PAINTER OF WORDS

Image from Google

By

Lawrence Kariuki Muthoni* 

Give me a pen and I will paint a new world in your mind.

Give me a pen and I will do the miracle of making you travel without you moving an inch.

Give me a pen and I will give you entry into my heaven and walk you through my universe.

Welcome to my universe.

 

1.0 Introduction

I look up to the mountains, the forests, the rivers, the lakes and oceans, the art of men and all I would like is to create that view for you. I want you to see the beauty that my eye beholds. But how do I do yet you are so far away? I would paint. But my hands blush at the view of a brush and paint. I would take a picture. But that would not give you the same sensations that my mind perceives.

I will recreate this world for you from the lens of my mind. I will paint nature and the art of men in words. Praying that your eyes will not see the words, but the paintings my pen and letters make. Each letter is a run of the brush. My aim - make the image as clear as it was in my view. But not just clarity, I want to pass to you the sensations that rushed in my body as I was lost in my view.

I don’t know if that which I saw is the reality. I was lost in my own world. And now the reality and my world have married. No picture can see this. I can only paint it to you. Come see it. All I ask of you to do is – do not see my words, see the painting I have made. See it as a whole. Feel my new world. And when you do, I sleep in peace knowing well I have accomplished my duty as a writer - Painting in words.

But how do I paint? How do I start? Serving as the Managing Editor of the University of Nairobi Law Journal has exposed me to this question times without number. Many of us want to be painters of words. This piece is dedicated to you. This piece highlights the process I use to paint. You may borrow a leaf from it and start. This is not a formula. There is no formula. This is just how I go about my writing. You need not to follow it. In fact, the only way to start writing is to start writing. Through practice, experience and reflection, you will find your way.

2.0 THE PROCESS.

Writing demands two things: - a clear message in the writers mind and words to paint the message with the same clarity in the mind of the reader. This part answers two questions that flow from the two aspects: How do I make the message as possible in my mind? How do I communicate the message with the same clarity to my readers?

2.1  Making the Message Clear in your Mind.

The process of making the message clear to you starts with falling in love with a problem, seriously exploring it, reflecting on the problem, resting and lastly, revisiting problem severally. This stage is the most fun part of the writing process and also the part that takes majority of the time.

 

 

 

 

a)      Falling in Love with a Problem. 

“The best thing that can happen to a human being is to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears.”

~

Karl Popper

 

The process begins with self-learning/ reflecting on a particular problem that you have already identified and you want to deal with. The aim of this stage is to have a deep dive into that problem. What are your thoughts about the problem? Have you ever experienced it? If you have not, has someone close to you or persons in your community/ country experienced it? Has your favourite celebrity experienced it? Read on the experiences of other people. Watch documentaries and movies that deal with that problem. You can easily find such documentaries on You Tube and any other social media platforms. Watch news and read newspapers about that problem. In addition to the documented experiences and the past experiences, observe in your society whether you can still observe the problem. In other words, let the thoughts of this problem consume every bit of you. This can be done through exercising your thoughts on that problem – in writing, orally or both.

Thinking in writing is one of the best ways to exercise your thoughts on a problem. The more you exercise those thoughts, the more it becomes easy for you to have a clear view of the problem. You can reflect/ self-learn and exercise your thoughts through several tools of your choice including- free writing and mind-mapping. Free writing entails you taking a piece of paper or opening a word document and writing your thoughts on that subject in prose. Time yourself. You can decide to write for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes- you have the latitude. You decide. Further, do not edit your work. Just allow your thoughts to flow on paper through the movement of your hand. You have no restrictions at all. Just write. That is a ‘for-your-eyes’ only document. No one, but you, will ever read that free-written piece.

Mind-mapping on the other hand entails using visual features to connect and reflect on the thoughts that you have. It is based on the fact that the mind does not think in a linear way. You may remember one thing about something and forget about another that is not exactly related to the previous thought. Draw all the ideas that flow from your mind as they come. At first, it may be very difficult for you to connect the ideas, however, with time, the ideas will consolidate to well-connected thoughts.

Keep the pieces. Don’t delete them if on Word Document. File the papers you have written on. Later in your exploration (discussed in the next part), you may find views that are completely different from what you observed and thought. The findings of the explorations stage may consume and confuse you making you to forget your earlier observations and thoughts. The free-writings and the mind-maps then become important since, just by skimming through them, you get to remember ideas that may have been pushed away by other people’s views.

Another way to reflect and engage a problem at this stage is by speaking. This can be done in at least two ways- speaking to yourself (you are not mad, I can assure you) and engaging in conversations with other people. While speaking to yourself, assume that you are making a speech to an audience on your observations about that problem. Record yourself as you do this. This is a very good tool of practising public speaking. The recordings will also serve tools to remind you of your thoughts and observations just like the mind-maps and free-writings discussed above. However, if you find speaking to yourself too weird and you are afraid of viewing yourself as crazy, how about you engage in conversations with other people?

