Care For Some Copy?

95% The Writer's Academy is organising two talks on copywriting. In case you're wondering if it's worth two hours of your precious Saturday or if you're suspicious of the low entrance fee, let me put your worries to rest. I graduated (are eight gruelling weeks of classes and homework deserving of that word?) from the 95% Storywriter In Progress course in July. It was well worth the time time and money. The upcoming talks will be conducted by Janet Lee, an award-winning copywriter and a very good teacher. In other words, also well worth your time and money. I promise.

Creating Ideas
Everyone's looking for the "idea" in your ad - but what are they talking about?! If you want to learn about ideas, come and hear from Janet Lee, a Creative Director who's been in the ad industry for 20 years, and won over 80 advertising awards.

Day & Date : Saturday, 1st October 2005

Time : 12-2pm

Venue : 95% The Writers Academy, 80A, Wisma Dicklin, 59000, Jalan Bangsar, KL

Entrance Fee : RM20


Copywriting As A Career
What does a Copywriter really do? Is it only word crafting or is there more to it? What does it take to be a succesful copywriter? Do Art Director and Designers need to understand Copywriting? Come and find out.

Day & Date : Saturday, 8th October 2005

Time : 12-2pm

Venue : 95% The Writers Academy, 80A, Wisma Dicklin, Jalan Bangsar 59000,KL

Entrance Fee : RM20

Om Namah Sivaya

It was a picture in last month's issue of Yoga Journal. A young woman clad in white was performing Dhanurasana or the Bow pose on a rock. Her body was arched in a perfect replica of an archer's bow and her face was a landscape of serenity. Above her were the words 'Yoga Teachers' Training Course. An intensive 4-week experience immersed in the yogic way of life. Open to students of all levels with a sincere desire to learn'. I saw it, I desired it and I sent in my application two days ago.

The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers is the Oxford University of the yoga world. Its branches are scattered all over the world but since I wanted a truly authentic experience, I chose India. The Sivananda Kutir ashram is located in the north, right below the Himalayas. Quiet, obscure and isolated. The perfect spot for a spiritual journey. Yes I know aesthetics should play a miniscule role, but doesn’t good presentation always make the food taste better?

The ashram accepts 30 students and the waiting list is probably as long as Santa Claus’ list. I’ve applied for the April 2006 course and now it’s just a matter of waiting and hoping for the letter of acceptance to pop up in my mailbox. I’m sure everyone anywhere in the world knows what that feels like!

But this is a huge step for me. After I hit the ‘Submit’ button on the website, I sank back in my chair and stared at the screen. Could I live and breathe yoga from 5.30am-10pm everyday for a month? Could I study and pass the philosophy exams. And most importantly, could I survive a whole month without meat? But I knew that this is what I wanted to do more than anything else in the world…writing not included!

Why? Besides the fact that yoga has done wonders for my physical and emotional wellbeing, I think I’ve had a pretty good life and it’s time to give back and this is the best way I know how. I’d like to afford a yoga centre where payment is on a donation basis. None of the studios-cum-mini-clubhouse for me, thank you very much. Yoga was created to bring heart, mind and soul back to basics and that’s the way it will be for me.

Fables That Fall Flat

I must apologise in advance to any fans of Precious Ramotswe or Alexander McCall Smith, but reading ‘The Girl Who Married A Lion’ was a little like chewing on flavourless gum. I picked it up from Bookstreet because of the quirky title and because it looked like light reading. Turns out it was too light to pin down my attention. I read the entire book, though.

'The Girl Who Married A Lion' is essentially a collection of African folk tales, some from Smith's collection and some gleaned from interviews with natives in Botswana . Kinda’ like Aesop fables. There are stories that enlighten the reader as to why hyenas and elephants live separately and why baboons are lazy, as well as stories on values like honesty, vanity and the like. I can take the morality and the talking animals, but the ways in which the issues are resolved are rather unnerving. In most of the stories, the most favoured solution is killing and eating the wrongdoer, whether the crime is telling a white lie or a homicide. I enjoyed Aesop and Mother Goose but I felt these stories just didn’t encourage the readers (who are reputed to be predominantly children) to think out of the box or resolve problems intelligently. In my humble opinion, the only thing that worked for it is the engaging writing style.

Having said that, this slim paperback has been hailed as ‘heart-warming’ ‘a treasure’ and ‘a truly beautiful read’. Perhaps it’s just me, then. Pick it up and judge for yourself. I’d love to hear another point of view.

10,000 words less, another 30,000 more to go

Last Friday I heard the words that send shivers up every writer’s spine – ‘I don’t think the story angle’s working’. My publisher, with whom I was collaborating on this particular writing project, had only just realised this. Three months and 38,933 words later.

I sat dumbfounded as he tweaked and twisted the story in every different direction. The end result was like a quill being driven into the heart. The new story direction would involve slashing 10,000 words and writing an additional 30,000 more. One that would require me to delve deeper into the story, a story that was already befuddling my mind. (I was working on this project with two experts on the topic and my only role was to put their ideas into a story form. Something along the lines of Tuesdays with Morrie.) As I listened to him, I felt my heart sinking deeper and deeper into the pit of dismay and mild hysteria.

I left his office shortly after and tried to digest his words during the drive home. Initially the only screaming thought was the prospect of trashing 10,000 words. But other thoughts eventually shoved it aside and those thoughts were what I’d known all along.

If a story doesn’t work, then it has to be reworked – it’s the most basic rule in the book, no two ways about it. Why waste your time with something that you already know is doomed for failure? More so when it’s your craft! Like Rattawut Lapcharoensap said, your responsibility is to the page.

Rewriting isn’t an alien concept – every self-respecting writer would never publish the first draft of his or her work. In this case, better now than then.

Never let emotions get in the way of professionalism – it’s always hard to kill off a favourite character or scene. Just ask J.K. Rowling! But sometimes it’s the best thing to do for both the character and the story. Eventually you’ll realise it was the best thing to do for you too! Like Stephen King says, KILL YOUR DARLINGS!!!

What really made the task painless and completely humbled me was an article in Newsweek Special Report: After Katrina.

“At Tulane University, Dr. James Robinson, a prominent AIDS researcher, and his wife Monique, decided to stay behind to protect some cell lines – white blood cells infected with the disease – that represent decades of research on his part. He packed his lab with food and water and relied on generators to keep his freezers and incubators operating. But by Wednesday, with the water rising, his generator failed. The Tulanes made their way to the university parking lot where he called his daughter in Providence to tell her they were all right – for now. “I didn’t dare ask him about his work,” said his daughter. “I fear it’s all probably a loss.”

And I was heartbroken over the loss of 10,000 words?