My Experience in 'Dee's Coaching Clinic' with Dewi Dee Lestari

Awesome! I've got to meet a famous writer from Jakarta who is...Dewi Dee Lestari! Yay! She's the writer of the series of her novel 'Supernova', in case if you don't know.

Today, on the 29th of April 2015, my aunt Riska and I were on our way to BI library which was placed on the corner of Darmo & Diponogoro (sorry for the misspelling) street. The 'Dee's Coaching Clinic' event was on the second floor of the building where we rent for events or parties...you know which one, right? Okay, good.

Anyway, after we signed our names in the guest book, we chose 2 seats and sat down next to each other. Besides, I don't wanna get lost or talk to strangers whom I've never heard/seen before. It took quite long to wait for Miss Dee, because she told us that she was excused 'cause she had to go to the toilet. LOL.

So, once she finished going to the toilet and apologized to us for the wait, Miss Dee started her speech which answered questions we've sent her by Gmail. I listened carefully to her speech as I wrote them down on a notebook with a pen which were given at the first place where we signed up...for free. Well, I guess that's normal for all talk show events.

Here's what she said along her speech (written in my own language):

"Hi everyone, so I've read all of the questions you've asked me in Email, now, I'm going to answer them all. From my experience of writing short stories, I tried to offer them to magazines and newspapers, but they always rejected me. And from what I've read in those magazines & newspapers, the stories written in them are the ones which I believe we can also write. It's really normal...

"So why can't my stories be published in there too? Well, ladies & gents, being rejected for the first time is normal. Everyone gets rejected at first, even famous and best-seller authors outside and inside country. Don't you ever be disappointed when someone rejects your work of art, keep trying and trying as you continue updating or editing your stories until it began to be more interesting...

"I don't have any supporters from any companies or communities back then. The only ones who supported me were my Mom, my sisters and the rest of my family. So, back then, usually, when I finish a new short story, I always come up to my sisters' door and knock, saying. 'Hey! I finished my new story!' Then, they read them until the end.

"Your parents or family don't need to say you're good or amazing at your talent over and over again. They just need to say it once, like the first time when my Mom read my first ever story. 'You've got talent.' She said to me. I was like: Wow! Someone likes my story! And that was enough to make me continue doing my favorite hobby; writing.

"I actually never planned to be a writer, I wanted to be an architect and a scientist, but every time I go to a book store, I pictured my own book being displayed on that very shelf. I just wanted to, not plan to become a famous writer like now. I don't care if my book becomes a best-seller or not, the only thing I wanted most is just to see my book displayed on one of the shelves.

"Okay now, I've read all of you asked about 'How to write a good book?' Well, that depends on how good you write. If you can write really well, then you won't need a very long explanation. Okay, first of all, if you are beginners, you have to write a book that you've always wanted to read in bookstores with the genres which you like.
Don't follow trend, because it will only make us completely confused and hard for us to write which will only make our story unruly. Just write what you like and what you would like to read in bookstores.

"Second, we must have a verisimilitude. A verisimilitude is a research that makes a fiction story much more stronger and feel realistic. Like example, we want to write about a magical talking mushroom ((I'm totally making this up XD)), you need to know where it lives, where does it get its food and nutrients, where's its habitat, and etc. Once we know all of those facts about it, then we can finally add some fantasy/mythical/unrealistic things into it.

"Third, think creative; how to make a normal thing which already exists in our present time to something which doesn't exist today. It also helps us to expand your awareness. As a writer, we must need good observation, so we must observe or investigate our main capital of the story and its complements. To be a great writer we must be a good observer.
Thinking creative doesn't mean we have to think different than other people, because it will make more weight for us. Everyone has a unique voice that we have to dig through a tall pile of dirt & mud to find out. The more we write, we are actually doing the digging process.

"Now let's not use 'first', 'second' or 'third' anymore. The rules to be a great writer are to:
1. Think creative
2. Always practice*
3. Know what book that we want to write*
4. Know about Dead Line* ((Nope, it's not about zombies))

"(2) We have to practice our writing skills very often. Write in a place you're comfortable in, at day or night whenever we like it, in something which you enjoy writing in like your blog, diary, journal, etc. Whatever thing, place or time that you enjoy and comfortable with.

