Romance aside, these themes charm, too

NAIROBI: Romance sells! During this year’s East African Digital Summit, one of the programme managers from Worldreader stated that romance novels were the most read, among the titles on their fiction collection, on their Kindle. We were not surprised. Universal themes tend to attract a larger readership than insular ones.

From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, Mills and Boons, Danielle Steel’s novels, to the trending EL James’ steamy Fifty Shades of Grey, romance never seems to grow old. The question is what else can you write about today?

I must encourage you to consider contemporary themes, one of them being sustainability. The world today is focusing on sustainability. All of us are worried about the Ozone layer, droughts, melting of glaciers and raising of water levels in the seas.

Imagine if you were to write about the disappearance of Mombasa or the Maldives! Actually, Mombasa may not be in existence soon, if we do not check the cutting down of forests and burning fossil fuels. A cunning writer can easily come up with a story on this and it definitely will catch people’s attention. First, because no one expects it and second, because the reader will start imagining what would happen if Mombasa was actually submerged.

Technology is another theme that a young contemporary writer should consider. Think of the mobile phone and what it has done to and, for us. Think of the problems, detonation of bombs, divorces and loss of jobs, that the mobile phone has caused. Think of its effect on the youth. How about family time? Has it ever occurred to you that we usually are on our phones even during meals?

I think the mobile phone can generate a good romance or detective story. SMS can be used to heighten the tension in the story just as the phone’s memory can also be used to resolve a mystery that involves a serial killer. Do you remember the girl who was sending text messages to her mother and boyfriend, when 147 students were massacred in Garissa? Certainly, there is a story there waiting for a smart mind and an eager reader.

DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Another theme I have been encouraging writers to write about is accidents. Do you remember that time when university students were in a hostel and it was sinking! How about the accidents that occur on our roads daily? Don’t you think this is material for a technological story? Accidents occur in most cases due to human error or negligence. I once was watching TV and saw a man who had been arrested for drink driving jumping out of the police Land Cruiser and dashing across the busy Thika Superhighway. You can imagine what happened thereafter.

Drugs and drug abuse may seem old and grey as a theme but then, just as Goro wa Kamau approached HIV and Aids in When the Sun Goes Down, it can make a great story if it gets a good weaver. The stories around drug and substance abuse are no longer just about addiction and its effects. Smart writers are looking at other things. Have you ever imagined how drugs affect the peddler, though he or she may not be using? What happens if a drug peddler’s child or spouse becomes an addict or dies from drug addiction? How does this affect the peddler? Without doubt, peddlers are human beings and as such have feelings.

At one time, we were discussing and wondering what the modern novel should be about. What really hit us is the realisation that the modern novel must be about ordinary people and how they relate on a day to day basis. Later on when I ruminated over it, I realised that there is always a very good story around mus.

Think of where you live and the people around you. Your relationship with Mama Mboga, the shoe shiner, that young man who sells pirated movies and series to you, the butchery attendant and the makanga who picks you up every morning and that neighbour who borrows money from you and never returns, but comes smiling for more, are material for a good story. I am not saying you start gossiping, not at all. The point is that all these people could be characters in the next best seller.

Let me conclude with an example. There is this gentleman, (let’s call him John) who makes mandazi in our estate. Next to him is another man (Martin) who sells French fries. Martin is fond of eating John’s chips and not paying. When John asks for money, Martin always says, Baadaye. Now everyone calls him Baadaye. To add on that Martin has nicknamed John’s nephews, Orengo. Now we call their mother Mama Orengo! I think I should write a story about this situation, entitled Nicknames!