Ini adalah posting saya ke milis pria_sehat_tanpa_celana di yahoogroups, jangan tertipu dengan nama milisnya, mungkin banyak yang sudah tahu, ini adalah salah satu milis terbaik untuk sharing di antara penulis-penulis muda Indonesia. Moderator milis ini antara lain Adhitya Mulya. Sudah 6 bulan saya memilih opsi no mail, mungkin kapan-kapan saya akan aktif lagi di sana.

Tulisan wawancara dibawah ini bisa menjadi salah satu sumber inspirasi bagi yang berminat menjadi penulis, menarik

To: “YG PSTC”
From: Me
Date: Sat, 07 May 2005 18:04:39 +0800
Subject: [PSTC] Wawancara Penulis

Dear Friends,

Gua baru selesai baca Novelnya Richard Paul Russo (genre SF) yang judulnya “Unto Leviathan”. Terus terang ini salah satu novel terbagus yang pernah gua baca, Science Fiction tapi amat humanis, bukan menonjolkan action dan teknologi belaka namun juga kita jadi terlibat dengan pergulatan emosi di ceritanya, saking terkesannya sampai gua penasaran siapa sih pak Richard ini? Dari google gua baru tahu kalau beliau ini sudah mendapatkan beberapa award internasional, gua juga nemuin wawancaranya dan ternyata banyak banget point2 cukup oke buat masukan kita, ini gua ambil summary beberapa point penting:

Tentang menulis dari pengalaman pribadi:

None of my work is autobiographical in the sense of characters or story events being based on anyone I know or anything that has happened in my own life. However, they are all autobiographical to the extent that they reflect my views about people and society, my ethics and values, and my attitude towards life. Although I have never based any of the characters on myself, the main character usually (though not always) reflects something of my own beliefs and values, directly or indirectly, sometimes minimally, sometimes extensively. But even if none of the characters are reflective of my attitudes, the story itself will at least express something of my thinking at the time it was written.

Tentang penulis lain yang mempengaruhi tulisannya:

This is a difficult question to answer. There are a number of writers I greatly admire, and whose work I will read and reread, but I don’t think they influence my writing in the way many people think. I don’t write like any of the writers I admire, and I don’t think anyone would read my work and say that my style is like so-and-so’s. In fact, I don’t think I write like anyone except Richard Paul Russo, which I believe is a good thing.

Tentang isi cerita/tulisan:

I don’t mean to suggest that you can’t be funny or clever or entertaining, but I have learned from them that whatever kind of writing you do, you must believe in its worth and importance. Your subject matter should be worth writing about, for whatever reason (and that includes entertainment); and if it’s worth writing about, it is worth writing well, and the time and energy spent to hone the work, to revise as often as necessary to make it the best possible story or novel, are both well worth spending.

Tentang terbuka dengan kritik:

And I learned that not just any story will do — I need to dig deep inside and find a story that matters to me on some level, that I am convinced is worth telling. Because if the writer doesn’t believe the story is worth telling, the story will not be convincing to the reader. Additionally, I came to appreciate the need for being open to criticism while at the same time having enough self-assurance to stick to my guns when I feel specific criticism is misguided — a fine balance, but a crucial one to strive for. Most of all, I learned that not only do individual stories need to be approached with seriousness and honesty, but writing as a whole — as a career or vocation — needs to be approached with the same sense of honesty and purpose, discipline and dedication.

Tentang pembagian waktu menulis dan karir bekerja:

On the practical side, it is extremely difficult to make a living in any of the arts — after more than ten years of selling my work (five published novels, more than two dozen stories, and several award nominations), I still can’t make a living at it myself. The more time spent at a “regular” job, the less time and energy there is available for writing. On top of that, friends and family often think your time outside of your regular job is completely open and flexible — after all, they think, you can write any time you want — so it is sometimes difficult to maintain the regular schedule and large blocks of time necessary for productive work. But I continue to write, because the rewards far outweigh the difficulties and frustrations.

Tentang Gaya penulisan:

I have a tendency to overexplain (I am more guilty of this in my novels than in my short fiction), so I work hard during revision on paring things down, because the last thing I want to do is either bore or insult my readers by explaining too much. I try to keep this in mind while working on first drafts, but the overexplaining, or simply telling too much, always creeps in. So I constantly consider and reconsider what scenes are truly necessary, and then within each scene I think about what individual pieces of description, dialogue, characterization, or action would be most effective, and what is merely filler.

Tentang Karakter di tulisan:

I prefer to show character through dialogue and gestures and action, rather than simply trying to describe what kind of person the character is; if I do my job well, the reader will be able to put the pieces together and form a stronger sense of the character than if I told the reader what to think about the character. When it comes to description, rather than simply describe the entirety of a scene, I focus on what the viewpoint character would actually notice about his or her surroundings, and combine that with minimal but key concrete details that will work together with the reader’s own imagination and intellect to produce an effective, overall picture.

Tentang selingan tema/gaya tulisan:

Ship of Fools (judul asli ‘Unto Leviathan’, novel yang baru gua baca) does mark a new phase in my writing. Hopefully it marks growth in me as a writer as well. After writing three novels in a row that, though essentially independent, were all set in the same near-future San Francisco and with recurring characters, I needed to do something different: to stretch myself as a writer, to maintain my enthusiasm for writing. I think the only way to grow as a writer, and remain excited about writing, is to stretch one’s abilities, to continue exploring and making discoveries both in the world and in ourselves.