Category: Literature - Mala Naidoo's Book World

Haiku Matters

Brevity is not only the soul of wit, but the lifeblood of today. Now— the immediate, matters in a world where nothing is constant.

Attention span flits in the blink of a second.

Words matter, live and linger…

The upswing in the unquenchable thirst for poetry is a gratifying return to the appreciation of the poetic word and form. Poetry propels one on a light year’s journey into measureless realms. It delights and moves the human spirit with the evocative and provocative choice of words, themes, shape and style.

Haiku is short, so brief that every word tells a story to leave its inscription on memory.

For the writer, (for me) haiku is inspiration, a deep but quick inhale and a rapid expulsion of observations and emotions. The effect is cathartic but unforgettable.

The on-tap, sharp and visual that bombard our senses every day, growing an ever-increasing need for quick satisfaction—that adrenalin rush akin to a gym workout.

The economy of life’s necessities gives haiku breath in a world juggling too many balls, where survival is a luxury.

Haiku, originally a seventeen syllable (5-7-5) three-line structure poem was predominately about nature—weather, animals, plants, and changing seasons. Traditionally the Japanese form was the opening of a longer poem, serving as a haiku introduction to the composition.

Variations to the original 5-7-5 syllables are widely used by poets in the modern world to capture values, love, life’s challenges, and varying themes beyond the natural world.

Simple, intense and direct…

As a fiction writer, poetry fuels my imagination. In both my poetry collections, Random Heart Poetry: Light and Shade and Random Heart Poetry: Visions and Voices, haiku has a respected space on the page.

on the precipice

have you attained the true spice

ikigai of life

Try your hand at haiku writing today, feel the inner benefit, take the inspiration into your day and share it with others.

Happy Writing and Reading this festive season, but above all, keep safe.

Join me on FB and Instagram to share our haiku stories.

Please like, share and comment.

Creating in a Challenging World

We have read it and heard it repeated everywhere we look and listen.

Change is — has been — will impact all facets of life. The current global change that has claimed 2020 has challenged the ‘do I dare?’ mindset of the creative. The muse is a sensitive soul. She feels the angst as deeply as the joy — inspiration is derived and mined from this seat — gold mined.

Health crisis, economic crisis, the uncertainty of life, the fear of not so much the outdoors but whether we can trust that everybody is doing the right thing.

For how long must we entertain fear as it enslaves us by forfeiting joy?

The creative forges on to leave the carbon footprint of these challenging times.

Dare and dare again and the muse shall heed the call.

The creative day, if allowed to slide, is a difficult one to recover but is possible with the determination of, ‘I will dare.’

TS Eliot’s poem, The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock. conveys the uncertainty of modern times where ‘normal’ becomes unusual. Images of desolation pervade his poem:

Like a patient etherized upon a table/Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,/The muttering retreats

This echoes the current emotional and scientific uncertainty we face.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes

Eliot’s raw emotions capture the universal angst of his time where rapid economic and technological advancement changed his perceptions of life. And the yellow fog of uncertainty seeps into 2020 rising, falling …

The natural outcome is to be perplexed but navigation to the new normal through introspection is vital.

The pen is the mighty memory of our time, of all times, and writing must go on as must art and music and all creative pursuits.

In the making as creatives, writers, artists, we share a universal experience in that it is normal to be afraid, and it is brave to dare by creating new worlds that either mirror the present or transport us to worlds we dream of. In dreaming we bring those hopeful worlds into the conscious mind of the reader/audience who in turn subconsciously works towards making that dreamed, hopeful world, a new reality.

The writer’s pen will never dry or fade — words speak into the future from the past bringing meaning and understanding that this too shall pass.

The human condition is live with the possibility for new stories to be told, poems to be written, songs to be sung and paintings to be created to articulate and quell all fear.

Do I dare, and do I dare, — oh yes, we must, to make this life the best life we have had the courage to dream into our reality!

Today step forward — leave the fences and backyards of your mind and speak of your fears, insecurity, and uncertainty through artistic expression.

Take a chance. Live your passion.

This is a time for you to be YOU in all that you do without the fear of judgement.

Happy writing. Happy creating. Happy daring to channel your way forward for a life free of angst with the promise of joy.

What’s your creative plan?

Maintaining a Healthy Muse

Life is topsy-turvy. The news makes us morose.
But creativity must go on.

So how do we keep the momentum going when all else has fallen apart?

This time shall pass

To avoid dwelling on the negative statistics of the world’s mortality rate, look for reading matter that will stimulate your soul to breathe as the mind’s eye turns inward. This will generate refreshing conversations. Too much has been coming at us in recent weeks, but we have the imaginative capacity to redirect this towards positivity.

Movies will come and go, but a novel or poem lingers. Change your routine. Begin your day doing some inspirational reading. Download free eBooks. Load your Kindles, iBooks, Kobo readers with words that enhance creative thinking.

Roll up the newspaper, shut off the television

We need to be informed — limit this to once a day because overkill might devour your muse. Turn to poetry, short stories, novels and inspirational music. Teach the creative muse to move beyond the immediate.

Limit the online interactions.

Lend a helping hand to a fellow creative. Encourage the reading and writing of new content — unrelated to the current context. Bring the wonder of nature back into our lives, even if it’s from an armchair perspective — watch a documentary — mentally travel to another realm

Free yourself from fear

Here are some hand-picked inspirational suggestions to awaken and maintain a healthy muse. This is a brief list to get the creative juices flowing, to inject an abundant dose of ideas, if you are feeling the slump with each passing day. There are many more you might have already read and perhaps a re-read is another way to lift the lid to ignite the imagination.

Poetry:

The Daffodils – William Wordsworth
First Hush – Orna Ross
Frost at Midnight – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Still I Rise – Maya Angelou
A Spark of Hope Vol 1 &11 – Brenda Mohammed and HTWFS

Fiction and Non-Fiction:

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
The Catcher in the Rye– J.D. Salinger
Beloved – Toni Morrison
A Thousand Splendid Suns– Khalid Hosseini
Swami and Friends– R.K. Narayan
Half of a Yellow Sun– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We are not alone, reach out, touch a life or mind and enjoy the benefit of the enhanced energy this brings.

Stay safe and well.

Read or write something today.

How do you keep your creative juices flowing when things fall apart?

Writing and Publishing During a Global Crisis

Every corner of the world has been hit by Covid19 — life for millions has come to a grinding halt. Businesses have shut down left, right and centre. Bookstores have closed their doors. Libraries are no longer a sanctuary as silent voices are in lockdown.

