I was born and raised
in Sibu, Sarawak and I still live here. Following the advice of my elders, I
took
up a matriculation
course in Peninsular Malaysia which eventually led me to further my studies in
Japan. Seeing how well
informed the Japanese people were of their own culture made me wonder
why my friends back
home know so little about my Iban heritage. It took more than a decade for me
to decide to start
writing Iban Dream, and it took almost as long as that to finally see it
published.
What inspired you to take up writing?
The Sarawak jungle and
the Dayak culture inspire me. I love reading history books when I was
young, and the more I
read about adventurers like James and Charles Brooke, as well as the work of
Benedict Sandin and
Charles Hose, the more I started to believe that the gods and goddesses of Iban
folklore existed. It
also didn’t hurt that I had a great-aunt who was a good storyteller and a dad
who
loved to hunt.
What is the funniest thing you’ve encountered
on your journey as a Storyteller?
My bad English. I’ve
always been proud of my knowledge of the English language until the day I
sat down to type out a
story. It took me close to two weeks to work on the short story, and when I
eventually had the
courage to show it to someone, the only good thing the reader could think to
say
was that there was no
spelling mistake.
Which character from any book do you think you
most resemble?
I would say JIM, from
Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. Why? Because I’ve been a coward most of my
life, yet at the same
time have lots of vain-glorious ideas about what I am supposed to be. Having
read the book has
helped me faced my demons, so that now whenever I fantasized about doing
something, I would
challenge myself to actually do it. (In fact, one of the demons I had to face
was
actually finishing the
book because all of Jim’s regrets and failures felt too close for comfort.)
Please tell us a little about your book or
latest release. What were the challenges you faced while
writing it and bringing it onto the market?
Iban Dream is about
the adventure of a headhunter in 18th century Borneo. Christianity is only 3
generations old from
my Iban mother’s side of the family, so superstition is still quite thick. The
first
hurdle I had to cross
was the spiritual barrier, as in should I or shouldn’t I write a story with
Iban gods
as characters. Then
the next challenge was to find someone willing to read beyond the synopsis.
Most seemed to have a
fixed idea of what to expect from this kind of story, so nothing happened for
years until I come
across a publisher who was looking for Asia based stories. The e-book version
has
been out since May
2012, and I expect to launch the print copy in May 2013.
Your novel Iban Dream is about an orphan boy growing
up in Borneo. Do you face issues with Asian slang or certain traits that only
Asians have with which Western readers might not be able to identify? How do
you address these issues?
One Iban trait that I
had difficulty with was their habit of referring to a parent or a grandparent
based
on the name of a first
child. Ibans living in the longhouse don’t call someone by their first name
after they have had a
child. Since I can’t actually explain this in a story, I made a point of
introducing
a child first then
named the mother by her own first name, Sika. After that I introduced the other
name she is addressed
by via dialogue, Indai Menjat. It took a while to plan the scene, but I feel
that
it was well worth it
because it allows the reader to be eased into the idea. For more visual words,
I
just repeat their
equivalent in English, sometimes even treating them like adjectives, e.g. blue
tarum
or red engkudu dye.
What do you want your readers to feel or think
after reading your novel? What message do you
want them to hold onto long after they’ve put
down your book?
The Ibans have one
very interesting behavior, in that, if they wish to know whether the ancient
gods
would bless an
important endeavor or not, they would seek to divine it via objects such as the
areca
nut or the movement
and call of particular species of birds. If the divination indicates ‘no’, they
would repeat the
process until they get a ‘yes’. Hence my message is; a strong-willed person is
master of his own
destiny because he can persuade others to support him.
Any parting words of wisdom for our readers:
Don’t just dream about
what you want to do. Plan for it. There are so many opportunities open to
this generation that
it would be a waste to not at least try. Only after you’ve planned, and studied
your options should
you decide whether your dream is plausible.
Awesome! Thanks, Golda for an insightful
interview. Readers, you can get more of Golda by following these links:
Write to me at, Email:
alpha@gmowe.ws
Read my free stories
and novellas, Website: http://www.gmowe.ws/
Find writing tips,
Blogsite: http://wordpress.gmowe.ws/
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/IbanDreamByGoldaMowe
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/@golda_mowe
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