Tag: reading - Mala Naidoo's Book World

AI or the Human Touch

Whether we accept it, remain neutral, or deny it, it’s already present.

When it comes to creativity, how do you balance AI and the human touch?

Ernest Hemingway said, There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed. If this is so, why is AI necessary when the writing process is humanely natural?

For centuries, storytelling has been a cultural tradition in every corner of the world. Who is the best at sharing their personal experiences through storytelling?

Is it possible for AI to display raw emotions?

Some argue that it’s authentic, while others contend that it’s programmed and thus not genuine.

The subjectivity of creativity begs the question: can it be programmed?

The dilemma is that some humans conceal truths and wear masks to create a fake identity. The theme of appearance vs reality in Shakespeare’s plays exposes how easily humans can be deceived. Will AI be yet another mask for machine-generated creativity? Who receives credit for the positive reception of AI-generated work? Another door to truth and ethics is unlocked.

Be curious and informed before leaping.

Artists create. They can express themselves through art in a multitude of ways — painting, writing, music, fashion, architecture, machinery, transportation, and beyond.

Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Mozart, and other masters of their crafts possessed scintillating minds and remarkable imaginations before AI.

How does AI affect the human brain and heart when it takes over our inherent rights to uniqueness, growth, and creativity? When AI ‘generates’ creativity, do artists’ voices and works lose their uniqueness that only the human touch can produce?

The books and authors that writers admire inspire them. Their mentors, past and present, guide them in honing their skills and style to create unique storylines. Imagination and voice make up a writer’s unique human fingerprint. It captures the reader’s attention. Have we reached a technological level where AI can imitate a writer’s style and imagination?

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will. – George Bernard Shaw

AI is a part of our daily lives, but we often overlook it. Bots have butted into our lives before we had a name for them. Just whisper ‘Ok Google,’ or ‘Alexa’ and they are ready to provide us with the answers we seek. Does this make the human mind lazy if we don’t physically do the research?

The uniqueness of a writer’s voice lies in the manner in which they tell the story. AI can mimic the tone and intonation of the human voice, but can it replicate the character and personality of the human soul to articulate life experiences?

Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought. – Albert Einstein.

As an artist, you live your passion, share your talents and skills, and develop with every piece of art created.

The ways and reasons for entering this brave new world of creativity are widely debated.

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt — Sylvia Plath

Be curious and cautious to guide your choices in a rapidly evolving creative sphere.

Please share your views in the comments below.

Author Spotlight: Mel Goven

As creatives, news about a debut author from the land of one’s birth is received with great joy. The creative landscape is a connected, supportive space that celebrates newcomers to the publishing fold.

Meet Mel Goven, South African debut author of the crime novel, Unfinished, launched in July, 2022 on Amazon. Please join me in welcoming Mel Goven to the blog this month.

Get to know South African Author : Mel Goven

1. Biography : Mel Goven

I hail from Johannesburg and have quite a demanding day job as a teacher in a primary school.

Unfinished is my first novel although I have written many short stories which have gained a place in short story competitions in local magazines and writing groups.

My short story, Scorned, a crime mystery, was placed 3^rd in Woman and Home, in 2014. Love Knots, another short story, was shortlisted in the annual short story competition run by The Writer’s Group. One of my favourite short stories, Lucky, featured on a few writing blogs and had quite a successful run in 2016. All these stories can be read on my blog site.

I have also published newspaper feature articles and opinion pieces during my stint as editor for the local newspapers: The Randburg Sun, Fourways Review and the Northcliff Melville Times.

My features were around education challenges in South Africa. Some of which were: Preparing for Future Career Opportunities, Effective use of Technology in the Classroom, Private versus Public Schools.

Having always been drawn to the romance genre, I imagined I would write romance novels, which I haven’t completely taken off the table yet. However, I found my voice in thrilling crime mysteries.

I have two more novels in the pipeline and have realised that with each new world I create, I am finding myself as a writer. I don’t like conforming to a specific trope and while I admire the writing styles of my favourite authors, I don’t think I am in the same league and so choose to write my way.

I have been blessed with four incredible children of whom I am super proud. In formally starting my writing career at this stage in my life, I hope to inspire them that dreams come true at any age, no matter what challenges and obstacles arise.

2.When did your passion for writing emerge?

I love reading. I believe you must be an avid reader to be a good writer. When I was a child, I would beg my parents to take me to the library.