The question tossed around is: do we go ahead with the launch of a new book?

My heart says yes but my mind says, should I? Then a voice whispers an answer: yes, launch it online, reach people who need to move out of the mental space of the current crisis we all face. We need the sanctity of books. Bookshops continue to take orders online if a digital book is not a preference.

In the face of a global crisis, publishing is vital now more than ever before — it says we are here, later it will speak confirming that we were here, and this is what we did. It is akin to writing historical fiction. The Great Books of the world brought us knowledge of people, cultures, events, aspirations, challenges and celebrations from eras long before our current existence. Without those scribes, the artists of the past, we would be as ignorant of the world as the occupants in Plato’s cave.

Literature is the light into now, the glow of the past and spotlight into our dreams of the future.

Books imprint memory

Writers have the acute ability to sense mood and observe human behaviour down to minuscule details. So, why wait? It is time to pick up the pen of prose or poetry. Each will speak of this time and of our dreams and visions. Leave the messages that say we are indeed one.

In our angst and joy, we are ONE under the sky of humanity

To ignite compassion, we must walk in the shoes of angst, or suffering, to extend love and care to others because we know it—we feel it. Stories elicit compassion and bring meaning more particularly as we sit in self-isolation to protect our loved ones and communities.

Writing and publishing must go on, as must, soft digital launches of news titles and relaunching of backlists. Lower prices, offer free titles, reach the masses by bringing meaning to the lives of those living in fear of what the next news bulletin or press conference will announce. Our uncertainty unites us in our desire for a renewed tomorrow. We inhabit the same house under a global sky.

Now we speak with the same human voice in our sans streets, sans parks, sans beaches… but we should never be reduced to fearing each other.

Keep literature flowing for generations to come—it is within our control, thanks to the digital platforms that serve us.

Keep Writing, Keep Reading.

Stay Safe.

This time will pass. Keeping hope alive through poetry and stories.

From Prose to Poetry

Poetry excites, calms, awakens, regenerates

As a thriller fiction writer, poetry has been a significant aspect of my recreational reading and inspiration for my writing. Poets of the Romantic era notably Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge are among my selection of favourites as has been Yeats, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson. African poets Mongane Wally Serote and Chinua Achebe, to name a few. All held my attention both as a student and educator. More recently, I turn to the inspiration of Orna Ross, an Irish poet and author. I relish reading poems from a global range of acclaimed published and aspiring poets in the rapidly growing group, How to Write for Success. This attests to the thirst for new voices to be heard and fundamentally the need for poetry in an era of uncertainty where we need to be reminded of beauty and wonder.

In a post titled Poetry Educates Prose I highlighted the benefits of poetry reading and writing to enhance style and succinct writing in prose.

After writing poetry for an audience of one and gradually venturing out to my better half and immediate family circle and a few trusted friends, I took the plunge to put together a collection of my light and shade poems. It has taken a year to sift through, rewrite and refresh and refresh once again, and no doubt that process will continue as skills develop along the way. A collection titled Random Heart Poetry: Light and Shade is the window to my soul

The moon has a significant impact on creativity, and culturally the celebration of auspicious events are determined by the aspect of the moon as per the lunar calendar. Some of my Instagram posts will reveal my fascination with the moon whenever she is in my realm. The cover of Random Heart Poetry captures the essence of Light and Shade through the full moon, representative of the light we seek. The poetry collection reflects upon culture, identity, gender, race, migration, relationships and the wonder of nature.

Random Heart Poetry: Light and Shade is available at Amazon and instore at a few select retailers.

Fiction Changemakers

If stories were never told — history would not exist — change would not occur.

So much that is fictional is drawn from reality.

The horrors that have occurred historically and afresh each day (as the daily news never fails to report) become the fictional realities writers create in imagined worlds. The fiction writer’s world is in tune with current and past societal occurrences. The subconscious mind sifts and imprints that which has emotive associations. From this collaboration of mind and emotions, the writer begins with a particular premise — then something magical happens — the pen takes on a life of its own.

Plotter or panster merge when that magic happens. Hey, presto! Fiction and reality commingle!

For this reason, mindful writing is imperative. It helps guide your book to a niche or a wider audience with a message melded to the entertainment a good book affords.

Every good story has a lesson to teach, an angst or joy to share

Where does the act of creative mindfulness emanate from?

The soul of the writer, his or her angst and joy sensitize the writer to the struggles people undergo — be it a socio-economic matter such as Charles Dickens’ novels that exposed England’s elitism, and Jane Austen’s portraits of gender and social class. These are two writers selected from a host of others of the day.

Today fictional writers create worlds around ‘me too,’ racism and power struggles. Power struggles and injustice are timeless from Fritz Lang’s 1927 German expressionist film Metropolis based on the 1925 novel by Thea von Harbouto, Orwell’s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four and my current reading of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins referred to as a ‘high-octane’ story, are a few in the countless number of books that connect readers through discomfit to what it means to struggle and survive.

Political thrillers expose mismanagement, and immorality while entertaining readers with suspense, the drama of high stakes, etc.

If fiction mirrors reality it becomes a record for posterity like all good books. A ‘good book’ depends on which end of the moral spectrum both reader and writer share. If a book angers and soothes, keeps the reader on the edge of their seat by creating desired expectations for the protagonist — it’s a great story penned.

Fiction should make us uncomfortable enough to question where we went wrong, and how can we rectify it

Nothing is political in writing if it showcases reality. The word ‘political’ from my apartheid history conjures thoughts of being labelled as being on the wrong side of the law. Yet a political thriller exposes heinous human behaviour in organizations that we trust to uphold justice.

Fiction is reality dressed up as the world on the pages of a good book, one that dares expose the foibles of troubled societies

Discomfit, guilt and thought

Let’s continue to create fictional realities by rocking the boat of complacency in assuring that the history of the past and history in the making generate discomfort — discomfit elicits thought and one can only hope that positive action will follow to change catastrophes that are within the human scope and rectify atrocious human behaviour.

My stories cut to the bone on forgotten voices who deserve to be heard.

Here’s to more fictional stories for all our better tomorrows.

Happy Australian long weekend. Happy pleasurable reading hours.

Teacher Spotlight: Early Creative Influence

Writers might be influenced by a family member who writes, or motivation is drawn from a much-admired writer. I come from a reading family and absorbed that passion as a child. This brought many pleasure-filled hours to an introverted child. More on this can be found on my, about page.

