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| Peter Solis Nery |
That is why for my first #FridayNightWritersSeries post, it is only fitting to feature this champion of Hiligaynon literature, The Peter Solis Nery:
How did you discover
that you have the passion and the talent for writing?
In life, we all
compensate in one way or another. If we are not pretty enough, we try to be
smarter and/or talented. In my case, I do not just compensate; I always
overcompensate! I knew I was not going to be voted as class consort in Grade 1,
so I ran for class president. To prove my worth, I tried to be the smartest and
most talented. I could not sing as good as our class singer, but I could move
my hips a la John Travolta in Grease
and Saturday Night Fever. Also, when I
was in Grade 1, I won in the national competition on poster making, but I knew I got
the prize more for my ideas and slogan than for my drawing skills. In Grade 3,
I was first published in our school paper. It clarified for me then (before we
had video cameras) that literature is permanent; dance is ephemeral, transient,
temporary. I started in competitive writing via the essay writing contests from
Grades 4-6; and in high school, it was the whole gamut of campus journalism. I
was winning these writing contests left and right, and it effectively boosted
my confidence and literary ambitions. I was editor-in-chief at the University
of the Philippines when I was in college! But in college, I also met people who
were more literary than journalistically inclined. That began my journey in
writing literature like poetry, fiction, and plays.
What do you usually
do when you write? Could you share with us your routine when you’re writing
your plays, poems, and stories?
There is literature on
the go (which I do a lot on social media), and there is the big letter ‘L’
Literature for me that involves a lot of planning and revisions because I want
them to survive 20, maybe 50 years. It can happen that I may start and write an
“instapoem” for social media, but the poem idea can be so inspired that a few
days or weeks later, I may work on it more to make it perfect for a museum, or
a literature class discussion.
I think a lot in the
morning after my prayers, usually when I am having my coffee. I do not go with
all the ideas that buzz around me; some of them are clearly just crap. But when
something new or refreshing or innovative crosses my mind, I make notes. I brew
these ideas in my mind for a few days. I try to imagine how the story unfolds. When
I have a complete story arc (beginning, ending, and maybe some middle), I start
to write. I do a lot of research as I write. Wikipedia and online dictionaries
are my friends. The New Oxford American Dictionary is the default dictionary
that Google search provides me. Sometimes, what I discover in my research leads
me to a different direction, maybe even a different ending. That is fun. If it
leads to nowhere, I just go back to my original story arc.
If the piece is for a
competition, I spend more time revising and editing it. One or two times for
paragraphing, punctuation, and font styling. (Does a certain word need to be
italicized, or should it be in quotation marks; single, or double, quotation
marks?). Three or four times for grammar check. Two or three times for
vocabulary and nuances of the word. (Is it ‘transient’ or ‘transitory’? Why not
‘ephemeral’? Why not use all three?). Then, I give it a rest for a day or
three, or even a week. Then, I edit it again with cruel new eyes, like a
loveless editor angry at the world, and just out to find the littlest mistakes.
I can stay three days
with a poem; maybe a week to ten days with a short story; for a play, maybe two
weeks for one-act, and three weeks to a month for full-length. A short film
script is like a poem to me: either I have the idea down in two days, or I
don’t have a story. A full-length feature is like a full-length play; I need at
least 21 days to get everything down.
I almost always don’t
get bogged down in the middle of a story. Because I don’t start until I have my
complete arc (even if it is just the beginning and the ending, and a vague
middle). Usually, I just wait for my instincts to tell me that I have a story
that already insists to be written. So it can happen that an idea comes to me
on a Monday, and I think about it until Wednesday, maybe research more about it
on Thursday, and then rush to writing on Friday, maybe work until Saturday, so
that I can be done by Sunday. I like a sense of deadline. And Sunday is good
for me so that I can open up myself to a new idea by Monday. I am a writer 24/7
that way, even if I just sit and do nothing (except thinking of possibilities
and story arcs) until about Thursday.
At a young age, you
have already achieved what someone else would take a lifetime to accomplish.
With all of your achievements, do you think the
Peter Solis Nery still has something to prove, and why?
The noble answer is “I
do not have to prove anything to anyone anymore.” But really, as an artist, I
still feel driven to substantiate all the praises and honors given to me, and
all the claims I have made myself as a literary celebrity.
What keeps me young as
a person, and as an artist, are my great enthusiasm to create, and my drive to
challenge stereotypes and status quos. Part of me still wants to prove that I
can adapt, and even thrive, in this new century. As a writer and reader, I have
seen how literature and readership have changed over the last 30 years, and I
am determined to stay relevant in the literary discourse of this new century. I
think such tenacity has earned me the iconic particularizing determiner ‘the’
in The Peter Solis Nery.
Of the dozens of
poems, stories, and plays that you have written, what would you consider your
magnum opus, and why?
I really think that it
should be “Kakunyag: The 100 Erotic Sonnets in Hiligaynon.” Its English
translation “100 Erotic Sonnets from the Hiligaynon” is fine. But the scandal
and audacity of the original 100 erotic sonnets in Hiligaynon is something that
I really cherish as Western Visayas’ premier agent provocateur. I mean, the 100
erotic sonnets is a record-setting achievement in Hiligaynon literature!
