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Adimodel: Writing with women in mind
JP/Yuliasri PerdaniAdi Kurniadi keeps discovering new talents in himself but he is consistent with one thing: writing
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JP/Yuliasri Perdani
Adi Kurniadi keeps discovering new talents in himself but he is consistent with one thing: writing.
Once a translator of IT books, he later wrote his own. In subsequent years, he gained the nickname Adimodel after becoming a professional photographer, mainly focusing on female models.
After publishing dozens of books, Adimodel has ventured into the world of fiction ' launching his first novel, Renjana Dyana.
Described as a dark, sexy, romantic novel, Adimodel said Renjana Dyana was his interpretation of the mind of a young woman, who is shackled by her strong lusts and troubled past.
'Dyana is the central character's name, while Renjana means passion. Aged between 25 and 30, Dyana is a woman who is discovering herself amid her overwhelming passions,' Adimodel said at the book's launch recently in Jakarta.
Adimodel said Dyana faces her demons, which take the forms of her irrepressible lust, possessiveness and her 'foolishness' of falling in love with the wrong man and being hurt repeatedly.
Taking a different path to the popular and more hardcore Fifty Shades of Grey, Adimodel played with subtle descriptions and, in some parts, metaphors and personification to describe Dyana's steamy experiences and
imagination.
However, he admitted he tried to add more erotic scenes that were later omitted by the book's editor, Alodia Yovita, mainly due to concerns that the Indonesian public might not be ready for such things.
'I guess at first, he was irritated that I cut some of the erotic parts. I was just concerned that something [bad] would happen,' Alodia said.
In spite of the constraints, the erogenous nuance in the novel is still palpable in parts.
Between every chapter of the novel, Adimodel added a page of philosophical questions to provoke readers to think about their lives and existence.
'I want the novel to be not just a story but also questions about who we are,' he said.
Writing from Dyana's point of view, Adimodel challenged himself to be in a woman's shoes. 'Women are hard to understand but it doesn't mean that it cannot be done [...] This interests me as a man to write in such uncharted territory.'
Adimodel started his writing career as a translator in the 1990s while studying at the University of Indonesia's School of Computer Science. After translating several IT books, he began writing his own books in 1997.
His keen interest in photography grew when he was working as a lecturer at a private university.
'My dream had always been building an academic career, but when I was first attracted to photography, I felt that my world was there. I stopped teaching to become a photographer in 2013.'
Dark and erotic nuances have been a common thread of Adimodel's work since he wrote his first fictional work, Kinky Rain, a compilation of short stories published in 2012.
'I was surprised when learning that many women loved the book although it was written with a masculine approach,' said Adimodel, whose photography is often featured in men's magazines.
'Maybe women prefer to imagine and read, rather than to see.'
In 2014, he released Aku Ingin Jatuh Cinta Sesakit-Sakitnya (I Want To Fall in Love in the Most Painful Way), a collection of his poetry, prose and short stories.
His friend, fashion designer Lenny Agustin, suggested that Adimodel's fictional works might be inspired from his own bitter love story.
'Maybe it is from the time when he met a model who eventually broke his heart. Thus, the emotions described in his writing feel genuine,' she chuckled.
Adimodel gently denied the suggestion, 'I am not galau [melancholic]; I only felt that when writing.'
Adimodel is preparing to launch Kinky Rain's sequel, titled Kinky Revenge, and is writing another work of fiction.
While relishing in his rising popularity as a fiction writer, he is committed to writing more photography tutorial books ' adding to his list of 16 photography books. 'By writing, I can pass down my ideas to generations to come.'
