Ika Natassa's Blog

New York mungkin berada di urutan teratas daftar kota yang paling banyak dijadikan setting cerita dan film, bahkan ada artikel yang membahas beberapa film di mana New York sendiri merupakan salah satu karakter utama karena tidak mungkin memindahkan setting dari New York ke kota lain tanpa ‘menghancurkan’ filmnya. Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail, Blake Edwards’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, sampai Home Alone 2: Lost in New York besutan Chris Columbus.

Ke kota inilah Raia, seorang penulis best-seller, mengejar inspirasi, setelah sekian lama tidak mampu menggoreskan satu kalimat pun. Buat orang lain mungkin berlebihan, tapi bagi Raia belum punya ide untuk menulis itu menyedihkan. Maybe that’s how she knows how much she loves writing. But even the things that we love can make us feel miserable sometimes, right?

Raia pun menjadikan setiap sudut kota ini 'kantor’-nya, berjalan kaki menyusuri Brooklyn, Tribeca, Soho, Central Park, Kensington, Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, sampai Queens, mencari sepenggal cerita di tiap jengkalnya. Di orang-orang yang berpapasan dengannya, dalam percakapan yang dia dengar, dalam tatapan mata yang sempat bertaut dengan kedua matanya, walau hanya sedetik dua detik. Namun bahkan setelah dua bulan melakukan ini setiap hari, mulai dari ditemani daun-daun yang menguning berguguran sampai butiran salju yang mulai memutihkan kota ini, layar laptop di hadapan Raia masih saja kosong tanpa cerita.

Sampai akhirnya dia bertemu seseorang yang mengajarinya melihat kota ini dengan cara berbeda.

I fell in
love with books almost immediately after I can read when I was just 4 or 5
years old, and I can definitely say that all the awesome books that I have
encountered since then in one way or the other is what inspired me to be a
writer.  I always wanted to have that
awesome superpower that every writer has: the power to create a world with
their imagination.  A world that does not
just exist on paper, but also in the mind of the readers, even long after they
finished reading the last page.

One of the
writers that I admire is Sophie Kinsella. It’s just so awesome how she can
create such a memorable character like Becky Bloomwood, how she can keep the
series more and more exciting with each book, and how she always finds new,
invigorating topic to explore through fiction, like how a teenager lives with
anxiety disorder in Finding Audrey.  I would definitely love to sit down with her
over tea or coffee and talk about books and writing.

 A couple of
weeks ago, my publisher offered me a chance to interview Sophie!  So here’s the transcript of the interview as
we talked about her books, writing method, her most rewarding experience as a
writer, and many many more.  

  Finding
Audrey is your first young adult book.  When you started writing
it—and your previous books too, for that matter—did you start with a
particular genre in mind, or you just let where the stories take you?

Whenever I start to write a book I start with a simple
plot idea: “What if…?” So with Becky Bloomwood it was: “What if a financial journalist
was a shopaholic?” or with The Undomestic
Goddess it was: “What if a brilliant young lawyer who can’t cook has to
become a housekeeper?”. Then I start to plan the story carefully, and the voice
comes to me. With Finding Audrey I
suddenly had the idea for a girl with social anxiety disorder, and her crazy
family, including a teenage brother addicted to gaming. I knew once I had
conceived the character that she would be a young teenager and I would have to
tell the story through her eyes – and so it became a Young Adult book.

I heard that it only took you a month to
write Finding Audrey.  Was it
the fastest book you’ve ever written?  Which title took you the longest to
finish, and what were some of the biggest challenges and obstacles you went
through to finish it?

Yes I did write Finding
Audrey in a month. It was like I was possessed! I had this story and I had
to tell it – it poured out! My other books usually take me about five to six
months actually to write, but I might be planning for at least six months
before that, even while I am finishing another book. Some books take a long
time to work out the plotting – when I was writing Shopaholic Ties The Knot, I didn’t know till very close to the end
how I was going to resolve Becky’s dilemma!

What inspired you to write Finding Audrey?

I always write what I see around me, and I see nowadays a
lot of teenagers who are very stressed by modern life – by the expectations of
themselves and their parents, the pressures of social media and trying to be
‘perfect’. That’s what was in my mind when the character of Audrey came to me.
I don’t know whether it is the same in Indonesia, but from the large number of
comments I’ve had on social media, I suspect it is the same story all over the
world.

Becky Bloomwood is one of my most favorite
fictional characters; she’s so ‘human’.  Does her life somewhat mirror any
experiences you’ve had?

Well, I was a financial journalist like Becky when I
first started writing, so she’s like me in that respect! Some of her experiences
are mine, but mainly I just try and think of the craziest and most alarming
situations she could get herself into, and write them!

