Die Kommadagga-slypskool, op Somerset-Oos aangebied deur LitNet, die Jakes Gerwel Stigting en Huisgenoot, het vandeesweek ten einde geloop. Vanjaar het Rachelle Greeff en Niq Mlhongo as mentors opgetree vir vyf aspirantskrywers wat hulle op tydskrifverhale toelê. LitNet het die kandidate gevra om hul ervarings te deel en, indien hulle nie te skaam was nie, ’n pronkparagraaf uit hul skryfwerk.
The Kommadagga Writing School, presented by LitNet, the Jakes Gerwel Foundation and Huisgenoot in Somerset East, was concluded this week. Rachelle Greeff and Niq Mlhongo were mentors to five aspiring magazine short story writers. The candidates share their impressions of the experience with LitNet, and some of them who were not shy, also shared a snippet of their writing.
Esmé Cupido (Foto: Danie Kriek)
Esmé Cupido
Ek verlaat Somerset-Oos en die Paulet Huis met soveel meer as toe ek drie weke gelede hier aangekom het. Te danke aan Rachelle en Niq het ek geleer om ’n volwaardige storie te skryf, gereed om vir publikasie voor te lê. In die proses moes ek baie babies kill, maar die eindproduk was die slagting werd.
Dit was ook heerlik om kennis te maak met vier ander belowende skrywers. Die gesprekke rondom die etenstafel, buite op die stoep of op pad dorp toe was soms vurig, maar meestal vol humor. Die kos, die mooi huis en tuin, asook die rustigheid van die omgewing het alles tot my uitsonderlike ervaring bygedra.
Baie dankie aan die Jakes Gerwel Stigting, LitNet en Huisgenoot vir die wonderlike geleentheid. Baie dankie aan ons mentors, Rachelle en Niq. Ek het soveel geleer.
Uit Esmé se kortverhaal, “Iemand vir Josephine”:
Nico weet nie wat hy verwag het nie. Maar nie dit wat hy nou voor hom sien nie. Dis die aand voor hy vlieg en reeds sterk skemer toe hy die skuifhek vir haar oopmaak. Die prentjie strook nie met die selfoonstem nie. Dit lyk of sy pas as die wenner uit ’n kattegeveg getree het. Haar lang hare is wild en deurmekaar en die pers ding om haar skouers lyk of sy dit deur ’n doringbos gesleep het.
Gaasitwe Setshedi (Foto: Danie Kriek)
Gaasitwe Setshedi
I have learned to follow my inner feelings and write with integrity even about things that I fundamentally oppose. Some things make a story compelling, but the approach to the topic can open up a discussion. Mine is not to condemn or approve, but to write about it.
This programme reinforced that I am a creative writer and that not every aspect of my story is a lived experience. My goal now is to find a way to balance engaging writing with my morals. I still have a long way to go, but thanks to Rachelle, the compass is now north.
From Gaasitwe’s story:
From my mother I learned courage and resilience, to trot through adversity. Mapula taught me about freedom, choice and destiny. From the elders in the initiation village, how to be self-sufficient.
Knowing the proper way to collect cow dung and start a fire are basic survival skills and have little or nothing to do with marriage. I hope to have a daughter, so that I can teach her this lesson early in her life.
Liziwe Ndalana (Foto: Danie Kriek)
Liziwe Ndalana
I’ve learned a lot about the writing process over the past three weeks. What interested me was realising that I could actually write a story or create characters for a real story. This was a major discovery for me! Although I still have a lot to learn, my confidence as a writer is definitely boosted.
To highlight a few practical examples: I’ve learned that for a writer, your gut is your guide. I also learned that it’s important to know your characters, but also to allow them to grow and develop.
Writing a story is like giving birth to a child: You raise a child, let it grow, and that child in turn helps you see the world through different eyes. That is the biggest lesson I take away from this experience. Many thanks to our mentors who were patient with us and more importantly believed in our ability to write.
From Liziwe’s “One who got away”:
Before she moved to Zabasa, Slindile lived with her aunt in Port Elizabeth. Every day, her aunt paged through Drum with her long nails, which she painted red. She was still in her diapers when she moved from PE because her father had died. Her mother gave her and her siblings to various relatives while she went to look for work in Cape Town. It has been five years since Slindile last saw her mother.
Danie Kriek
Danie Kriek
Ek het soveel geleer van my medeskrywers, dis moeilik om te weet waar om te begin. Die verskeidenheid kulture, denkrigtings en skryfstyle het my onmiddellik opgeval. Ek het geleer dat elkeen ’n unieke stem het en dat daar soveel stories is wat nog vertel moet word.
Yuwinn Kraukamp by die Glen Avon-waterval in Somerset-Oos waarheen die Kommadagga-skrywers op ’n uitstappie gegaan het. (Foto: Danie Kriek)
Yuwinn Kraukamp
- I rediscovered the simplicity of words and writing. Specifically, I learned that stories can be beautiful even with the most simple/simplistic words (it just depends on how the writer structures it).
- Writing has always been an individual art for me, but I learned that the artistic process can be a collective one. I found all kinds of inspiration and tips from just talking to my fellow creative comrades.
- I relearned the significance of my potential readers. In other words, I learned that when I write it’s good to keep my unknown readers in mind; what they may find confusing or fascinating. For example, a scene that I need to describe more clearly for their visualisation.
- Perhaps the most (or one of the most) important lessons I learnt was to give my characters a “ghost of the past”. A deep and unresolved wound that defines them and keeps creeping up into the story and influencing their motivations.
From Yuwinn’s story:
My Ma het ’n pyn gehad wat ek net soms kon sien, een wat haar oortuig het dat hierdie wêreld ’n gewetenlose plek is. Haar pyn het haar geleer dat mense gediertes van bedrog en gif is. Die wrede en snaakse deel is dat ek – ’n persoon wat ’n bestaan maak deur mense te oortuig dat ek hulle pyne kan wegvat – geen idee gehad het hoe om haar pyn te genees nie.
Lees ook:
Kommadagga-skrywers skrik nie vir moue oprol ten bate van gemeenskappe nie
Kommadagga writers roll up their sleeves for the benefit of the community
Kommentaar
Ek sal ook wil leer. Ek is 'n beginner. Het geen idee van die skryfwêreld nie.