Why I weave magical tales that carry the crucial lessons of life

I am a young Kenyan writer aged 26, from a humble yet adventurous background.

It is from my upbringing that I developed an interest in writing folklore and poetry. I started composing short stories at 13, and at 19 I published a volume of poetry, The Voice from a Young Man under the Burning African Sun. Today, my writing explores a wide spectrum of subjects that range from romance and magic realism to pure realism and magical fantasy.

A little over a decade since my infantile experiments with writing, I now realise that at the heart of every writer’s imagination is a blend of inspiration.

Love, poverty, pain, beauty, and joy are some of the sources of inspiration for one to create any piece of literature. I have always drawn my inspiration from great works of art such as those created by Oscar Wilde, Plato, Baron, Guy De Maupassant, Keats, Locke, Kant, Flaubert, Proust, D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Dick Francis.

Their writings are infused with astonishing diversities of life, love and hate, poverty and opulence, and clarity and murkiness. They have acted as a muse to my writing.

The Sad Artist and Other Fairy Tales, my recently published book, was birthed from a fascination with these very diversities. In writing this book, which is deeply steeped in magical realism, I sought to look at the challenges people (including artists, like me) face.

CHILDISH GENRE

Writing is redeeming, liberating, and can bring in the writer a deep sense of untold joy. Yet, like the diversities in life, the art of writing can be lonely, germane, and depressive sometimes.

Even then, by telling stories in a magical fantasy setting, I sought to convey the message that even in the deep contrasts of life, there is some magic in the small things we do, and all we need is to look closer into ourselves to experience these things.

Even though the tales in this book are set in the mystical world of magical fantasies, I drew a lot of inspiration from present real life occurrences.

Magical fantasies are mostly perceived as childish, and one may be inclined to think this way. However, many of the stories in The Sad Artist and Other Fairy Tales are written not only for children and young adults but also for grown ups. The moral that weaves through the stories is the idea that one’s dreams are valid, and can be achieved, no matter the present reality. All of us will agree that this ideal is true for adults, as it is for children.

The book depicts the lives of different people in society including the artist, the politician, the businessman, the youth and the child, showing their world view and their realities.

In their pursuit for success, each is faced with a different set of challenges, a diverse set of lessons, and dissimilar paths, which all lead to possible redemption.

As is the case in real life, the artist, in his pursuit of perfecting his skill is faced with myriad hardships. In their quest for money and fame, the politician and the business person choose exploitation, corruption, and violence to attain their goals, but suffer the consequences.

Through the eyes of a child and the young man, we are able to clearly see the diversities and eternal challenges of life, as well as the consequences of our own choices.

At the heart of each story is the idea that success is a noble goal that all of us seek, and that it can be attained, save that each one of us has to choose the path individually to attain this same goal. Some will follow the long but dignified path, while others will choose the shorter yet often wretched path.

DIVERSE THEMES

Yet each path has its own rewards, or chastisement. Most artists, including writers, will identify with this — as we craft words, not only to share opinions, ideas, and to portray social ideals, but also to convey our own message.

Nevertheless, we are never guaranteed that the ideas we pass across our works will be socially accepted. In fact, most times they are not: they are criticised and ridiculed, and this may easily sidetrack our art, and make us feel hurt. However, just like the artist in The Sad Artist and Other Fairy Tales, it is important to sharpen our skills, and develop ways to overcome our present reality.

Is there any objectivity in writing fiction?

My stories, including the themes and characterisations, are largely drawn from real experiences. We writers may not always narrate our own experiences word by word, but our words are a true reflection of the experiences we and all of humanity have encountered at some point.

Just like the artist, the businessman, the politician, the youngman, and the child, we all undergo periods of despair and pauperism, inspiration and forlornness, gain and loss, greed and satiety, pure magic and a cold hard reality. So perhaps no writing, including mine, is purely objective.

For instance, in creating the fairy tales, I had in mind stories that would entertain children as well as adults. The themes not only offer guidance, but also epitomise the challenges that may occur in one’s life, in spite of the magical setting.

Of course, my main intent was to write for both children and young adults, while at the same time to cut across all ages. But, I must admit that I had conflicting ideas on how to write fantasy in a way that would convey messages that would be helpful in real life. Yet somehow, the words spun and spun into magical tales.

In future, I will experiment with diverse themes such as pure realism, crime, horror and, perhaps, a tinge of philosophy. Already I have finished the manuscript for my second book: Nana and the Boy with the Two Shadows, a children’s novella. Currently, I am working on The Girl with the Flawless Face and Other Horror stories.

Word Branch Publishing, a publisher in Marble, North Carolina, USA, released the Sad Artist and Other Fairy Tales on March 14, 2014. The book will soon be available in Kenya. It will be launched at the StoryMoja Hay Festival in September at the Nairobi National Museum.

Get a copy on Amazon in both kindle, and paperback and at my publisher’s website http://www. wordbranch.com, or through my website@ http://thesadartistandotherfairytales.net. For any questions you can contact me on: [email protected]