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| anepalikt |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 04:52 PM
any emerging, aspiring nepali writers writing in english here in our midst? what do you think of samrat's book? what do you thnk about writing in english? what are your goals for your writing? who inspires you?
i know there are folks who write, and then there are folks who WRITE. i am interested in the latter kind. people who are serious about their craft and think of it as something more than just a hobby.
i am interested to get a discussion going.... and please use a psuedonym if you respond.
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| smp |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 07:01 PM
There are various places in the internet you can encounter aspirining Nepali writers who write in English. The webzine http://www.suskera.com is a fairly new venture (started in March 2001) that features works of some of those writers. I am not sure if the writers you will find there are of either the first category you mention or the second. Possibly both. But it is a good forum where one can look into for opportunities as well as pleasure. Reviews of Samrat's books are posted there including one by a fellow Nepali.
As for published Nepali writers who write in English, this is still an uncharted territory for the most part. I think most Nepalis working abroad or in Nepal still do not have the resources, financial or otherwise to go into writing in English full-time and seriously. Even Samrat, our new hero, is also a professor. Manjushree Thapa is another writer whose novel is getting published shortly if it already hasn't been. Maybe now that Samrat and Manjushree have created a niche or a market or some sort, we will see more Nepali writers publishing in English.
Just thoughts I had. Sorry if they don't specifically answer you questions.
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| RP |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 08:23 PM
Dear anepalikt, do you mean writing as a career or writing for fun? If you are interested in writing as your career, you will need to develop a skill of cutting your work. In writers world they say you write with your knife rather than your pen. You write something first then go back and revise and cut the part that was not necessary or make it more articulate. A lot of writers do that. I am sure Samrat Upadhyaya did the same thing before he took his work to an agent.
It is best you get an agent. He will charge a commision, but he has an access to publisher and he can convince them to publish your work. It will take sometimes before your work will be published. What kind of stuff do you write? Have you publish anything yet? If you have not published anything you can contact magazine, e-magazine and e-zine to publish your work. Somebody may pay for your work, but it is a tough world out there for writers because ther are a lot of competetion, so best thing to do is to have a full-time job that supports you and write on the side till you can earn a living with writing.
Samrat Upadhyay became successful after many years of writing, and someone said that he had a full-time job as a professor. He is successful, but he wasn't the first Nepali to get his novel published in the US.
What do you want to do? If you have some work, you can publish at http://www.suskera.com, they publish quality work, which someone has already mention that. I founded http://www.chakrapath.com and we also publish quality work. Visit these sites and check it out for yourself.
There are a lot of writers, who frequently visit GBNC, and write quality work. Gp, Biswo, NK, Namita, who used to write here she doesn't write under her name anymore, I don't blame her, Ashu. I personally think that they should publish their work. I invite them to write a short story and publish it in Chakrapath, which is fairly a new website, but it is on a mission to bring quality readers and wrtiers.
Anything else I can be assistant? You can also start a forum in Chakrapath as well. Good luck.
Cheers.
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| oohi_ashu |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 09:05 PM
Hi,
Without using a pseudonym, here are my thoughts :-)
Three good resources for any 'emerging' writer in English would be (and feel free
to disagree):
1) a copy of "On Writing Well" by William Zinnser. (The book is a great introduction to the craft of writing. Zinnser is a revision freak.)
2) a copy of "Rulebook of Argument" by Anthony Weston ( The book is a great introuction to the art of reasoning correctly.)
3) And, three, a subscription to The New Yorker weekly magazne to understand cultural/literary and political trends in general.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| anepalikt |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 11:14 PM
hi all:
thanks for your insights. as i said in my first posting, i am interested in getting a dialogue going among writers. i am not looking for pointers on what i need to do, though your thoughts are appreciated.
i have visited suskera.com. it is interesting enough. have to say though that most of the stuff is limited both stylistically and in scope. namita's work i found pretty okay, but most of the other poems there were uninspiring to say the least. have not yet visited chakrapath...........
i guess i am curious to learn why people choose to write in english. and what they think about it? i for one have stopped writing altogether because writing in english posed too many issues for me. issues of audience, authenticity, authorithy, etc.
i have read what samrat has said about writing in english and found his arguements very resonable. plus he handles the language so well. actually i was complaining that he used so few nepali words, but because he is so comfortable with his subject and his stories well crafted, they never felt inauthentic or that he was writing solely for a western audience. from what i have read in this site, others too seem to feel that way.
anyhow...........
