FRIENDLY REQUEST

Assalamualaikum,

I just want to inform my readers that I'm have started writing my fiction novel 'Jerejak' since yesterday. Actually I have been writing two version of it since a couple of months ago but all those drafts were canceled because of my dislike of how my own style of writing in it.

In the first draft, I tried to adopt a basic novel approach of telling a story from a third person perspective (like Harry Potter books) but I dislike it. I simply have no talent to write as though as I was watching the event from a third person view. Furthermore in the first draft I created a lady character 'Wardina' as the protagonist. Unfortunately after reading the book "Men From Mars and Women From Venus" I began to realize that a male author should never pretend that he knew how a woman talks, act and feel. Another thing which contributed to "Wardina" being canceled was the name 'Wardina' itself. I didn't like the name anymore because it reminds me of one Malaysian celebrity who is clearly pro-Anwar.

In the second draft, I adopted the "Twilight" approach which is to tell the story from a first person perspective. Clearly however I have no talent to follow Stephanie Meyer's style of writing. In order to write in such style one have to 'feel' a lot. In Twilight series you could read everything that Bella was thinking and feeling towards Edward, Jacob and other characters in the story. This clearly a style only female author can accomplish. I tried doing the same and ended up feeling ooey-gooeey (yuck!). I now know why in my single days I haven't been able to write a single love letters to all my ex-girlfriends and even my to-be wife. It turned out I am unable to express my feeling through alphabets even-though I am certainly capable of showing it through conduct.

This third draft is the one which worked for me. It's a memoir style like Tun Mahathir in his book 'A Doctor in a House'. I like it and I think I will be able to finish it. Here I don't have to pretent I'm a woman or feeling like a woman. It's just me writing the way I did since AnwarGate 1998 which is an article style. I maintain the way I writes in all my internet articles. The best of all I can even copy and paste from my previous article and that would save a lot of energy.

I'm now looking for "friends" who can assist me in correcting my English grammar. The article is written in English due to the fact that visitors to my blog are 70% foreigners and 30% local. If you're interested then you're welcome to contact me via my facebook (just search for "afterdarkwrites").

It would also be really helpful if regular readers could leave a comment on how to improve the story. In order to do so, just send a 'Friend Request' via your FaceBook to me. I favors those who are willing to use their real identity in their Facebook as my 'friend' who could leave comments.

It has been decided by my seniors that the novel will comprise of three series. The first shall tell the story of the battle in Jerejak, the second about the battle in Putrajaya and the third the battle in Sarawak near Brunei. Once completed, all stories shall be absolutely FREE for anyone to download and re-distribute as long as the entire story originality is maintain. My previous desire to make any money out of it went into flame the moment I decided that I will mention Anwar Ibrahim and several other real-life person in that novel.