I visited many libraries in the area I grew up in: from the little mobile libraries that would go around the community on Tuesdays and Thursdays; to the community libraries that were finally built when the demand increased, and then to the Durban City Hall library when I was old enough to travel to the city on my own.

I started writing after I read Anne of Green Gables. I felt such a deep connection to the main character, Anne. Although she was a lifetime removed from my world in terms of the era, race, and circumstances, she felt what I felt; messed up like I did; was the odd duckling — just like me.Anyway, the community library did not have the sequel to Anne of Green Gables and so I decided to continue the story in my imagination. Eventually, I wrote it at the back of a Maths book (I did not like Maths very much). That was how I began writing.

Every time I finished reading a book, and if I felt that I wanted more from it, I would continue the story to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.

3. What inspired you to write your debut novel, Unfinished?

In 2012, I became fascinated by a story I heard from a patient in a doctor’s surgery. The patient had undergone a heart transplant a few months before and she had been excited to meet the family of her donor.

I found myself researching it and was surprised to find that some heart recipients experienced major personality changes which are sometimes connected to their donor. The idea of the heart, which we consider the seat and symbol of emotion, sparked a story and this epic drama unfolded.

Unfinished is set in Hout Bay, Cape Town, because the first human heart transplant occurred successfully at the nearby Groote Schuur Hospital. But, it is more than just a story about a heart transplant. It revivifies an unsolved murder committed almost 40-years before the story begins; those affected by that crime and how their lives have interwoven until a heart transplant finally exposes the truth. I wanted my characters to come to life on the page, and each one needed to have a voice, so I opted to write in each main character’s POV.

4. Who are your favourite authors?

I have so many. I have great respect for the classics, so Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Emily Bronte, L.M. Alcott, Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and of course, L.M. Montgomery.

Contemporary authors: I would say, Khaled Hosseini, Kazuo Ishiguro and Eleanor Catton. But there are so many others. I have never restricted my reading to specific genres. I read all, except perhaps horror. Although I did spend a few sleepless nights reading Stephen King’s, The Dream Catcher.

I suppose I could say I have favourite books rather than authors. At present I am enjoying Barbara Kingsolver’s, The Lacuna. And, A Madness of Sunshine, by New Zealand author, Nalini Singh, and The Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah.

Oh, dear! There are so many more books I still have on my to-be-read list. My guilty pleasure is that I also enjoy a Harlequin romance novel now and again.

5. What advice would you offer to aspiring writers?

Write about what you experience. Write that story you wished could have had a different ending. Write about your dreams. Whatever takes seed in your imagination, write about it.

Grab your copy of Unfinished at these Amazon Book Links

Paperback

Kindle edition

Join Mel Goven on social media:

Facebook

Instagram

I extend my gratitude to Mel Goven for sharing her author journey and wonderful advice to aspiring authors. Unfinished has certainly grabbed my attention!

Happy Reading, Happy Writing.

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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.

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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.

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Erase Negative Generators

Some quick pointers as we either drown in or swim out of the quagmire of negative news.

As fiction writers we are wired to all that happens around us as our receptors absorb ideas for the next great story. The blessing and curse of the news – more a curse in the current times while essential for updates on matters of health and mortality, the economic slump and the general state of the nation – it is disruptive in its overdose of negativity.

Brain receptors

The writer’s receptors grab ideas at the speed of a 5G network – the mind is never at rest, dreams emerge during troubled times as stress levels are elevated and the quest for ideas, for the next great book, arrives in a mangled mind needing time out. Once this agglomerates to confuse and clog thinking which we are at risk of in the current global climate, the danger is depressing outcomes for the writer on high alert – never wanting to miss a moment of the rapid global change we are undergoing. The virulent effect, if we are not selective, leaves its scar for a lifetime.

Be Selective

Choice matters when words count and writing deadlines are set-up. Where possible avoid mismanaged choices that deaden your writing plans – dry the inkwell or moves the virus into your hard drive. Choose to read inspirational material to reframe how you see yourself in the world. I recommend reading The Untethered Soul, the journey beyond yourself, by Michael Singer to redirect thoughts to positivity and peace.

To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them – Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul

Erase Negative News for Creativity to Shine

Poetry, meditation, or inspirational music will reset your inner dial for greater productivity. Catch up on writing podcasts to refresh your muse. There are loads of positive platforms to draw from to rev your creative mojo free from negativity.