Why Teachers Matter

The early teenage years opened another door — the door to the other side of reading, equally exhilarating — notably writing. This influence stemmed from my brilliant, nurturing high school English teachers.

One such teacher was Ms Devi Anderson.

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education ~ Aristotle

My fourteen or fifteen-year-old first impression of my new teacher was that she was so young, vibrant and intelligent. She was passionate about literature and brought Shakespeare to life in our South African classroom, drawing connections, making her students feel the angst and joy of the bard’s characters, and life situations.

She was selfless and spontaneous in conducting weekend literary discussions on the texts studied, and additional literature she selected to extend students’ knowledge and passion for such works — yours truly devoured it all. The discussions were just that — not teacher-talk like so many classrooms of the time. You mattered and your voice was valued. You were praised for trying. Ms Anderson was a godsend to many, more particularly to me. Her presence in my school life had a profound influence on my teaching with a passion and thirst for literature.

In a flashback moment, I recall a lesson on haiku poetry. It was my first lesson on this poetic form, Ms Anderson made it accessible and intriguing with her easy-going, warm manner. Every student received her attention, each made to feel that the work done was worthy of praise and encouragement. To this day, many moons later, I remember the poem I wrote, as a somewhat angsty fifteen-year-old. Here it is (I might have to retreat from global after this revelation!)

Haiku (5-7-5)

‘I stared at his face

Wondering at his beauty

Confused, I slapped him’

My English teacher thought much was said in those short lines, there was laughter followed by a deep conversation on my haiku attempt — the adult ‘me’ now blushes that it might have been a dead giveaway on some infatuation — a missed opportunity, perhaps? Memory does not serve well on that count! The moment remembered is a teacher who made my effort worthwhile.

I am not a teacher but an awakener ~ Robert Frost

From Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with the love-sick Duke Orsino’s famous lines, If music be the food of love, play on… to novels and poems introduced, my love for literature grew in intensity under the nurturing tutelage of Ms Anderson. Those early days, for which I am eternally grateful, paved the road to writing novels and short stories, and occasional poems in my adult life.

As Shakespeare’s fate would have it, by accident most strange, a bountiful Fortune, (The Tempest), so together with the helping hand of a schoolmate and Facebook, I reconnected with Ms Anderson across the Indian Ocean — I wanted my inspirational teacher to know how influential she was, when two roads diverged in a yellow wood, (Robert Frost), I followed her teaching passion.

Today, these brief months later, we are Facebook friends, and I know my students, past and present, will enjoy knowing this. Many lessons along my teaching career raised the appreciation I had for my English teachers with Ms Anderson sitting at the helm of the list.

It is with gratitude that I share her influence on my teaching career and writing life and the joy in reconnecting with her.

The impact of a teacher who makes all the difference, is never forgotten.

Please share your memorable teachers and their influence on your life or choices in the comment box below.

Poetry Educates Prose

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Its loveliness increases; it will never
pass into nothingness …
~John Keats

Poet or novelist, one, the other or both — one grows into the other almost instinctively to develop the ideal creative state.

Writing improves with consistency and ongoing learning of the essentials of the craft. The art of writing expands the imagination and bulks the creative muscle by triggering the desire to know more, to research, to read, to push boundaries, and feel joy — a perpetual quest of the writer.

Voracious reading of all forms and more particularly poetry, the fine art of saying much with an economy of words, is a skill worth learning to enhance prose writing skills. Poetry as a literary form is laden with layered sensory imagery, conveying pain and joy, the state of the human condition and a celebration of nature which when emulated in prose fiction, is the lyricism in narration or the cadence of poetic storytelling.

‘And above all, poetry is compacted metaphor or simile’ ~ Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

The habit of reading poetry grows the writer’s ability to choose appropriate/effective language or specific words that says it all with brevity. We live in an era where attention span is brief, access is quick, and impatience governs desires.

Saying it all in four lines:

Hear it, See it, Feel it, Believe it…

Spring Song

Hark, I hear a robin calling!
List, the wind is from the south!
And the orchard-bloom is falling
Sweet as kisses on the mouth

~Lucy Maud Montgomery

Little bursts remain to sustain…

Invictus

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul

~ William Ernest Henley

There is an intensely intimate, mindful experience apparent in poetry, a purity that makes it more personal where prose is more social, and when married with a sensitivity to both forms, the reader benefits from the writer’s authenticity.

As a teacher, evidence points to incremental learning leading to lifelong knowledge. Piecemeal understanding is committed to memory in meaningful short bursts of information whereas lengthy mindless memorisation disappears after the moment of recall.

Poetry speaks in the rhythm and profundity of its brief lines, a boon in holding the attention of the reader.

Poetry read before sitting down to write prose or read as the last activity before sleep, sharpens the ability to borrow from the poetic form and style for precise, well-formed ideas that touch with the depth and clarity that poetry engenders.

If writing in a particular genre or establishing an emotion in a prose scene, turn to poetry that’s appropriate in that instant and feel the passion and power of the words and those left unsaid, then a deepening of thought processes emerge to heighten the imagination. Reading poetry written in any period has the inspirational ability to enhance overall writing.

Crafting poems for creative leisure or publication is beneficial as self-directed editing of what works and what requires reworking. Poetry cannot hide intention and purpose, it’s stark, it’s true, a visual and emotive painting through words. This skill shapes brilliance in prose writing.

Poetry and prose are close cousins of the writing family. Read as many novels as you would poems, or more to capture that sweet spot of simple, short, stunning sentences, one after the other, until a story is born.

How many poetry books are there on your bookshelf? The internet is a valuable source, but there’s much to be said on having a book in your hand as you read, delight in, make note of, absorb and contemplate.

For aspiring writers: Write a poem today on any topic, let it tumble freely onto the page, then try your hand at prose. Watch the magic unfold. An open mind is necessary to attain this joy, and brilliance in prose writing.

Happy Reading. Happy Writing.

Share your thoughts on the benefit of poetry in prose writing.

Shake It Up!

Most fiction and particularly thriller fiction feeds off suspense created by secrets, fear, challenges, and the element of surprise. Lies, deception and the battle for truth keep readers on the edge of their reading seats. Compelling characters extract emotional responses. Do we love or hate a character?

Beginnings

Beginning a chapter with suspense is good when it cranks up what happened in the preceding chapter. Here’s an opening from Across Time and Space:

Meryl awoke for the second time that night aware that she was alone in this vast villa beside the olive grove. She saw a faint strip of light under her door. With a tight knot in her stomach, she tip-toed to the window and peered out — all she saw was the same inky blackness.

