One book of Ricky Lee on fiction writing. Ricky Lee is a well-known scriptwriter with a lot of award-winning films in his portfolio – Himala, Salome, Brutal, Moral, etc. Most of his stories were considered weird and initially not considered commercially viable.
One practice he observes is maintaining a cabinet full of story ideas and half-finished works. From time to time, he gets a material from the cabinet to work. The cabinet was not considered as a cemetery of ideas but an ocean of materials where you can fish out and work on.
One thing we usually ask from those with more experience from us is advice. He summarized his advice to would-be writers:
- Challenges are opportunities to do well.
- On the resentment with editors: If you cannot accept that your work will always be in the hands of somebody else, then write at the same time in another medium, like novel.it will help you keep your sanity.
- On working with big people in the industry: Move gracefully like a small banca navigating its way in an ocean of ships.
- Work hard, play hard. Never forget the joy in writing. Why you’re here.
- Accept constraints
- The best way to learn rules is to break them. The writer is not a conformist.
- It’s a lonely profession. Collaborate. Ask help from a friend. Form a community.
- Keep knowing yourself. Write about what matters to you.
- Write for others too. Write about what matters to others.
- Be generous. Give and give until it hurts.
- And when the doubts and insecurities come, accept that they will always be part of what you do.
Why are the chairs not enough? In his younger days when as a migrant in Manila, he stayed with five other youths in a room with only four chairs. When they eat together, once of them would remain standing. Life’s lesson taught him that there will always be not enough chairs, so learn how to adjust and work for a desirable situation in the future.
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