And children’s book author, Heidi Shamsuddin couldn’t agree more.
“I love reading books, but it never occurred to me to be a writer,” said the 49-year-old, who used to work as a maritime lawyer in London.
After she left her legal practice and returned to Malaysia, Heidi opened a restaurant with a friend, but things didn’t go as planned.
“Instead of attending to customers, I spent all my time reading,” she said, laughing. “And that’s when I realised that it wasn’t the right job for me”.
She then decided to try her hand at writing fiction.
“It was really difficult at first because I was used to writing legal documents. My first few stories were very structured and not very imaginative,” she revealed, adding that she then decided to reread all the books that inspired her as a child.
“It was a matter of sitting down, reading a good deal, and writing a lot; it was about practice.”
After her first short story won the regional prize at the 2012 Eye Level Children’s Literature Award, Heidi went on to write several children’s books, including the historical fiction series, “The Door under the Stairs”.
An enduring love for folktales
Like most people, Heidi’s love affair with folktales began when she was a child. “My dad got my sister and I Hans Anderson’s fairy tale collection.
“We must have looked at the book hundreds of times because the illustrations were so beautiful,” she said, adding that her dad also told them folktales whenever he had the time.
“The story of Si Tanggang absolutely terrified me and it piqued my curiosity in local folktales, as prior to that, I was only exposed to the usual western fairy tales.
“I eventually started rewriting the folktales that I read, and when I realised I had more than 50 stories, I decided to compile them into a book, especially since I had never come across a comprehensive collection of Nusantara folktales in the market.”
Last month, her book “Nusantara – A Sea of Tales”, which contains 61 folktales from around the region, was finally launched.
“There is also a story from Guam and another from Madagascar,” she said, explaining that she chose stories that were originally in Austronesian languages.
“These stories have travelled all over Southeast Asia, and have changed along the way, as seen in the different versions across the region,” she said, adding that she also inserted commentary on the history and background of each tale.
In January last year, Heidi created a YouTube channel in which she talks about the various folktales from Nusantara.
“I wanted to get these stories out there. The reception has been good so far, considering it’s a niche topic that appeals to a specific audience who share similar interests,” she said, adding that her story “Batik Girl” was made into an award-winning animated short film by R&D Studio.
She said it was her hope that other writers, artists and musicians would incorporate these tales into their own work.
“In this way, the stories are kept alive,” she said, adding that unlike conventional stories, folktales are subjected to continuous changes at the hands of the tale-tellers to suit the status quo.
The importance of folktales
According to Heidi, kids love folktales because of their simplicity. “Hardly anyone gets a name and there are no descriptions of places; one is taken straight into the action. It forces them to be creative; to fill in the blanks.”
She said folktales allowed children to explore serious themes, such as abandonment, female empowerment and abuse. She added, “But because the stories begin with ‘once upon a time’, they provide a safe space. They contain important messages and lessons; they’re like a blueprint for life.”
She said adults too benefitted from rereading the folktales of their younger days because the same text when seen through ‘adult’ eyes usually conveyed a different meaning.
“We can apply these stories to our daily lives and use them to solve some of our problems, because they’re so adaptable, and they make you view life differently.
“Folktales have survived all these years because there is a grain of truth in them that we can all relate to, beneath the fantastical and magical elements.”
Unsurprisingly, folktales have changed Heidi’s life.
“No other species on Earth communicates by telling stories; that’s how we basically survived and thrived all these years. The core values of folktales are essentially the same; they play a role in bringing us together.”
Check out Heidi Shamsuddin’s Nusantara folktales on her YouTube channel or purchase “Nusantara – A Sea of Tales” at Kinokuniya. You can also visit Heidi’s website for more about her previous works.