Hazia’s Reflections

I attended a talk on fiction writing last Wednesday. It finished late at 11pm and I had a new business presentation at 8.30am the next morning. One of those things that I wouldn’t do in the past but just couldn’t care less anymore these days.

There were 3 speakers. An American novelist shared his experience of turning his 10-year non-workable manuscript into a real novel within 6 months. This was half way throughout attending a course at the writer’s academy. A surprisingly true insight was that writing non-fiction was easier. Of course, you didn’t have to imagine and create. It was based on reality. One interesting habit we both shared was that we read at least 2 books at once. One thing my mum was always puzzled about:)

The second speaker was a TV series script writer. Hmm…sounds glamourous…but after hearing his day-to-day encounter, you would think a million times first. You didn’t get much time to write, re-write or edit, in fact the main editing was done by the Producer. What came on screen may be very different from what you turned in.

The last speaker was the one who inspired me the most. She was a short story writer who had just started her first novel. She has been writing short stories ever since she was 11 and could churn out 10,000 words in 30 minutes. Her earlier story accepted by a local publisher was on abortion from the baby’s point of view, which was mentioned in The  Sun.

It seemed that writing a  novel was much tougher. Short stories were quick, just one or two scenes and you end it with a twist. The best part was that you could start in the middle of nowhere. Hmm…enticing!

Wait for my next entry to read my attempt at short story writing. It has been a while, I used to write short tales for my school magazine. I actually planned to submit a few pieces for the Silverfish New Writing 7 collection. The deadline is 31 March, so plenty of time. Definitely I am bringing back my laptop for Raya (for the first time):D