(3) By knowing what kind of book you want to write, your story's plot can flow down your mind slowly and calmly so that you won't be confused or stuck in the middle of your story.

(4) Dead Line will 'force' us to get out of our lazy zone and idea confusion. Dead line is really useful for ourselves, use dead line as a tool; a tool to motivate us... One of the benefits of dead line is creating something concrete.

"If you want to write by doing something fun in between, you can try making 'Story Boxes' ((I'm making this up too XD, but the ideas for making these are all from Miss Dee)). First, you have to have 4 cardboard boxes, some sticky notes and a pen or pencil or marker. Then, we mark each boxes with numbers; number 1, 2A, 2B, and 3. The 2A and 2B are for conflicts & solutions of how to solve the problems. We only have to write short scenes like example: 'Alfa will meet Gio.' Just short scenes, then in your computer, you can expand and add more stuffs into each scenes.

"So, number 1 is for the introduction which tells about the characters and their life interests, etc. 2A is when the characters go out of their comfort zone which is where the conflicts start to show. 2B is where the conflicts turn hot, like there will be a huge fight in this scene or emotional stuff. Usually, 2B is really fun for me to write. Last but not least, number 3 is where the questions from 1, 2A, & 2B are answered, it doesn't have to be too long, because it's the ending of the story.

"I hope you will have some fun with those tips of hand-crafting while you write. These are some more tips for you to write a great story;
1. Narrative which is too long makes the story messy and the writer or reader may be bored, confused or frustrated.
2. We must know our character well:
(A) Habits
(B) Specialities
(C) Weakness
(D) Actions/Sacrifices 

"If you want to write comedy/humor scenes - even though the reader doesn't laugh - the important thing is that for us, it is funny. At least laugh when you think it's hilarious. Same for emotional scenes. What we think is funny/sad and we really laugh/cry at our story, that's good enough to make some readers entertained or sometimes laugh and cry like we did. 

"Failures are normal.They always happen. Even best-seller or great writers came through failures at first. Like me; at first time, I offered my stories to magazines, publishers and newspapers, they rejected my offers. That's because every year, favorite genres always change. But that doesn't mean we have to follow the genres or we have to wait for the year of our story's genre to come. Just write what you like. 

"Daily habits aren't really attractive and interesting for fiction stories. The first sentence of a story is very important to attract readers or publishers. Like: 'That afternoon, the clock tolled its bells 13 times.' Make the first sentence of your story as interesting as possible. 

"Don't make a title that tells the readers straight to the topic of the story. And don't write in slang (a.k.a 'bahasa gaul') words, use some literature language too, so that the story won't be so slang, just to make sure the story you're writing can be read for all ages. 
When we write, we don't need to get an excellent label of 'best-seller' or 'best book of 2015', but to dig in our uniqueness and show other people our creativity & uniqueness. Labels are only bonuses.      
"One more thing; being a newbie or freshman in writing is a bit hard because once we publish a story, BAM! people, journalists and others critic or praise our work. They will ask us many, wait no, LOTS of questions. Please don't take the critics too badly. But also, don't focus only on praises or you won't learn from you mistakes. But if we only focus on critics, we will be sensitive or stress. 
So, it's better to take both. Everyone has haters and lovers... It's all yin and yang. 

"Thank you for all of your useful questions and also for coming here... Good afternoon." Miss Dee finally finished her speech and I was already finished writing them all down in my notebook. Ah, finally... Then, the host announced that there will be 2 people who will get a free t-shirt of 'Perahu Kertas' which was also one of Miss Dee's novels. 

Miss Dee gladly gave me a blueish-green t-shirt one meanwhile another woman older than me, but younger than my aunt, got a sky blue one. I was so happy! Miss Dee said she gave me a t-shirt because I was the youngest of all people who came to the event and the youngest to have a big interest in writing. I said 'Thank you' to her as she returned a smile back to me. 

Once the event's done, I stood in line with the others to ask Miss Dee if she could sign her autograph in our book collections of the novels she wrote. It took quite a long time, but I was satisfied when I left there. We also took a picture, but when I got home, the picture was gone! Ugh... It's okay. Maybe we can meet each other again. :D 

If you want to know more, visit:
www.dee-interview.blogspot.com

This summary is using my own language and way to write. But the speech points are all from Miss Dewi Dee Lestari. See you next time, guys! :)