Endings

Ending a chapter on a cliff hanger creates the suspense desired to make the reader turn the page. This can lead from dialogue or stylistic narration. Here’s a closing line from Across Time and Space:

Sirens blared, shattering the earlier deafening quiet that had unnerved Meryl – police vehicles approached from the main road which led to the house.

Red and blue flashing lights appeared in the haze of diminishing light.

Across time and Space, three significant men in her life converged… two looking on… the third, a mystery.

Secrets

In Souls of Her Daughters, Dr Grace Sharvin harbours what she considers a shameful secret. Who is Boetie Arendse and how does he know Grace?

At midnight while Felicity and Patience slept, she slipped
out into the storm. Dressed in a pair of black pants and a white
t-shirt, she held her face up to the lashing wind and rain. She
yelled with as much force as she could muster, ‘out, out you
demons! I want to feel whole again!’

Surprise

In Chosen Lives, the reality of characters past traumas is revealed in the Mission’s personal testimony sessions as the reason for their chosen career paths. Audra’s arrogant disposition takes a turn when she reveals her identity after a terrifying ordeal with her boyfriend.

My name was Sophia, I am Audra because that is what Ramón called me during our year together, he said I reminded him of Audrey Hepburn, in the movies Romina watched, but he liked to call me Audra. I run the Audra House Foundation in Florida for abused teenage girls.

Suspense

The shooting of Andre Malakov unfolds through a series of court hearings in Vindication Across Time and unexpected relationships appear, to confound the reader, the witnesses and the legal team. Here is a line pre-empting Ana’s testimony in Vindication Across Time

What Ana was about to reveal left all, including Gildo Mondo, in a state of confused disbelief.

Minutes, hours or days…

Timing must be strategic to drip feed the reader before the heavens come crashing down on unexpected realisations. The pressure of time for the desired outcome cranks up the adrenalin on hope or despair depending on the situations that arise. Better yet is toying with the reader leaving them believing they think they saw a situation coming but could not be sure. Add in the puzzles, give some carefully chosen clues, but not enough to take away from the story being a page-turner.

First-Person

First-person narration creates riveting suspense and equally, authorial narration creates suspense by, for instance, keeping the villain elusive. This draws the reader towards the villain/protagonist in search of who he or she might be and what they might be pursuing. These lines are from the story, Wandering the Earth, in the short story collection, Life’s Seasons.

I feel impending dread in knowing I will be forty in six months.

My life has been strange and wonderful. I cannot say for how much longer, I will withstand being witness to the atrocities of the world. It leaves my days in anxious anticipation of what next and how much more…

I have not been at rest for a long time.

Dramatic irony

Make the reader feel empowered, the dramatic irony borrowed from Shakespeare is a great technique to keep the protagonist ignorant, but the reader informed. How can we forget that ‘honest Iago’ was not that at all, or ‘the glib and oily art,’ of Goneril and Reagan, King Lear’s conniving daughters were signs of their clawing, callous natures? Show the reader a truth or two while the protagonist is blissfully ignorant. Cruel but necessary to crank up the heat.

Challenges

Add in a few challenges, give the protagonist a few dilemmas that will invite consideration, or a veering away from held values and morals, to do the right thing for the greater good. Throw in a new character, one who might have information on the villain or perhaps have witnessed a crime.

Fear

Fear heats up things, something unnatural, bizarre, or psychic confirms that reason alone cannot halt nor control the situation — that creeping to the edge of the reading seat with that pounding heart feeling. Grab it at the right point in the story for maximum effect. Exploit the senses, sight, smell, hearing and touch. The sudden arrival of a heavy gust of wind that pushes a door open — that cold air swishing over you as if somebody was hurrying past you — you look up and there’s no one but you in the room!

When readers are vested in the life/lives of the characters they are more likely to spread the word that a book ‘must be read’ because…

A reader wants to be moved, not by tears alone. They want to be afraid, they want to hope, they want to understand pain, and all the while supporting favourite characters from the side, or throwing mental daggers at those they loathe.

What fictional book have you read lately that has ‘moved’ you and left you with an unforgettable memory?

Happy Reading, Happy Writing!

Sign-up to Mala Naidoo’s BookWorld Today!

Fiction: History, Culture, Truth

Every voice like every story has its place in the world. A niche audience might be readers of a particular history, people and culture of forgotten voices.
In an era that has in so many ways moved leaps and bounds forward, the opposite is true of human tolerance. Everywhere we dare to look, the capacity of the human spirit for evil outweighs the good around us, often overshadowing a multitude of voices and actions for common good.

Stories, fictional stories, even if thematically dark demonstrates the human capacity for change.
Fiction has had and continues to have the rite of passage to dismantle oppressive notions of the wicked side of human nature.

At the Sydney Writer’s Festival last week, the festival theme, ‘Lie To Me,’ resonated with memories, of the apartheid era where race and power/powerlessness named and played the game, and understanding of the impact of assimilation on the stolen generation.
An evening of storytelling affirmed the need to keep telling our societies’ truths to dispel the mistruths in the media, in politics and the use of social media as a tool to denigrate.

Forgetting past atrocities in no way heals the human condition. It’s a double-edged sword — remembering keeps the pain alive, but alive in recall that has the potential to thwart such heinous future acts. To quote Descartes, ‘I think therefore I am,’ is significant, but must be married to, ‘I feel therefore I am,’ and what better way than through a fictional story that ensures that the movement towards human value for all lives, does indeed matter.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana

Cultural stories of forgotten people hold them in conscious thought, remembered as life lessons to pass on to the next generation. While such stories might have a micro niche audience because they tell of the far-flung corners of history, they must be told.

Lines from Vindication Across Time sees the character Marcia Ntuli telling Michael Morrissey, a human rights lawyer about her mother’s hardship as a single mother under the apartheid regime.

Mama Dolores…the police would barge into our home and drag her to the police station for questioning. They were rough with her, they broke things in the house… kicking her in the back, calling her an evil kaffir. It was horrible. ~ Vindication Across Time.

Michael walks in Marcia’s and Mama Dolores’s shoes to gain an understanding of what preceded democracy in a troubled land. His theoretical basis on what constitutes human rights has a ‘live’ life lesson in a recount of the terror Marcia’s mother endured at the hands of the district police. This, in turn, opens the depth of understanding on what might have been misreported in historically written and spoken accounts of this era. The voices of men/women struggling on the fringes of society are left forgotten if not told through story, to entertain and awaken compassion that a history forgotten is dangerous — it lurks in the dark corners of the mind ready to be unleashed in the terrors we experience today.

