Internationally Local

I have talked about this in my earlier post. While Westerners find the exotic descriptions of Eastern realms alluring, exciting even, they may find Eastern fiction written in perfect English a little disconcerting. After all, only folks whose mother tongue is English are supposed to use its proper form in a proper manner. I've had publishers who were surprised at how polished my submissions were, with minimal editing required. Maybe it's because they get lots of poorly-edited manuscripts and it has nothing to do with my being a Malaysian, but I'll never know, will I?

You'll be surprised how terrible American children's grammar is. Watch "Waiting for Superman", a documentary on how public education in America is failing. I've embedded the trailer here, but seriously. Watch the documentary. It's an eye-opener.

 

 

But I'm not here to talk about reading and education systems. Maybe in another post. MAYBE. If Westerners might find an Easterner's story in perfect English disconcerting, Easterners definitely find an Easterner's story in perfect English pretentious. Weih. This is not Malaysian if you don't use Manglish, la. So what is the Easterner writer to do? He either writes Eastern stories in proper English (dialogs and all) and risks not getting the support of the local community, or he can write using local English--in my case Manglish--that limits his readership to local readers because Westerners can't understand what's written. Examples:

1. Mana ada. If you try one more time, sure can one.

2. Macha, borrow me five ringgit can ah? I forgot to bring my wallet.

3. Dei, you sure ah? If you sure, I bantai only la.

Any English-speaking Malaysian/Singaporean would find the three samples natural. Maybe Westerners can decipher what I wrote, maybe not (I'm looking at you, Breanna). One or two sentences can be endearing, but a whole story or a novel using this form of English? No sane Western publisher would want to risk buying the manuscript.

But English stories set in Malaysia but using proper English in both narration and dialog? I've had people complaining that I'm just writing Western stories dressed in Malaysian settings.

Where do I find the solution, then?

In comes Anggun, a beautifully talented Indonesian singer based in France. Listen to her two songs below:

 

"Rose in the Wind"

 

"Snow on the Sahara"

 

Listen to these songs with your eyes closed. Feel the music inside you. Let your body move with the music. I'm not surprised if your body parts that move the most are your fingers, wrists and neck. All three play a major role in traditional Indonesian dances. Anggun sang both songs in perfect English, with clear diction and grammatically correct lyrics. But the songs are inherently Indonesian; there's no mistaking it.

I used to avoid using local settings in my stories because they felt unnatural. English stories should have English (or Western) settings. I also didn't want to write in Manglish because I'm a language pseudo-purist (see article 29 in my previous post). One day some years ago I had an epiphany, an a-ha moment (queue Abba's song, "Knowing Me, Knowing You". I love how they say a-ha). The universal translator. Of course. I read a lot of Fantasy novels, and the characters don't use English. They have their own languages: Common, Elven, Orc, Kelewan, Saurial, Drow and so on. Do we read them in such languages? No. The authors have applied the universal translator, and we read the stories in English. Sure, the only orc who uses perfect English is Shrek, and sure, Tolkien devised complete Dwarven and Elven languages, but the old man was a linguist, whaddaya expect?

So I applied my own universal translator, and my stories are actually Malaysian, using Malay (or Cantonese or Tamil, depending on the characters), but readers see the words in English. Malaysian readers don't appreciate this and insist that I'm just dressing my Western stories in Malaysian settings, but I don't really write for others. I write for myself, and publishing is just a means of sharing my works--hey, if I can get paid for my stories, why not? I've garnered a few fans along the way (I'm still surprised at this), but I also have a few haters. You can't please everyone, eh?

Unfortunately, what I face as a writer is indifference. I will never use the "it's because I'm Asian/person of color" card. Almost all the stories I submitted are bought. I believe in my ability as a writer, and I also believe that good stories are good stories regardless the color of the writer or the characters. Seriously. When I pick up a book by an author I don't know, I check out the cover, read the teaser, and flip the pages to breathe in the musk of the book. If the scent feels right, I buy the book. Sure, I don't always get the feeling right, and I've bought books I didn't finish because they're so terrible, but I only look up the author if I love the story and want to find more stories from said author. I'm sure a lot of people do the same. They don't go to bookstores to look specifically for books from female/gay/POC authors, unless they're on an assignment. This is why I find people whining and complaining about how POC authors are sidelined annoying.

