Author: Victor Fernando R. Ocampo

Victor Fernando R. Ocampo is the author of the International Rubery Book Award shortlisted The Infinite Library and Other Stories (Math Paper Press, 2017 ; US edition: Gaudy Boy, 2021) and Here be Dragons (Canvas Press, 2015), which won the Romeo Forbes Childrenโ€™s Story Award in 2012. His play-by-email interactive fiction piece โ€œThe Book of Red Shadowsโ€ debuted at the Singapore Writers Festival in 2020. His writing has appeared in many publications including Apex Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Likhaan Journal, Strange Horizons, Philippines Graphic, Science Fiction World and The Quarterly Literature Review of Singapore, as well as anthologies like The Best New Singapore Short Stories, Fish Eats Lion: New Singaporean Speculative Fiction, LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, the Philippine Speculative Fiction series and Mapping New Stars: A Sourcebook on Philippine Speculative Fiction. He is a fellow at the Milford Science Fiction Writersโ€™ Conference (UK) and the Cinemalaya Ricky Lee Film Scriptwriting Workshop, as well as a Jalan Besar writer-in-residence at Sing Lit Station (2020/2021). Visit his blog at vrocampo.com

Introduction to Microfiction

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Thank you to SingLit Station and the Migrant Writers of Singapore for organizing last Saturday’s Introduction to Microfiction session. We had a full house of 21 writers — mostly poets who wanted to try their hand at narrative writing.

Why is it important for writers to learn how to craft microfiction?

Writing microfiction requires you to identify the essential elements of a story — protagonist, conflict, resolution — and to convey them effectively within a limited space. Moreover, the form forces you to be very concise and efficient with your words, as you need to make every word count. Lastly, writing within tight word limits can stimulate your creativity and provide opportunities for experimenting with different styles and techniques.

“The Ocean Above Her” in PGS

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Thank you to Kenneth Yu and Mia Tijam for giving my (sort of) science fiction fairytale “The Ocean Above her” a home in Philippine Genre Stories.

My wife and I both went through life-threatening illnesses over the last year, and consequently my writing productivity was very poor. I’m happy I managed to complete this story given how trying our circumstances were.

I had originally wanted to write a literal children’s fairy tale but I could not manage to keep the language simple enough for a pre-teen to understand without losing the heart of the story. Although this generation ship Sci-Fi story is no longer specifically written for kids, I hope I was able to capture that sense of wonder that children have when encountering something astonishing, as well as the bewilderment that comes when facing something as dark and painful as the death of someone they love.

I also wanted to challenge the notion that a far-future story had to be written in a cold, technobabble-filled manner. I wanted a future like the handwoven inabel blankets my grandmother used to buy for us when we were children – something warm, comforting and familiar.

My humble submission is PGS’ story for December, but it’s not a Christmas story. However if you want to read something about endings and beginnings, familial love, and the importance of remembering, please read The Ocean Above Her. If you like it, kindly leave me a comment or RT. Thank you!

From Cybertext to the Metaverse

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Thank you to visual artist and technologist Debbie Ding for inviting Joses Ho and myself to conduct our discussion “From Cybertext to the Metaverse” at the Goethe Institute last 30 November. It was the first talk I ever gave that was done almost entirely in virtual reality . We visited 5 worlds that Debbie had created: Flowers, the Udon Bird Sanctuary, Cyberlove Suites, The Commuter and Lost Horizons. The latter was a vast library hidden at the fictional crash site of the (still missing).MH370 –it reminded me of my own Infinite Library. Great discussion on virtual worlds as art, ergodic literature, Reductionism, and world-building for open world games. [n.b. I should have asked how to change my avatar. It was a bit hard to maintain my dignity as an anthropomorphic yokai goldfish.]

More info here on Debbie Ding’s open studio exhibit: “The Psychogeographerโ€™s Guide to Virtual Worlds”.

