So you want to write well? Here we go, with a few tips this Easter

A little story. By 1995, I was working at Slum Aid Project (SAP), in Katanga Slum, Kampala. My boss, Dr Rose Gawaya, bless her soul, had a frustration with my reports. She called me to her office and exclaimed, “Your reports read like novels!” I pleaded guilty as charged, without any remorse. “What do you really want to be?” she asked.

“A journalist,” said I. At that time, the Uganda Management Institute (UMI) journalism school had a tough requirement for admission: first practice at a media house for two years, then sit oral and written exams. So in mid-September 1995, Rose took me to Uganda House. 

She handed me to the man who mentored me, Amos Kajoba, bless his soul. Amos, a dyed-in-the-wool Museveni opponent, was editor of The People, the newspaper of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC). Amos told me two immortal things.

One: “Writers are born, they are not made. Training only sharpens talent – it does not impart it.”

Two: “IF YOU WANT TO BE A GOOD WRITER, YOU MUST BE A GOOD READER.”

We can argue about the first issue, until the cows go home; but there can possibly be no argument about the second. Fortunately for me, I began reading books when I was six and a half, in Primary Two at Victoria Nile School, Jinja, 1978.

Formerly a school for kids of British colonial officers, Victoria Nile had a huge, well-stocked library…and I devoured books like a caterpillar.

Jinja had a public library – I borrowed nearly every novel there. And if any kid at school had a novel – Famous Five, James Hadley Chase, Hardy Boys, Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, etc. – I borrowed from them. Strong foundation!

If kids will become writers, they must begin early in life, reading as many books as possible. Today’s kids spend their days on the internet, surfing idly; it’s unlikely they’ll make good creative writers.

Reading widely improves your command of the language – grammar and vocabulary. Second, it exposes you to various writing styles and broadens your mind. Third, you develop story ideas and you begin to have a sense of how you will write. And fourth, you learn to “read the writer” – you begin to have a sense of what he was thinking when he wrote the story. Read as a reader, then read as a writer.

Wanna be a newspaper columnist? Read newspapers, cover to cover. Read everything in the paper. Read every writer. Slowly, you begin to have a sense of how people write newspaper articles – be they news stories, features, columns, etc. Then focus on your favourite writers; read them over and over, and slowly you will begin to appreciate how they do what they do. You might write in a way that resembles those you read most…that’s natural; but overtime, you will develop your own style. Be curious; research widely.

By the way, I haven’t met a good writer who talks all the time. You will miss out on good story ideas, if you talk all the time. Good writers are great listeners.

Always move with pen and paper; write down interesting words, phrases or ideas you meet or that cross your mind. Keep them in a story bank; you’ll use them sometime. And BE A THINKER: SPEND TIME ALONE TO PROCESS YOUR IDEAS. Be cool, calm, confident and courageous. Ignore the haters; BE TOO BIG TO BE AFFECTED BY SMALL PEOPLE WITH SMALL BRAINS.

Oh, and style sells more than substance. Many writers have substance… very few are really stylish; but please, ‘balance the boat’. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is perhaps Africa’s most famous literature novel, but I think it is more substance than style. When you read his Arrow of God, you will understand how someone can write with sheer style, swagger and sweetness. 

I think he was showing off his command of the English language! Achebe himself admitted that it was the one book he was “most likely to be caught reading again”. Lastly, write!

Blessed Easter!

Mr Gawaya Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda, [email protected]