Learning te reo Māori has opened profound new possibilities for story-telling, Witi Ihimaera Smiler tells Tom McKinlay. But it is a proficiency hard won. Witi Ihimaera Smiler is back on the high-dive board at the municipal pool. The highest of the platforms, to which very few ever venture. Far below is his target, but not the generously deep and wide expanse of the diving pool. Rather, he’s aiming to splash down through the neck of a beer bottle. This, figuratively, is the task he has set himself.  Literally, he’s taking the plunge into a trilogy written entirely in te reo Māori. So, a feat that almost certainly comes with a much higher degree of difficulty. "It’s going to be difficult because I am having to change my writing process, one I’ve relied on for 50 years," he says.  "But I’ll start the research phase and word/world building soon.…