The Garuda, the Jambu Grove, and the Queen of the South Seas?

[whynot]

I mentioned to a couple of people that I'm fiddling around with a reinterpretation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe using Southeast Asian folktales and a cosmology that focuses on cycles rather than linear trajectories and dichotomy. What I'm thinking is, it's still four kids, but instead of the crisis in this world being WW2, it's the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Instead of the kids being sent out of the countryside to escape the Blitz, the parents have to leave the country because there were no jobs in Indonesia. The kids have to stay with their weird uncle. Anyway, I started writing it.

Writing non-autobiographically about Indonesians in Indonesia weirded my brain out. It kept on switching to "speaking Indonesian*" mode (not my most articulate mode, lemme tell ya), and I found myself trying to remember Indonesian vocabulary and sentence structure before I remembered that OH YEAH I'm writing this in English. It was just that my brain was going, "Okay, time to deal with Indonesian people who have X mannerisms and Y ideologies. Adjust!" And then it does. So, I have a few pages written, but the writing's stiff and the diction is off, trying to stay in English but instinctually veering to Indonesian.

I found myself asking, "Are these Indonesian names too off-putting for a non-Indonesian reader?" Then I had RaceFail flashbacks and I was like, "D-:!" wtf. My real name has always been a source of contention for me. It's the typical long foreign name, and people would be like, "Say your name, dude!" like it's just entertainment. And one time, after performing my name, one girl was like, "Yeah, but what is it without the accent? Say your name without the accent." Bitch, that was my name without the accent! diaf :(

In college, I changed my nickname to something simpler - not a Western name, just something monosyllabic (and spelled with two letters, but it still gets misspelled all the damn time anyway I JUST CAN'T WIN) - and my buddy Asef from high school was like, "I can't call you that. You're not that." He says it's colonial mentality on my part, and he talks about how Kang Wook goes by Kevin in Indiana now, and Bilal goes by Billy in Oregon; he makes a face and shakes his head. I don't know if I should be flattered or ticked off at this attitude. On the one hand, I respect his intentions, sure, down with the global western hegemony etc. On the other hand, don't tell me what I should call myself. Who are you to tell me who I am and what my reasons should be?

I also found myself asking, "Who the hell wants to read about Indonesians and Indonesia anyway?" But then I remember that questions like that are why I wanted to write this in the first place.

* Can I just say it kind of SHITS ME OFF when people say "Do you speak Bahasa?" 'cos that just means 'language'. Indonesians don't say we speak Bahasa. Bahasa Indonesia means 'Indonesian language'. It grew out of Malaysian (Basa Melayu?).


And now for something completely meme-ish! Tell me in the comments something you think I'd never ever write, then I try to commentfic this thing I would supposedly never write.

Comments

[dirty-diana.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but what is it without the accent? Say your name without the accent."

Because the way it sounds while being mangled by white people is the way it's supposed to sound? OH MY GOD WHAT.

I have to admit I am probably like your friend sometimes, and I know even as the judgy words are coming out of my mouth that it's none of my business what people do. And also just that because I wish we lived in a world where no one cared how anglicised your name is or how straight your hair is doesn't mean we actually live in that world. So people have to do what they have to do, based on that. But that doesn't stop be from occasionally being sad, because I am like that.

You could write...something about some X-Men! Since I know none of your current fandoms. Sorry. :)

[lazaefair.livejournal.com]

There was some representative down in Houston who once suggested that Asians change their names to Western names to make things easier for workers at voting polls. It was ridiculously offensive, but I was thankful that all the comments I came across on that news story, even from Americans, were all, "Bitch, I bet she doesn't change her name to 'Hua Mei' when she moves to CHINA."

[marycontraire.livejournal.com]

That story actually sounds pretty awesome. You should keep working on it. And then publish it with your real name.

Edmund/Effy from Skins. Go!

[(Anonymous)]

I had kind of the same idea once. The plot line was something about a neighboring country to Narnia, but the one that had creatures not from Greek/English mythology, but from Russian/Eastern Europe and its ruling princes (kniazia) kids from Russia/Eastern Europe. I thought it will be interesting to see how the two countries, two sets of fairytale creatures of different origin and kids of two different backgrounds would interact with each other and what will be the new country look like. I will be interested to see what you would make with Indonesian background

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Oooh. STORY. (I once started writing a version of...uh, after the return LWW with four kids in modern America, then I wrote fic instead.)