I really admire your talent in comic
writing; each one of your books always has this effortless funny moment, even
in Finding Audrey which revolves
around a serious topic: living with anxiety disorder.  Is that something
that comes easily to you?

I’m not sure about coming easily, but it is something I
really try to do. The thing that makes me happiest is to see someone reading
what I’ve written and laughing. You can say so much through humour. And comedy
is what I like to read myself.

Once an idea of a story came to you, how
long does it usually take before you pen the first sentence?  What kind of
preparations do you usually do beforehand?

Usually it is at least six months before I will actually
start to write the book, though I will start planning straightaway. I like to
be planning my next book or even two books whilst I am writing the current one.
Once I have an idea I will start making notes and thinking through possible
plot ideas. I won’t start actually writing until I have a full plan of the
whole plot – which I put up on my wall on file cards.

Did you always want to be an author since
you were a little kid?  Can you tell us the first story that you had
written back then?

My mother always used to tell stories to my sisters and
me, so I was always used to coming up with ideas and plots. When I was younger
I used to write music too – I wrote a little children’s musical in fact. I
can’t remember the first story I came up with. It was probably about a
ballerina as I was mad about ballet when I was little.

What is the most rewarding experience for
you as a writer after all these years?

The most rewarding thing is when my readers say they have
enjoyed my book and especially when they have found it funny. This year, it has
been very special to hear from a lot of teenagers who have related to Finding Audrey . I think it is very
difficult to be a young person nowadays and if Audrey helps, that makes me
happy.

Is there a book (a topic) that you really
wanted to write but never get around to writing it yet?

I have always wanted to write a gory police crime novel.
The trouble is my characters are too nice and keep cracking jokes. It doesn’t
really work in that genre!

Dalam dunia penerbangan, dikenal istilah critical eleven, sebelas menit paling kritis di dalam pesawat—tiga menit setelah take off dan delapan menit sebelum landing—karena secara statistik delapan puluh persen kecelakaan pesawat umumnya terjadi dalam rentang waktu sebelas menit itu. It’s when the aircraft is most vulnerable to any danger.

In a way, it’s kinda the same with meeting people. Tiga menit pertama kritis sifatnya karena saat itulah kesan pertama terbentuk, lalu ada delapan menit sebelum berpisah—delapan menit ketika senyum, tindak tanduk, dan ekspresi wajah orang tersebut jelas bercerita apakah itu akan jadi awal sesuatu ataukah justru menjadi perpisahan.

Ale dan Anya pertama kali bertemu dalam penerbangan Jakarta-Sydney. Tiga menit pertama Anya terpikat, tujuh jam berikutnya mereka duduk bersebelahan dan saling mengenal lewat percakapan serta tawa, dan delapan menit sebelum berpisah Ale yakin dia menginginkan Anya.

Kini, lima tahun setelah perkenalan itu, Ale dan Anya dihadapkan pada satu tragedi besar yang membuat mereka mempertanyakan pilihan-pilihan yang mereka ambil… termasuk keputusan pada sebelas menit paling penting dalam pertemuan pertama mereka.

Diceritakan bergantian dari sudut pandang Ale dan Anya, setiap babnya merupakan kepingan puzzle yang membuat kita jatuh cinta atau benci kepada karakter-karakternya, atau justru keduanya.

#CriticalEleven, PO opens July 1st 2015 at 11 AM at 6 online bookstores: gramedia.com, pengenbuku.net, parcelbuku.net, bukubukularis.com, bukukita.com, tokobaca.com.

Price: IDR 79k, a limited edition luggage tag included during PO only

1.111 books, all signed and serial-numbered by me are available during PO

Shipping starts July 6th 2015

Available in book stores across Indonesia starting August 11th 2015

So that was the last teaser until the PO date on July 1st 2015, folks!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about PO so I’m gonna give some basic information that you would need:

1. There will be 1.111 signed copies of #CriticalEleven available for PO, all will be serial numbered, all will be packaged with a luggage tag.

2. Follow @Gramedia on Twitter as it will be the primary source of information about the preorder process. They are going to start tweeting about it at the end of June to warm up for the PO on July 1st.

3. Gramedia will be channeling the PO through selected online bookstores to be announced later through their Twitter account, all will be selected based on their server capabilities and so on so hopefully everything will run smoothly. You cannot buy the book directly from me. You don’t have a Twitter account? Well open one, or you can always work on it together with a friend who has one. I’m pretty sure if you really want it, you’ll find a way to do it ;)

4. PO will be opened for 11 days (1-11 July 2015) or until the 1.111 copies are sold out, whichever comes first. Fair game as usual, whoever completed the order first (from ordering to completing payment) will get the book first. Serial number though is given randomly.