The storyteller has the power to dispel untruths by telling stories that make us uncomfortable, those stories that some publishers are reluctant to put out into the world, so why wait, when a world of empowerment, without gatekeepers, awaits the telling of unheard stories.

Go tell those stories today. Keep an underrepresented history alive, in the minds and hearts of a niche audience in engaging fictional stories -stories that tell of truths that have been swept under a forgotten, tattered rug.

Share your reading that has inspired a new wave of thinking in the comment box below.

Happy Reading, Happy Writing.

Fiction: Perfection in Imperfection

Perfection is too exhausting. It’s not true to who we really are as individuals, communities, and societies.

Fictional characters echo this representation of imperfection without necessarily being labelled Shakespeare’s Iagos of the world – they do exist – the first page of the daily newspaper or the first news item on the evening television news reveals that Iago exists in politics, education, the corporate world, and other dark corners.

Nobody is as good as gold…

My tag line, Perfection in Imperfection, the themes in my novels, and short stories, and essentially most novels, illustrate that life is just that – a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Nothing is perfect nor is anything entirely imperfect – there is always a reason for the apparent ‘imperfection,’ the interpretation of which is dependent on one’s value system in either accepting or rejecting a perceived ‘imperfection’. The psychological benefit of understanding that ‘perfection,’ as defined by ‘particular’ standards, is not the norm, invites the greatest learning in appreciation, understanding and compassion which is born from trial and error or walking in the shoes of others.

Perfection bores, it disconnects the reader from the lack of reality evident in the world around. A saintly character who holds pious thoughts and performs selfless acts through the duration of a story might offer some inspiration, but insufficient entertainment value for the reader. Give that saintly character’s perfection a dent or two and they are endearing as human after all.

The socially moral cop with a particular weakness, perhaps peeling bags of onions, eating tubs of ice cream, or engaging in a ‘monkey-ish’ tossing of almonds into his/her mouth, or some such habit, when a case is in a deadlock or about be nailed, is either loved, creates amusement, or is despised. Inspector Aldo in Vindication Across Time, a man who controls the media and women, particularly the rich, widowed, and lonely like, Ana Kutnetsov, a housekeeper with a big heart, and a secret past, grates on every character’s nerves. He is enigmatically dark – a looming manifestation of Iago.

Literary heroines such as Tolstoy’s, Anna Karenina, illustrate this point, and Margaret Atwood’s speech, Spotty-Handed Villainesses, on the good-bad women of literature highlight the fallacy of crafting perfect female characters as unrealistically flawless or insanely bad. Flaws might engender empathy in the reader when weaknesses or vulnerabilities are exposed, not the overt Jekyll and Hyde associations – which exist, depending on the genre of the tale.

Nuanced human foibles draw connections and acceptance, that to err is human. From Count Dracula, Robin Hood, Ned Kelly, to Portia and Desdemona – it’s the yin and yang, the balancing between the scales of imperfection and perfection that makes them timeless characters through reader held values, and the emotions elicited.

Perfection in the natural world is not assured, periods of drought, fires, snow and floods, etc, strengthen human and animal reactions or behaviour to changeability.

As What Change May Come is released this week, my heroes and heroines are both weak and strong. Even the selfless character Patience has her weaknesses much to the embarrassment of her sister Grace. While there are consistencies of characterisation across the three novels, Souls of Her Daughters, Chosen Lives, and What Change May Come, there are times when change elicits or decrees an unexpected behaviour in the character. They are all human after all and aren’t we all?

Happy Writing, Happy Reading!

Please share your thoughts on the topic in the box below.

Fiction: Women and Culture

Every writer has a unique voice drawn from culture and values. Even when one opts to write a ‘different’ tale with ‘different’ people, the authentic self seeps into some aspects of the writing process.

Having been raised in South Africa my psyche is wired to the spirit of the people. I remember older women as the stalwarts in the home – stalwarts with hearts of sheer gold. Writing this infuses me with warmth and tenderness. This is the reason for the crafting of Mama Elsie, in Souls of Her Daughters, Mama Thembu in Vindication Across Time and Grace’s mother Varuna whom Patience lovingly refers to as ‘Mama Varuna.’ Each of these women epitomises the significance of a mother in the home which accords them profound respect for the hardships they endure in a country that negates their existence.

The character Marcia Ntuli has the strength of character that her mother, an activist for women’s rights, exudes. Yet in seeking a new life, in a new country, she is subjected to professional racism until she is forced to give up her passion with a rapidly declining sense of self-worth. It’s only when Michael Morrissey, a human rights lawyer helps her through her dark days of self-doubt is she able to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. It is not the act of racism that is showcased but rather the resilience of the women and men who help victims find their way through inhuman situations.

In offering a lesson on how to uplift the human condition, it is men like Michael, Andrei, Brad, Keefe, Petros and Andrew who cherish the broken souls of my African women characters. A multicultural cast adds colour to the worlds of these women as the way of the world – as it should be.

I learned to appreciate this after having lived in segregation under apartheid. My premise will always remain that in our angst and joy we are one under the sky of humanity. Idealistic, perhaps, but hope has to be pursued to make a difference in how people perceive and engage with each other.

In The Rain – A Collection of Short Stories Thuli in the title story is a young, strong village woman who will do anything to keep her family together.

The song she sings to her children, a lullaby, Thula Thula Baba as she waits for the storm to end, is one I remember hearing from the cradle. It moves me to this day in its sweet, yet haunting sounds and meaning.

I give you Thula Thula Baba– a lullaby sung by mothers to calm their fretful babies while their husbands went into the cities to find work.

What Change May Come presents the coping strategies of sisters Grace and Patience in their struggle with irreversible change. Here the notion of perfection is challenged when one woman has motivations that clash with Patience’s perception of what it means to be human.

If stories open vistas of understanding and bring a lesson while entertaining – that is the footprint needed for a better today and even better tomorrow.

Go in peace.

How do you name them?

An interesting question recently from a reader prompted this post on whether the names of my characters were people I knew. As a writer I could say, yes, I do know my characters between the pages of my books, and fiction mirrors life as the angst, joy and foibles of individuals.

Meanings behind names have always intrigued me.