Go Creative Flow Practice

Music is the Food of Life, Please Play on

Whatever your choice of music choose healing sounds to quieten the mind and open the creative receptors free of the pollution of an overload of negative news.

Kimba Arem

Louis Armstong

Mandala 7 Chakras

Dance/Move your way to writing inspiration

Dance like nobody is watching is an excellent way to get the blood pumping and the mood in an upswing, so whatever you choose to do, jive, toe-tap or nod to the rhythm of the sounds, you will feel energised to activate what might be momentarily blocked.

Jerusalema

Happy Song

Try a little Humour

Watch old comedy movies/television sitcoms or stand-up comedy shows. Slapstick humour relaxes the body and mind and transports us to joy – a positive mental state necessary for general wellbeing and a surge in creative energy.

Fawlty Towers
Are you being served?
‘Allo ‘Allo

Select what you will read, listen, dance or move to in your week and notice how your writing flows when you mindfully infuse beauty and peace into your daily activities.

Stay safe, find peace, abundant writing best wishes sent your way!

Happy Reading. Happy Writing!

Share your ideas on how to uplift positivity in our writing lives and life in general.

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.

Short Stories – Imagined or True Life?

As writers, it goes with the territory that autobiographical bits of ourselves will slip into our writing. A creative project, the creative process is emotion-driven, its passion on a page — bleeding…
My collection of short stories, out this week, Life’s Seasons into the digital and print worlds is a diverse collection that emanates from my visions of life and some from a generous muse — or perhaps a subconscious memory on history or culture of different times and places.

Launch Video

Here’s a little teaser on some of the stories:

The book cover is drawn from a story set at a picturesque beach resort when an incident occurs to disturb the world of the observer. Final View is both dark and lighthearted through the voice of an aging mortician — her take on why she serves the way she does. Now, I don’t know any morticians, personally, but this story found me. Those Were the Days, is part autobiographical and part imagined on life as a university student. Ancient cultures fascinate me, hence in, Moving On, the life choice of young Anqui emerged to represent the clash of the old and the new. Crime fiction is a passion and a particularly enjoyable teaching experience so The Call of the Outback was born with Inspector Donovan out and about during his early retirement days when a crime finds him, not your typical crime fiction story, but my spin on how things find you where your passion lies.
Then a story about a writer in search of her muse, set on the ocean aboard a luxury cruise ship stems from my love of the ocean although the story is far from peaceful, akin to the symbolism of a turbulent ocean. And there’s more in Stilled Heart, a University Professor struggling with not knowing what happened to his family during an air raid, and meeting a young, hopeful writer who shares the same sense of loss. A secret from the past is revealed by Jacob, a messenger of dreams in Wandering The Earth. And there’s Mai in Adrift, hiding her past on how she arrived in a new country. The shame apartheid enforced in my world is a trigger for Mai’s tale.

Haruki Murakami’s view on the writing of short stories captures the essence of pouring the self into what we write.

My short stories are like soft shadows I have set out in the world, faint footprints I have left. I remember exactly where I set down each and every one of them, and how I felt when I did. Short stories are like guideposts to my heart...
― Haruki Murakami

Without a doubt, the voices and visions of a writer’s world seep into the stories we tell, dressed in different clothes, stretched through the imagination with colour, light and shade, and not forgetting what the muse wills, and so stories are born.

Launch day this week is 22/8/19 for the ebook and 29/8/19 for the Print editions in hardback and paperback. For more on each story you are invited to go these links for the full description:

Amazon (print and ebook)
Kobo
B&N
Apple Books

Loot South Africa (print)

Other Select Retail Stores

Happy Reading, Happy Writing.

Writing: Historical Memories Recalled

Historical fiction entertains and feeds memory. I remember teaching, Jackie French’s Hitler’s Daughter, and noted students’ curiosity on whether Hitler did indeed have a daughter. Research flourished and wonderful creative writing emerged.

Some of my favourite historical reads are, Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities with London and Paris during the French Revolution, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, a tale of the American South during the Civil War, Salman Rushdie’s, Midnight Children, a story of children born at the time of India’s independence from Britain.
The lists are endless and as diverse as the world we inhabit.
Currently, I’m reading Orna Ross’, Her Secret Rose (The Yeats-Gonne Trilogy 1) cited as a ‘delicate balance of fact and fiction…’ (bookbag UK)

Writing drawn from history emerges as an unconscious process in some of my books. The experience of apartheid atrocities comes through in Across Time and Space and Vindication Across Time and underpins leaving South Africa in Souls of Her Daughters. History might be more explicit in some and more subtle in others but it emerges from the deep well of the subconscious – the unforgotten seat of memory.
‘…sit down at a typewriter and bleed,’ as Ernest Hemingway aptly stated is where authentic stories emanate from – that space of creative intensity.

