We all like to tell stories. We do it with our friends, with our children, with our lovers. But when it comes to putting them on paper, few of us feel confident enough to do it. Let’s face it: most of us are a bit afraid to write.
The first edition of The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival, which joined writers and other artists from Mainland China, Taiwan and Portuguese speaking countries, tried to encourage local people to put their fears aside and write about Macau – in Chinese, English or Portuguese.
The festival launched a short story competition in three languages with a special jury to evaluate the works. Renowned Chinese author Su Tong, who visited the city for the festival, will decide the winner in the Chinese short story contest. Xu Xi, a Hong Kong author who writes in English, will judge the English prose. And José Luís Peixoto, another of the invited writers, will choose the best short story in Portuguese.
The contest is aimed at everyone, without any restrictions on age, nationality or place of residence. The only thing to keep in mind is that all the stories must have Macau as their backdrop. But for those who like to write a lot, be aware that this is ‘short’ story. The text should have a maximum of 5,000 words in Portuguese and English, and 10,000 characters in Chinese.
As for the prize, the three best short stories (one in which language) will be appear alongside texts written by the judging authors, in a special tri-lingual publication to be released at The Script Road’s second edition, at the beginning of 2013.
The craft of writing On the first day of the Macau Literary Festival, Xu Xi delivered a workshop on creative writing at the Macau Polytechnic Institute. About 30 people listened to the author of nine books of fiction and essays, and the editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong literature in English, as she explained that you can teach the craft of writing, but you cannot teach talent.
“First of all, I will give you a framework with a focus on narrative, because I write prose. I will focus on two things. One is something I do and it’s called reading like a writer. You read stories, poetry, novels and memoirs. Why do you read? You read it because it’s enjoyable, because it draws you in, you like the story, you like the characters”, said Xu Xi before introducing what she calls the five P’s of storytelling – People, Place, Plot, Point of view and Perspective – the basis for all good stories according to the author shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize.
Xu Xi is the first writer-in-residence at the English Department of The City University of Hong Kong, overseeing a new international Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with an Asian focus.
“One of the things we teach in all these writing programmes is how to read like a writer, not like a reader”, she stressed.
Xu Xi invited all the participants to analyze the first paragraph of several books and asked each one of them to write the introduction for a possible story. “Now go home and continue”, she encouraged them. So what about Xu Xi’s own short story about Macau?
“It would have to have something to do with gambling, but it would have a character that questions the notion of what gambling is all about. And what it means for the human condition that a whole city should have so much of its economy depending on casinos and gambling.”
Sounds good, and remember, we will be able to read it early next year.