I choose names for some characters that befit their personalities and behaviour or represent the opposite of what they are. In Souls of Her Daughters, Grace and Patience are indomitable women in the face of the catastrophes that befall them. Grace’s mother, Varuna, has her name taken from the Sanskrit equivalent that attests to her strength as one who embraces all, hence she is the embodiment of the god of water and the celestial ocean surrounding the world. Her inner strength and capacity in how she copes with the murder of her devoted, humble husband, and subsequent chastisement and ostracisation by her extended family does not alter her essential goodness. Grace, Varuna’s biological daughter, and Patience, her adopted daughter endure horrific persecution, of a cultural and tribal nature – Varuna will stop at nothing to ensure her family is reunited, while she continues being a person for others in her neighbourhood.

In the sequel to Souls of Her Daughters, Chosen Lives sees the introduction of new characters, who are named in a similar vein, sometimes with demographic relevance, or drawn from Greek mythology – Xandria, defender of humankind, much the same as Alexis – helper or defender. Zuri, a Swahili derivative, means inspirational, beautiful, truth-seeker, and more. The head of the mission in Chosen Lives, an underground movement for a new world of women leaders, is named Masuyo, which means to profit or benefit the world. A mission recruit, running a school for women in India is Akanya, meaning peace and humility which she exemplifies in her interactions with others.

On the other hand, the character, Felicity, family friend and colleague to Patience, is far from what her name suggests, given her difficult childhood – her razor-sharp mind is admirable. The Arabic name, Azmil, means light, given to a young man who lost both his parents at the hands of rebel forces in Pakistan. The work he does, at the Well Study Centre, makes him the light to many orphaned young women. The snatched memory of his mother fosters his commitment to young women in his community.

The character, Audra, has a childhood of neglect by affluent parents, her name as explained in her testimony, is a celebration of the beauty of Audrey Hepburn. As she says, ‘to my Ramon, I was Audra.’

A multi-cultural cast of characters representing diversity in harmony

The third part of this trilogy, being written, will follow through with similar thought for new characters that emerge. Each of the three novels is a standalone read, too.

In my debut novel, Across Time and Space, and the sequel Vindication Across Time, Keres Bathory is a name drawn from a combination of Greek mythology and a historical character – a combination of one who disturbs the universe.

On her quest for her writing holy grail, what will Meryl sacrifice?

Aspects of a character’s behaviour might be drawn from observation which is married with imagination to serve the role they play in novels.

What’s your fascination with names in stories or the people you meet?

Add your comment in the box below.

Happy reading, Happy writing!

Australian Voices

So many voices, so many stories in a country as diverse as Australia, each sharing a connection to people and place.

Today on the blog we have Rhonda Forrest, a high school teacher, from beautiful, sunny Queensland. Rhonda began writing under the pen name ‘Lea Davey’. Her first two novels, Silkworm Secrets and The Shack by the Bay were published under the pen name, Lea Davey, however her latest novel, Two Heartbeats, published October 2018 has been published under her real name, Rhonda Forrest. Having always lived in Queensland, the vast Australian Outback and the pristine Whitsundays feature strongly in her stories. Rhonda Forrest shares her story and tells us more about her writing journey.

Meet the Author

Biography – I was born in Brisbane and grew up in Rochedale, which at the time was a rural farming area. It was a fabulous place to grow up and as kids, we spent our time playing in the bush, riding horses and living in a community where everyone knew each other. I married at the age of 21 and my husband and I moved to acreage at Bannockburn where we lived for thirty years. Along with a menagerie of animals it was here that we brought up our three daughters and made life-long friends with many of our neighbours. At the age of 40, after a multitude of different jobs and running my own business, I decided to study. After 4 years of full-time study, I graduated as a high school teacher of History and English. Recently we have moved to Tamborine Mountain and live between the mountain and a 100-year-old cottage with a rambling garden up in the Whitsundays. Both places are quiet and idyllic places to live and write.

Writing Journey – As a child, I loved reading and was surrounded by books. My mother who is 90, still to this day reads every day and as a teenager, she always handed me her books after she had finished them. Nothing was off-limits and I vividly remember being enthralled by books written by Harold Robbins, James Michener, Wilbur Smith and Jackie Collins. I used to always think that one day I would write a book, however, it wasn’t until about five years ago that I had time to seriously think about pursuing my writing. Long hours spent out on a tinnie in the middle of the ocean fishing, allowed plenty of time for daydreaming and the story of, The Shack by the Bay began rolling around in my head. Once I started writing the words flowed easily and I knew that I had found a new passion in my life – writing!

Genre – All of my books are different. The Shack by the Bay is contemporary historical fiction, Silkworm Secrets is contemporary fiction and Two Heartbeats is Romance. My favourite genre is historical fiction although I also love to read true-life stories.

Motivation – If you want to do something you should just have a go at it. I don’t think I ever considered failing, actually I don’t think about the end result that much, I just go for it. Really you have nothing to lose and once I start writing it’s hard to stop until the story is finished. The editing and parts that come after the actual writing for me are the hardest parts and I would love just to be able to write and to have someone else do the rest for me. But when this is not possible I stay motivated, buoyed along by the lovely reviews and comments I get from readers. With writing, it is not about the money that you make (because that is limited) but rather the motivation that comes from readers who love your books. One of the most exciting things is to look on the Brisbane library website and see that all 5 copies of your book are being borrowed!

Influencers – Probably the biggest influence for me in relation to my writing was the Australian author Coleen McCulloch. It was after I read her book, The Thorn Birds, in 1977, that I decided I would write a book. It took 40 years to have time to do that, but eventually, it happened.

Favourite Books – Just recently I read Boy Swallows Universe which is set in Brisbane so lots of familiar places and just a fabulous entertaining read. My Instagram page has a countdown of my top 50 books and these range from Mao’s Last Dancer to All the Light We Cannot See as well as, The Old Man and the Sea and Australian classics, The Cattle King and My Place. I have so many favourite books, but I do love historical fiction. The Garden of Evening Mists, A Good Muslim Boy and The Space Between Us are also some of my favourites.

If you want to do something you should just have a go at it

Continue reading “Australian Voices”

Book Blurbs

Book blurbs are as important as the cover story of your book. It’s what readers look at to decide if they will take it home to love. Why? Because they cannot walk away from the temptation the blurb triggered. Think of it this way, if you’re a chocoholic, or one who cannot walk past a coffee shop, without going in to pick up a cup of your favourite beverage, because the aroma is overwhelmingly tempting, or the sight and smell of your favourite chocolate bar, is irresistible enough to make you pick up many bars, while you chomp on one on the way home!