5. I cannot tell you the price of the book yet as it is still currently being calculated. Estimated is around the same price range as Twivortiare 2.

6. Any changes on the information above will be informed directly through @gramedia Twitter account.

7. Questions about shipment and other technical stuff you can ask later to the online bookstores participating as I don’t have that kind of information with me.

8. #CriticalEleven will available in bookstores across Indonesia starting August 11 2015. Those who preordered will receive the books way ahead of it.

Good luck, genuinely hope that you will love #CriticalEleven

Jujur, aku sebenarnya tidak pernah bercita-cita jadi penulis.  Penulis itu penipu massal.  Penulis fiksi maksudnya, seperti aku sekarang.  Kerjanya menjual mimpi-mimpi yang jadi penyebab utama banyaknya perempuan jaman sekarang yang delusional, berharap akan bertemu laki-laki sempurna seperti di novel-novel tulisan penulis sepertiku.  Membangun ekspektasi mustahil tentang kualitas pasangan.  Ujung-ujungnya, pasangan sendiri saja sampai dibanding-bandingkan dengan tokoh idola fiksi mereka. 

Tokoh rekaanku.  Yang cuma ada di khayalan.  Hasil percampuran setoples kastengels dan belasan cangkir kafein cair.

Terkadang, aku juga sering dituduh bahwa cerita-cerita yang aku tulis itu adalah kisah nyata.  “Kenalin dong, Mbak, sama (isi nama tokoh fiksi laki-laki idola sejagad raya hasil khayalanku yang paling mutakhir), pasti ada orang benerannya kan?  Ada kan?  Ada kan?  Mau dong ketemu aslinya.”

Girls, please, if guys like that exist, I would be too busy fucking them than write about them, don’t you think?

Kalau mereka mau sih.

Tapi masa nggak mau, gue keren gini.  Udah, nggak usah protes.

Anyway, terkait pertanyaan-pertanyaan tentang tokoh nyata itu, aku harus akui, bahwa setiap seniman – penulis tergolong seniman juga kan? – pasti punya muse.   Apa ya bahasa Indonesia-nya muse?  Sumber inspirasi?  Ya itulah pokoknya.

Dalam mitologi Yunani, muse ini merupakan dewi-dewi yang menjadi inspirasi terciptanya karya seni, sains, dan sastra.  Ada sembilan: Clio, Thalia, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhimnia, Calliope, Terpsichore, Urania, dan Melpmene, kesembilannya adalah anak perempuan Zeus dan Mnemosyne.  Dalam kehidupan sekarang, yang menjadi muse seorang seniman tentu bukan lagi dewi-dewi ini – aku saja baru tahu nama-nama dewi-dewi setelah meng-Google – tapi orang yang bikin inspirasi mengalir.  Bisa satu orang, bisa juga semua orang-orang yang kami temui sehari-hari. 

Fashion designer biasanya yang paling kelihatannya muse-nya siapa.  Kate Moss, sering disebut-sebut sebagai muse-nya Marc Jacobs.  Audrey Hepburn menjadi muse Hubert de Givenchy sehingga lahir gaun hitam legendaris yang dipakai Hepburn di film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Madonna, yes the singer, juga punya peran sebagai muse Jean Paul Gaultier.  Christian Louboutin mengakui Dita von Teese sebagai muse-nya. 

Di dunia film ada Tim Burton yang sepertinya tidak bisa lepas dari Johnny Depp dan Helena Bonham Carter.  Di lukisan, Pablo Picasso menghasilkan karya-karya terbaiknya terinspirasi perempuan simpanannya, Marie-Thérèse Walter.

Tapi penulis jarang sekali menyatakan jelas-jelas siapa muse-nya.  Contohnya Stephen King, di bukunya On Writing, cuma bilang: “Traditionally, the muses were women, but mine’s a guy; I’m afraid we’ll just have to live with that.”  Siapa laki-laki yang dia maksud, tidak pernah diungkapkan.  Dan setahuku, penulis-penulis terkenal lainnya, dari berbagai interview atau artikel yang pernah kubaca, juga tidak pernah membahas muse-nya siapa, biasanya yang mereka ceritakan adalah kebiasaan menulis.  James Joyce menulis sambil tiduran tengkurep dengan menggunakan pensil berwarna biru.  Virginia Woolf menyisihkan dua setengah jam setiap pagi untuk menulis, di atas meja yang dirancang khusus sehingga dia bisa ‘melihat’ karyanya dari dekat dan dari jauh.  Hemingway suka mengetik naskahnya sambil berdiri.  Agatha Christie mengunyah apel di dalam bak mandi sambil menghayal-hayalkan plot pembunuhan yang akan ia tulis.  Dewi Lestari pernah menyewa kamar kos dan menulis di situ dari pagi sampai sore saat menyelesaikan Perahu Kertas.