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| NK |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 10:27 AM
Hi anepalikt,
i just got a chance to read this thread. i don't know if i am emerging writer as you have mentioned but I do like to write. it is like breathing for me - natural. I guess i always had intereste in literature and i was a voracious reader when i was growing up and i do read now too when the time permits. i used to write in nepali (5 poems and one story!) then many years later i found myself writing again. this time in English. i don't know how it happened. it was not a conscious effort at all. maybe i was not in touch with nepali community so much or i was reading everything in English, i don't know. i just started writing poems. a lot of my friends ask me yoour mother tongue in nepali but how come i "choose" to write in "foreign" language. Well, i really don't see english as a foreing language anymore. it is nepali to to me what nepali used to be to me a long time ago. Because of the time constrain i don't revise my work as much as i wold like to. for example after i send it to suskera i send them urgent message, wait don't publish it here is the "final" copy. then after that i revise it 5-6 or more times when i am riding a shuttle or while cooking, sometimes in my head.
as you have mentioned you stopped writing because the problem of "aunthenticity..." what do you really mean? you mean you don't sound a native writer? what does that mean. is it the langauge, or lack of language? I know my english is not as good as I want it to be (not yet), but i don't concern myself with that issue. i have something to say and i say it. for that i thank this forum. no editing ,hardly ever speel check and so forth. but it gives me an outlet. And Suskera is playing a big role i think. not only for me but many nepali writers. (of corurse , it goes without saying when i send it to suskera, i am a bit careful)
Another thing. when people talk about writing a poetry they always talk about "inspiration." that i don't understand. The earth does not have to move, the heaven doesn't have to crash to write a poem. i take it as a job. i say ok time to write a poem and i sit and write first paragraph, first two lines... like a lot of people say it is a craft. of course you gotta have eyes, or creativity (what ever you wanna say it) for that starting point after that it is your hard work.
also it helps to know literature, i think. it makes your work with some sumbstance. well let's see what other aspiring, emerging writers say.
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| smp |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 11:08 AM
Is the question of authenticity in regards to what one has to say or how one presents it? As long as the former is authentic, the latter, I think, is irrelavant. One can choose to express what one has to say in whatever way one wants: write, sing, play tunes, draw, paint etc. and even in writing, prose or poetry. And one can pick from the languages one knows. Then the question maybe is that of how effective one is or can be in the medium one chooses.
In regards to inspiration, there are definitely two schools of thoughts. A lot of professional writers and training programs stress the fact that writing is a job. Many writers write everyday just for the sake of writing and they usually have alloted hours just like a job. If they do not have any thoughts, they write just that. But to me inspiration is important. I function better when inspiration strikes. It does not have to be an earth-moving experience. Seeing a crying child while walking home can inspire me to write something. But I value practice and experience as well. And revision, especially after a hiatus of thinking other thoughts and leaving a piece of work alone, is very important to me as well. Only in going over how one has said something can one be really sure of whether or not one is saying what one wants to say and saying it effectively.
My two cents again.
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| RP |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 11:29 AM
I am liking this thread. Here we have basically two topics: 1. How does one write in English? 2. Does one need inspiration to write?
The first one is very obvious and a lesser interest to me personaly, but I am going to write a few sentences about it. This reminds me of Hari Bangsha comedy my wife told me once. Hari Bangsha came back to Nepal after he had a tour of the US. Hari said to one of his friend, "America is a great country, but you know what even 4, 5 years old kids speak English fluently". :) I thought that was funny. Anyway, the more you read and write you think less of how does one write in English.
Inspiration is a big interest to me. NK, I don't know how you do it, but for me without inspiration I could not write much. A woman's beauty, a great writer, something beautiful (scenary, painting, expression on someone's face), emotion, anger, frustration, joy, sympathy, pain, someone you love, or someone you hate, someone you care, and God. I am moved by any one them and it makes sense for me to write about any one of them.