It’s not that easy with a book blurb, but the temptation must be created through a strategic choice of keywords, associated with your genre. Tap into the right sensory imagery, tug at emotions, create a connecting interest. Say enough to grab the reader’s interest, to make them want to know more – that should be your blurb goal.

Captivating your potential reader in 200 words, including your intriguing heading, is the sum of the blurb. Second, to the book itself, the blurb is a significant part of the book package. It’s a sales pitch that has to have a timeless ring. Intrigue without giving too much away is the trick. It takes several drafts to perfect the blurb, and it might also mean going back to it after your book has been published, to tweak your choice of language by perhaps escalating how you present tension or to cut back on the number of words used etc, to draw more reader interest and enhance book sales.

Short, Concise, Punchy, Captivating

Often the blurb is left as the final step in creating a book. It’s a vital part of your book package and should be developed along with the writing of the story. A summary point of each chapter should be written to have a storehouse of ideas to draw from. Play around with possible blurbs as you are writing your novel. This morphs as you reach the middle or end of the writing process. The crafting of the blurb becomes less onerous this way.

A few suggestions to consider when constructing a blurb.

Who is my audience?
How will I entertain them?
What emotions do I want to elicit?
What’s at the core of my story – my purpose?
What’s the high point – the point of challenge and intrigue
What does my book offer?
How will I create a sense of place
What will I say about the characters?
Avoid spoilers
Use a hook opening line/question
Use hyperbole to heighten reader interest
Keep your voice/tone authentic
Write a blurb tailored to your genre
Keep it succinct, punchy, captivate the reader
End with a cliff-hanger

A book I recommend reading and drawing skills from in writing a killer blurb, is Bryan Cohen’s, How To Write A Sizzling Synopsis. It’s a step by step guide to a sizzling synopsis.

Write your killer blurb for your next brilliant story!

Please share your thoughts on what grabs you in a killer blurb, in the message box below.

Happy Reading, Happy Creating!

Truth Reloaded

In telling stories, writers draw from values they either ascribe to or find abhorrent.

Are stories purely to entertain or do they serve a purpose beyond plot and characters? Grand narratives are timeless because they showcase society in all its grandeur and dismal failings.

Living today, in what is so much a constructed, fake, flawed world – fair enough perfection does not exist and my own take is perfection in imperfection, we should continue to be passionate about truth – in the books we read, the news we hear and spread. We want to read the sequel or the next book in a series because we want to know more, the truth, the outcomes…

Whether it is the writer’s intention or not, the truth is at the core of the narratives we read. In a previous post, I included thoughts on why we crave the truth.

The need to know is as necessary as the air we breathe, ignorance is bliss is a temporary state of bliss, soon, regardless the loss incurred, the truth will be pursued. The female protagonists in my novels hunt down the truth or live, at first, in a temporary state of ignorant bliss, but soon the gnawing urge to know the truth seeps in, in whatever shape or form it might appear.

For what it’s worth

One cannot be true to what one believes or to who one truly is, if being part of the zeitgeist is prioritised in life – is risking the joys of an authentic life, being comfortable in your own skin, worth the group affiliation? Narcissism guides the exclusivity individuals create while drowning a sense of what is just. A shared humanity is crushed, elitism (as in vanity, not the cha-ching) separates and invites unjust notions of difference. Prizing individuality over falling in with the clique can lead to social isolation, so is it the choice of the brave-hearted alone? – this shapes the thinking reflected in art and literature – the higher purpose in storytelling.

Perfection in Imperfection

Now back to ‘shades of truth’

The energy and time taken to justify an untruth can be used (truth be told) to benefit the lives of all around us.

Politicians and the media are often starved of a good dose of the antidote to the truth to face up to and fess up to the agendas they serve (often aligned to those who hold perceived power) and the mistruths they engender. Truth is valued over empty promises, no matter how deeply buried and ignored, it drips back wreaking havoc which could have been prevented early on, with the plain old truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth saving the day.

Oprah Winfrey’s inspirational Commencement Speech at USC, 2018 sends a message to new graduates, (and the world at large) upcoming journalists, to accept truth as we see it, hear it and so should we report it. But is it as easy as that? What halts truth? Fear? Popularity?

Truth often pays a hefty price when the lid is lifted, it incurs cynicism and attack in the need to sweep its halo under a rug.

No matter how difficult or painful in the moment of revelation, owning up to the truth, perpetuating the truth ultimately leads to a stress-free glorious life, bringing a peaceful night’s sleep with it. Good mental health rests on truth, understanding, and compassion.

Go speak your truth, be who you truly are, nobody defines you, forget being cliquish, it destroys relationships and is often perpetuated by an egotistical leader. Meryl, Marcia, Grace, and Patience, strong fictional women in my novels, Across Time and Space, the sequel Vindication Across Time and Souls of Her Daughters with a forthcoming saga, face the truth with dignity, speak their minds and try to make the world a better place. They are flawed characters, but truth helps them grow and at times trip up. In their fictional worlds, they make art mirror life.

What’s your take on speaking your truth, standing alone, avoiding the pseudo-elitism of cliques, how will you live with truth, understanding, and compassion? We all need a good night’s sleep, right?

Be a truth seeker, tell your story, set the record straight.

Story Ideas

As writers, students, readers, we often hear, ‘where do all these ideas come from?’

There is no short answer to that question. Write what you know is not a mandatory ingredient to write well, to pique your readers’ interest.

Drawing from universal life experiences to create your work of fiction shapes characters and situations. At the heart of the story is the writer’s passion to either showcase a better world, expose the ills of the world or present hope in dark situations.

Thrillers can be inherently dark but genre in contemporary writing morphs into what the story becomes, often crossing more than one genre.

Crime Fiction will reflect the elements of the genre, as would Romance – what good would these be without a dead body, missing person, corporate embezzlement or terrorism etc. Crime Fiction without investigation is, for me, like eating apple pie without the apples. Imagine romance without lovers? While these might be diverse genres, the point of commonality is conflict.

Conflict keeps the reader, hanging on, will there be a resolution or does the tension mount, will the character I’m rooting for, be saved, loved, killed or elected etc?

To deny that conflict is a significant aspect of life (as much as we abhor it – oh the drama of life!) while creating a perfect world with perfect characters would no doubt be like having a dose of ‘soma’ as in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

In creating characters, the potentially ‘good’ characters that are fraught with conflict, are truly memorable ones. They represent the reality of life through fiction – a point of reader connection. Shakespeare’s mastery on the creation of the ‘good wayward’ character, is timeless, and there are many such writers who create unforgettable, quotable characters.