2024 Singapore Writers Fest Recap

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It finally happened! After being a part of the Singapore Writers Festival since 2012, I have successfully made it to the opening ceremony. This time there were no overseas work trips, family emergencies, pandemics, or major health issues.

With author Claire Betita de Guzman and calligrapher Malik Mazlan.

Tech Talks: Exploring AIโ€™s Impact on Literary Arts

Thank you to #SingaporeWritersFestival for organising and hosting a panel on the intersection between Artificial Intelligence and the literary arts last Saturday, with Arianne Saga, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, and Simon Chesterman. We talked about how AI affected the writing profession, copyrights and copyright law, as well as its impact on education. Notably, we also discussed whether the fair use provisions of SG’s Copyright Act covered GEN AI transformers or not. Lots of good questions from a very full house. I wish we had half a day to discuss.

Book Bar and the Infinite Library

I was surprised (but grateful) to see my short story collection, The Infinite Library and Other Stories, at the Bookbar in SWF 2024. I only had one panel this year, so I didn’t think they’d stock it.

With author Noelle de Jesus and M&O publisher Patricia Mulles (Thank you Pat for the photos!).

Build an Unforgettable World

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Thank you so much to NTU’s Asia Creative Writing Program and Singapore’s National Arts Council for inviting me to run a cross-discipline worldbuilding workshop during yesterday’s ACWP Practitioner’s Conference. I’m happy that the 36 folks who signed up seemed to enjoy the experience and I hope everyone learned something new. Interestingly, while I had designed the course primarily for narrative fictionists, I was pleasantly surprised to see both an award-winning poet and a best-selling creative nonfiction writer sitting in. Thank you also to Leo (Muhamed Leoaidil Bin) and Annabel Lee for helping to arrange this.

Statement on AI Training

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Because my day job is in technology, I have worked with some manner of AI for over 20 years.I am also an author, albeit a minor one but I have worked very hard to get my small output published.If you are a writer, a musician, or any kind of artist who believes in the value of what you create, please consider signing this Statement on AI Training.

Futurecasting at SMU

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Last Friday, 3 October 2023, I delivered my first-ever lecture on Futurecasting to 60 MBA students at Singapore Management University. We talked about the history of Future Studies and dove deep into various methodologies such as Science Fiction Prototyping, Future Personas, the Six Archetypes Framework, the Alt Futures Framework, and Threatcasting. It was a fantastic opportunity to merge the two sides of my career – writing and technology. Brian David Johnson’s book was what started me on this path.

๐ˆ๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ 2024

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Postscript:

Thanks again to Lian Connect and the British Fantasy Society for inviting me to participate in this wonderful festival. Here’s a screen shot from the event:

Please join us tomorrow, Sept 22, 2024, from 11:00am to 4:30 pm BST, for ๐ˆ๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ: ๐€ ๐ƒ๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐‚๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐›๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐„๐’๐„๐€ ๐’๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐…๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐€๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ, an online Zoom conference with Lian Connect in partnership with the British Fantasy Society, in honour of ESEA Heritage Month. 

Join Xueting Christine Ni (โ€œSinophagiaโ€, โ€œSinopticonโ€), illustrator Sinjin Li, P.H. Low (โ€œThese Deathless Shoresโ€), and myself with Elaine Chiew (moderator) as we explore if an “East South East Asian speculative fiction aesthetic” exists — or if can one even be defined.

Panel info here.  

More info on the event here.

Beyond Text: Redux

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Thank you to the National Library Singapore for inviting multidisciplinary artist Debbie Ding, playwright Johnny Jon Jon. and myself to last night’s Beyond Text panel, where we had a (very spirited) discussion on the intersection of new technology and the arts. Thank you also to Maliah Zubir for facilitating the event. Most of all, thank you to the 72 folks (plus or minus a few AI transcription bots) who tuned in on a Wednesday night!

You can watch the recording of the event here: https://www.facebook.com/readingnationsg/videos/1255765222448043