But, you know it requires patience to write something GREAT. A lot of time we are in a hurry, we have to go to places, meet people, pay our bills, fight the traffic, and so on and we don't really take time to WRITE. Writing is beautiful.
Writers basically write from two places, one is from the mind and one is from the heart. Some people use both. I beleive writers emerge when we write from our heart. Let me give you an example of a few writers, who I think write from their heart: William Shakespear and Laxmi Prasad Devkota. There are many more, but let me leave it there.
Some writers use their mind and these writers are cognitive, intellectual writers. Don't get me wrong Shakespear and Devkota both are intellectual writers, but what I mean by cognitive is to use the mind more and write in a way of logic and to the point. I think philosophers, journalist, critics fall into this category. Philosophers has to use logic to prove their theory. That's what writers like DeCartes, Kant, Heidegger, Plato, Socrates, and Rorty write.
I am bringing theese names of writers, who inspires me personally and how I evaluate where are they writing from. I am a Fourth Way practitioner. If you want to know more about it visit http://www.chakrapath.com/selfhelp.htm. Each one of us has centers, mind: (intellect and heart: emotion and feeling) are just two of them. So, what centers these writers writing from?
Here, I require some inputs of witers and I am going to ask you a some questions?
1. Why do you write?
2. Does it make you tic, then you write?
3. Do you write to let yourself free from all the brainstorming in your mind?
4. Do you feel the need to communicate with the outside world?
5. Do you like publicity?
6. Do yo have any publishing plans?
I do not know what I am talking about is too deep. Feel free to critic and add suggestions.
I did not want to say this now, but I am going to say it anyway. Chakrapath is hooking up with businesses to sponsor wrting contest. I do not know the exact date when it is starting, but you can keep tunning to find out.
Have a good day!
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| NK |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 11:41 AM
Please don't get me wrong about this inspiration thing. I just don't wait it untill the inspiration hits me like a thunderbolt. of course i am inspired by the river, just plain flowing. the tree, with or without leaves, covered with snow or black crow sitting on top. if you look around you see so many things that could "inspire" you. it is just that some people wait until some major event happens: death, birth, earthqqake. if one waits for this kind of events to inspire to write then there will be very few to be read, don't you think? when i sit down to write not because i saw a death on the road today (i may write then too or not)but i think it is time to write. what i have experienced so far what i have seen so far, what i have read, all of these things come together and makes a picture in the paper. sometimes i don't know how i want to finish, it just finishes itself. sometimes i know what i want to put, what kind of message i want to give it all varies time to time. sorry, if i sound incohorent, but i am writing as i am thinking. maybe i should sit down first away from this site and write why i write , and how i write then post it.
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| RP |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 11:50 AM
Hi NK,
You have a good habit to write no matter what. It is a very good habit. I, on the other hand is not like that. I do too many things, not just writing. We just differ in style. You are doing good. Keep it up. ;)
Have a good one.
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| NK |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 11:55 AM
hi RP,
i am offended! do yo mean to say i just and do nothing else? i don't want to go on what is it like to be me. some people might use that informatin against me when pretending to critique the subsbstance. :)
have a good day fellow writer.
and i should really get back to work now.
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| Robin |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 12:25 PM
NK, relax, I do not mean harm nor I meant any disrespect to you. What I said was you have a good habit to write like you breathe, natural and you write no matter what. A good discipline. Personally, I do not have that discipline to write everyday. That is all I said and I encourage writers to write because I promote writers. If this offends you, let's go in a chatroom and discuss this in private.
