Skip to main content

Submitted!

In the past two months, I've written two short stories: "The Water Tower" and "Odd One Out".

"The Water Tower" is about two young boys who go exploring one evening, and they find a water tower. They try to climb it ("Imagine the view!"), but there's always something to hinder their plan. I have submitted this 3100 word short story to Silverfish Books to be included in Silverfish New Writing 6, but I will only know at the end of May whether the story is to be included or not.

"Odd One Out" is about a Malaysian father who has recently brought his son home from England. He sends his son to a Malay school so the son can reintegrate himself with Malaysians, but the father soon finds out it's not as easy as sending him to a school and letting things take care by itself. At 4700 words, this is by far, the longest story I've written so far. It was also the hardest. I think I felt like jumping off cliffs numerous times during the course of writing this piece. "Odd One Out" was submitted to the British Council to be included in New Writing 15. I have no idea when they'll notify me (if they ever do), nor do I have any idea whether they even received my submission!

I can't express how relieved I am to be able to submit both pieces on time. I hope they get accepted! In the meantime, I shall work on my other short stories. I've got two (used to be three, but I'll get to that in a mo') short stories in the pipeline: a story about Zeus in a Malaysian taxi, and the other I tentatively call Looking for Tchaikovsky, which is set in a music shop in Ipoh (where most of my stories take place).

The Zeus story's actually done, but I'm going through a rewrite (my second). Tchaikovsky's still plodding along.

I mentioned I was actually working on another short story. Well, I was, until I decided it would be too long too fit into short story format (which I consider between 3000 and 7000 words). So now, I'm planning to write a novel based on that idea.

Pretty busy, aren't I? I've got literary pretensions, I have! So gotta write, write, write!
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous3/5/06 12:56 pm

    Rather intrigued by the first story about the water tower. I can see it as a strong metaphor on life if you know what I mean.

    On another note, good luck with your submissions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted Mahsun3/5/06 1:44 pm

    I suppose you could see it that way, but I have to admit, I wrote it with no symbolism in mind. Not consciously anyway!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...
5 comments
Read more

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...
5 comments
Read more

An Ipoh Ghost Story.

When I was growing up in Ipoh in the 90s, the only good bookshops around were Mubaruk's, which specialised in textbooks (and still does), and Novelhut, the second-hand bookstore that used to be in Yik Foong (and maybe still is there, but I haven't checked in years since I prefer going to their Ipoh Parade outlet when I'm in town). There was also a pretty good bookstore in the Parkson Grand in Ipoh Parade which could have been a Berita outlet, but I don't remember. This was in the days before they expanded Ipoh Parade into what it is today. (And temporarily causing the Convent school next door to consider moving.) I recall this because I was thinking of when exactly I started reading "serious" fiction, trying to pinpoint the years when I moved from young adult/fantasy/sci-fi books into non-genre fiction. I still can't remember, but it brought back memories of a book I bought from a short-lived bookshop in Old Town. Mum had brought me there, because she must...
6 comments
Read more