Mala Naidoo's Blog, page 14

Energising Creative Thought

 

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Here are a few practical suggestions to a question posed this week which is a significant and very real concern:

‘How to centre yourself and clear your thoughts before writing?’

The time of day when your energy levels are high and you are rested is a good time to sit down to gather your thoughts.


Have a plan for what you hope to achieve for that particular writing session- is it a paragraph, a chapter or some research on a new idea? I have a skeleton plan of what I would like to create in my chapters- this is done through dot points which help to structure my thoughts that I build upon as I write.


Keep a journal on random thoughts that emerge each day.


If gathering your thoughts hits a roadblock, try this exercise:


Look around the room you are in – what object catches your eye, write a brief description of that object using as many sensory images as you can come up with.
Consider why you might have been drawn to that object – colour? Shape? Associated memory? The person who might have given you the object or where and when it became yours?
Write a paragraph on the size, shape, colour, ownership and memory associated with the object.
Record your thoughts by speaking about the object first then write them down.


If this does not spark your creative energy, pick up a book, turn to any page and read the first line, stop, now write down what you think might happen next.


A quiet space, undisturbed, gives voice to your thoughts to pick up the pen or tap on your keyboard, a quiet space will lead to thoughts being centred where the noise of a crowded space might distract the emergence of creative thought. This also depends on whether you can work with complete stillness, as I do, you might find a bustling coffee shop, as the protagonist in my novel, Across Time and Space, does suitable to be creative thought.


Once you find the space that is conducive to creative thought, tune into your inner clock, establish a rhythm to clear and centre your thoughts. If this does not happen in one sitting, go back later, or the next day – persistence and consistency is the key.

The most potent muse of all is our inner child –Stephen Nachmanovitch 

Happy Writing!

 

 

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Not Guilty but Vilified?

I bleed, you bleed and so should we all upon seeing and hearing of the travesty in the miscarriage of justice in WA.

I watched this segment on ABC 7:30 pm presented by Stan Grant, last night, and bled for the young man and his mother who became victims of a misguided system reeking of discrimination. This story has been in the media before –  the segment on the ABC last night cut deeper this time.

Watch here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-12...

How does a justice system ever undo the immoral judgement and carelessness in convicting an innocent young man for a murder he did not commit? Was this a deliberate act of discrimination?

Five years spent in prison despite the murdered young man, Josh Warneke’s, mother categorically stating that police had the wrong young man. Five years shut away with no understanding of why this has happened. The compassionate mother, of Josh Warneke, said that seeing Gene Gibson freed was one of the most, “profound moments of my life,” quoted in a WA news article.

Why was this allowed to go on for five years in WA? Who is really being held accountable for this gross miscarriage of justice? Will the details of who the perpetrators of injustice are be revealed while exposing the penalty they will receive, is disciplinary action going to undo the damage already done? It will never get Gene Gibson his years wrongfully lost in prison back. Five years. A life lost. The murderer out on the streets.

Gene Gibson, quoted as being ‘shy and gentle’ with ‘cognitive impairment’ was defenceless against a system that judged the colour of his skin first, ruling out all possibility of his innocence while making him believe he had to confess to that which he did not commit?

How does an apology bring back those lost years? Those years were stolen from a young, innocent man. How does the grieving mother, of the young man murdered cope,  knowing her son’s killer is still out there?

What’s happening in the rest of the world is critiqued with vigour, every day.

Our own backyard needs attention.

A fair go for all…where is it?

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Unforgettable

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Nelson Mandela’s name was magical to the tongue, heart and brain to all who lived in hope for acceptance, tolerance, understanding and democracy. Amidst the much-anticipated release of Nelson Mandela from prison into civilian life, a life of iconic stature, I waited with bated breath.   South Africa exploded into a tidal wave of celebration creating a carnival atmosphere of street dancing, a cappella singing and a profound sense of unity!

The early 1980’s was conscientised by the ideology that students were the voice of a nation – students could improve the human condition that prevailed in South Africa by raising their voices to cry out for democracy, freedom, the right to vote and be accepted as human with no references to race but rather be referred to by nationality – simply ‘South African’. The release of Nelson Mandela was palpable.   The moment hung on the ears and lips of a nation whose citizens were shunted into ‘Group Areas’ zoning in a country where the Immorality Act made love across ‘the colour line’ a crime.

