Can you please share a little bit about your background as a writer? Writing has always been a passion of mine. I was first influenced by the Harry Potter series as I was a fan of fantasy fiction. The...
Can you please share a little bit about your background as a writer?
Writing has always been a passion of mine. I was first influenced by the Harry Potter series as I was a fan of fantasy fiction. The first books I ever wrote were part of a three-book series of fantasy fiction titled Lucinda after the main character. This was 2004, I went as far as getting a British critic for it and actually got really good reviews. Being from Africa unfortunately meant I struggled to get it published as it was a book where the storyline was based in England. African publishing houses prefer a more literary type of writing, so British fantasy fiction was not suitable for the market. I forgot about writing until 2013 when I started blogging. Between 2013 and 2020 I wrote
Diary of a Zulu Girl
Confessions of a Sugarbaby
Memoirs of a Tired Black Man
Rumblings
Realities
Majuba
Blessed are the Blessed
Young Employed and Single
Origins
Missteps of a Young Wife (co-authored)
Your books have been described as a significant works in the development of serialised South African blog fiction. You yourself have previously mentioned how works like Confessions of an Unemployed Side Nigga influenced your trajectory as a writer. Can you sum up what the blog fiction scene was like before Diary of a Zulu Girl and what it is like today, from your perspective?
I was not actually a blogger at the time. When I was introduced to Unemployed Side Nigga it was the norm at the time that when something was trending people would share the posts. Blogging in South Africa at the time was Reality TV in that the truer the stories sounded the more readers bloggers got. Unemployed Side Nigga was the first blog I recall to actually have had a large following but in closed circles. It was groups of people who knew each other most of which were university students. This therefore that it was limited as the themes covered did not appeal to people outside higher education institutions.
How would you describe the relationship that you have with the readers of your blog?
One of the most unique things about my blogging technique was that I actually wrote interactive storylines. By this I mean that most of the stories themselves actually came as the readers because every page I wrote I posted and would allow the readers to comment on the content. This made readers reveal similar experiences they had gone through and because of this the stories for the reader felt like personal stories talking about their lives. Traditionally authors write a story from their point of view and publish it for the world to read. In my experience I compiled a story with a 3D perspective as it was an interaction between the readers and myself as the author resulting in every page produced. It was not even by designed but the consequence of blogging and social media is that everyone feels like they have a say in whatever you produce. I was fortunate that my readers even from other countries found my stories universal hence felt a part of that world.
Not only are you an author, you are also a lawyer by profession. What was the thought process behind making the main character in Diary of a Zulu Girl a law student?
It is interesting to note that apart from mentioning that she was a law student there is nothing that is actually said about her time as a law student. The university she went to was more important than the subject she studied. Witswatersrand University is considered as part of the cream of South African Universities and for a student to qualify to go there it makes her incredibly smart. There is a narrative in South Africa that girls who find themselves in situations are dumb and uninformed. There is a narrative that women do not think for themselves and do not base most of their decisions on reality. Only men are realists according to this narrative and that is simply not reality. In South Africa more females than males actually qualify for universities. Law is considered a blue-chip degree especially from the right university hence the main character had to show that she was not what the stereotype purports.
From what I have read, it sounds like you are very willing to write for many different kinds of projects. For example, you have written for the TV show Makoti, and you have mentioned in interviews that you have been working on other scripts. What, for you, has been the biggest difference between writing serialised fiction and writing scripts?
TV is more competitive I believe because in Africa our we don’t have as many outlets as in Europe, meaning one has to compete with so many for so few slots. I have been writing different formats of scripts from series to movies and of different genres including animation. All them have a different feel and target audience. I am not fool hardy though. I first research other scripts and what they did before I do my own. I am not trained in scriptwriting as my background is law so I have to go the extra mile to be relevant in an industry others went to school for. Books for me are more time consuming than TV Scripts because for me once I have a storyline for a movie I can write it in about two weeks, whereas books require thought and intricate building of worlds and settings. TV demands that you get to the point faster whilst books give you time to flesh out your thoughts.
A lot has changed in the blogosphere and with social media platforms since you first started writing online. E-books have also grown in popularity and become more widely available. How do you imagine these developments will affect the publishing industry in South Africa?
Unfortunately with the explosion of binge television I believe that scripted content like books, newspapers, journals, etcetera, will find it difficult to compete. A lot of people are already of the belief that if the work is that good they will just wait for it to end up on TV. Even with my own blogs a lot of people believe that eventually it will come out on TV so they do not have to read it. They believe they just have to wait as the demand for content is at its peak at the moment. Reading in Africa is not something that is popular and most people outside of school do not read books. Ebooks need money and data is something which is in hard supply in Africa. For a lot it is expensive and a lot of people would rather use that money for other things. Print media is in decline and Ebooks are replacing this industry. Data costs however remain a barrier in Africa.
What are you working on right now and where is the best place for readers to find your work and stay updated??
Currently I am working on an African Superhero movie script. Unfortunately I have realized that to grow as an author in South Africa is not going to take me where I believe I can get. I have to make a move to North America or England to pursue my dreams. I have strong hopes for my animation works and already am finding favour in North America on it but I have to ground myself. As for my literature, there has been interest within the national education ministry to convert one of my books in academia as I have mostly written about themes critical to the wellbeing of our communities. My books can be found on different platforms inclusive of Amazon for international readers as well as http://www.takealot.com