How do you imagine and create your character ideas? Where do they come from?

Observations of people in the bustle or stillness of life, the man sitting on a park bench or train alone, lost in thought – Who is he? Where does he come from? Why is here? Why is he alone? What is he thinking?- A story idea prompt is wherever you are in your day.

Turning to the works of influencers of the craft will create inspiration for story ideas:

To quote Stephen King, ‘You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.’ attests to ‘Reading a lot and writing a lot,’ as essential for generating ideas, developing and enhancing your writing style.

Reading gives the composer a storehouse of ideas to draw upon in creating a new, unique story world that readers connect to.

Keep reading, keep observing the hive of life, learning about new ways of thinking and behaving, story ideas abound around us.

Writers Block you say?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…it was the spring of hope…we had everything before us (A Tale of Two Cities– Charles Dickens)

There’s much on the social and political landscapes, history in the making, story ideas can be a fusion of the past and present, to shock, delight, inform and move your reader.

Continue reading “Story Ideas”

Do You Feel It?

No pain, no gain, no compassion, did the book you read make you feel, did it create a connection? Did you feel the fear, pain, joy, laughter, hope, and love or perhaps just one, maybe two of these emotional triggers through the characters and events in your book?

‘In a dark time, the eye begins to see’ ~ Theodore Roethke

Some of the greatest artistic expressions emanated from the seat of pain, ‘a dark time’. Sylvia Plath’s Ariel comes to mind, her suite of poems on life and pain.

Emotion brings art to life, inviting the beholder to stop, listen, and absorb, to feel the pulse of the writer’s being.

In a dark time, challenges and struggles turn the eye and ear inward. Stop… still yourself from thought and action – listen and connect to your internal landscape. When writing grows from such a place, compassion is born through created events and characters.

Emotion, regardless of whether it’s negative or positive, draws us in, more so when love and understanding emerge through the connection. We are emotional beings. While Descartes said, ‘I think therefore I am’ (Cogito, ergo, sum) – it can be said, ‘I feel, therefore, I connect’ or ‘I feel, therefore, I understand, appreciate…’

Giving in to the emotion-feeling the pain to redefine your world (pixabay image)

Stories should build connections, to validate the reader by bringing characters and their challenges to life. When readers leave a review on the connections the writer’s prose created for them, this provides valuable feedback and acknowledgment.

Here’s an extract from my latest novel, Souls of Her Daughters when the realization of where her life is at, comes crashing down on the protagonist… too much has happened, the past and present collide…

Grace walked around the hospital grounds, confused, lost in thought on the uncertainty of life. Visions of what her mother would have done came to mind. She walked to her car, sat back in the seat and sobbed for all she had lost in her life, and that poor Mrs. Beresford lay dead for the better part of a day, waiting for someone to claim her – Grace understood the pain of loneliness.

Loss and loneliness are sadly, but realistically universal. With the protagonist feeling the emotional weight of both, in a single moment, empathy is elicited and might perhaps connect with the reader, offering solace that we essentially are not alone in what we feel.

Emotional connections whether through song, literary fiction or a life-size painting, draw us in by the intensity of the emotion expressed.

Alternately, there are light-hearted moments in the novel, to lift the weight of the struggles the protagonist and the women around her undergo. The blurb concludes, ‘A timeless tale of every woman’s story…’ Timeless on the struggles and celebrations of life, of women from different cultural contexts and professional backgrounds but nonetheless women with collaborative fighting spirits.

Tapping into the essence of our humanity through any art form, is a way forward, to capture the moment in its rawness, to allow us to walk away from the wars of the world, to look at the pleasure and beauty of life, to let the time of struggle pass. Appreciation and compassion are bred from challenges – how do you know the dark side, if you have not felt it? So too, characters’ lives should represent life through art to make fiction sing with timelessness.

Souls of Her Daughters captures the dark side of life, but the positive emotions swell in the relationship between mothers and daughters. Amidst tears, there is laughter, the reality of the experience of life. I hope you read this tale which will leave you with the message – never deter telling the truth, no matter how painful it might be.

I leave you with this timeless TED message from Susan David, that encapsulates the essence of Souls of Her Daughters, on embracing your emotions in its truth.

Please leave your thoughts in the message box below or sign up to receive future posts, free book offers, and the occasional newsletter.

Leading Lines

How often have we heard that first impressions are lasting? Does the same apply to the opening lines in novels?

An attention-grabbing opening to a novel, not the head-standing, acrobatic, high energy stuff but a carefully crafted opening is a sure-fire way to spark the curiosity of the reader to continue reading.

Leading the reader in without saying too much by judiciously leaving out some essential details elicits intrigue for the reader to pursue the tale to its conclusion. The reader should discover aspects of a character’s world by being invited to be part of the journey. Those discoveries do not have to be palatable to the reader. A favourite character might reveal a side of their personality that perturbs the reader. The unexpected sustains the intrigue. In the real world, perfection is an illusion, to quote Alexander Pope, to err is human, to forgive divine. I fondly recall the podcast with Sevgi Yildiz, coordinator of the Sydney Bookclub, who said she ‘threw the book’ when her favourite character from her reading of Across Time and Space was not as saintly as she had wanted her to be. Emotional connections are indeed what keeps readers wanting more.

A sequel carries a known backstory but it should also be satisfying to read on its own without knowledge of the first book. Without summarising the first book, the opening lines should invite the reader in with glimpses into what went before which puts all the pieces of the larger plot puzzle together.

Opening lines of a book often take several redrafts to ensure that the right balance is achieved that leads to a natural flow from the first book into the sequel.

This is a skill that improves with each book written after several self-edits before the professional edit is solicited.

Continue reading “Leading Lines”

Do We Need Migrant Literature?

The world is a melting pot, an ever-increasing paradise of voices that need to be heard if tolerance and understanding are to reign for peaceful coexistence.

Migrant literature, while evident through powerful voices, needs new sounds to add to the colourful history that should be shared if we are to live side by side.

Knowledge is necessary to foster understanding and compassion to move us closer to our innate humanity. Living in international communities in the 21^st Century is a goldmine of multiculturalism that offers rich insights on culture and values.

What better way than to extend understanding through the literature we read and write. This could be a work of fiction, a non-fiction book, or a blog that creates connections to our neighbours near and far.

Literature is and should continue to be a vehicle that dispels ‘otherness’ or the ‘outsider’

Continue reading “Do We Need Migrant Literature?”