Amidst the celebratory mood that prevailed, one night stands out like a flaring beacon in my memory.

Nelson Mandela was visiting the community I lived in, he was to address residents in this little town, to quell fear and spread wisdom that a peaceful transition to democracy was essential.

Throngs of people gathered at the venue from around midday to secure a spot to ‘see’ this iconic man in the flesh. He was the timeless hope alive in the human breast of apartheid oppression.

At 6:30 pm in strode a tall, lean, upright figure smiling broadly waving a greeting like a father returning from work to his family.

The community hall broke out in an emotional outpouring of song and dance as Nelson Mandela strode in, men, women, and children wept as wave after hypnotic wave of this chant rose in unison to the rooftop and beyond into the night sky:

‘O, Mandela!  O, Mandela! O, Mandela! O, Mandela!’

Strangers hugged each other and shook hands. I stood up on a chair to get a better view of Nelson Mandela, holding onto my little girl and husband both of whom were immersed in the jubilation of that moment – here was the man who held the promise to end suffering, promote the need for education and literacy for all, the hope for justice and equity regardless of race, socio-economic status, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and religion.

The soaring joy of that moment lives on in my psyche as the legend enshrined in my parents’ home was now before me in the flesh, smiling, looking at all with love and hope without a trace of the solitude of twenty-seven years of incarceration and hard labour. Here was the symbol of grace, dignity, compassion and warmth spreading the word by his very presence that one can make a difference regardless of the challenges faced.

To denounce the identity, contributions, and presence of a people is tantamount to obliterating their very existence such was the horror and brutality of the apartheid era in South Africa and many oppressed nations around the world.

In that moment basking in the light of Nelson Mandela’s presence, I was as proud of my identity as was every other person in that small community hall – those who felt the full blight of oppression.

I have relived that moment, that moment of seeing the gigantic Nelson Mandela, many times in my life – it’s the wind in my sails, the fuel in my tank, it keeps me whole and free…

Imagine Being There

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Place in a story is vital to ground where and why characters react to or create situations which drive the plot of a story. Within identified locations, characters become loved or despised for the actions and reactions they indulge in.

People connect to a place for an array of reasons because it holds memory of:

a brilliant childhood/not so brilliant childhood
first love/first break-up
marriage/honeymoon/divorce
travelling to landscapes or geographic locations where culture, cuisine, architecture, history or local people either inspire or horrify
favourite authors/celebrities who lived in those settings
the stories heard or read about  places making them part of one’s experience
loss and grief
spirituality
the devastation of war and politics
personal heritage associated with a place
the comfort of home, a bedroom, a garden, study

The reasons are endless making it necessary when writing a story to anchor it in a specific place or a few places to create a sense of physical reality for the reader. Place, in fiction, does not have to be grounded in a real geographic location, the sights, sounds and smells –  odours or aromas of a place will bring it to life for the reader based on how effective the sensory imagery is in connecting the reader to the context of the action.

The lines below portray an inescapable landscape that confines and stifles. The narration indicates familiarity with a place which makes it experiential for the reader through the author’s specific framing of location. Here, the place is named creating the reality the reader craves, when a place remains unnamed, evocative sensory imagery creates a link in the reader’s imagination.

The heat in the street was terrible, and dust was all about him, and that special Petersburg stench, so familiar to all who are unable to get out of town in summer –Author, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment.

 In the creation of a fictional place the writer is the creative camera lens, beginning with a wide view, then zooming into backstreets before giving close up consideration to:

Demography – who will be created in this terrain- will it be a multicultural environment? What morals and values might come to light,  is there an alternate way of thinking endorsed by a group?
What is the socio-economic dynamic of this place?
What’s the weather like?
What sounds are heard in this place?
Is this a city or rural setting- what other aspects will you include to define this landscape?
Is it a busy or laid back place?
Is this a contemporary world or a lost and forgotten world?

Let the reader reach his or her own conclusion but be sure to add drama to most scenes and emotions that characters go through- this will allow the reader to speculate why particular locations elicit human reactions the way they do.