Today marks a significant day in South Africa’s history, country of my birth. June 16, 1976, was the Soweto Uprising that changed the socio-political landscape. It was a day when police fired at peaceful demonstrating students – the images of this brutality surged international revulsion. From this dark history, the most soulful artists emerged, creating music and poetry that stirs the soul to this day. The seat of struggle and suffering creates indelible timeless stories.

As a fiction writer and teacher, histories of the world find their way into some of my stories. The responsibility rests with the writer to present the accuracy of the histories chosen, not in a textbook rendition, but through selective and extensive research to create believable nuances of character, place and situations for palpable connections to the past.

The joy in reading historical fiction is in being transported to a time and place as an observer of significant moments, or better still, experiencing an era through brilliant writing.

What’s your favourite historical fiction?

Happy Reading, Happy Writing!

Share your thoughts on historical fiction in the comment box below.

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.

Whose Voice is it Anyway?

Voice is the defining feature of any book we read. It is unique to the author and is often what draws readers to pick up a particular book, by a particular author.

Turning to influencers is a significant aspect of the writer’s professional development, but mimicking the voice of another, as in tone, values, the nuance of language, etc, underscores the authenticity and value that a unique voice offers. Just as our personalities differ, so too does voice – it has character, personality, and it becomes the signature of the writer/speaker/narrator.

Readers find comfort, delight, and excitement in the voice they read, in being entertained or informed, or perhaps both. The rush to ‘be like others,’ comes with the risk of losing purpose or creating a voice that is inconsistent with the message. Voice is a significant part of connecting with readers. It communicates values and visions drawn from life experience, culture, lifestyle, education, angst, joy, and more, as part of early, and ongoing socialisation. We are after all, beautifully unique.

The writer’s voice is delivered through narration, characterisation, description etc. In characterisation, the writer’s voice is distinct, based either on personal experience, research conducted, and observations of human patterns of behaviour and communicating. Tension or suspense through voice is also drawn from the writer’s observed, or experienced fears, to capture the moment with accuracy and evocative creative design. This should move the excitement/thrill to the next level, for the reader. Emotional aspects of a novel are effective in holding the reader’s attention when it comes through from an authentic/believable/unadorned voice.

We often say, ‘seeing’ is believing, but, ‘feeling’ is living the moment in a book – it might well be remembered long after the book has been put down. Now, Shakespeare’s Othello craved, ‘ocular’ proof, of his wife’s alleged infidelity, yet if he cautioned his doubting mind by embracing his deep love for her, he might have lived his happily ever after. Well, one can surmise and hope, it’s to the writer’s credit when readers are overjoyed or disappointed when the character/s either meet up to or deviate from their expectations.

The accolade is huge when readers say, I could hear your voice while reading.

Voice in graceful narration is as important as the ‘voices’ that diverse characters are given in stories. Narration, description, and dialogue are the pillars of a novel with plot guiding the platform through the author’s voice as the vehicle that intersects with the reader’s experience.

Listen to an excerpt from Morgan Freeman’s narration in The Shawshank Redemption, based on the novella written by Stephen King- reading a story, or excerpt out aloud after it has been written or during the process of writing is of tremendous value to shift and polish how meaning is created through voice. The flow, tone, and authenticity of voice become transparent when reading aloud. Record an excerpt and play it back to catch if ‘voice’ is represented as imagined during the writing phase.

Honesty or truth should ring through the writer’s voice to establish a valued connection to the reader, creating an expectation that makes the reader continue to turn the page. Voice can be frivolous, serious, angry, calm etc. depending on the type of tale being told. Hence consistency of voice, dependent on the genre/scene/story etc. is imperative to hold the reader’s attention. It makes the reader return for more. A relationship is formed between the reader and ‘voice’ for a fulfilling engagement with the book.

Whose voice is it anyway?