Engaging in conversations with other persons is as simple as talking to a friend. It need not to be formal unless the circumstances demand so. Ask your friends, colleagues, mentors and people around you what they think about the problem. If you have access to an expert in that particular subject, take advantage of his or her presence. Make this problem be a normal topic of discussion in your social spaces. It is a fun process. It should not be boring at all. Later, take notes of all the views – whether you agree with them or not. You never know when you will need them.

By the end of the process, the thoughts of this problem will consume every bit of you. You will have a very clear picture of that problem in your head. You will be able to view it from as many angles as possible. You will dream about it. It will be your daily bread. All in all, you will have successfully fallen in love with the problem. In the next stage, you will have a full scholarly view of the problem by exploring different scholarly materials.

b)     Exploring.

The point of this stage is to engage the problem from a scholarly view. Read textbooks, theses, articles, reports and case studies, listen to podcasts and lecturers. Skim and scan all the materials that you will find on that particular subject. The aim of the process is to simply immerse yourself in knowledge of the problem. At first, you may not understand the language used by the authors. However, they more you read, skim, scan and listen, the language becomes normal and easy for you to understand. To make the understanding easier, start with the basics as you move to the complex. 

Get textbooks and theses about the problem that you are trying to resolve. These are good to start with since they give a general overview of a problem which makes it easy for you to understand it. They also explain the basics of the problem. Further, the theses and the textbooks also guide you to other materials that you can use to read on the subject. This will ensure that your learning is incremental and organised on the basis of areas you are curious about.  As you explore the materials, do not forget to take notes.

Take notes of the ideas that sprout in your mind. They will be very helpful in your resting and reflection stage. Take notes of the materials that you have used- you will need them in your research stage. Take notes of some of the findings that you have found in your exploration. Then, as you take notes, try to relate all the information you have read and critic it. This relation and connection of information is done as part of your reflection on the subject.

c)      Reflecting and Resting.

At this stage, leaving the mind to its own means, free write or draw mind maps on the subject. This process will help you exercise your thoughts on the problem. It will help you notice, compare and critique the different observations that you made in the first two stages. Also take notes on the points of harmony in views. In simpler terms, if someone asked you- what do you think about your problem at this stage, what would you say? Respond to this severally then rest.

Rest. Cool down. There is no pressure at all. Focus on other aspects of life. Life is bigger than one problem. As you rest and focus on other things, the mind will continue working on your project behind the scenes. It will be simmering. The period of rest is dependent on you. Just make sure that you deny the problem attention as much as possible. If possible, focus on another problem. In that period, the mind will be working on connecting different aspects of your findings and raising new and creative ideas. Once you have separated yourself from the problem and from the views of different scholars, you are then likely to get your own perspective. This perspective is so important since it will be the basis of your whole message that you will pass to the reader. That will be your contribution to the debate on the problem.

d)     Revisiting and taking a Position.

After your period of rest, come back to the project fresh and re-energized. Skim and scan through your notes. Actively think of the problem in writing. You will realise that your resting period gave you a fresh perspective of the whole problem. You will be able to notice aspects that you had not considered before. It is from the revision of your notes, free writing and drawing mind-maps that you will take a position. You may find that you agree with the scholars on a particular issue but you do not agree with their reasoning. That will be the position that you will be advancing. In other instances, you will find that the scholars have looked at the problem from several angles but not at one, you can write from that angle. You may find a problem with the proposed recommendations or the current solutions, then write to fill that gap. That will be the basis of your paper.

Once your perspective is clear, then you have a message to pass to your readers. It is this clear message that you will quip in words. This perspective is where your writing stands and falls. So, how do you then communicate that perspective with the same clarity as it is in your head? That will be the discussion in the next section.

2.2  Passing the Message with the same Clarity to your Reader.

The process of writing begins with drawing an outline that will guide your approach to the article. It then flows to filling each part of the outline. It ends with a thorough edit of the work to fine-tune it.

a)      Drawing an outline.

The outline should flow directly from the perspective that you want to communicate. It could be intended to communicate the justifications for your perspective, its implications and what action should be taken after making the conclusion. Another approach is to highlight the historical events that led to that finding. There are other approaches that one can decide to use. Here, be as creative as possible to meet your needs. Device the structure that will be best enough to help you communicate your message. The main aim of this stage is to device an outline that will logically and coherently guide the reader in understanding your message.

 

b)     Filling each part of the outline.

With your structure in mind, fill each part of the structure. Each part should have an introduction of the contents of the part, the body explaining and detailing the content and the conclusion. As you fill the structure, go back to the materials that you had already searched during the ‘Loving the Problem’ and ‘Exploration’ stage.[1] Also, find more material that will help you in your communication. Use the material to justify your position, criticize it and bring forth evidence of countering the arguments made by other scholars.

