Places & Concepts in Our Stories
In my stories, I mention places, names, and concepts without always explaining them; I am driven by the belief that all places are equal, and that in them, life as it's known anywhere does happen. And if it's not familiar to some readers, it is still life in that story. I feel no obligation, therefore, to explain that Mazvihwa is a place near Zvishavane, which is a town in the Midlands of Zimbabwe. I will let a story about a Jakove, a Mukomberi, or a Sithole unfold, and expect the right reader to enjoy the story, or at least experience what Jakove experiences. But, in several workshop environments in the United States, there have been some cases of readers failing to make sense of a story because it has a name like Chimanimani in the first sentence, or lately, "Why didn't we know in the first sentence that SRB means Strong Rural Background?" etc... oh, then I sometimes will give characters names like Mai Vanji, Mukoma Chakuti: "What's that?" Of cour...