I leave you with these lines that reveal the human condition through the words of Alan Paton in his  novel, Cry the Beloved Country:

The great red hills stand desolate, and the earth has torn away like flesh. The lightning flashes over them, the clouds pour down upon them, the dead streams come to life, full of the red blood of the earth. Down in the valleys, women scratch the soil that is left, and the maize hardly reaches the height of a man. They are valleys of old men and old women, of mothers and children. The men are away, the young men and the girls are away. The soil cannot keep them anymore.

Is Commitment on Your Agenda?

Across Time and Space explores commitment in relationships in romance, friendship and family relationships. Whether or not it leads to the commitment of, ‘I do’ – commitment, is a primal need in relationships for one to feel valued. The protagonist in Across Time and Space has been in a relationship for a length of time, a comfortable, complacency envelopes the relationship creating a restlessness that becomes the catalyst for unimagined challenges.

This begs the question, does commitment mean unstinting devotion and loyalty akin to ‘til death do us part?’ The answers are vast and varied depending on the values one has embraced or formed.

Being raised in a time and place which instilled that a promise of being in a committed relationship meant a fulfilment of that promise on a nominated, ceremonial day which comes with its own merits and faults. This might be deemed ‘old world’ and fit for ‘Cinderella and her Prince Charming’, yet the expectation is that couples will unite or commit in a way they deem appropriate to both of them. Yes, the operative word is both – not ‘one’ making a decision, on a whim, that life’s path has beckoned a change for ‘one’ without considering how this might impact on the other half of both. Such is the life of my protagonist and her partner – good people in their own right who buckle under the fear of commitment, fear for the loss that might be incurred in all that has yet to be achieved in life.

This leads me to why should commitment be feared as the end to individuality and relinquishing of one’s dreams? Commitment should encompass all spheres of one’s life in relationships: singular and joint dreams, commitment to professional ideals and commitment to going off on a whim if its one’s choice to do so by acknowledging that both need to be aware of what the ‘one’ half of both might be planning. Meryl, in  Across Time and Space will clarify the choices she makes to catch the star of her destiny that she feared might never be realised in her lifetime.

Commitment can have its dark and dangerous side when passion overrides reason. This brings to mind Catherine and Heathcliffe in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights where both are inextricably and destructively hemmed to each other. Stepping outside literature as we turn on our televisions to the reality of the evening news or an online article read on domestic violence where misplaced commitment, commitment without reason creates a dark and terrible situation.

Commitment in family relationships be it as mother, father, grandparent, carer or extended family member should be based on trust, approval, open communication and support from love shared, all of which are vital to ensuring good mental health.

Love, respect and freedom of choices are a right that should not be debated, it’s a basic human right – a human right that should acknowledge the commitment made in relationships before heading off into the sunset.

Reason should caution passion, dreams should be lived for peace and joy to reign for both halves in any relationship.

Is commitment on your agenda in your relationships?

 

Why We Write Why We Read

The vast oasis of literature we have been reading since time immemorial – literature that has inspired us to continue reading, be it a writer of choice, genre or writer’s style that draws us into the writer’s world, forming connections to events, people and perhaps places –  this draws the reader’s quest to search for meaning and connections in novels.  When discovered, a link to universal consciousness emerges to tell us we are indeed not alone or different.

The writing urge and process emerges from a place that resides deep in the soul of the writer. It could be a major world event or a passing incident, an emotional connection to the event and a passionate purpose to create understanding and connections. This is what motivates tireless hours of writing, with a message when written from the heart, inspires and reverberates across time and space.

Voices and visions of the apartheid era hunt me down to create fictional stories of suffering, fear, loss, hope, and renewal. Writing from these voices and visions in different contexts suggest that we are all connected regardless of our geographical location or ethnicity – one universal consciousness brings clarity anytime, anywhere, to anyone to improve the human condition.

‘Across Time and Space’-update-Available

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Would you risk the safety and security of an established profession and a secure relationship to chase your dream?  Is the intrigue of a newcomer worth the risk and challenges that thrusts the unsuspecting Meryl into a world of international crime?

