Tres Talleres de Escritura en Singapur

Haciendo la maleta para salir hacia Singapur, donde tendré que impartir tres talleres de escritura creativa en inglés dentro del National Museum of Singapore, invitado por el Festival Internacional de Cuentacuentos de Singapur 2011.

Luego lo mismo, pero en Bangalore y Madurai (India).

Así lo anuncia el Book Council de Singapur:

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WORKSHOPS ON CREATIVE WRITING
By

ENRIQUE PAEZ

WHEN: 5 SEPT 2011 (MON)
WHERE: National Museum of Singapore: Seminar Room 1 & 2 , Level 2
FEES: S$20/PERSON
NOTES: Seating per session is on first-come-first-served basis.

1. Writing my First Story
10.00am – 12.00noon / Suitable for children aged 9 to 12 years old
If you are interested in literary creation, sign up for this workshop. He will respond to all questions connected with the office of writer, gestation and creation of books, the narrative techniques, and the resources of creativity. Then participants will draft one micro story from a trigger. After which, the texts will be read and commented on.

2. Writing a Fantastic Story
1.00pm – 3.00pm / Suitable for youths aged 13 to 16 years old
Author ENRIQUE PAEZ will summarise several techniques to generate stories. Participants will write a story that will come from the fantastic binomium, one of the most powerful creative and fruitful techniques. The texts will be read aloud and commented on.

3. Unblocking the Writing Process
4.00pm – 6.00pm / Suitable for adults & recommended for teachers and beginning writers
Participants will write a story from a personal memory. It will be possible, in this case, to change the narrator’s point of view from the first to third person. That is, in short, to observe and analyse the real and the unreal through the eyes of the writer, always watching as if seen for the first time. The relationship between reality and fiction.

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ENRIQUE PAEZ (SPAIN) has a Master in Literature, and PhD Literary Theory postgraduate (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain). Currently, he lives exclusively for writing, and coordinates the International Storytelling Network (Red Internacional de Cuentacuentos). He won the National Narrative Lazarillo Prize in 1991 for the romance Give Me the Ring Back. Afterwards he published Abdel, Chamaleon Club, A kidnapping So Film Like, Renata and Magician Pinton, The Olympics of Animals and many more. His books have been translated into nine languages all over the world. Besides being a writer, he has worked as Editor and Professor of Language, Literature and Creative Writing in Madrid and New York, at Primary, Secondary and University levels.

Tras la máscara veneciena

En el embarcadero, de pie sobre el pasillo de madera que moría en el agua, estaba aquel hombre oculto tras una máscara veneciana de alpaca y una capa negra. La niebla esa noche era lo bastante densa como para desdibujar el contorno de cualquier persona u objeto que se encontrara a más de 20 metros de distancia. Tenía su mano derecha cubierta por un guante de cuero negro, una estrella dorada prendida en la capucha que le cubría la frente, y algunas cintas de raso de colores colgando de los hombros.

Podría ser un disfraz de carnaval veneciano, pero tanto Venecia como el carnaval quedaba muy lejos de allí.

Supe que aquel hombre estaba esperándome, y que había hecho un largo viaje con el único objeto de acabar conmigo. Yo también lo esperaba desde hacía años, con al certeza del que se sabe condenado a muerte, obligado a cambiar siempre de oficio y domicilio antes siquiera de haberme acostumbrado.

Hubo un tiempo en el que traté de averiguar o deducir el porqué de esa sentencia que pendía sobre mi cabeza. Yo no me sentía avergonzado de nada, excepto quizá de ser feliz de un modo despreocupado, pero una vez más tampoco podía asegurar que no fuera la felicidad, o la despreocupación, la que me convertía en culpable.

La amenaza y la sentencia de muerte que pesaba sobre mí no estaba publicada en ninguna parte, al menos que yo supiera, ni había sido pronunciada por juez alguno en mi presencia, pero era tan indiscutible como el crecimiento de las plantas tras la lluvia, o la sucesión de los atardeceres a intervalos regulares. Nadie necesitaba confirmármelo. Yo lo sabía, como una de esas verdades a priori que regulan el movimiento de los astros. Lo sabía, siempre lo supe, incluso llegue a aceptarlo por inevitable. Sabía que un hombre sin rostro me iba a encontrar, tarde o temprano, y que me iba a arrojar al vacío de la no existencia. Esa certeza no era algo que yo deseara en modo alguno, pero no había escondite ni negociación posible. Solo era cuestión de tiempo.

Y de pronto ese tiempo había terminado para mí. El hombre de la máscara veneciana, el que había sido enviado para acabar con mi vida, estaba frente a mí, cerrándome el paso en el embarcadero.

--Acaba de una vez --le dije, casi suplicando.

