4 secrets to a good writing career, according to Gina Apostol

Gina Apostol is a legend to many and a myth to some.

Born and raised in Tacloban, Eastern Visayas, but now based in New York City and western Massachusetts, Apostol is known for the way she captures the Filipino identity in the novels she writes.

Her first two novels, "Bibliolepsy" and "The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata" both won the Juan Laya Prize for Novel (Philippine National Award).

Her novel "Gun Dealers' Daughter" won the 2013 PEN/Open Book award, and her latest work, "Insurrecto" was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best Book of 2018, and Buzzfeed's Best Fiction of 2018.

However, having a successful writing career doesn't come easily. Here are some of Apostol's tips on achieving success as a writer.

1. Write how you want to write

In an interview with GMA News Online on Friday, she answered, "I think you should keep writing the way you like to write. If you go to the writing workshops they're very useful but they seem to be most useful for collegiality, for friendship."

"What I got from those workshops was the idea that 'Oh I want to write the way I want to write. I don't want to write the way you tell me to write.'"

She said, however, that you should still be open to revising, working and editing your work.

2. You write to be free

"There's a reason why you're writing and you're writing to be free," Apostol said.

She added, "It's very hard to be free 'cause you're a daughter, you're a mother, you're a student, you have to work, you have to do these things for people. It's very very hard to be free but in writing you can do that."

It's really a powerful thing, the writer said.

3. Be clear on what you want

Apostol said, "Know what you want. Sometimes you think you know what you want but it's really something someone else wants."

"You have to have some clarity of what you want and I think that's what makes the writer keep going, and maybe that's the difference between the writer who doesn't continue and the writer who does," she added.

4. Don't think about what others want

She said that you need to explore and try to know exactly what it is you want.

"Carve out the space for it even though other people might not like it. Don't worry about other people," Apostol added. "No matter what people say you have to remember that you are doing it to be free."

Growing up in Tacloban

Before she became an award-winning author, Apostol traced her inspiration back to her hometown Tacloban in Eastern Visayas.

Apostol said during an interview, "I'm just so disinterested in writing about the generic people...I'm very interested in the way I grew up in Tacloban. The things that make me want to write are my memories of my childhood."

She narrated about her mother's hometown Barugo where they would stay for the whole summer.

"The town didn’t even have electricity and it’s a very powerful memory for me of just living in a town that was so so medieval—no lights, no newspapers, nothing," she said.

She added, "But those are the things that have formed me."

Apostol's latest novel that won her the 2013 PEN/Open Book Award is about two women, a Filipino translator and an American filmmaker who go on a road trip in the Philippines to find out more about the massacre that occurred in Balangiga, Samar during the Filipino-American War.

Currently working on two novels, Apostol will be having a talk and discussion on Saturday, August 3 at 5:30 p.m. during the Philippine Readers and Writers Festival, a three-day celebration of literature and culture starting on August 2 at the Raffles Makati.

For more information, check out www.readersandwritersfestival.com. —LDF/KG, GMA News