‘Across Time and Space’  set in London and Florence takes the reader on a journey to a villa in a picturesque olive grove, an idyllic creative paradise and unimaginable twists into a web of intrigue that the protagonist is up against. Will she achieve what she set out to accomplish?

‘Across Time and Space’ is available through the links below:

http://amzn.to/2mVO3z4

angusrobertson.com.au/…oo/p/9781921030642

http://www.abbeys.com.au/book/across-time-and-space.do

http://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=Mala+Naidoo&productType=917504





































































https://www.bookdepository.com/Across-Time-and-Space-Mal-Naidoo/9781921030642

http://www.wheelersbooks.com.au/books/9781921030642-across-time-and-space/?title=Across+Time+and+Space*&view=list

Women You are More

It has been a good week reading and hearing the voices that speak up and out about acknowledging women in literature and in every professional, political and social sphere. The momentous global Women’s Marches this year are indicative that times have indeed changed, however, silence or ‘Feminism Lite’ as warned by writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, subvert the right of a woman to proudly be herself, to be seen and heard for what she believes is good for her.

Ironically the media on this day, 10 March 2017, has reported, much to the chagrin in many quarters of society, that stay at home mums,  are draining the country of much-needed skills. This understating of the role stay at home mums play in raising children, raising the next generation to be upstanding citizens and contributors to the world of tomorrow is questioned and frowned upon as not making a valuable contribution to society and hindering the economy?

This says that the War of Women against such opinions, studies and other such claims is an ongoing battle. Margaret Atwood, the writer, also admits that The Handmaid’s Tale is more relevant than ever and Jude Kelly, theatre director and producer enlightens in a TedWomen talk on  ‘Why Women should tell stories of humanity’. 

                                                            ***

My Tribute to YOU

YOU are amazing in all you juggle in your day
YOU are amazing in the boundless energy and strength you demonstrate
YOU are amazing for your selfless dedication to your profession, family, friends, community
YOU endure each day with no complaints with an ever ready smile for others
YOU are the rock when things fall apart
YOU are kind, generous and loving
YOU are SPECIAL –  NOBODY can take that away.

                                                           ***

 I leave you with two powerful messages from MEN on the significance of YOU

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE IS  THE HAND THAT RULES THE WORLD.

BLESSINGS on the hand of women!

Angels guard its strength and grace.

In the palace, cottage, hovel,

Oh, no matter where the place;

Would that never storms assailed it,

Rainbows ever gently curled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Infancy’s the tender fountain,

Power may with beauty flow,

Mother’s first to guide the streamlets,

From them, souls unresting grow—

Grow on for the good or evil,

Sunshine streamed or evil hurled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission,

Here upon our natal sod;

Keep—oh, keep the young heart open

Always to the breath of God!

All true trophies of the ages

Are from mother-love impearled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!

Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,

And the sacred song is mingled

With the worship in the sky—

Mingles where no tempest darkens,

Rainbows evermore are hurled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world

-William Ross Wallace (1819-1881)

‘As long as outmoded ways of thinking prevent women from making a meaningful contribution to society, progress will be slow. As long as the nation refuses to acknowledge the equal role of more than half of itself, it is doomed to failure.’

– Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Moment Realised

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Going to the movies for the first time was a landmark moment in many ways. Living during the ‘Group Areas Act’ era in South Africa meant living in racially segregated suburbs. Going to the Grand Theatre on the upper end of town implied being in the same space – somewhat anyway with white residents. This anticipated visit to the Grand Theatre generated tremendous excitement in a young child’s world to see, yes that’s right, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves!’

Apart from being a momentous event in a young child’s life, it came as an awakening event that dwells deep in memory resurfacing with vigour when situations trigger the enlivening of such a memory.

Two queues lined up to buy tickets for the show – one ‘Whites only’ queue, the other, ‘Non- Whites only’ just as the local park benches and public toilets were labelled. This negative, exclusion labelling applied to the airport arrival and departure terminals areas too.

The stares across the racially segregated ticket purchase queues are remembered with the awkwardness and need to keep one’s eyes downcast for fear – fear that if the stare was returned it might be perceived as ‘doing the wrong thing, an unlawful act’ – such was the fear the dark child of apartheid felt.

