When author Ria Nurlaila Badaria, now 24, was in high school, she could not picture herself working with words because she tended to take things literally and was not poetic.
As time went by, Ria realized that while she was not a very good poet, she was happy with prose.
Ria's first novel, Fortunata, published in September 2008, won the 2009 Khatulistiwa Literary Award (KLA) in the young talented writer category (specifically for first books of authors under 30). The KLAs were established by author and bookstore owner Richard Oh in 2000 in a bid to encourage writers to continue their work.
"I do not know what to do next. But since I can make money through writing, I think I will continue writing," said the Bogor-based writer.
Straight-speaking Ria comes from a simple family. Her father, Asmawi, owns fish ponds, while her mother Asyati is a housewife.
"I think I'm the first author in my family. But, my parents have been very supportive. They let me to do whatever I like."
Due to financial problems, Ria's parents could not send her to college. In 2003, she began writing to kill the time, while waiting for interview calls.
"At first, the novels were only for my own entertainment, and then my friends began reading the drafts. Then I decided to send the drafts to publishers because I needed money," she said.
Ria faced rejection, but her luck came after she sent some of her drafts to PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Ria says the publishing process with Fortunata was fairly simple, as the publisher only emailed her twice - once to confirm the deal and then to confirm the language style.
Ria says when she is in the mood to write, she writes in three phases. First, she scribbles ideas in a notebook. Then, she rewrites them neatly into another book. In the final phase, Ria rents a computer at a cafe, types up the draft and saves it to floppy disks.
While this writing process may sound inefficient, it actually helped her because once she lost eight chapters after dropping a disk. After this incident, Ria began typing her drafts on her friend's computer, but now she writes her novels on her laptop, which she bought after winning the KLA.
Ria acknowledges that before receiving the award she knew nothing about them. And now that she has won, she doesn't know why.
She assumes that perhaps the jury liked Fortunata because it is quite light, both literally and metaphorically.
Fortunata is a 167-page novel about Layla Tul Badaria, a twenty-something woman who often faces trials and tribulations in life, and thus Layla calls herself "The Unfortunate". But then Layla meets the spirit of Arta, a coma patient treated at a hospital near her boarding house.
While the story is fairly predictable, the novel has a unique end because Ria tries to make the protagonists as realistic as possible.
"I found out that I was nominated through a mailing list for Bogor-based bloggers. I did not expect to win, so when they announced my name, I could not believe it. I did not bring any camera, let alone prepare a victory speech, so I forgot many names. I even forgot my editor's name. Gosh, I felt like an Oscar recipient," she said, laughing.
At first, Ria did not know she had won Rp 25 million because the KLA committee did not explain it during the event.
"There was an after-award dinner, which we skipped because it was very late, and my friend and parents needed to get home to prepare for the next day. Perhaps the KLA committee told the winner about the prize during the dinner," she said.
Ria learned later about the prize when her friend was searching the internet for a photo about the KLA event. Her friend later urged her to contact the committee.
"I was waiting for them to contact me, but my friend insisted I should make the call. So I did, and my friend was right. They were actually waiting for me to contact them," she said.
Ria appreciates her friends since they were the first people to read her first draft and give her input. One of her friends, Kurnia, once suggested she keep the protagonist in Fortunata alive, while another friend, Ismi, highlighted things she found impossible or misspelled in the draft.
"According to my friends, there were some impossible things in my novels. For example, in one of them, the protagonists have a meal at a Japanese restaurant but then they have cheesecake for dessert. I should have written that the Japanese restaurant was located next to the bakery, but somehow I forgot. My friends reminded me about that," she said, laughing.
Her friends are used to helping Ria, as they are enrolled at the same high school, Ciawi 1 State High School, and have seen her clumsiness first hand.
"I'm not good at doing things with my hands. I can not draw a perfect circle with a pair of compasses, I can not cut neatly," she said, giggling.
As a matter of fact, during high school, Ria did not like writing and reading that much either. It was her Indonesian teacher, Prambudi Yoseph, who opened her eyes to the fun side of writing.
"He assigned the class to write book reviews. I decided to review Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I liked the book, so I really enjoyed doing the review. I realized writing is actually fun," she said.
Unfortunately, the teacher passed away because of diabetes before her book was published. She has promised to dedicate her books to her teacher.
Ria has already penned down four novels: two have been rejected, one is published and the other is still in progress. Ria guessed that the other two novels were rejected because the protagonists died in the end.
"People like to read romantic and happy-ending novels. For me, that kind of novels is ordinary and predictable.
"I'm not romantic, so perhaps there are things that people find unusual in my novels," she said.
Ria's penchant for tragic endings is probably something she picked up from Korean dramas she watches whenever she has writer's block, or from her other favorite books - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
"I also like Esti Kinarsih's Fairish and Ilana Tan's books, such as Autumn in Paris and Summer in Seoul. I like Ilana's books because her novels have settings in foreign places. I want to write like that but I could not imagine the places. I hope I can go to Korea someday," she said, grinning.
While waiting for her chance to travel, Ria is spending time with her family and playing with the stray cats that come to her house every morning for a free breakfast at her father's fish ponds.
Ria Nurlaila Badaria
Date of Birth : Dec. 26, 1984
Education : Ciawi 1 State High School
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