http://www.scribd.com/doc/50955180/2011-March-16-Gomantak-Times-Features-Page
Writers Unblocked
The vivacious and creative Goa Writers have come up with their very first anthology ‘inside/out’. Lisa Monteiro takes this opportunity to find out who they are and what they do as she speaks to Cecil Pinto,
humour columnist and moderator of the group.
How and when did the Goa Writers group start?
In 2005 Victor Rangel-Ribeiro conducted a two-day Creative Writing Workshop at the Fundacao Oriente in Panjim. After it concluded a few of us participants decided to interact regularly online and in real life. That’s how Goa Writers came into existence. We started out with just five of us and we are now about fifty. Our first meeting was in a small storage room attached to Broadway Book Store in Panjim.
What do you all do?
We meet every month somewhere or the other. At a member’s residence, or office, or in a book shop, or at any convenient place. At a regular meeting we take up a member’s work for critiquing. It is circulated online among the members previously and at the meet we meet, give criticism and suggestions.
What sort of work do members submit?
Usually something that they plan to publish, or send to a publication. For example if I have written a short story and plan to send it to a magazine I might ask for it to be critiqued at a meeting so that I can improve it before I send it in. Submissions for critiquing have included stories, columns, feature articles, essays, entire novel manuscripts, book ideas, movie screenplays, poems, play ideas, what-have-you.
So basically you just critique each other’s work?
Well most of us also go drinking after the meeting. Ha! But on an average meeting, yes, it is basically critiquing. But we have special meetings where we get guest writers, editors and publishers to address us. There are so many talented people from the field passing through Goa and we try and interact with them, to learn more about the craft and the business of writing.
How has the group helped you?
I am a founder member and a moderator, along with Jose Lourenco and Frederick Noronha. Being part of Goa Writers has helped me immensely. Keep in mind that in addition to our monthly meetings we are interacting online every day on writing and related matters. Often I have been stuck with a column and I have sent it to the group and got invaluable suggestions. I have met and interacted closely with so many interesting people, members and their guests, who I would never have met otherwise. And of course so many windows of opportunity have opened. When some group member gets a writing assignment that he cannot handle he asks someone from the group if they would be interested.
Can anybody join?
We define ourselves as ‘A group of writers with a strong Goa connection hoping to improve our writing skills through interaction, online and at regular meetings.’ So if you have a strong Goa connection and wish to improve your skills through interaction you are most welcome to join. The procedure is pretty simple. Find yourself a sponsor- any existing member of the group who will vouch for you.Through the sponsor you send in a self-intro and some of your work to the group which then decides whether you can join.
How does a prospective member find a sponsor?
You don’t find the Phantom. Phantom finds you - Old Jungle Saying. Just kidding. Ask around. Here are a few names of our members. Isabel Vas, Damodar Mauzo, Fatima Gracias, Vivek Menezes, Prava Rai, Sucheta Potnis, Wendell Rodricks, Aniruddha Sen Gupta, Savia Viegas, Tony de Sa, Sheela Jaywant, Alito Sequeira, Rahul Srivastava, Sachin Chatte, Lucano Alvares, Venita Coelho, Kornelia Santoro… if you don’t know any of these people then you must be living in a cave. Goa is a small place. Everybody knows somebody.
That’s quite an interesting mix of people. But how many of them are full-time writers?
Most of our members in fact don’t write full-time for a living and so we have an eclectic mix of teachers, engineers, journalists, flower sellers, publishers, booksellers, cooks, shop keepers, housewives, tailors, what-have-you. Each member brings a certain strength to the table.
Is there a membership fee?
No. None at all. The word sponsor here is used in its original meaning: One who vouches for the suitability of a candidate for admission
Has anybody been refused membership?
Well occasionally people with no permanent Goa connection want to join. Two years back there was a major Conference of Technical Writers happening in Goa and suddenly we got a rash of applications. Turns out they just wanted people to hang out with during their short holiday in Goa. I mean it’s not that we don’t like hanging out with interesting people but Technical Writers. Bah! Also we don’t want people joining us purely for socialising purpose or for networking. We want people who are serious about improving their writing. And we want active members who will participate in discussions, and not voyeurs.
Not everybody is open to constructive criticism. How do you handle this at Goa Writers?
Quite frankly if you cannot take constructive criticism you should not join the Goa Writers. Many of our members have gained so much from the critiquing that Goa Writers features in the Acknowledgement section of many books. We have had dropouts along the way by a few people who thought their work was above criticism. Good luck to them. I would also like to take this opportunity to dispel a canard being spread by an ex-member. He claims he left because we have a rule that every work by every member has to be submitted to the group before being sent for publication. This is total nonsense. Even of each of us writes just a 1000 words every week that would mean works totalling 50,000 words to be read and critiqued every week. Who has the time for this? There is no compulsion on members to send in their work.
