Category: Prose - Mala Naidoo's Book World

Holiday Reading

It’s time to get off the wheel. Imagine days lying in or relaxing on the beach, or in your own backyard.

Laid-back days are built for leisurely or serious reading. Soul searching or fun, reading is a fascinating activity that delivers anywhere -anytime- every time.

I asked readers to recommend some of their recent great reads. With Black Friday deals still available at some retail bookstores, it’s quick and easy to bag a good book bargain.

Here is a mixed-genre list of the most enjoyed and/or informative reads. Blurbs are not included; they are available online and at bricks and mortar bookstores wherever you are.

I took the liberty of naming some lists. Three recommendations from Queensland’s Logas Padayachee, who thoroughly enjoyed her choices:

LL’s Selections:

When the Singing Stops by Di Morrissey

Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Mavis’ Sydney Picks:

Black & Buddhist by Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl A. Giles

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy

Blue Mercy by Orna Ross

Jenny Trotter’s Choice:

The Tilt by Chris Hammer

More Suggested Reads

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

Miracles Happen by Dr Brian Weiss

Stories with a Christmas theme are appealing during this time of year.

Stocking Fillers, Twelve Short Stories for Christmas by Debbie Young

Christmas in the Scottish Highlands by Donna Ashcroft

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

My Books with a hint of Christmas:

Gallery Nights by Mala Naidoo

Souls of Her Daughters by Mala Naidoo

Literary classics by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and many other literary great-reads offer timeless entertainment.

Add your favourite reads in the comment box below to spread the love of reading this holiday season to keep books alive.

Happy Reading! Happy Holidays!

Why does crime fascinate the reader or the viewer? From a gripping novel to a suspenseful film, both mediums are loaded with intrigue, blood, gore, missing persons, and dead bodies, and they certainly hold our attention for more.

Pushing boundaries is the adventurous inclination invited by human fascination, as is vying for the person we want to set free from crime.

Crime writing, like reading crime novels and viewing crime films, is an emotional investment for the adrenaline rush we crave. Words on a page must do the creative hard work that diegetic or non-diegetic music elicits to keep us on edge, before, during and after the crime has been committed.

Descriptive language, sharp, short sentences, sensory imagery and specific punctuation, create and elevate the mood that befits a crucial scene in a novel. The intrigue must be deep enough for the reader to push on, chapter after chapter, well into the night, or wee hours.

Crime fiction often draws inspiration from actual crime, which allows for greater reader appeal. Research is vital to achieving a realistic, entertaining selling point.

Attending a criminal court hearing is a valuable catalyst for storylines to kick off. Make a friend in your local police station and shadow the police person to walk in their shoes for a few days. What better way to get inside the aftermath of the crime?

Visit a prison, and if allowed, ask to interview a prisoner. Getting inside the minds of criminals fuels the creative urge for the realistic crafting of your MC.

Research profiles of victims of crime and seek a psychologist or psychiatrist to gain a greater depth of understanding of why the victim might have been targeted.

Visiting crime sites long after the investigation and conviction enrich the landscapes in a crime fiction story.

Live research is valuable for the unique imaginative triggers they invite. Equally, reading crime novels of note is vital to the crime writer.

Crime documentaries are accessible anytime if physically going to a prison or crime site is not an option.

Don’t go too far. Grab the daily newspaper, and a new crime of the day or week holds our attention as we seek more on the investigation.

Unending thirst for crime novels and films continues to expand, weaving through different genres and is an inroad to writing for aspiring creatives.

Writing the right crime pays.

What are your favourite crime novels and films?

Please like, share, and comment in the box below.

Fiction and Reality

Pen, a fictional story and aspects of the scribe’s life, spills onto the page between fiction and reality. Angst and joy collide in the unfurling of the emotive content of the story. The emotional hooks in a story invite readers to open their own wounds and happiness for a well-penned story.

In my novels and short story collections, dogs feature as necessary in human lives. A lifelong love of dogs finds their way into the lives of significant characters I create.

In the Sequel set Across Time and Space, and Vindication Across Time the wonderful Ted is the adored pet of human rights lawyer, Michael Morissey, and aspiring writer Meryl Moorecroft. Michael advises and befriends schoolteacher Marcia Ntuli, caught in workplace professional racism. Ted is the first to understand the growing romantic involvement between Michael and Marcia. His sensitivity to Marcia makes him even more adorable.

Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth. ~Albert Camus

Read Now

Two hours later they emerged from Michael’s bedroom, laughing at Ted’s quizzical peaked ears and worried frown.

In Souls of Her Daughters, Patience, a social worker has two dogs, Ajax, and Sprite. She adopted them while her sister Grace was overseas at a medical conference. Patience witnesses her sister’s battle with her past demons and hoped Ajax and Sprite might offer her healing and joy. We may read this novel as a stand-alone novel or as a trilogy.

Read Now

They were abandoned in an old building on the south side of town. I could not take one and leave the other. They are high maintenance in the love department but adorable to come home to.

Life’s Seasons, a short-story collection, includes a valiant dog as title story – Toby. This story was first published in the short-story collection, The Rain, where Toby, a brave dog, living on his owner’s family farm is confronted by a treacherous storm. Instinct guides Toby when the safety of his beloved human family is threatened. Toby’s heroic, selfless act unwinds minute-by-minute to melt hearts.

Read Now

He gripped the harness between his teeth, prostrating to give the children a lift, to allow them to be pulled up with ease.

The Bardo Trilogy has Woza and Khaya, the loyal companions to the mysterious doyenne Tempest, on her mission to offer safety to women and children who are victims of crime.

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Read Now

Living in isolation was difficult, but her parrot, Caramba, a keen white watcher of the skies and her two Rottweilers, Khaya and Woza, filled her lonely hours.

The act of including dogs in each of these novels and short stories is a subconscious inclusion drawn from experience.

Pets are companions who combat loneliness, fulfil a caring need, aid healing from grief and bring joy during life’s challenging times. Both fiction and reality meld to create balance to live in unison with the universe.

Now there’s nothing like one’s writing companion puppy snuggled at one’s feet as words and new worlds rise and fall on the page.

Happy Reading. Happy Writing.

Please share, like and comment below:

Creative Fiction: Keeping Histories Alive

The world is teeming with the here and now, current stories in the making with the mounting flux of national and international events and situations that drown the past as voices evaporate into the mists of time. The danger is in relegating these voices to forgotten histories when they have much to teach this time on human kindness and compassion, to obliterate the self-centred I, me and my way of thinking and behaving.

Fiction writers have the skills at their finger-tips to animate these voices through fictional recreations, Many such esteemed writers, as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elif Shafak, et al, have done so to great effect over time.

Ignorant of history, we find it easy to accept our isolation from one another. We are more able to recognize differences than shared experiences and perspectives. History proclaims our common humanity. – Author: Linda Simon

South Africa’s apartheid history has a multitude of women’s voices, women of colour – some of whom have gone unnoticed under the radar of time.

Souls of Her Daughters arrived to highlight the role that women of colour made to the contribution in dismantling apartheid’s constructed barriers of race, sex, culture and ethnicity.

In Souls of her Daughters, two mothers, Varuna and Elsie, the mothers of Grace and Patience unite as one family when their husbands are brutally killed during the darkest times in the land’s racist history. Their daughters, Grace and Patience, become the stoic women they reveal themselves to be while fighting their own demons on sexism and abuse. Kindness and compassion pave the way forward as the personal histories of Varuna and Elsie in demonstrating their resilience under the scrutiny and accusations of racist stereotypes.

From humble beginnings both Grace and Patience emerge as women of courage, serving humanity in an international arena. Before they achieved this level of confidence they found a space where they were valued, belonged, to reach out to those struggling a similar or worse fate.

These four forgotten voices were deep, and the reach expansive that it opened the way for two more novels to follow, Chosen Lives, and, What Change May Come. These novels that followed, Souls of Her Daughters takes the reader on a journey from South Africa to Australia, Ireland and India. The novels showcase the kindness and compassion of two sisters born from different mothers into a segregated South African society with the potential to overcome the debilitating challenges of their birth country’s political history.

Fiction has a valuable role to play in the recreated telling of stories that did not make it into the history pages of its respective time, yet these stories carry the potential to educate the here and now for a future built on kindness and compassion. These human qualities dissolve the quagmire of the human condition.

Please like and share your thoughts and ideas on the recreated fictionalised histories you would like to read.

Mothers Mirrored in Fiction

Mother’s Day this year has a different ring to the freedom of yesteryear.

The nation waited to hear if we would be allowed to visit our mothers on this special day of the year. Something we took for granted… our mothers would always be there to listen, comfort, cook an amazing meal, take care of grandchildren, advise on matters of the heart, and chastise bad behaviour.

Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child ~ Gautama Buddha

The hype leading to Mother’s Day has been a buzz from infancy. 2020 has been still but some retail stores have opened for a dash purchase of a gift and a card to celebrate our mothers to tell them we love them. We fervently add that we want our mothers to be safe and well during this global health crisis. Some among us ache to see our mothers, some have passed on, and others are in social isolation — it has been two months of just telephone conversations and if possible, FaceTime, Zoom and Skype chats. The aching emptiness of the missed mama/nana hug is still not a possibility. A joyous expression of love is now a cause for global anxiety as we fear the unknown, the lethal. The comforting hug now a possible cause of harm.

Mothers occupy a universal, sacred place in our hearts. A mother’s unconditional love goes with her children from the cradle to the grave. Cultures revere mothers with a divinity deserving of profound respect and care. This value should undoubtedly be universal. The hearth of family and home is a mother.

Paradise lies at the feet of your mother~ Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

In paying tribute to all mothers today I also refer to the fictional mothers in, Souls of Her Daughters, and two follow-up novels in the trilogy (each reads as a stand-alone novel too) Chosen Lives, and, What Change May Come.

Mothers Varuna and Elsie present as the yin-yang of motherhood. Mama Varuna is Grace’s bold and strong mother who has weathered hardship with loss and societal criticism. Patience’s mother, Mama Elsie is a mild-mannered mother who faces racism and hardship in apartheid South Africa. Both mothers raise their daughters as one family united in their cultural difference and struggles. The highs and lows of the lives of mothers and daughters captured in the daily lives of Grace and Patience are what makes Mother’s Day a constant expression of love.

To all mothers, and future mothers, you are the pillars of family and society and should be celebrated daily.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.’ ~ Proverbs 31:26

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Stay safe and well as restrictions ease in New South Wales and around the world.

Happy reading, happy writing.

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.

End Bell

As the year draws to a close in the blink of the year bowing out, it is a time to reflect on where we are, where we’ve come from and of course where we’re heading to.

Gratitude

My gratitude for a writing life is the blessing of the creative gift to tell the stories of forgotten or unheard voices and the passion to sustain this. I am indebted to the people I’ve met along the way who support my creativity by reading my books and inspiring and supporting my desire to write more.

ALLi guides my ethical author status by providing up-to-the-minute publishing and marketing advice through podcasts, publications, members’ forums and Orna Ross’ weekly, Maker, Manager, and Marketer accountability for creatives.

The vibrant How to Write for Success FB group supports seasoned and novice writers in a nurturing, inspirational forum and is a space to create and showcase some of my pieces while supporting writers on their creations in a constructive, non-judgmental forum.

Joanna Francis Penn’s Travel and Books Podcast and Mark Dawson’s SPS Podcasts are informative, entertaining and inspirational.

Writers no longer work in isolation. Seclusion is necessary for the creative process and networking creates visibility

Publishing

The third novel in the Souls Of Her Daughters Collection was completed, titled What Change May Come and a collection of short stories, Life’s Seasons was published this year. It has been a year of many things on all of life’s fronts with life experience extending understanding and the capacity to live my passion.

2020 – Onwards and Upwards

Currently, a new novel series/trilogy is in the making with the first draft complete and chilling for a month before several rounds of editing and reworking to be born into the world in the first quarter of next year.

Poetry is a calling that intensifies as evident in the post, Poetry Educates Prose. It was a joy to have my poem, ‘Listen,’ published in the December edition of the literary journal SIPAY. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Yeats and Orna Ross are poets I enjoy reading.

Additionally, supporting rising poets brings joy to my creative space.

What more…

Lots more writing and possibly looking at non-fiction and poetry publications while teaching, learning and growing.

A writing life, like reading, is the breath and pulse of life.

Have you signed up for my monthly or bi-monthly newsletters for special offers/ free books/stories and updates on new publications? Click here to enter and receive two free short stories.

As the year closes this chapter, I look forward with a glad and grateful heart.

Happy Reading, Happy Writing and Publishing this holiday season.

Season’s Greetings, may 2020 bring you the very best in peace, joy, good health, enhanced creative productivity, and abundant success in all your endeavours.

What are you grateful for as 2019 draws to a close?

Add your comments in the box below.