Further, as you fill the structure, do note two don’ts: first, don’t write the whole piece in one go and secondly, don’t edit as you write. Write each section at a time. Take a break after you have written that section. Come back later and write the content of another section. Take another break. This will make writing easier and less stressful.

Do not edit as you write. Editing is left for a later stage. Just write what is in your mind. You just want to have a comprehensive draft. If you edit as you write, you risk criticising yourself too much for you to continue writing. You also risking getting a writer’s block and in the end you will feel that writing is the most stressful task on earth. After each part of your structure is complete and you have your first draft, embark on the journey of editing.

c)      Editing the piece.

You already have the first draft! Congratulations. You have surely made so much progress. At this stage, we focus on editing each section at a time. Don’t edit the whole piece as a whole. One section at a time. First focus on editing the structure- introductions, conclusions, paragraphs and sentences. Then focus on editing grammar and style.

Structural Editing.

i.                    Introduction.

Ensure that your paper has an introductory part. This introduces each section to the reader. It also informs the reader what to expect from the paper. In addition to the paper’s introduction, ensure that each part has an introduction. This highlights to reader the contents of that section.

ii.                  Conclusion.

In addition to having the introductory part and introduction paragraphs, the paper and each section of that paper should have a conclusion. The concluding part of the paper should connect all the parts of the piece, give a summary of the whole piece, identify areas for future research and conclude the paper. On the other hand, the concluding paragraph of each section should summarise the points made in that section and lay foundation for the next section.

iii.                Paragraphs.

The paragraphs should flow from the introductory paragraph. It should have a topic sentence/ claim. The claim should be backed by evidence. This could be facts or an agreed position. Afterwards, bring in your voice. This is done in analysing the evidence you have adduced. Then conclude the paragraph.

iv.                 Sentences.

Make sure your sentences are not too long. They should be short and clear. However, in instances when they have to be long, divide the sentence in so small readable clauses. This makes it easy to read. Further, each sentence should have a link to the previous sentence. This makes the reader flow easily from one sentence to the next.

As you edit the structure, you may realise that some of your arguments have logical or evidential gaps. You may also notice that there are arguments against your view that you have not addressed or perspectives that you had not considered. You may also find that the structure you used does not address the issue as you imagined. This is where you address those issues. Research to fill the logical gaps and consider the arguments and perspectives you had not considered. When the structure used is the problem, this may demand that you restructure your whole work. This may take time but that is the cost to be paid for passing a clear message to your reader. After you are done editing the structure, consider the grammar and the style of your work.

Grammar and Style Editing.

Focus on editing the words, punctuation and other nuances of your wish. Make sure that you use the word that will help you communicate your desired message. Avoid jargons especially if you can find simpler terms as alternatives. Focus on all aspects of grammar taught in primary and the secondary schools. Look at whether there is subject verb agreement, the punctuation marks are used correctly and any other aspects of grammar.

On the aspect of style, writers may use different styles either to identify them or to pass a particular feeling to the reader. This is where you edit the work to fit in your style. Make the work yours. Let it communicate the feeling you want it to. The best way to know how to do it is to do it. You will develop your style with practice. Once you are done with the editing process, you can rest assured that you have a paper. Submit it to a friend or two for reviews. Consider the reviews and make the necessary changes. You are then free to channel your word-painting to your audience.

Conclusion.

The aim of writing is paint your perspective as clearly as possible in the reader’s mind. However, before that is done, the writer has to make sure that the message very clear in his or her mind. Different authors may have different methods of going through the process of having a clear message and communicating it. What I was highlighting above is my method that you are free to borrow from. It trickles from falling in love with a problem, exploring on it, reflecting on the problem, resting to clear my head, revisiting the problem to get a clear perspective. With a clear perspective in mind, I draw my outline, fill each section and later finish up the process by editing.

This process definitely time-consuming. It may take months to think and write a piece. I continue to explore ways to improve the system e.g. by writing and practising to write. Difficult as it may be, writing is beautiful. It is the through-pass to my universe. It is the way I paint. It is the way I leave a mark that I was here. Start the journey and leave your mark too!

 

By Lawrence Kariuki Muthoni is a LLB Candidate at the University of Nairobi. He serves as the Managing Editor of the University of Nairobi Law Journal. 

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* Lawrence Kariuki Muthoni is a LLB Candidate at the University of Nairobi. He serves as the Managing Editor of the University of Nairobi Law Journal. He writes this piece as a guide to potential writers who are afraid to start their journey in writing. His major advice is “Start! You will find your way. The only way learn is by doing.”

[1] The act of going back to the materials that I had already gone through in the ‘Falling in Love with a Problem’ and the ‘Exploration’ stages is what I call research.