The Word According To Greg Brillantes

Here's an article by Tanya Lara about Greg Brillantes, The Word According To Greg Brillantes. An excerpt:

Of the many things that literary great Greg Brillantes taught me, it is this one that I remember most: Literature will always endure. Of all the art forms, the written word is the most important.

He said that in one of our many jaunts to Book Sale in Makati Cinema Square, where we would buy books as if we had all of eternity to read. Or maybe he said that at the beerhouse in front of our office in the mid-‘90s. The joint was called “Obeertime” and we would have a couple of bottles there, sitting in plastic chairs, surrounded by hapless Makati office people in their barongs.

Here’s another thing Greg taught me: Never use a red pen to edit. Especially if the copy is crap. Oh, Lord, we had so many of those! Red ink irritates the eyes — be kind to poor typesetters who had to put in the corrections.

One more: Observe, capture little details and tuck them in the corners of your head — for no other reason than they will come in handy when writing the story or some other story.