Writer’s Connect: Spotlight: Author Vash Karuppa

Today I turn the spotlight on South African Author Vash Karuppa whose debut novel DESTINY FOR LOVE ARRANGED is a favourite among readers in South Africa and abroad. Her novel captures the cultural significance of life, and the command and necessity of love in a voice that connects the reader to place and culture and the understanding that the heart is not entirely self-directed.

Synopsis: Destiny for Love Arranged:

Destiny for Love Arranged is a contemporary, gripping and angsty, second chance Indian romance that reveals the love of family and friendship bonds during trying times. All protagonists are of South African Indian origin.

The story revolves around Aariyan Ranjan, a highly successful CEO of a Hotel Empire and Varini Iyengar, an Oncologist, both are forced into a temporary marriage of convenience to help them resolve personal dilemmas.

Not because it had anything to do with his heart he thought stoically…, but because it suited his purposes…

While Aariyan is determined to treat their marriage as he would any other business deal, love rarely listens to logic, and what follows is anything but business. On the other hand, Varini soon finds herself gravitating toward and rejoicing in the love she thought lost forever with a hidden hope that their marriage of convenience will end in a union of everlasting love. The story is embedded with cultural anecdotes familiar to any family of Indian origin. It takes their family, friends and a life-threatening situation to show them the love they lost is worth fighting for.

In short, this is a story about family, friendship, and starting over, as Aariyan and Varini embark on a journey toward a second chance at love. You will get to share in their moments as they discover that vulnerability can be their strength and the most perplexing problems can be overcome with the support and resourcefulness of a loving family and faithful friends. This is Book 1 of a trilogy.

About the Author

Vash is a South African author of Indian origin who has been a bookaholic from about the age of five. Her addiction for books grows exponentially daily, so after spending years concentrating on her role as a corporate executive and a short stint as an entrepreneur, she decided to unleash her number one desire i.e. a passion for writing. Whilst books of most genres interest her, it was romance that captured her soul. Her writing portrays the lives and drama of ordinary people who readers can easily relate to. The crux of her stories celebrates the power of true love coupled with the timeless bonds that exist between family and friends while capturing the true essence of diverse cultures.

Vash Karuppa is a member of the Romance Writers Organisation of South Africa (ROSA)

What inspired you to write Destiny for Love Arranged?

For many years I have read articles around the call for diverse romance novels that incorporate multi-cultural aspects into a traditional romance plot. In addition, I’m a hopeless romantic myself and always had a plot in my head around a story that integrates family and friendship bonds (which I have been blessed to have throughout my life) together with a typical romance story.

When I eventually decided to put pen to paper, it all just naturally came together, giving birth to Destiny for Love Arranged. Finally, I am aware there aren’t many novels written which share intricacies of the South Indian culture and I was determined to write about it. Looking at the feedback received thus far from readers, it was well-received.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? How long did it take you to write your novel?

Being a passionate romantic and voracious bookaholic, reading was a drug to which I had an instant addiction, one that only grew with time. While books in all genres interest me, it was romance that I was drawn to. From as early as my pre-teen years, I loved the ‘happily ever after (HEA)’ syndrome hence my love with any book in the romance genre, and later as a teenager with a dream of writing my own HEA story.

Writing a novel has always been part of my bucket list, so, after spending years concentrating on my role as a corporate executive, I eventually unleashed my number one desire and passion for writing with Destiny for Love Arranged

I didn’t really plan on publishing my work though, because I started writing for my own fulfilment. However, when a few of my friends read the script, they encouraged me to consider publication and so it happened….

The hardest part of completing the story was not knowing how to stop. I had so much more to tell but owing to publishing rules on limited word count and reader expectation of the length of books I had to cut out a lot from the original script.

What’s your typical writing day like?

Owing to a “day job”, I tend to confine my writing to nights for at least 2 hours a day in the week and whatever time I can hijack on the weekend.

My best writing is done in a quiet space in my little apartment directly next to a window where I can have the warmth of the sun and sounds of chirping birds to keep me company while writing.

Who is your greatest source of inspiration?

My 92-year-old maternal grandfather has undoubtedly been the inspiration behind my love for writing. He taught me how to read and then introduced me to the word of writing through the books he wrote and is still writing might I add.

What are your future writing plans?

Books 2 and 3 of the Keshavam Industries trilogy is almost complete and will be released between December 2019 and February 2020.

I have a new series planned for the rest of 2020.

Destiny for Love Arranged is on Amazon for your reading pleasure.

You can engage with Vash Karuppa on:

Happy Reading! Happy Writing! Happy Publishing!

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.