A lot of people want
to bury that sonnet-sequence feat, so I promote “Lirio,” the most successful
(and now often copied) short story in Philippine magic realism. “Lirio” is
taught in Philippine high schools so I have no complaint. Although I must add
that some ballsy teachers of 21st century literature are actually teaching some
of my erotic sonnets as these are actually popular with high school students,
and teachers (!).
What tips could you
give to aspiring writers?
The greatest is this
quote of mine that has already made the rounds of social media: “In order to
change the heart and mind of your readers, you have to write about your
truth—your own truth, borne of your time.”
At 52 now, I have
clarified that all great literature must aim to transform its readers. But
writers can only achieve great literature if they imbue their writing with
authenticity, compassion, and generosity of spirit. I think I have become an
icon of literature because readers can recognize and feel these elements in all
of my work, even in my most mundane Facebook posts. Readers can imagine, for
example, the humiliation, ridicule, and rejection that I had to endure to
produce and publish the erotic sonnets in the early part of this new
millennium. But I was willing to sacrifice myself and my reputation (!) so I
could liberate my readers, and even inspire the new generation of writers with
my audacity and passion, with my commitment to Literature and not to the
ephemeral and fast-changing morals of the society from where I write.
Published works
- I Flew a Kite for Maria (New Day Publishers. Quezon City: 1993.) ISBN 971-10-0542-5
- First Few Notes of a Green Symphony (Giraffe Books. Quezon City: 1994.) ISBN 971-8967-06-0
- The Essential Thoughts of a Purple Cat (Giraffe Books. Quezon City: 1996.) ISBN 971-8967-31-1
- Rated R (Giraffe Books. Quezon City: 1997.) ISBN 971-8967-62-1
- Shorts (New Day Publishers. Quezon City: 1997.) ISBN 971-10-1012-7
- Moon River, Butterflies, and Me (New Day Publishers. Quezon City: 1997.) ISBN 971-10-1013-5
- Shy Evocations of Childhood (Giraffe Books. Quezon City: 1997.) ISBN 971-8967-67-2
- My Life as a Hermit (Giraffe Books. Quezon City: 1998.) ISBN 971-8967-74-5
- Fireflies for a Yuppie (Giraffe Books. Quezon City: 1998.) ISBN 971-8967-75-3
- A Loneliness Greater than Love (DreamWings Publishing. Iloilo: 2000.) ISBN 971-92146-0-0
- Fantasia (DreamWings Publishing. Iloilo: 2000.) ISBN 971-92146-1-9
- Rain as Gentle as Tears (DreamWings Publishing. Iloilo: 2001.) ISBN 971-92146-2-7
- The Prince of Ngoyngoy (DreamWings Publishing. Iloilo: 2001.) ISBN 971-92146-3-5
- The Passion of Jovita Fuentes (New Day Publishers. Quezon City: 2009.) ISBN 978-971-10-1206-9
- 100 Erotic Sonnets from the Hiligaynon (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2010.) ISBN 1-4537-1071-X
- Love in the Time of the Bakunawa (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2012.) ISBN 1-478-13998-6
- If the Shoe Fits: Or, The Five Men Imelda Marcos Meets in Heaven (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2012.) ISBN 1-466-22033-3
- Cory, Full of Grace (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2012) ISBN 1-478-14075-5
- Kakunyag: Erotic Sonnets in Hiligaynon (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2012) ISBN 1-481-01687-3
- Stories in a Mellifluous Language (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2012) ISBN 1-481-04307-2
- Peter’s Prize Very, Very Short Stories in Hiligaynon (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2014) ISBN 1-500-24030-3
- Peter’s Prize Love Poems in Hiligaynon (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2014) ISBN 1-500-26138-6
- Peter’s Prize Children’s Stories and Poems in Hiligaynon (CreateSpace. U.S.A.:2014) ISBN 1-500-33582-7
- Peter’s Prize The Saddest Love Stories Ever Told in Hiligaynon (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2014) ISBN 1-500-38056-3
- The Poem-a-thon Anthology: Mga Binalaybay sang Mayo 2014 (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2014) ISBN 1-500-65312-8
- The Passion of Jovita Fuentes: International edition (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2015) ISBN 1-515-14242-6
- Welcome to Grindr (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2016) ISBN 1-515-14343-0
- Creative Writing: DIWA Senior High School Series (Diwa Learning Systems, Inc. Makati City: 2017) ISBN 978-971-46-0995-2
- At My Father's Wake: 10 Elegies in 3 Languages (CreateSpace. U.S.A.: 2019) ISBN 1-537-10540-X
- After: Prose Poems (KDP. U.S.A.: 2019) ISBN 1-071-32117-X
- Funny, Sad, and Dangerous (KDP. U.S.A.: 2019) ISBN 1-089-03104-1
The Friday Night Writer’s Series is a new project in this blog to connect established and successful writers with my students and readers to inspire them to ignite their creativity and pursue their passions.
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