Tras la máscara no pude saber si hubo un gesto de burla, o de piedad, o de sadismo. Sus ojos brillaban en la oscuridad, pero su mirada estaba vacía de emociones, casi inhumana.

Yo llevaba mi pistola encima. No era para defenderme, sino para acabar conmigo mismo en el momento en el que la felicidad me abandonara. Y eso no había sucedido todavía.

Yo era feliz, y aquel hombre lo sabía, o debería saberlo. Saqué mi pistola y le disparé en el entrecejo que adivinaba tras la máscara. Defensa propia.

No sé por qué me tienen encerrado. Yo no merezco la cárcel. Yo era feliz, y he dejado de serlo. Debería estar muerto. Pero, ¿quién va a venir a buscarme ahora? Estoy condenado a la inmortalidad.

Next Workshops in Bangalore (India)

Ya están anunciados algunos de los talleres de Escritura Creativa que impartiré en Bangalore, India, dentro de dos semanas. En inglés, claro, qué remedio.

Creative Writing Workshops in India

Kathalaya is organising its six-day intensive academy course from September 5 to 10. There will be two more special workshops this

time along with the core-session by Beatriz Montero and Enrique Paez from the ‘International Storytelling Network Coordinators’, Tenerife, Spain.

The special workshops are going to be held on September 10. For details, call 9902977044.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/185999/metrolife-city.html

Montañas rusas en agosto

Ayer escribí una página. Era muy mala, y la tiré.

Luego escribí otra. También era mala, y acabó en la papelera.

Escribí la tecera, y no era tan mala, así que la guardé.

Al medio día tuve una crisis existencial, pero me medí el nivel de azúcar en la sangre, y descubrí que solo era una hipoglucemia.

Me bebí un vaso de leche con Colacao, me comí tres galletas María y esperé.

Media hora después la crisis había desaparecido, y la glucemia estaba a 110.

Hoy he aprendido siete palabras nuevas en inglés, y cuando he empezado a divagar acerca del sentido y los límites de la existencia, he corrido a la cocina y me he comido una rodaja de melón tan grande que tapaba a Sartre, Heidegger y García Calvo juntos.

Luego me he sentado a ver Pirañas en la tele.

El mes de agosto está lleno de sorpresas.

Las aventuras de Catalina, Antón, Ernesto y Joana

En verano la hormiga Catalina se enamoró del zángano Antón.

Fueron felices durante un tiempo, o eso parecía.

Hasta que un día, al volver a casa un poco antes de lo previsto, la hormiga Catalina se encontró al zángano Antón jugando a los médicos y lamiéndole las patas al grillo Ernesto.

¡Qué disgusto, por dios!

Catalina se fue de casa dando un portazo antes de que Antón y Ernesto lograran siquiera desenredar sus patas.

--¿A que no sabes con quién se ha liado mi chulo Antón? --le dijo entre hipos Catalina a la mosca Joana.

--Hija, si es que estás en la inopia. Desde la charca hasta el río todos saben que tu zángano se lo monta con el grillo Ernesto todas las tardes. Menudo escándalo montan.

--Son todos unos cerdos --se lamentó Catalina.

--Nosotras siempre seremos el segundo sexo. Ya lo decía Simone de Beauvoir en su famoso libro --dijo la mosca Joana.

--Simone... ¿la de las 1001 recetas de cocina? --dudó Catalina--. No me suena.

--No, boba, esa es Simone Ortega, vaya cacao que tienes --respondió Joana.

--Necesito vengarme --concluyó Catalina.

--Pues aquí me tienes, princesa. Tú siempre me has gustado. Súbete a mi lomo, frótame las antenas y nos vamos de aquí volando.

Y así fue. De modo que si alguna vez, con ayuda de una lupa, ves a un zángano retozando con un grillo, y a una mosca planeando con una hormiga a cuestas, ya sabes quienes son: Antón, Ernesto, Catalina y Joana.

Tips for text comment

11 critical elements for advanced text comment

1. The naturalness of the language. Common errors among first-time authors are the use of overly formal language (cold style, as lawyers use), or too fancy and pompous (for a false view of what sounds like “literary” as synonymous with baroque and pseudo-poetic). We must encourage the use of natural and common language. Juan de Mairena’s “customary events taking place in the rue” in poetic language is written as: “What is happening in the street.”

2. The length of sentences. Neither too short nor too long, nor very equal in length. Any excess is bad, but particularly dangerous are unnecessarily long sentences, labyrinths in which students are lost from time to time. Too long sentences, unless the student is called James Joyce, usually break the rhythm, liveliness, continuity and interest in stories. And almost always they can be chopped into simple sentences.