Back to my valid complaint. Homegrown talents venturing into areas local people are not used to are usually ignored. This is a good thing, because sometimes they get ridiculed. But, Malaysians being Malaysians, homegrown talents who seek comfort between the teats of other countries and make a name there are suddenly recognized and celebrated by Malaysians everywhere. Cases in point: Tash Aw, Michelle Yeoh, Zee Avi, to name a few.

I have published 20 short stories at respectable venues, covering a wide array of genres, including Mainstream, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romantic Contemporary and Young Adult. I've been at this since 2009, but when Malaysians write articles about Malaysian-English writers, I'm invisible to them. A writer who has published one or two short stories in the span of 5 years gets more media coverage. Only two people who carry weight in the Malaysian-English publishing world have acknowledged my existence: Sharon Bakar and Amir Muhammad.

But how can I complain if my own sister doesn't read my stories?

Although I don't really care about my own people's indifference toward my contributions in Malaysian-English literature, I think it'd be cool if Malaysian readers who are looking for Malaysian-English stories get to read mine. It'd be cool if my stories are dissected, discussed and reviewed. If a class in a Singaporean high school can discuss about one of my stories, why not a class in Malaysia?

I don't expect to make a living out of writing, and I have a love-hate relationship with my day job, so I don't have that desperate urge to publish stories and novels. I write to express myself, to put in words the emotions that roil inside me. I write to find the calm that eludes me most of the time. I write to make sense of my complicated life. I write for me. I'm self-centered this way.

I also like challenges. I wonder how it feels to win literary awards. I wonder if the invisibility shroud will slip away and the Malaysian-English publishing world will finally see me then.

I have an elephant memory. I remember and appreciate the people who have been supporting me when I'm still a nobody in the publishing world. I also remember those who don't. I'm vindictive this way.

Okay. Now, something new to reflect on. Check out Anggun's new song:

 

"In Your Mind"

 

It's an okay song. You may want to sway your hips, but gone is the urge to move your fingers in awkward motions. Gone is the urge to flick your wrists, to move your neck. This song has no shred of Indonesia in it. It's generic, something you can get from Beyonce and Shakira. It's not exotic. It's not uniquely Anggun.

Here's the dilemma: should Anggun limit herself to an Indonesian-English niche that has gone international, or should she venture out but lose her inherently Indonesian identity?

To me, it doesn't matter which path she chooses, as long as she remains true to herself, as long as she remembers she is Anggun (which is Malay/Indonesian for alluring). Some people will love her, some will hate her, while a lot more remain indifferent.

I personally prefer haters over indifferent people. Haters at least read my works. Haters at least spread the word so that curious people will read my works to find out what's so wrong about it.

I won't bitch about the international community, because they've done nothing but support my efforts. Publishers buy my stories, random people approach me on Facebook to comment on what they like about my stories, and folks who are even more random have listed me on databases such as Library Thing and Goodreads. It's the local folks who are mostly indifferent.

Not you. You've read this far, haven't you? You have shown your support. I thank you for it.

I don't want to be one of those people who have to make a name internationally to be recognized locally. I want to be able to write 'based in Kuala Lumpur' in my author's bio, but I can't do it alone. I can't do it without support from local people.

To make money, you have to have money first (don't get technical on me). To gain recognition, you have to be recognized first.

Something to think about.

Spread the love. Spread the word.

You have my eternal thanks.

Comments

[Breanna]

Gee, can I decipher the Manglish phrases? I'll try. Maybe it's good for a laugh for you...I use this same process with German and that seems to make my inlaws laugh...

