Why Robert Writes Like A Mad Man

Robert, a client, came over to Penang to conduct a workshop called “Creating Ideas, Creating Stories” for ELT-CON 2009, an English language conference held at City BayView Hotel last week and we decided to meet up for dinner at New World Park a few nights ago.

Dining with Robert - always enlightening!

It didn’t occur to me that he did not know about New World Park since he had moved to Kuching about 3 years ago (he used to teach at USM and lived in Penang for a long time until he decided to move back to Kuching, his wife’s hometown).

He’s presently working on 3 different novels (I know, working on 1 novel is backbreaking indeed but 3? 2 of those novels are set in Penang while 1 is set in US, where he is originally from). He also teaches at UNIMAS, Sarawak. Basically he has a full-time day job. Yet he is one of the most motivated writers I know.

What’s interesting is his motivation to write.

“What do you want to leave as your legacy when you die?” Robert asked, over mouthfuls of steak.

I sipped my green tea thoughtfully.

“Books?”

And that is precisely why he writes.

He writes so that he can be remembered even after he is long gone. And what better way than to be remembered for the books you’ve authored? (And authored well, I must say!).

So that explains his near-fanatical frenzied work on his novels and short stories. He’d rather order dinner from the hotel cafe and have it sent up to his room so he could work on writing his stories. Of course having a 3-book contract with his publisher helps to get him working on book after book. Still, he has that inner zeal which is amazing. I mean, how many people you know with a family (plus 2 young kids) and a full-time job and STILL writes books and stories for publication?

Picking his brain over a salmon and steak dinner, I asked him about what he dreams of. He dreams of that one big break in the overseas market (not that his stories haven’t been published abroad before). But as a writer based in Malaysia, the idea of making it big OUT THERE is a continuous challenge, even for a seasoned writer like him. And he’s prolific. He’s written many short stories, published countless times, written screenplays and plays and has a few books already published (the most recent one by MPH).

And he is continually edits his stories, over and over. He’s probably gone through some for the 20th time or even more. I asked him if he ever got tired of editing and re-editing.

Robert shakes his head.

Apparently, he sees new paragraphs to trim, tighten and make better. Some pages, of course, are left as they are because he’s already satisfied with them. Others go through countless edits and finetuning.

I told Robert that he needed to write a book on how to get published in Malaysia, the quirks, the tips, the insider’s viewpoint, what to be aware of (story rights, for one, is tricky – Malaysia rights, worldwide rights – what is best for you as a writer), how to get stories properly edited if you’re no editor even if you’re a writer and how to get to the book agents who can help you get connected to the right publishers. This man knows all this as he’s been in the writing business long enough to know the pitfalls!

What struck me much much later is that it’s always dangerous talking to a writer like Robert. He might make me a character in one of his short stories or novels! Already he said his friends often see themselves in his stories. But it can’t be helped.

But what a dangerous thought right?

* Robert blogs too at www.borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com, no thanks to my egging (yes I have a hand in getting friends and clients to blog but hey, it’s for their own good right?)