Most writers talk about their writing habits, but rarely – if never – about their muse. 

Me?  Aku tidak punya meja yang dirancang khusus, tidak menulis sambil berdiri karena bok pegel kali, tidak juga mengunyah apel di bak mandi (mending mengunyah yang lain), atau sampai menyewa kamar kos.  Tidak ada yang unik tentang ritual menulisku.  Raia Risjad cuma bangun jam tujuh setiap Sabtu pagi, ada yang bikinin kopi dan toast, kemudian sarapan di atas tempat tidur sambil menuangkan apa pun ide yang di kepala ke laptop.  That’s it.  Bahkan sebelum mandi, aku bisa melahirkan belasan halaman.

But here I am, jam sebelas pagi, hampir setengah dua belas sebenarnya, duduk di depan laptop, dan halaman Word ini masih putih bersih.  Cuma ada cursor yang berkedip-kedip menunggu digerakkan dari tadi.  Dari jam tujuh pagi tadi.

Lebih tepatnya, sejak dua puluh empat bulan yang lalu.  Waktu si mas-mas pembuat kopi dan toast itu meninggalkan rumah ini.

Aku bisa membayangkan sebalnya wajah Alam jika mendengar aku menyebutnya mas-mas.

In fact, Alam is far from the image of the so-called ‘mas-mas’.  Tubuhnya tinggi, bahkan saat aku mengenakan hak tujuh sentimeter, kepalaku hanya sampai di ujung bibirnya.  Kulitnya cerah, cenderung putih, yang membuat pipinya selalu kelihatan sangat memerah setiap dia kepanasan di luar, dan wajahnya selalu kesal setiap aku meledeknya: “Mbak, blush on-nya bagus, mereknya apa?”  Rambutnya ikal, selalu dipotong pendek sempurna.  Sempurna buat diacak-acak dan dijambak sedikit tiap aku sedang gemes.  Dan bibir tipisnya selalu mencetus pelan dengan suaranya yang dalam: “Raia, aku ini laki-laki, bukan kucing peliharaan.  Seneng banget sih ngacak-ngacak.”

*a teaser for my upcoming story entitled Muse, to be published later this year ;)

Coming soon on the cinema, brought to you by Soraya Intercine Films 

Sometimes, in life, luck is in our favour that we can combine two passions into one creation.  Here it is, combining my love for writing and art: Antologi Rasa Illustrated Edition.  It will feature the full novel + 20 illustrations in full color that I sketched and painted myself.  My way of giving the readers a new experience in enjoying the story.  I will let you know the release date soon. 

Keara  “Cium gue, Ris.”

Harris  Anjis.  Is this even real?  Tiga kata yang telah gue tunggu sejak dia tertawa lepas di lift empat tahun yang lalu.  Tawanya lepas, bibirnya terbuka.  Dan detik ini dia menatap gue.  Kedua matanya yang cokelat itu.  Bibirnya.  Dan tangan gue yang sekarang membelai pipinya.  Dan kata-kata yang meluncur dari bibir gue hanya, “Elo yakin?”     

Keara“Just shut up and kiss me, Risjad.”

Harris  Udara hanya sesuatu yang gue butuhkan untuk bernapas, Keara.  Tapi gue baru tahu rasanya hidup detik ini, di tengah-tengah asap dan kebisingan ini, ketika akhirnya gue mencium bibir terindah milik perempuan yang gue cintai. Jadi begini rasanya, Key.  Begini rasanya mencintai dan memiliki elo.

Coming soon in 2014: Antologi Rasa Illustrated Edition.  Yes, my publisher and I have decided to publish a special edition of Antologi Rasa with colorful illustrations of the scenes in the book, all sketched and painted by me.  The one above is one of them: Padang Stage.

I’m planning to include 15 to 30 paintings of scenes, currently working on it. But we’ll see about the finished draft later ;)

I will be posting updates on the release date on my Twitter account.  I hope you’re as excited about this as I am.

My art supplies are actually pretty basic: a sketchbook for water-color (they have rough, heavy paper so the water won’t ruin the texture), brushes from Reeves and Lyra, water-color set from Pentel, palette from Reeves, and drawing pencils from Lyra.  Sometimes I also use Rotring pens for the finishing touch.