An English Writer
He (b.1974) was born in Yangon. His flash fiction Parallel Lines was anthologized in 2011 New Asian Writing Anthology, and his short story An Overheated Heart was anthologized in Hidden Words/Hidden Worlds Ethnic Short Story Anthology. He was a short story instructor and a literary translator of the H2 project. He was a first prize winner of poetry for 2015 Wales National Day. He is currently a freelance contributor for Myanmar Times. His latest novel An English Writer came out in 2019. His writings can be read in Asia Literary Review, Borderless, Countercurrent, Kitaab, Mad in the Asia Pacific, Mekong Review, NAW, PIX, South East of Now, and several others.
Q.1 Tell us something about yourself not many
people know?
A. Most of the
people know me as a writer, but I am also a cartoonist for fun and a photographer.
As a hobby, I also play classical guitar for amusement.
Q.2 When should we expect your next book? What
will it be about?
A. For my second
novel, it will take a few years to come up with it. And it is a story based on
the question of integrity in a society that assumes it fragile, and it is hard
to rebuild when it’s broken. During this time, I am almost ready to launch my
second poetry collection titled Waves and Other Poems.
Q.3 When did you decide to write An English
Writer?
A. As soon as I
found a thin poetry book named Rainbow Land and Other Burma Verses by the
British author named C.J Richards who lived in Burma in colonial times from 1920
to 1947 in Burma, and he also served as an I.C.S and ranked as a D.C (District Commissioner).
Normally, I have seen several foreign authors like Rudyard Kipling, Somerset
Maugham, Rabindranath Tagore, Pablo Neruda, H.G. Wells, Paul Theroux, Pico
Iyer, etc. coming to Yangon (Rangoon) for their sojourns and later they
published books on Burma (Myanmar).
Q.4 Where do you hope to take your writing in
the future?
A. I will
continue to venture into literary novels and fiction. And I also think that
the literature I have written belongs to the South-East Asian region although I
primarily write in English which is not my mother tongue, I use it as a
universal language. But I found that other Myanmar authors write in English before me, and this genre has already formed, but not many people out
of my country have noticed this.
Q.5 What
were your feelings when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
A. I felt really
excited. In fact, I felt ecstasy when I first saw the cover of the finished
product.
Q.6 What do you want readers to take away from
your books?
A. They can get something
to reconsider about life, history, and culture and they will also get known to
Myanmar culture and customs through my books.
Q.7 What was one of the most surprising things
you learned while writing this book?
A. I learned that
writing this book is a kind of self-exploring and awareness of one’s life, and I
felt that it is composing bits of stories which were scattered into a personal
character which was forgotten with time. But literary merits are
still alive although the author himself was disappeared from public sight.
Q.8 What was the hardest part of writing this
book?
A. Chapter
divisions are really hard because it is quite difficult to collect facts on an
unknown author’s life.
Q.9 Do you believe in writer’s block? If yes,
how do you deal with it?
A. Yes, I do,
especially for a writer. But luckily, I have a good writer friend who readily
asks me a lot of questions to carry on with the story and who sits to drink tea
with me at a local teashop for generating ideas.
Q.10 What is the best piece of advice anyone
has ever given you?
A. Read and
write.
Q.11 How
many books have written? Which one is your favorite?
A. I have already
written thirteen books so far including two novellas, three essay collections,
two non-fiction, two short story collections, one poetry, etc. My favorite is An English Writer.
Q.12 When
was your last memorable learning curve?
A. I think it is
an exponential growth because I notice that my writing craft has increased with
my experience in writing.
Q.13 Tell us about your writing process while
you’re working?
A. I use the Freytag
pyramid as a guide to divide chapters and to create settings. I study people
for character development and dialogues.
Q.14 Do you
have any unique and quirky writing habits?
A. No. But
sometimes I prefer writing my stories in a teashop if you say so it is a quirky
habit.
Q.15 How
does your family/friends feel about your book or writing venture in general?
A. At first, my
family did not agree with me being a writer. But now I have overcome that. My parents
have recognized my writing efforts, and my old schoolmates praise me and envy
my writing career.
Q.16 What is the most unethical practice in
the publishing industry?
A. Cheating and plagiarism.
Q.17 What would you share with folks who are
skeptical of reading Non-Fiction?
A. As long as a
non-fiction book keeps true to facts, it is believable.
Q.18 Which
famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?
A. I like to meet
Vikram Seth again because I first met him at the first Irrawaddy Literary
Festival in Yangon in 2013, and I really enjoyed his literary talks back then. I
would like to listen again to his literary talk and experience in literature. He is really inspirational.
Q.19 What books
have most influenced your life?
A. I have several
books to name for that.
Q.20 Share
the experience of your journey so far?
A. There are ups and downs, frustrations, and happiness during this writing journey because I met some fake publishers, bossy editors, etc. But, self-confidence and persistence in writing conquer them finally. And I manage to live as a writer.
Share your social account links -
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/san.lintun.12
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/san-lin-tun-3b67a050
Instagram - @sanlin855
Blog - www.writersanlintun.blogspot.c
You can buy San's Book from - https://www.lulu.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment