WRITERS CLINIC

Greetings to you all. A few months ago I started a whatsapp group called Writers Clinic. I am really honoured to be spearheading this project from which I hope both upcoming and growing writers will benefit. I’m particularly excited that we are all writers drawn from various genres of literature. But from my experience with editing and reviewing books, I have discovered that the underlying skills of writing are similar and in our discussions on the whatsapp platform, we focus more on subjects that benefit us all.

Writers Clinic is a professional international platform for established and growing writers specialising in fiction, poetry and motivation (inspirational). Its core mandate is to develop a spirit of excellence in our writing.

While we deal a lot with fiction and poetry, I’m particularly interested in motivational writing because this genre – sometimes referred to as self-help books – presents new challenges. What are the parameters? How do we make them realistic? We really must “own” this genre even as we also draw insights from elsewhere. What I have noticed with some young writers in this genre is a tendency to “shoplift” experiences such that the work won’t sound authentic or ring true to the reader.

One major challenge is that writers from all genres are releasing rushed work – whether it be a novel, poetry anthology or motivational book. My first novel, The Haunted Trail (2007), was published by Longman Zimbabwe and it took exactly one year from the time I submitted the manuscript to the time it was finally published. The editing process was thorough and rigorous as the novel was polished to perfection. I am worried with writers who present scripts for editing when they have already set the launch date – maybe just a few weeks or a month away.

My third novel, The Latter Rain, was first written as a draft in 2007. Over the last eight years I have been working on it. It’s important to make sure your work is up to standard because this is what determines how far you will go as a writer and the respect you will command in literary circles.

The fact that most established publishers in Zimbabwe are no longer keen on fiction (preferring textbooks which sell faster) have seen many authors resorting to self-publishing and this enterprise has come with its own risks – particularly lack of thoroughness in editing and proof reading.

Many upcoming writers tend to go for sophistication in their writing and that often leave their work in a mess. The primary purpose of writing is so that you can communicate clearly with your readers. In Journalism there is what is called the KISS Concept. This is simply an abbreviation for Keep It Short and Simple. It is a time-tested tradition in the history of writing which allows the writer to communicate effectively without any ambiguity.

Lastly, if you’re writing motivation, have you also read other established authors in that genre? The same applies to novels, poetry or spiritual books? You can’t expect to have people read your work if you don’t read other people’s work.

I will end here. Thank you.

Phillip Kundeni Chidavaenzi