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| NK |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 12:30 PM
Robin, i was joking, really the offending part. but sure i take your "challenge" to discuss. see ya! :)
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| anepalikt |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 01:36 PM
Interesting stuff. Thank you for all your ideas. I am actually not interested in inspiratuion in the sense of muse or whatever. people have their own routines when in come to how they write. some poepel make time, some slog at it one word at a time and others are aansu kavis.
what I meant when I asked "who inspires you" - is who are some writers you look up to and why? and no again i guess i am not looking for answers abotu who in the literary cannon - western or nepali - do you read or emulate. i am interested to find out what people think in terms of the politics of writing... in choosing to write in a particular language... or choosing to write about a certain thing or tackling a subject in a particular way.
for instance, naipaul. he is a very political writer. not just because of books like in a free state or India: a billion mutinies. for me his stuff resonates because it transcend the purely personal. even "an area of darkness", the book he wrote during his year in india/kashmir in the 60s. as personal as it was, it was more because it did not stop there. and that differentiates it from a travelogue let's say, from someone like pico iyyer's work.
i guess my take on writing is that it is a very political act. it is beautiful of course.. but i think art for art sake and all that is kind of lame... without social relevant, consciousness, writing can becoem terribly selfindulgent and maudlin.
there are gazillion writers out there in the world, and everyone has a story to tell. so what. if you think about it. so why do people still want to write. what is it that writer, new emerging, aspiring, nepali writer, writing in english, feel they have to contribute. what makes them write for one... and what makes them think people want to read their writing? obviously i am talking now of writers who write int eh hopes that otehrs will read.
even emily dickenson who only got a few poem published in her lifetime knew she was writing to an audience other than just her diary. (not to say that the latter is not valid or commendable, but i am personally am not interested in hearing about that).
i have my own ideas about why I write or wrote rather, but am interested honestly to hear from otehrs. but i get a sense both from NK and Robin's posting that maybe this whoel politics of writing bit is not an issue....
for the language part. i am not really concerened about whether my English not being up to "native" standards. (actually having taught at the university level here in the states, I have to say most Americans' command of English is marginal if you judge them by the Queen's English standards.) i'll continue again later.... gotta go for now.
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| Ram cha Kupandol |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 02:38 PM
I think the book you mentioned were fabulous. I remember reading Video Night in
Kathmandu, and then buying the book about his Cuba excursion.I forgot the name
of the novel, but that was a let down from the first one. Then apart from his
occasional essays in Time ,never read anything more. Pico Iyer wrote his finest
book in Video night in KTM, it was not only travellogue, but more than that, and
then reached to anti-climax of his own later.
Writing is a craft for me. It is stimulated by an internal urge to express something
I have seen. When I read the news about a witch being stoned in a village, I want
to think my own tough moments of past. For example, in a school in town, once I
was threatened by a gang of city dwellers. I thought I was so helpless then. No one to protect me. They were waiting outside the gate. I took another chorbaato
and left for my house. But the stifling moments of those days visit /revisit me. I
think I should write about those old ladies living alone in the villages at the mercy of
the mob that wants to stone her. It is apolotical cry for justice.
As a reader, I think I am above average. But as a writer, I feel I am below
average. When I write something, and read that, I feel I haven't written
sufficiently and more effectively. I didn't convey what I wanted to convey. It is
very painful to describe what I feel when I think I am nothing but another example
of mediocrity.
Being a technical student, I never have sufficient time to write. That I have
schedule of hours and hours to study math and computer. As a TA, I also teach
numerous students. They take off my time. Writing for me is an impromptu
and thought less procedure.I watch helplessly how I bungled up my works, and
watch with dismay the works of others who are my contemporaries, but have
leapt ahead of me.
The only spirit that prods me to write continuously is the realization that it will
be of great help in my retirement days when I will be alone. I have seen people
yawning,and subjected to eternal boredom, sufferring the contempt of vigorous
grandchildren, ogling pensively at other girls from coffee shop,and trying to
attract attention of other people unsuccessfuly.Who wants to talk to a boring
curmudgeon old man, haina? If I accumulate rich trove of experience, I will not
have problem spending my old days if I have good writing skill, I suppose.
Writing is nothing , but a way to document our learning , our experience, so that
it can be used by others. I think the moment human discovered writing( letters)
must have been a great moment for them. "Hey, now we can communicate to
each other even when we are not face to face!", "Hey, now your stuffs can be
read even after you are dead!" , the invention of script certainly was the singular
momentous discovery of mankind. Writing is the most significant aspect of human
life, and it is probably what differrs us from others in animal kingdom.
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