Niramon, a 23-year-old woman, was robbed and murdered in 2019 while on the way to meet her boyfriend. After her death, she was transported to another universe and later she was reborn as a girl named Botan into a poor Thai-Chinese family in Phichit. Without any support, Botan experienced hardships until she discovered something that connected her to Niramon, hence discovering the purpose of her reincarnation.
The story of Botan, or Niramon, is told in the Chommanard award-winning novel Roy Bat (The Loop) written by Witida Ditiecher, whose pseudonyms include Chantarangsi and YueGuangNainai. The Loop has been praised by Assoc Prof Trisilpa Boonkhachorn, the president of the P.E.N. International Thailand-Centre, who stated that: "The Loop involves beliefs about the law of karma in Thai society. The novel stands out for its presentation of the Thai way of life by using metaphors and unique language as well as connecting relationships between characters. Its storyline is intriguing to follow, moves quickly, and features multi-dimensional characters."
Witida previously worked in the publishing business for several years. Initially, she was the editor of the magazine Telecom User Guide before moving to Germany to study literature. Afterwards, she married and moved to the Netherlands to live with her husband. After her daughter became a teenager, Witida, who was now a housewife, decided to write again. She began by posting her stories on Dek-D.com, an online publishing platform. Most of her stories feature Chinese characters and take place in China. Since her books have fascinating plots and beautiful language, publishing company Pen1 Books contacted her and asked if she could compile her stories into a book. Prior to the Chommanard Book Prize, Witida had also won several awards for her work Wan Kerd Khong Kao Mong (Kao Mong's Birthday), including the Wankaew Award (2018) and 7Book Award (2019).
Chommanard award-winner Witida Ditiecher lives in the Netherlands. Witida Ditiecher
The 50-something author was delighted after receiving the Chommanard award since it was her goal to work with Praphansarn Publishing, the founders behind the award. As an only child of divorced parents, Witida recounts spending her younger days reading, so books mean everything to her.
"I read all kinds of books. Books are my friends and surrogate parents who provide knowledge. Since my parents were divorced and I had no one to provide me with guidance, I learned everything from books and TV. When I was young, I read many magazines and books published by Praphansarn Publishing. Actually, I wrote The Loop and participated in the competition for the Chommanard award in order to have an opportunity to work with the company," said Witida.
"I am proud of the Chommanard award since it is given to female authors and former winners come from diverse backgrounds. Among the winners is a doctor, a nurse, a sex worker and an author who only graduated high school. This means the award is not limited only to professionals and that judges mostly consider the plots of the stories. As a result, novels are varied with plots that involve women in different fields," added Witida.
The plot of The Loop was created after Witida decided to write a story with many female characters.
"In The Loop, female characters represent several kinds of women in Thai society from rich to poor, illiterate and well-educated. These women have been through different kinds of experiences and while some choose the right path, others make mistakes. To present the characteristics of Thai society, characters reveal their attitudes which relate to Buddhism such as talking about making merit and good versus bad deeds. However, the novel does not preach about dhamma. Instead, its main focus is to present women from underprivileged families who have low social status. In this story, the main character, Niramon, was reborn into the past because the novel is a fantasy. Buddhism does not have a belief about reincarnation into the past," said Witida.
The Loop also provides descriptive details about locations and lifestyles of people in the countryside decades ago. The protagonist, Botan, was born in Phichit but she later moves to Suphan Buri. The use of vivid descriptions allows readers to visualise the characters and settings easily and all details come from the author's own hard work.
"Suphan Buri is the main setting in the novel. Before writing, I thought it might be easy because I had all of the plot details. However, when I began to write, I found I had no clue about what the countryside looked like 40 years or even 50 years ago, since I grew up in Bangkok. I had to spend time reading history and theses about Suphan Buri. I had to learn what kind of jobs Chinese immigrants had, what kind of fruit they grew, and their way of life. I wanted things to be accurate, so I even checked the details about the street in front of Botan's house and the names of coffee and noodle shops. These locations were all real," she said.
In addition to excellent descriptions, plot twists also make The Loop irresistible.
"I have read a lot of books, so I know about many different kinds of plots. I can already predict the plot in detective books. It is a challenge to create a complicated plot that readers can keep up with, so I really enjoy writing plot twists," said the author.
Even though Witida has won several awards for her writing, she does not consider herself as a professional author since she does not do it for living. Writing is more a form of therapy for her and she gets immense satisfaction from the positive feedback of her readers.
"I was particularly happy after one reader thanked me for some quotes in the novel Kra Rian Lueang La Lab Mai Huan Kuen (Yellow Crane Never To Return). She said the quotes made her understand the world more and that she had also adopted thoughts from those quotes into her life. That novel tells the story of NingNing, a servant who has a romantic relationship with the son of the homeowner. NingNing focuses on her duty and is always happy even though her lover must marry another woman. This kind of reader feedback is my reward," said Witida.
After living in the Netherlands for more than 20 years, Witida has noticed that Dutch people read a lot and that they read various kinds of genres. Moreover, they are able to read in many languages such as Dutch, German, French and English, so they have a wider selection of books to choose from.
"Statistics show that Dutch people read books more instead of watching Netflix during lockdowns. Online bookstores in the country saw an increase in sales by more than 30%," she said.
The Loop will be translated into English. Photo courtesy of Praphansarn Publishing
In the Netherlands, the topics of bestselling books are diverse, unlike in Thailand where best-sellers are how-to books and novels, especially "y novels" or yaoi, a Japanese term which refers novels which features sexual relationships between male characters. Even though the popularity of y novels has grown rapidly, it was a surprise to know that an award-winning author like Witida is interested in this genre.
"I want to write a y novel but I first have to figure out what kind of story it will be. However, it is definitely not going to be a romantic story like the others in this genre. Some people criticise y novels for lacking diversity, so I'm wondering what will happen if a famous author writes a y novel. Also, it is interesting to learn why readers like this kind of writing. What does our society lack? Does it lack love? Is that why readers want to read something that comforts them? Some people think if an author writes a y novel with a different plot, it won't sell. However, I think we should dare to do something different and write excellent books even if they don't sell well," said Witida.