The writer’s unique voice does not have to be written in Jane Austen’s, Charles Dickens,’ or any favourite writer’s style, it is about reaching readers with an authentic voice regardless of the niche appeal the story might have. A writer’s voice is the ‘heard’ presence of the writer.

Listen here to Pat Schneider, author, on how nuances of voice emerge.

More food for thought:

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.”
~ T.S. Eliot

“Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.” ~ Meg Rosoff

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

Continue reading “Whose Voice is it Anyway?”

On Creating Characters – The Outlier

There are numerous defining aspects to what makes a character in a novel or short story, an outlier.

This is shaped by societal and cultural values, or more directly by prejudice. Size, race, ‘foreign’ origins are just some elements that create the outlier fence.
This deepens when layers of social and professional barriers are erected making the outlier, who ascribes to individual ways of expression, an ‘outsider’ rather than a unique contributor to society.

Regardless of the category/label attached to the outlier, it’s divisive, destructive, and a living death for the character experiencing the hell of being (mis) treated as such.

The outlier syndrome is growing in society, slouching back to outdated values, and emerging new forms of prejudice in how individuals treat each other. Literature should mirror life in all its ugliness, hopes and dreams. While we read to lose ourselves in the pages of a good book, what is the experience worth if it does not linger with the ills evident in society, and the hope that we have the capacity to be change agents? Writing purely on the prejudice of life without the yardstick or suggestion on how this ‘disease’ can be overcome, would be remiss on my part, in particular, in any story I tell. Writers are change makers by opening our minds and voices to what needs rectifying. This is the beauty and at times the daunting reality of being a writer.

Hardship is a fact of life for the majority of the worlds’ population. This is not defined by financial issues alone. My novels capture these issues from death, parting relationships, loneliness, cultural pressures, past psychological and physical traumas, and more.
In each situation, an individual or character is an outlier by choice or societal prejudice.

Literature offers that connection to the outlier’s suffering and hope for redemption and redefinition. Reading is imperative, words linger and dwell deep in the readers’ psyche as a visual and emotional connection to the situations and events the outlier might experience.

Souls of her Daughters reveals that the outlier syndrome affects all regardless of professional or social position. Dr Grace Sharvin struggles with her secret, making her an outlier in her family- in her need to conceal her pain from her mother and sister. Her sister, Patience, is an outlier through interracial adoption in apartheid South Africa, forcing her to acknowledge her birth culture. Across Time and Space and the sequel Vindication Across Time unveil both Meryl Moorecroft and Marcia Ntlui as outliers in personal, cultural and professional contexts. Michael Morrissey, a human rights lawyer, becomes the outsider in his relationship with Meryl when the course of their lives change. Housekeeper, Ana Kuznetsov and Boris Malakov are outliers in their complicated families. Global landscapes invite the notion that the situations characters undergo are not isolated – shaping the universality of human angst and joy.

The Rain, a Collection of Short Stories presents this notion in the human capacity for good and evil.

Drama, crime and abduction bring high entertainment value to the reader, but beneath the layers lie the human face and soul of the outlier. The character should be carefully crafted to invite empathy or repulsion by stripping away layers that shroud the essence of human angst and joy.

The continuation of ‘Souls of Her Daughters,’ in the next saga, Chosen Lives, grows in representing the outlier theme with glimmers of a futuristic world where perfection resides in imperfection.

Let’s continue to create stories that leave a lingering message.

Please add your thoughts in the message box below:

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.

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”

Tools of the Writing Trade

My writing career started in a somewhat circuitous way with writing stories for an audience of one for many years until a story emerged that ran through to become my debut novel, Across Time and Space. It was then that the decision to publish emerged with some coercion from those closest to me.

My journey was a cart before the horse situation as all that I am about to outline to you happened after my debut novel was in the process of being published by a publisher.

It is for this reason that I decided to write this post to pass on what needs to be done, in the initial stages, before the process of writing begins.

As a writer, aspiring writer or fully-fledged published author we all need additional writing tools to sharpen the craft for an enjoyable and less stressful writing journey.

What do you do? Where do you go to set yourself on your merry, enjoyable writer’s journey?

Here are a few questions:

Before you begin writing:

do you have a plan for your writing journey?
are you following influential writers?
are you reading extensively into your preferred genre?
are you attending book festivals and conferences?
have you started creating an online presence?

