me, it only gets harder). One advice I can offer is keep your focus small. If you can't see the book in its entirety yet, then start with a character. If you can't see the character as a whole yet, then why not start with a sentence? Sometimes a good sentence is all it takes to unlock more.

I agree that it is hard, if not impossible at times. But writers are masochists in a way. Those who don't give up tend to see their dreams realized.

Best of luck,
Erick

No need to apologize, Michelle . . . McMurtry is a wonderful writer (hey, he won an Oscar and a Pulitzer!). I consider it an honor if in any way, however modest, my book begs comparison to his.

Hi Michelle,

Perfect conditions to write: when I'm well-rested, not cranky, not stressed out, and definitely not angry, since I can't do anything when I'm angry. I love writing in coffee shops and restaurants, as long as they don't play loud music.

It took me about 2 years to write the first draft of OF BEES AND MIST, and another 3 years of revision (1 with my editor) to get it finished. I think it all comes down to your gut feeling (after you've addressed all your editor's concerns, of course). You can keep editing a book forever (maybe that's what Harper Lee is still doing), but at some point, you just have to believe in the story and the characters and send them off into the world. That doesn't mean that you'll stop editing in your head. To this day, it's difficult for me to reread BEES, because I keep wishing if only I'd used this word instead of that word, what was I thinking, if only, if only . . .

Thank you, Michelle. That's so generous of you to even mention McMurtry!

I was born and raised in Indonesia, and moved to the States when I was sixteen. Indonesia (at least at that time) was a place saturated with superstitions, cultural mishmash, and even beliefs in the supernatural. So it was fertile soil for a novelist in training. To add to this, my family was Chinese, so I had a lot of Chinese influences as well when I was growing up . . .

Meridia's life story was inspired by what my mom went through in her early years of marriage. Meridia is not my mom, I must say, but the arc of their narrative is similar. If you would like to read more about how my family fit into the book, please check out the essay I wrote for the Guardian earlier this year:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyl...

I'm so glad your book club is reading the book. I hope they like it!

Hi Hadley,

That is more than okay! Marquez and Wharton . . . I will erect a shrine to both of them one of these days. If only I can count the number of times I've read The Age of Innocence.

Gosh, I'm so bad at selling my own book (which is probably why it's not doing better) . . . My agent pitched the book as something similar to Keith Donohue's The Stolen Child. My editor thought it resembled John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things. I've heard readers tell me it reminds them of Isabel Allende's writing (I'm also a huge fan of hers). Some said that the supernatural passages in the book recall to mind Toni Morrison's Beloved (totally undeserved, since I think Beloved should be every writer's bible).

I wish I could be more helpful, but I think my style is sort of a hybrid of different things. For better or worse, it's mine and mine alone!

Erick

Will do, Martina. Thanks for your patience.

Hi Rick,

I don't know the specifics for children's picture books, but generally speaking, I'll say you should always go for an agent if you can land one (assuming, of course, that they're legitimate and not just out to rip you off).

There are plenty of websites that give out info on good, legitimate agents. Publishers Marketplace is one, Agent Query is another. Also you should check out discussion forums like absolutewrite.com where aspiring writers help out each other with tips and info. Just make sure before you query that the agent indeed handles the kind of materials you're submitting.

Best of luck!

Hi Martina,

Amy Tan is a wonderful writer, and it's an honor to even be mentioned in the same sentence with her. However, I hope BEES is distinctive enough to stand on its own. I'll leave that to you after you've read the book . . . I don't have a date yet for the Indonesian edition, but I do know that Gagasmedia is working on the translation. I'll make an announcement on my website and Facebook page once I know!

Mawgojzeta wrote: "Hello. I very much enjoyed your book.

Did you conceive the "magic" first and then create a story around it, conceive the story first and create the "magic", or was it a mix of both?"

Hi Mawgojzeta,

I conceived the story first, and the first 70 or so pages I wrote actually didn't have any magic. But then I sensed that something was missing, but I didn't know what. Around that time, my dad was visiting from Jakarta, and he told me a story about a friend of his who was constantly kept up at night by bees. "By bees?" I asked him. "What do you mean? Is he a beekeeper?" My dad laughed and said no, it was actually the friend's wife who was keeping him up at nights, because she was constantly nagging him about this and that, and the sound of her nagging sounded exactly like bees buzzing. All night long.

That's when the idea hit me that I could use magic and magical occurrences to illustrate what is truly going on with these characters on an external level.

Glad you enjoyed the book and thank you for writing in!

Hadley wrote: "I loved Of Bees and Mist so much and hand sell it to people all the time at the bookstore I work at (Cornerstone Books in Salem MA -come visit for Halloween!) Is there another book in the works?"

Thank you so much, Hadley, and I owe you a big one for hand selling the book to your customers! I've heard so many good things about Cornerstone Books (I believe Beth Simpson was one of the people who nominated BEES for the Indie Next List last year--please thank her!). I'm hoping I can visit the store on a future tour . . .

Which brings me to book #2 . . . Yes, I'm working on it, very slowly yet surely. One thing I'm going to say about it is that similar to BEES, it will (hopefully) take readers to a place that they've never seen or imagined before and encountered characters that they won't soon forget.

Salem during Halloween . . . I'm getting a kick just imagining what that must be like.

Of Bees and Mist

Hello, Goodreads members! Thank you for taking the time to check out Of Bees and Mist Q&A!

I am here to answer any questions you might have about my debut novel. Or we can just talk about pretty much anything you want. If you want to know what I usually have for breakfast, that would be fine, too.

Welcome aboard. Don't be shy.