Entry into the movie theatre, needless to say, had its separate entrance too, this time the Non-White entrance led to a flight of 100 steps up to the gallery. Non-Whites had to sit in the upstairs gallery while White patrons to the theatre sat in spacious seats downstairs. In the early teenage years this ignited the child’s connection to Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ when Tom Robinson was on trial. Non-White folk were confined to the upstairs gallery in the tightly packed Maycomb courthouse as was the segregation at the Grand Theatre in the dark days of apartheid South Africa.

Peering over the upstairs railing from the high in the sky gallery, childlike curiosity prompted the voyeur within to see how ‘the other side lived’. Thinking back to that moment stirs the soul with sadness, the distance between the upstairs gallery out of sight from the downstairs gallery, a hundred steps up – no stairway to heaven for an asthmatic child or ageing grandparent who joined grandchildren on this momentous visit to the movies.

Snow White and the dwarves transported the child into a magical world leaving behind the racially divided queues and hidden away, out of view, sky-high seating.

Growing up in a racially aware, politicised home where Nelson Mandela’s release from prison lived in the hearts and minds of most adults had a huge impact on the child. Non-White parents put aside their deeply felt grievances with grace and dignity to ensure their children were not denied the joys of seeing and experiencing the fairy tales they loved come to life on the silver screen, albeit in a racially segregated theatre so far removed from the reality of their daily lives.

Social justice was born from a perception of deeply felt social injustice in the child’s psyche on that very day, the day that Snow White made her debut on the big screen in a little town in South Africa.

Atticus Finch soon became Nelson Mandela of the Rainbow Nation where black and white exploded into a palette of many colours merging in love, acceptance, kindness and tolerance.

Such were the days of the child’s early childhood in a country racially divided, decreed by the law of the land.

Walk away from hatred and unkindness, you deserve better, you have much to offer the world, walk away with grace and dignity to preserve your soul, walk away to love, acceptance and  kindness, walk away to a better world that awaits you…- MN

We all have stories to tell. What’s your story?

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Fertilising the Imagination

 My About page with a brief biography on my origins as born in South Africa meant that I had a childhood in an era devoid of a television set in the family lounge room. The only ‘moving pictures’ apart from the local cinema were those created in my imagination.

The absence of television in apartheid South Africa was strategic, to keep the masses ignorant regarding democracy and justice in a bid to thwart the emerging voices of resistance. Avid reading and listening to the radio for recreation offered many hours of joy in a world where outdoor games were limited in apartment blocks.

Radio held its own fascination with the popular weekly, Friday evening, crime fiction episodes of, Squad Cars. I listened intently, forming images in my mind about places and situations in each episode. My rite of reading passage into the world of crime depicted through voices and sounds grew each week. Crime/Detective/Adventure fiction in children’s books from the Famous Five series to Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and ultimately Agatha Christie’s and Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories were hunted down each week at the local library. Visions of snaking queues of children lining up, thirsty for their favourite book is imprinted in my memory. Such were the days…

After school radio programs for children were eagerly anticipated, excitement gained momentum with the chatter of voices speculating what  Noddy (by Enid Blyton) would be getting up to and whether Mr. Plod, the policeman’s kind and watchful eye over Toyland would save another day. Empathy for the skittles who did not seem to care whenever they were run over, filled my waking and sleeping hours. The imagination was ablaze with stories that wove into the stories of my mind’s eye. The imagination was fertilised with self-created images of places, characters, and events. An emotional investment of compassion for those who struggled or were mistreated and revulsion for those who harmed others was set in motion.

Listening and reading awakened the inner being as fodder for the imagination in the years ahead in the creation of my own stories – in the adult years, I turn back to my own voice recordings of my reactions to places I have visited, places that I have been moved by, to mulch and refresh an evocative sense of place through the voices and visions of my characters.

Audio books are a blessing, like reading is, to supercharge the imagination for a personal take on people, places, and events that ‘moving pictures,’ with all its commendable grandeur, might not quite fuel.

‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere’- Albert Einstein

What do you think?

You can expect a preview of a chapter from 'Across Time and Space.'

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