Considering that you all are a very creative lot, why didn’t you all come up with a better name than Goa Writers group?
It’s the Goa Writers group, or just Goa Writers. The word ‘group’ is not part of our name but is most often used in conjunction. If you can come up with a name that better describes us I would be glad to put it to the group for consideration.
Do you feel writing is for everybody?
I’m not an established writer to answer such a profound question but let’s just say one can never underestimate the value of good communication. I personally encourage everyone I know to write.There is so much to be said, so many stories to be told, I don’t see why everyone should not pen down their thoughts. In this day of Internet, blogs, webpages and Print-on-Demand publishing, everyone can become a writer. The reading public will then sift the good from the bad.
Has there been any high moment for the group in these past six years?
There have been many but what comes to mind immediately is Amitav Ghosh’s praise for our deliberations and his wholehearted immersion in our group activities when he is here in Goa.
Does the group have a website or blog to its name?
As of now we don’t have a website or blog. We are rather low key, as you must have noticed, and make our presence felt in many ways but without shouting from the rooftops. In fact this is the first interview I have ever given regarding Goa Writers and it is just to add to the publicity of our book ‘inside/out’.
What are the achievements of the group so far?
I don’t know if they are achievements, but let’s say we have conducted a lot of activities for our members and guests. Many writing and editing workshops, a Literature Quiz, a Screenwriting Workshop and lots of great parties! Of course we also partnered the Goa Literature and Arts Festival last year and now we have a compilation book ‘inside/out’. But the underlying and non-glamorous achievement is that our writing has improved - hopefully.
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http://www.scribd.com/doc/50955180/2011-March-16-Gomantak-Times-Features-Page
Everybody’s reading ‘inside/out’
At 6 pm on March 23 at Literati Bookshop in Calangute, Amitav Ghosh will release Goa Writers’ first compilation book - ‘inside/out: New Writing from Goa’. Lisa Monteiro gets Cecil Pinto talking about the
book.
How did this anthology come about?
Over the years we have often toyed with the idea of compiling a book of our writings but nobody has ever taken the idea forward. Finally three years back Helene Derkin Menezes decided to take it on as a project and over many months managed to cajole and threaten and coax us to send in contributions. It was a long process as only ‘fresh’ writing was acceptable, and not something that had already been published. After this tedious exercise of getting in and compiling the contributions, Helene was joined by Jose Lourenco in the process of getting each piece edited and proof read. They were then joined by Aniruddha Sen Gupta who did the formatting, typesetting and designing.
Other members did help out but Helene, Jose and Annie are the core group who saw this effort through brilliantly.
It must have been a complex process working with 29 writers?
Let’s say it has been a trying process for them three and a learning process for us all. Every decision had to be taken transparently and with consensus. Every option had to be explored; every opinion discussed. When you have fifty creative writers involved in a project you have fifty different opinions -all equally valid. How do we name the book? What is the cover design going to be? Do we have illustrations? Photos? What font do we use? What about photos of contributors? Do we need an Introduction? To each writer too? How big should the book be? What should we price it at? Each agonizing decision taken over multiple discussions. And the process goes on… What sort of launch do we have? Where and when? Do we have a pre-launch press conference? Who all do we give review copies? Do we give credit to distributors? What discount do we give to retailers?
What is the significance of the title ‘inside/out’?
Well at the time that we decided to do a compilation book, we decided there should be a unifying theme. We played with many concepts and then someone suggested inside/out which we all liked. The theme has been interpreted in so many different ways by different members.
It is rare to find work of established writers alongside amateurs. Comment.
It makes for a nice mix doesn’t it? But quite frankly I don’t see any of the pieces as amateurish. They might have been written by non-established writers but each piece has gone through a critiquing and editing process that has polished the piece into something very readable.
What is the aim of this book?
Some of us who don’t have a book to our name wanted something to sign. Just kidding. There was no profound aim. We wanted to have something to show for our existence as Goa Writers.
What audience are you targeting?
Anyone who is interested in fresh writing from Goa.
How can you justify the articles contributed by foreigners in the book? Aren’t there enough Goan writers out there?
Please understand that we are Goa Writers and not Goan Writers. All these ‘foreigners’ are very much active members of our group and have a strong connection to Goa by domicile, marriage, work, ethnicity, whatever. Also we don’t intend to be wholly representative of writing from Goa. Sure there are many writers in Goa, and there are Goan writers who are not members of our group. This book is from the Goa Writers group and so it represents just us.
The topics are unconventional and light. Frederick writes of his romance with cyberspace, you of the few minutes before your wedding, Melinda about settling down in Goa and life in the village. The book is far from boring. It is fresh with many personal experiences in it. What prompted the group not to come up with the standard book on Goa and how did these myriad topics emerge?
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