True story: my parents were going to name me Katarina or Katerina, then they decided it was too foreign and decided to name me Katrina instead. Because the extra vowel makes all the difference?

Honey, I cannot think of something you'd never ever write. I do not know what this says about us, but there it is. Um. Peter/White Witch?

[tevere.livejournal.com]

Sorry to journal-crash -- I surfed by on friendsfriends. But I just needed to say that I will TOTALLY READ YOUR STORY, and it sounds amazing. Especially the Queen of the South Seas, because that story always gives me chills.

Regarding names-- I mean, in speech your characters will probably use shortened versions of each other's names, and that should be easy enough to follow for a Western reader. Once I was writing a SPN story about Indonesian immigrants in the States, based on the kuntilanak myth, and I deliberately chose to give my characters names like Juliantini (Tini), Satirianah (Rana), Steisinisari (Steisi), Imelidiawati (Imel). Because, I mean, they're beautiful names! And sure, 'Ryan' and 'Irena' are just as Indonesian as anything, but why are people reading if they don't want to move outside their comfort zone?

PS. OTW is always looking for help with Indonesian translations!
PPS. And I hear you on the 'bahasa' thing. NOTHING SHITS ME MORE.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

I would definitely read it, although there'd half to be a bit of hand-holding on the folktales because they are completely out of my background and I wouldn't pick up any nuances.

On the name thing, I've always considered it more about the hassle it gives you. My name doesn't really have a background, it's just weird and made-up and I swore all through childhood that I would change it when I was older. I changed my mind once I stopped being a moody little preteen, but I still answer to at least three pronunciations from the people I don't see often enough to keep on correcting. And so far, they've always been more embarassed about it then I have.

[deepad]

You know that I am 100% fully behind your story, and actually, if you wanted to write it with large chunks of Indonesian dialogue, and just give translations in footnotes afterwards like they do with the old novels with tonnes of French in them? I would love you even more. Write it for the other Indonesian kids reading Narnia in Indonesia, man!

And I am sorry about the dude who gives you grief because of your name, because I try very hard to call people what they want to be called, but I still can't bring myself to pronounce first gen Indian names by their Americanised accent versions.

And yes! Bahasa I am guessing comes from the Sanskrit 'bhasha', which means 'language'. These must be the same stupid people who ask me if I speak 'Hindu' or 'Indian'.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

This totally sounds awesome. (I think I said that before? I am saying it again!) What happens to them? What's the country like?

I feel like...it's fantasy, right? So these should be readers who are used to weird and crazy names people just made up--Indonesian names shouldn't be a problem, and if they are your readers can suck it up and deal? (Although I say this as someone who took years to figure out that Aslan was actually not called Alsan. Fail.)

Names are so complicated. I was always annoyed because my name is so freaking common, but then I never have to tell people how to pronounce it. (Also, wtf, because you should pronounce your name to someone else's specifications?)

Dude, is there anything you won't write? Ummm. Ooh, Harry Potter/Narnia crossover? Edmund/Hermione? (Or Edmund/Luna, actually.)

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

HOW DID I MISS THIS?

*is really really excited* FIRST OFF. INDONESIAN NARNIAAAAA. THE SEA QUEEN. EVERYTHING IS CLEARER UNDERWATER.

Also, if you want crack!prompts still, I'd love to see Jadis/Nimueh, because you keep throwing it out there as something that would be awesome and nobody writes it. D:

OR. OR OR. JADIS/HER SISTER. THE ONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE A NAME AND JADIS KILLED THE WHOLE WORLD FOR.

[labseraph.livejournal.com]

My real name has always been a source of contention for me.

I hear ya. I live in my home country and still people have problems with my name. They will misspell it (though my e-mail address is clearly my name as it is correctly spelled) and in the end, I introduce myself as only the first syllable of my name.

And get people who think I'm Chinese as the 1st syllable of my name sounds like a Chinese surname.

Most Westerners have problems pronouncing my name, so I end up with another nick (a name which I hated as a child) and just had to grin bear it.

*hugs Lass*

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I want to read this!

(Mind you, my entire experience of Indonesia is filtered through stories told by my godfather, who lived there when I was little.)