Before you publish:

If you self-publish you should consider all of these and if you are going the traditionally published route some of these steps have to be undertaken as marked by my asterisk

do you have a Goodreads reader/author profile?
have you set up your Amazon account and author profile in the countries you hope to sell your books?
do you have a Kobo account?
do you have an iBooks account?
do you have a Draft2Digital account to have it all done for you?
do you use Ingram Spark/Createspace/Smashwords or all publisher/distribution channels?
do you belong to writing organisations online or groups in your hometown?
do you have a Facebook Page/Meta where you create an engaging presence?
do you have a Twitter/X Account?
do you have an Instagram account?
do you have a website or blog site?
have you started blogging and have an engaged audience?
if you are self-publishing, do you have a freelance editor and cover designer enlisted?
have you bought your ISBN for your book?
have you registered your title?
have you lodged your book with the National/State Library (Australia)
if your books are in public and school libraries- have you registered for PLR and ELR?
do you have proof-readers?
are you able to enlist legitimate (ARC) reviewers?

While you are writing

What software do you use?

do you do a handwritten first draft?
do you use Microsoft Word to type up your manuscript?
have you sourced other software to write and format your manuscript?
would you dictate your novel? do you have the software for your audio needs for dictation?

After you’ve published your book:

How do you market your book?
Even if you are traditionally published – you have to do your own marketing. The onus is upon you to get your book out there.
Will you have a ‘live’ book launch or will you have a Facebook or website launch of your book?
Will you be open to giving talks to aspiring writers?
Will you engage the media?
How much will you invest in marketing your book? Consider the ROI and check all options.
Do you want your books in bricks and mortar stores only?
Do you have print and eBooks published?
Have you considered creating an audio version of your book?

After my roundabout entry into writing and publishing, I am trying new tools for my third book and will report back in a few months on how I fare with my new researched tools.

I encourage you to continue pursuing your writing dreams and hope you can take something away to begin your writing journey.

The world will be a dreary, sad, isolated place if our stories were not written and shared. – Mala Naidoo

Please share where you are in your writing journey and what works fantastically well for you in the comment box below. If you are thinking of starting out, let’s begin the shared conversation today.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Are you particular about dates?

When I ask ‘Are you particular about dates?’ – I’m not referring to the dating game or romance.

Here’s my reason for asking.

I recently published Vindication Across Time as the print version late in September to coincide with my father’s birthday.

The digital version on Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, BN will be released next week on my mother’s birthday. It’s up for preorder on these sites now.

I can hear you ask, ‘Pray do tell us more!’

Some of the themes reflected in Vindication Across Time – the pursuit of truth and justice is a value I grew up with. The truth no matter how painful had to be acknowledged and implemented.

Lies were severely admonished in my childhood home regardless of any perceived justification for stretching the truth.

Truth and lies are dominant in the novel as in different versions of the truth. The bearers of fake truths are soon discovered and good karma visits those who steadfastly adhere to the truth. My understanding is that there is only ONE truth. If a man has been gunned down, there might be one person directly responsible and others who helped expedite the heinous act.

Justifications offered for why this happened does not remove the truth that a defenseless man was gunned down in cold blood. The next truth to be served is that justice must prevail regardless of individuals’ motives and challenges.

There, in a nutshell, is why the print version of Vindication Across Time was released on my father’s birthday as an acknowledgement of his respect for truth and justice.

What about my mother made me choose to release the Kindle and eBook versions on her birthday next week?

The expression of culture and values through strong female characters in Across Time and Space, led to greater nuances of imperfect lives in Vindication Across Time. This is where my mother’s love, compassion, and strength shaped these ideas.

Continue reading “Are you particular about dates?”

Literary Life Lines

There has been a lot of interest this past week on a previous post, here on why characters and quotations from literature are often remembered long after the book has been put down.

Thank you for the comments, I’m delighted that you found educational or personal clarity and have selected a few more literary life lines in this post.

Literature that speaks to the human condition echoes through time when emotional connections are formed.

Love, despair, fear, envy, passion, hatred and kindness guide our motivations in the choices or decisions we make in life.

Students of literature are often expected to engage in critical appreciation of texts.

Values, culture and language, events or situations motivate characters’ actions and in turn, motivate readers’ reactions eliciting a new wave of interpreting ideas. And so the chain of literary discourse begins…

Reading for life connections and intellectual stimulation

Continue reading “Literary Life Lines”

Why a sequel?

Do writers plan to write a sequel? Why are sequels so popular?

Sometimes they are planned and sometimes they grow from the first book for a host of reasons.

