AN AUTHOR from the UST Publishing House (USTPH) urged Filipino writers to have the courage to write a story instead of focusing on “finding a voice” or one’s writing style.
“It takes courage to really write a story. Instead of saying, ‘I want to be a writer,’ learn to say, ‘I want to write this story.’ That’s the toughest decision,” said Angelo Sarge Lacuesta during a fiction writing workshop last Sept. 23 at the Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig.
Lacuesta, editor at large of Esquire Philippines, said writing with courage is about winning the “war against cliché” or the things one cannot say.
“[W]e write stories because there’s something in us that we couldn’t explain to ourselves. [I]t is also why it’s scary when you write because you unlock a lot of things about yourself that you can’t say, but that’s part of it when we revealed to ourselves the difficult truth,” he said.
Lacuesta also urged aspiring writers to aim for the image of the story instead of its structure.
“Don’t think too much about the structure. Follow your heart, literally, follow your heartbeat because this is the way we see things. This is the way we feel things, and the story develops this way,” he said.
Lacuesta is the author of “Coral Cove and Other Stories,” published by USTPH and “A Waiting Room Companion,” published by Bughaw of the Ateneo de Manila University Press.
The event was organized by Write Things, a creative writing center for kids, teens and adults.
