Good morning, dear Readers,
I found this set of questions and answers for an interview I did last May. I can't find the name of the person who interviewed me, but here are the questions and my answers. It's about Creative Writing.
I've included some recent pictures taken in Brazil and in Cambra, just for fun -- they really don't have anything to do with writing per se, so don't look for a connection.
Have a great weekend,
Cecilia
1. How
do you find inspiration?
Most of my writings have been
inspired by what I call my Filipino experience, referring to the time I
lived in the Philippines, from birth until the time I left for America. I grew up in Cebu and wanted to write about some
of the personalities I knew there.
I also wanted to write about interesting moments of my life, such as the
time my father died. There were stories about people in Cebu as well, teenagers
I grew up with, or people who were different and whom we saw, for instance,
there was a woman whom we called a witch, or a woman who was said to have horns
on her head.
My novel, When the Rainbow GoddessWept, is about a coming of age of a young girl named Yvonne during World War II
in the Philippines. The novel is a work of fiction, but the stories that my
parents told me about World War II inspired me to write this story, and some of
their experiences are recorded in the novel.
I’ve also written about my Filipino
American experience, referring to the time I have spent in America.
Some of these writings are
non-fiction, meaning the writings try to be factual; others are fictional, meaning
I’ve used the inspiration but have changed information so it’s basically just
made-up.
More re inspiration: Sometimes, I
feel compelled to write about memories, about interesting people I’ve met or
known, about places I’ve been to, about an interesting moment that I find
myself in.
2. How
do you discipline yourself to write?
-
If you ever get ‘writers’ block’ how do
you overcome it?
I have writer friends
who write daily, from say 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
I am not disciplined that way, but I produce if I have a deadline, and
so I usually put myself in a workshop situation.
Writers’ block usually
happens when one has an over-active left brain, (the logical side of your
mind). It is the side that criticizes, is logical, does math, and so on. The
creative side comes from the right side of your brain. When I find myself “blocked” I have to
silence my critical side and allow my creative side to flow.
There are many
exercises, but for example I will use prompts. I have learned not to correct my
work when writing, but just write and write, and later I will take a look and
make the corrections.
I now keep a Writers
notebook in which I write about the progress of my novel. If I have questions,
I write them in that notebook, if I have any ideas, I jot them down. It’s a catchall
for ideas, and it helps me get new ideas and prevents me from being blocked
because I’m allowing my ideas to flow.
Once I was “blocked”
and I couldn’t write fiction, but surprisingly I wrote a few poems. It was as
if the creative urge had to find an outlet to express itself.
3. How
do you take a piece from idea to fuition?
The first thing I try
to do is to write as freely as I can about this idea. This draft is not
beautiful; it is clumsy and full of mistakes, but I just get the idea out.
When I have this clumsy
first draft, I look at it with a critical eye and try to see what I’m really
trying to say, what my story is.
Then I rewrite, and
rewrite.
At some point,
especially if it’s a fairly long piece, I show it to someone I trust to get
feedback.
I rewrite some more,
and keep doing this until I feel it’s done, or others tell me it’s done.
Very rarely does a work
come out perfect with the first writing.
4. What
techniques do you use?
At this point, I have
learned to use what I call fundamentals in creative writing, meaning I’m
writing in scenes and I use dialogue. I know how to use point of view. If I’m writing fiction, I make sure my work
has strong characters, or at least a strong point of view character. I make sure
this character develops or changes as the story progresses. I make sure there
is tension or conflict to make the story interesting.
Practically speaking, I
use prompts to get started; I write in journals to loosen up and to catch
ideas; I am working on a novel now, I flesh out my characters, and I write in
my “notebook” – I allow my characters to have a voice and so I do monologues
and let them talk.
5. What
authors do you love and why?
Most of the authors I
like write character-driven stories, versus plot-driven stories. For instance,
I like Graham Green, author of The Power and the Glory, and many other novels;
I enjoyed the Latin
American writers: Gabriel Garcia Marquez (100 years of Solitude, Love in Time
of Cholera), Isabel Allende, and the short story Mexican writer Juan Rulfo;
I have learned about
Voice from our own Cebuana writers Lina Espina Moore and Estrella Alfon, and
also from Filipino writers Carlos Bulosan and F. Sionil Jose.
Recently I’ve enjoyed
some of the novels of Carlos Ruiz Zafon, in particular The Shadow of the Wind
and The Angel’s Game.
6. How
do you handle criticism/failures in your writing career?
Criticism and Praise can distract the writer from writing.
Both can be destructive to writers. I have learned to ignore both praise and
criticism and to do my own thing, whether it’s writing fiction, non-fiction or
editing works.
Unlike other art forms
(such as acting, or dance) writing is a private matter ultimately, it’s between
me, my imagination and my computer, and so I have to get into that private
world in my imagination where my characters live and I write about
them. Every project is a new challenge,
and so allowing the success or failures of your past works to affect you slows you down.
You just have to look at what you are trying to do and do your best, and hope
your readers get it.
~~~
Read also
Allen Gaborro's Review of Vigan and Other StoriesThe Old Mansion Near the Plaza
Talking about the woman in Cholon
Flip Gothic
Manila Without Verna
Winning Hearts and Minds
The Black Man in the Forest
The Old Mansion near the Plaza
An Interview by Luis Diores of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
Oscar V. Campomanes' Cecilia Manguerra Brainard Scenographer
Read also
The Importance of Keeping a Journal and My Pink Lock and Key Diary
The Importance of Sensual Writing
Vintage pictures that help me write my novel - Paris, Barcelona, Ubec
How to Write a Novel #1
How to Write a Novel #2
tags: fiction, Philippine literature, short story, flash fiction, novel, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Ubec, Cebu, author, writer, Filipino, novelist
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