3. The descriptive detail. Detailed descriptions and the use of physical senses (sight in the first place) are often regrettably scarce in early writings, especially those referring to the small gestures and movements of the characters.

4. The credibility of dialogues. Dialogues should be tailored to the characters, and they are the means of their expression, not the author of the text. When a character is “forced” to say something, the effect is disastrous. The dialogue is what they say, but also what they don’t say, and a bit of inconsistency sometimes give more credibility.

5. The continuity of history. Put an eye to the jumps in time and story-puzzle.

6. The liveliness of the scene. It depends on gestures, movements, dialogues and events that are happening. It is very difficult for a character recalling his childhood in a rocking chair to be “alive.” It is better to “move” the character.

7. The narrative resources. Figures of thought and style resources: metaphors, anaphors and cataphors, irony, understatement, a variety of records and narrative tone...

8. Originality. Theme, plot, point of view, treatment, creating characters, metaphors and topics throughout the text.

9. Structure. Experimentation should not be encouraged with structure (jumps in time, circular stories, narrator p.o.v. changes…). Writing well a challenging but simple story is much more difficult than it looks. So, discourage complex structures.

10. Rhythm. Slow, frenetic, monotonous, uneven… It has to do with the length and disparity of extent in sentences, with alternation of descriptions and dialogues, and the number of events or scenes that happen in the story.

11. Personality. It is very difficult to detect and define a true “personal style”, but it always comes up and is linked with honesty, sincerity and deepening at the time of writing.

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(c) Enrique Páez

Creative Writing Tips

When writing a story try to follow these 11 tips

1^st. Before starting to write, plan ahead your story: Think out what’s the story you want to tell about: main characters and major events. Maybe you already know the end before writing the first sentence: that's not bad.

2^nd. Once you start writing, do not stop: Keep your hand moving. Write and write telling the story with many details (they will appear while you write). When writing, do not worry about punctuation, or spelling, or syntax. You can correct it at the end, when you've finished your story, not while you’re writing it.

3^rd. Keep from beginning to end the same point of view of the narrator: Do not jump from first to third person, and vice versa, in the middle of the story. (Don’t write: “Andrew came downstairs, went out and bought the newspaper. I browsed and searched to find out the winning number in the lottery. It was mine! I was the winner!”) Don’t you see the bug? You must be able to maintain the same point of view from beginning to end in your story.

4^th. Do not change tenses: If you go from past to present without realizing it, it’s a mistake. As in the previous case, jumping in a moment of peak action should be avoided: “When I went into the bank I met Julian. I recognized him immediately. I go out, I cross the street and I hide in a doorway...”

5^th. Do not use telegraphic language: Describe the space, dialogues, gestures and actions with the necessary extension. Don’t be lazy. If the idea is clear in your mind, put it down with as much detail as possible.

6^th. Avoid if possible the use of onomatopoeia and ellipsis: Writing isn’t a comic. In colloquial speech it could have primary use and aids communication, but in the world of writing, onomatopoeias must be described through their effects. Instead of writing: “Esther fell off the chair. Crash! Alas!,” it’ll be better to describe it: “The chair creaked and broke up making a big noise. Esther fell down, hit her forehead and gave a cry of pain.”

7^th. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. From a misconception that literary language is the ornate, baroque and elaborate one, people try to imitate the great authors using a language that sounds “literary”. If I say: “The white, spongy and soft snow falls gently upon the roof,” I'm wasting words, because the snow itself has no other choice but to be white, spongy, soft, and falling gently.

8^th. Use common words: To tell a story it is not necessary to resort to unusual or high-sounding words, but the naturalness, vitality and continuity of the scenes. If you describe a child on the beach who says: “Oh, Dad. Have you noticed how beautiful is that crustacean that lies beneath the sun?” No one believes it, because children don’t speak like that. So ask yourself: Do your characters speak within the text as real people speak in normal life? Use concrete nouns.

9^th. Don’t write philosophical theses about loneliness, war, and love, but tell stories, fictional but concrete, starting with the names of the characters, buildings, streets and cities. Instead of tree, write pine, ash or acacia; instead of a car, write Peugeot 205 red type. Not a town, but Rome. Not a child, but Charles. Not a flower, but a white rose. Not a store, but Smithson’s Appliances.

10^th. Fill your story with details and movement: A tale should almost always have “something” (an odd story, a conflict, a strong scene, an event). Make something happen (not necessarily tragedies), and be sure that your characters move and make gestures. Describe them using all senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell) in small, visual and tangible details. It is often the magic of a well-described scene that catches the reader’s attention.

11^th. Check all it when you’ve finished: Edit, change, cut the unnecessary, rewrite, add details and sharpen your text. Now is the right time to do it.

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(c) Enrique Páez