1. Mana ada. If you try one more time, sure can one.

I have no clue about the first sentence, but I'm betting the whole thing is between friends and means something like "just try again, this time you'll make it."

2. Macha, borrow me five ringgit can ah? I forgot to bring my wallet.

This one I get - Macha is some kind of endearment, and clearly the mooch wants to borrow five bucks from his friend.

3. Dei, you sure ah? If you sure, I bantai only la.

Again I don't know, Dei sounds like a name or an exclamation. (In Latin it means God but I'm sure it doesn't mean that here...I think...) I don't know the significance of ah and la at the end of a sentence so I tend to assume they are there to be linguistically comfortable, the way an Italian accent will put "a" on the ends of English words that would be feminine in Italian. But without knowing what bantai means I can't figure the rest out. I would Google bantai if this was a tense moment in the story, but if it wasn't I would try to guess from context. If this was real life I would be nodding and smiling like an idiot and trying to decide whether I just did anything rude that I needed to apologize for.

Honesty, from a very western Westerner.

What can I say, your video about the education system is correct. ;)

Good post, by the way - and your stories are the only way I can afford to go to Malaysia at the moment, so please don't start setting them in Detroit. I don't want to go to Detroit.

[Fadzlishah Johanabas]

Breanna,

1. 'Mana ada' is Malay, with its Manglish version 'Where got', roughly translated to 'no way'. You got the right interpretation.

2. 'Macha' is Indian (Tamil, I think) for 'dude' or 'bro'. The Chinese in Malaysia loves to end question-sentences with 'ah?'. Or is it derived from the Malay suffix -kah that's used with adjectives/verbs in a question-sentence...not quite sure about that. Yeah, it's a straight forward sentence.

3. 'Dei' is Tamil for 'hey'. 'La' is the Malay suffix for verbs. 'Bantai' is Malay for 'beat up', but it can also be used for 'just go ahead with it'. Rough translation of the sentence: Are you sure? If you are, I'm going ahead with it.

You see, Manglish is literally Mangled English. We throw in Malay, Chinese and Indian words and suffixes, sometimes even Sabahan/Sarawakian.

[Breanna]

Well, so at least I didn't take anyone's declaration of undying affection and assume it meant they were asking for more salad. Or, like my mother trying to say "good night" in German, say "good naked". :D

[Cheap uggs]

That difference continued as my wife Yukari Watanabe Scott and I checked in and explored the property. It seemed so perfect that we had to find out why. So we met with Ana Maria Nordgren and Oliver Geldner to learn more.

[John Ling]

Well-written.

Do you think you're luckier than your predecessors because of the way social networking has put you in touch with the international writing community? Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

[John Ling]

It's not really Malaysian readers who discriminate, but, rather, the gatekeepers.

I have a Muslim friend who published two books with a local publisher before he had the courage to come out as being gay. He decided to do it in his next book, which was based on his experiences.

Unfortunately, his publisher dropped him immediately after he submitted the manuscript. Homosexuality is, after all, illegal in Malaysia.

So, in this instance, no, I don't think Malaysian readers are even in a position to discriminate. For one thing, they won't be able to find his work on Malaysian bookshelves.

[Fadzlishah Johanabas]

Dear John,

You're right; the internet and social networking has played a vital role in my writing efforts. Without the internet, I wouldn't have joined a worldwide online writing community where a particular group has pushed me to publication. Without social networking, Sharon Bakar and Amir Muhammad would not have found me.

More important, without any of these, I wouldn't have been able to publish at all. Malaysian-English publication scene itself is abysmal. I write plenty of genre fiction, and it has no market here. Back then my only option would be to attempt publication in Singapore, but even there things are not that encouraging. Maybe I would have to migrate overseas to be able to publish. But now, with the internet and social networking, I can be based locally to make a name internationally. So yes, I'm seriously lucky.

However, at the risk of sounding arrogant, luck and providence took me only so far. If my works weren't any good, I wouldn't have been able to publish at all, much less almsot all stories I sent out.