We live in an age where we are desirous of connections for the long haul, we want more as we book our Netflix favourite series into our private calendar time-slots; we crave more when we connect or are moved by a story and its people.

We desire more of what we enjoy, what we look forward to. Connections with people and places make us reluctant to leave. The story is anticipated as an after work or relaxing weekend read. It’s locked in and beware the unsolicited ringing of the telephone or doorbell! Solitude is non-negotiable!

For the writer, unfinished matters in the first book lead to the second book which unveils new situations and hidden aspects of characters and situations, sometimes shocking or expected and satisfying.

Picking up reader feedback from the first book while the sequel is being written is significant in ensuring that favourite characters are not destroyed or killed off too early, reader and writer satisfaction is imperative.

In the writing of my debut novel Across Time and Space, the sequel began to emerge by the end of the penultimate chapter, there was more my characters had to say, there was more that had to be revealed. The intrigue of the first tale created expectations that needed further exploration. Relationships needed to grow.

Truth and deception were left skulking in the shadows at the olive grove in Viareggio in Across Time and Space and these ghosts came calling for more.

This made me restless to dive into the sequel, some cautioned ‘not so soon,’ others begged ‘when will it be ready?’ The process became an organic growth –an obsession to take the story to where it was leading me. Hence the birth of the sequel, Vindication Across Time.

Cover Design- Working Type Studio- Luke Harris — What will be lost, what will be gained when the dark forces of human nature obscure truth and justice?

Will this become an Across Time series?

The question we are left with is, ‘what are we keeping hidden from view in the hope of leading or appearing to lead a happy and by anyone’s definition, a ‘normal’ life?’

Coming to terms with our ghosts as something of the past rather than defining our present worlds is significant in Vindication Across Time.

Whose ghosts will be exhumed in this tale of love, loss, hope, and patience?

Have you read, Across Time and Space?

What are your thoughts on book sequels and television series, what do you anticipate in Vindication Across Time?

Please leave your comments in the message box below.

School BOOK TALK

It’s with gratitude that I write this post today in respect for the invitation to speak on reading and writing at a local school whose English Faculty and Librarian are tirelessly working to foster a love for reading to encourage students to expand their horizons and improve their speaking and writing skills.

Leading up to my talk, students were asked to send me their response to, ‘I enjoy reading because…’ – a simple question that elicited some thoughtful responses from teenagers.

Here are a few lines that suggest that young readers seek refuge between the pages of a book:

I enjoy reading because it is a spectacular and intriguing ticket to a distinctive and captivating dimension which either creates a gulp of despair or a shiver down my spine.
I enjoy reading because it allows me to be in two places at once.
I enjoy reading because it allows me to escape reality without leaving the comfort of my home
I enjoy reading because it allows me to broaden my horizons without having to get on a ship and sail halfway across the world…
I love reading because my heart is satisfied- my heart learns more than my brain can ever know- I learn priceless lessons. It’s the portal to my heart.

Additionally to complement the study of Cry Freedom I was asked to share my apartheid, South African experience on a personal level to forge greater connections to students’ appreciation and understanding of the world through the study of their school selected text.

The sharing of a terrible history elicited compassion and questions from students on how one overcomes this decimation of one’s people and identity and yet remain simple and humble, free from anger. My response was, that drawing from family values, the people one associates with and careful selection of role models will ultimately work in sync to fortify and support the entrance into light from darkness. I cited Nelson Mandela’s ideology of tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness as the selfless way forward. This attribute shapes the crafting of the character, Marcia Ntuli, in my novel Across Time and Space.

The final message was that reading expands understanding of diverse ways of thinking, promotes exposure to varied writing styles and elicits inspiration from the unique crafting of characters and their experiences.Ultimately it’s about allowing strength to grow from fear.

To Quote Jane Austen:

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! – When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

Here’s to many hours of delightful and informative reading!

What are your views on the benefits of reading for teenagers today and into the future? Extend the conversation today.

Need A Good Book?

Librarians are Writers’ Greatest Allies in their Ability to Influence the Joy of Reading

It gives me great pleasure, today, to introduce you to Fiona Sharman who has kindly shared her passion for her favourite books. One of Fiona’s favourite quotes is from ‘Pride and Prejudice’, when Mr. Bennet says, ‘for what do we live but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in turn?’ Continue reading “Need A Good Book?”