Restricted – Christina Lau

Christina Lau has had a tough life. When I first saw her, in the wheelchair, of course, I instantly felt bad and knew there was a story behind it. But as she kept talking, I realized that she is just like the rest of us, just in a wheelchair. She has accomplished many things after the accident actually, such as being a mouth painter. She didn’t know anything about it before the accident. This shows that people are capable of doing whatever they want, as long as they try. Christina Lau had to start everything all over again after the accident. Simple things like sitting, she just wanted to go back to her old life. But, things have already happened and you can’t change the past. Since she thought she couldn’t do anything, she took up mouth painting, which she had never tried before the accident. This shows if you never try you won’t know how far you can go. Lau also had trouble finding a job as companies didn’t accept her. And I get that from the interviewer’s perspective, they would think that people in wheelchairs would need a lot of help to do things, so they might not want to go through that. But it’s not that they can’t do anything. She took up mouth painting and the MFPA helps with her income. Before the accident, Christina Lau recalls that she hardly met her husband and her family as she was always swarmed with work as a prison officer. She now regrets not doing that, she spends more time with her family and wants to live a simple life, as she can’t be as complicated as the life as a prison officer.

The Untold Story – Mukul Deva

The Untold Story

Mukul Deva owns two companies, has written 16 books which some have turned into Bollywood films and was in the military for 16 and a half years. He also dropped out of school when he was 16. When he was writing his first two books, the process of writing it was a bit hard at first, but as he got to his third book, the process became clear. He believes the best way to learn something is to just do it. There are no rules in writing. the process of writing a book that Mukul Deva believes is the easiest is this:

THE SCIENCE

Plot == Romance, Thriller, Mystery ??

Setting == time/period and location

Characters == POV, are they likable or dislikable, there are others and off stage.

Incidents == Tension, Risk, Danger, Desire

Then put it into a two-page outline. Then break that, into chapters.

THE ART – how we’re gonna do it

Research == You must know a lot about everything you’re writing about, or else you might get things that are wrong, such as wrong timings, or anything big or even small mistakes.

Validate == Check if it is logically correct

Then, write the story.

Edit it, then submit it.

Mukul Deva is a visual writer, so he imagines the scene in his head, then writes it. All his books tackle a problem but in a way where it isn’t that direct. The way he doesn’t copy or get ideas from other people’s books is that he doesn’t read the genre he writes. He believes writing, is a nice way of expressing things.

 

The Gods Are Crying – Danny Raven Tan

Danny Raven Tan

At first, I thought he was just going to talk about art and what he does, but he also talked about his journey and what he believes in. His home is a space where he created art for the community, he also wanted to spend more time with his mother. He believes- ‘we were all created to create something’ and that Art is the most intense version of individualism. More about his journey- he used to work as a property manager and wanted to create a designer hotel. But he lost patience and gave up, But soon later he saw in the newspaper, news for a new designer hotel, which made him feel mad and sad. He believes that God said, ‘Trust my timing”. In 2010 he got pancreatic cancer and went for a seven-hour operation. He didn’t tell his mom and dad, he lied and said he was going overseas, Tan doesn’t see the point of telling them as he doesn’t want them to worry even more, as his mom has dementia. He went through Chemo over and over again but he got sick of it and told the doctors to stop as he couldn’t handle it anymore. He was sinking into depression. Tan got a tattoo on his scar as he thought it was a reminder of his nightmare, every scar has a story. To this day he never told his mom about his cancer. When he turned 48, that was his turning point.

  • He bought a flat
  • He started to paint again

He made an art series called ‘Gods are crying because humans are not’. He believes there is only one god, but that it comes in different forms. He also believes that language doesn’t divide us, but fear does. The main thing he believes is that the worst thing is, to live in regret.

Pan Asian – Marc Nair

Writing Against.

Writing against is Marc Nair’s way of speaking up. He uses poetry to convey problems that not many people pay attention to. What I noticed when he was recited some of his poems, was that they were kind of written in a sarcastic way. More about his poetry; the urban experience dominates his poem. The themes of a city that resonate with him are identity. Nair also often writes against the city than with. He believes there are other ways other than the way everyone does it. He looks for a scene on some streets while taking photos as he believes that photos can tell a story too. He also wrote poems with the photos he took.

Open Ended – Steve Dawson

Steve Dawson was talking about his five best tips when interviewing someone as he is an interviewer for ESPN. The first tip is Ask open-ended questions, provide a challenge for your interviewee. As an interviewer, you do not want to ask questions that have the answer yes or no. The second tip is to set the answer free, don’t set unnecessary parameters. ‘How does it feel’ is a good question starter, it might sound bad but it is a good question to ask. Third, don’t interrupt. Fourth, be a single shooter, don’t ask questions that are double-barreled because most likely the interviewee will forget about the first question and only answer the second one. The fifth and final tip is to listen, you can listen in order to ask the follow-up question. An additional tip he gave was, don’t be a fangirl; be professional. The interviewee would respect you more.