The tipping point

The comments about the end of the Silverfish New Writing series didn't take long in coming. We have heard that discussions have been taking place on several other blog spots too. Our initial decision was not to make any comment, because no matter what we said there would be people unhappy with it. But we realise that we have some really very good friends out there, those who have supported us through the years, believed in what we were trying to do, and who genuinely don't have a personal agenda. So this explanation is for them. (There will be some who still don't 'get it', but that is a risk we take.)

When we were kids we would go swimming at the 'garrison pool'. What we meant by swimming then, was basically splashing about at the shallow end with the occasional foray towards the deep side, holding on to the side rails. Showing off to the girls (notwithstanding our gawky, skinny torsos) and taking them out for heavily sugared drinks or ais-kacang afterwards was the high point of it all. Sometimes we would watch with a mixture of admiration and envy at some people doing the laps, knowing somehow that was what real swimming was about.

When we published Silverfish New Writing 1 in 2001, we said that it would be fantastic if only one or two writers emerged from it. ('Writers' has become a sensitive word -- so henceforth we shall change that to 'authors'.) We reckoned that if we have about fifteen or twenty authors (what is the tipping point, anyway?) producing good stuff regularly, the whole industry would take on a much healthier glow and, perhaps, even attract international attention.

After seven years and seven books in the SNW series and two other anthologies, not one Malaysian 'lapper' has emerged. (Internationally, we only know of Gary Lamoshi, an American living in Hong Kong, whose novel-in-progress was featured in Collateral Damage, and whose full length novel, Hong Kong on Air, has just been published. We are not counting several others who were already published authors before they started sending their work in for SNW.) Yes, the New Writing series has touched many people in many ways and it has resulted in (if we allowed ourselves to be so immodest) a slight seismic shift in the local literary scene. However, no matter how precious we feel about it, it has not produced the desired result. The SNW series, instead of becoming a means, a stepping-stone leading towards an end, has become an end itself. It is seen as a competition, no matter how many times we emphasise that it is not. That, to us, is a bit sad. Results do count. So, instead of behaving like some of our government and quasi-government departments that carry on doing the same thing despite forty or fifty years of abject failure, we have decided to move on. To use a quote from Dan Quayle: if we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

We are still, very much, committed to our original vision. The most frequent question we have asked ourselves is, "Why have no 'lappers' emerged from the SNW series?" Are our standards really too high, as some have told us? We think not. If anything, we feel we are no where near the standards we would like to achieve. All we do is to insist on a cetain minimum quality, that's all. Maybe, we cannot simply throw people into the deep end and expect them to start swimming, let alone do the laps. Publishers in this country, especially in the absence of literary agents and such, need to do more. Much more. And that is the philosophy behind our new initiative. This programme is only a year old but we are already coming out with the first book -- three new writers, three different voices, with ten selected stories apiece. The wonderful thing is that, they are all young (in their thirties), they all have full-time galley-slave type day-jobs with absurdly long hours, they are at an advanced stage with their own second book, and they will be the first to admit that they still have a long way to go. And none of them is your 'usual suspect'! For years the media has been asking us about the 'next big thing'. The book, News from Home, should be out at the end of the month. Read it with an open mind and decide.

While writing is about being creative, it is also about being aware of what readers and publishers are looking for (without going into silly areas like instant nirvana, instant health or instant wealth -- we will leave that for others), be it fiction or non-fiction. (We are several light-years away from 'art for the sake of art', so let's not even go there.) Apart from tapping into the genius within, it is about developing a writer’s temperament. It is about digging in. And it is about doing the laps. Publishers cannot simply sit back and wait for it to happen. (Unfortunately most will prefer others to do all the hard work). They can make it happen. But for that they need to work very closely with writers, make long-term commitments (not instant wealth), but without stifling individuality or creativity.

Anyway News from Home, which will be published end of this month or early next, is our first report card. We have decided that this is a far more efficient way of developing local writers than the SNW series, though, admittedly, we will have to confine ourselves to the Klang Valley for the moment. Not everyone will make it, many will drop off, some will not be interested in becoming 'lappers', some will do different forms of writing, and many will be happy being 'splashers'. But that is fine. It is the role, nay the duty even, of the schoolteacher to encourage and work with the weakest students in the class. A publisher is only interested in the top of the class. We make no apologies for that.

If we produce just one, two or three 'lappers' a year, we think we will be working towards that elusive tipping point. We are still hopeful.

Or, are we simply kidding ourselves?