Write what you would like to read
- Creative Writing
Marc Mens, student at the bachelor’s course Creative Writing in Arnhem, is working on a graduation project so conventional that it seems unconventional. Where most of his fellow students are looking for multidisciplinary forms of writing, Marc is writing a novel. His book is about a young Indonesian woman who returns to the island of her ancestors in the early sixties. When her mind starts to derail, the island derails along with it. Marc talks about his inspirational sources, the guidance he received at ArtEZ and his future plans.
“It’s a magic realist story. I’m reading a lot of Indonesian literature, like Marion Bloem, but I used to read a lot of Stephen King when I was younger. There might even be some Carrie in this book, in the way inner conflicts can manifest themselves in supernatural ways.” According to Marc, some of the characters in the Indonesian literature are stereotypes. “Asian women are so often portrayed as silent, submissive dolls. In this novel, I play with it, by making exaggerated caricatures. It has a societal layer in that respect: I use the history of the country, the discrimination that came from the West, and the discrimination that happened in Indonesia itself.”
Choosing Creative Writing at ArtEZ
“As a child, I enjoyed making things up and telling stories. I always liked writing and therefore I once started a course in Journalism. But I didn’t feel like starting a career just yet, and came across Creative Writing at ArtEZ, through an acquaintance. The choice to follow this course was easily made.” During the course, Marc deepened his knowledge of literature, especially of novels about and from Indonesia. Marc’s graduation project can safely be called representative of his plans for the future. “I want to keep writing books. It gives me a lot of satisfaction. I want to work on an oeuvre with the type of books like the one I’m writing right now, in which I combine magic realism with historical events.”
Expanding the uncomfortable
In the writing process, Marco also gets support from a tutor, who also graduated from Creative Writing and has now been teaching prose/character-making for several years. “I chose a former student who writes as well, to read every new version of the novel and give me feedback. Turns out that whenever I was nervous about a specific scene I had written, it was one of the better scenes.” Marc's tutor taught him to zoom in on scenes where things become quirky and uncomfortable. "Those are often precisely the scenes people like to read about, and recognize themselves in," he explains.
Tip for young authors
Marc has one important tip for young writers: “Read, read a lot. I know quite a few young writers who don’t do much reading. But it’s so important to understand what’s already out there. That’s how you learn to write what you would like to read.”
More on the bachelor’s course Creative Writing