As for gatekeepers, Malaysian publishers have a certain taste in stories. They somehow prefer stories with a twist (but hanging) ending, stories that subtly highlight how rotten people are, stories that make a parody of the local political scene. More important, stories that are safe.

There is a publisher who's bold enough to take the heat when it comes to LGBT: Amir Muhammad. He's published "Body2Body" and "Orang Macam Kita", and he's encouraging open-mindedness for his FIXI novels. He's not only taking the heat, he's been bombarded with hatred as well. As secular as I am, I cannot throw out my religious values. I cannot abandon my faith, no matter how flimsy it is. I may not wholeheartedly agree with flaunting LGBT values among the Muslims, but people have to be educated that homosexuality is not a choice. Some people are born preferring the same sex (or both, or none). It is everyone's right to be happy, but what if that happiness causes disturbance for countless others?

[John Ling]

Well-said.

My friend is actually considering submitting to Amir once he gains a bit more stability in his life. We'll see what happens.

Do you think gay couples should be allowed to marry?

[Fadzlishah Johanabas]

I'm doing a roundabout here as I gather my thoughts.

There is no argument about things like murder and theft; all religions across the globe are against these, and so are all human laws. These things directly hurt others. However, among these people who commit such crimes, there is a small percentage who are born with such urges. They can't help themselves; they have to end a life to be able to move on with their lives. They have to steal to be able to taste that sense of happiness. If they can control the urges, they won't be labeled as murderers or theives. But they'll lead miserable lives as they have to constantly battle with these urges. If they commit the crimes, they'll be much happier, but at what cost?

In all major religions, extramarital sex is strictly prohibited. For obvious reasons, this is to protect both parties and the children they produce. But what we see now is teenage pregnancy, abandoned newborns, people condoning termination of otherwise healthy babies/fetuses, simply because the parents are not ready to be parents. They shouldn't have sex in the first place if they're not ready to take responsibility to be parents.

Also, all major religions prohibit homosexuality. There has to be a vital reason why God bestows the ability to carry a child for women only, and that they need a man's seed to produce a child. Sure, with technological advancement, people don't have to get married to do this. Still, a man's seed is required to mate with a woman's, and a woman's womb is still needed to shelter the developing baby. And brilliant people have a higher chance to beget even more brilliant children. That is how the human race gets stronger and brighter with each generation. What happens if all intellectuals are homosexual and have no children from their own seeds? Within three or four generations, the world will be managed by idiots. I can't tell for sure if idiots aren't running the world as it is, but hey.

Islam, Judaism and Christianity are what we call 'agama kitab/wahyu', where we actually pray to the same God regardless what people say. Whatever it is, the values taught by these religions have kept us civilized for over 2000 years. There has to be wisdom in the prohibition of homosexuality.

Think about this: if gay marriages should be legalized because it's a human's right to be happy, then should we also legalize murder for people who are born with the urge to kill? Should we legalize rape for people who are born with the urge to do it? Gay marriages do not hurt the parties involved, but the act hurts people who hold dear to religious values.

[John Ling]

Have you read the Torah and Bible, by any chance?

[Fadzlishah Johanabas]

John, I haven't even finished reading the Quran! But I have read the Bible some, when I got bored at hotels. Never had the chance to read a copy of the Torah, though.

[Breanna]

Well, unless you really, really want to read it in Hebrew, you can get a two-for with the Torah and the Bible, since the Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament in the Bible--the ones that Judaism agrees are inspired. (Genesis through Deuteronomy.) The Talmud, which is sort of a commentary on the Torah, is a different thing and very difficult to get through--it takes rabbinical scholars years of doing nothing else to make sense of it.

(I'm a two-for too--a Jew who is a Christian, hey hey! :) )

[John Ling]

Good on you, Fadz. Gideon Bibles are always a great way to kill some time.

What do you think of the government's decision to ban the Queer Without Fear festival, by the way? Is it justified?

[Fadzlishah Johanabas]

Sorry for the late reply. I've done one better. I wrote a full post on it.