The Magic of Narratives – the power stories have to unite, to inspire and to heal.
To be a writer I am of the firm opinion that one also needs to be reader. We are members of a storytelling species. We tell tales and we like to hear them told. Reading feeds writing and vice versa. In order to appreciate your own craft, it helps to consider others’ and reading is so wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable.
So, reading and writing are two supreme human abilities. Prose is something you build up from twenty-six letters and a handful of punctuation marks – amazing, not so? Using your brain and imagination, reading and writing allows us to create worlds apart from reality and people them. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. Reading is a lifeline to all that is other. You can observe the action on the stage from the wings, unseen yet totally present.
Imaginative storytelling expands our scope of the possible. Fiction in human life introduces us to different versions of the world and thus, allows us to envision possibilities. People are driven by different motivational forces, they have extremely varied habits and make-up. Their reactions and responses to failure and triumph are deeply personal and unique.This is perhaps why Galileo saw reading as a way of having superhuman powers. Carl Sagan held it as “proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
Neil Gaiman, acclaimed English author, has profound insights into the power that reading stories possesses. He asserts that stories are good for changing us. Books can point us in different directions and teach us lessons. They can help us articulate our own emotions or thoughts and allow us find to our own voice because reading boosts our confidence and shows us alternative ways. Books can lift us when we need inspiration.
A major function of literature is its ability to increase tolerance. How is this achieved? I believe it is by drawing readers into the mind of characters and enabling them to view the world through another’s eyes.
As with any good conversation, when you read you do a lot of listening. The writer imparts facts, theories, points of view, emotions. I write psychological thrillers and have a fascination with aberrant mind. I have learned to reveal my character’s personalities through actions, dialogue and reflections that let you into their psyches and allow you to share their secrets and desires.
In my novels I work hard to present multiple perspectives from a range of characters diverse in culture across the rich context of African life.
Books provide social commentary and highlight social injustice. They have spurred personal and political movements. They should, without preaching and getting on a soap box, give voices to the marginalised and powerless. They are important tools that can be used to foster civic responsibility.
Fiction is the lie that tells the truth and I feel writers have an obligation to write about real relevant experiences. In this way, readers, listeners and writers come to understand that truth is not about what happens, but about how we react and behave, for these responses reveals our true natures.
Reading and writing allow us to access our emotions and to explore the myriad sentiments that make us human. Often our feelings are vague, undefined, swirling in some inaccessible place because we do not have time or ability to unpack and understand them. No matter what colour or creed we are all part of the family of mankind. Reading reminds us that we not alone.
Through my tales I hope to leave my readers with a deeper understanding of the human condition. I try to evoke empathy, draw readers in to connect with characters especially those who are deeply flawed. To be moved means that we are emotionally aware and this form of intelligence, EQ, allows us to understand others’ pain. Empathy and emotional connection allows us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals. For these reasons, Rebecca Solnit asserted that “a book is a heart that beats in the chest of another.”
It is easy to feel that nobody can change anything, that we are only powerless individuals in society, and yes, those needing enlightening usually don’t read. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they start to do it by imagining that things can be different.
So, reading and writing are two supreme human abilities. Prose is something you build up from twenty-six letters and a handful of punctuation marks – amazing, not so? Using your brain and imagination, reading and writing allows us to create worlds apart from reality and people them. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. Reading is a lifeline to all that is other. You can observe the action on the stage from the wings, unseen yet totally present.
Imaginative storytelling expands our scope of the possible. Fiction in human life introduces us to different versions of the world and thus, allows us to envision possibilities. People are driven by different motivational forces, they have extremely varied habits and make-up. Their reactions and responses to failure and triumph are deeply personal and unique.This is perhaps why Galileo saw reading as a way of having superhuman powers. Carl Sagan held it as “proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
Neil Gaiman, acclaimed English author, has profound insights into the power that reading stories possesses. He asserts that stories are good for changing us. Books can point us in different directions and teach us lessons. They can help us articulate our own emotions or thoughts and allow us find to our own voice because reading boosts our confidence and shows us alternative ways. Books can lift us when we need inspiration.
A major function of literature is its ability to increase tolerance. How is this achieved? I believe it is by drawing readers into the mind of characters and enabling them to view the world through another’s eyes.
As with any good conversation, when you read you do a lot of listening. The writer imparts facts, theories, points of view, emotions. I write psychological thrillers and have a fascination with aberrant mind. I have learned to reveal my character’s personalities through actions, dialogue and reflections that let you into their psyches and allow you to share their secrets and desires.
In my novels I work hard to present multiple perspectives from a range of characters diverse in culture across the rich context of African life.
Books provide social commentary and highlight social injustice. They have spurred personal and political movements. They should, without preaching and getting on a soap box, give voices to the marginalised and powerless. They are important tools that can be used to foster civic responsibility.
Fiction is the lie that tells the truth and I feel writers have an obligation to write about real relevant experiences. In this way, readers, listeners and writers come to understand that truth is not about what happens, but about how we react and behave, for these responses reveals our true natures.
Reading and writing allow us to access our emotions and to explore the myriad sentiments that make us human. Often our feelings are vague, undefined, swirling in some inaccessible place because we do not have time or ability to unpack and understand them. No matter what colour or creed we are all part of the family of mankind. Reading reminds us that we not alone.
Through my tales I hope to leave my readers with a deeper understanding of the human condition. I try to evoke empathy, draw readers in to connect with characters especially those who are deeply flawed. To be moved means that we are emotionally aware and this form of intelligence, EQ, allows us to understand others’ pain. Empathy and emotional connection allows us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals. For these reasons, Rebecca Solnit asserted that “a book is a heart that beats in the chest of another.”
It is easy to feel that nobody can change anything, that we are only powerless individuals in society, and yes, those needing enlightening usually don’t read. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they start to do it by imagining that things can be different.
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