Gaireyah Fredericks
HONING THE AUTHENTIC VOICE
Have you ever sat down to write a poem, only to find that you are unconvinced by your own voice? Have you ever wondered how to harness language and experience to make that voice accessible?
Gaireyah Fredericks is a poet and short story writer who is passionate about helping aspiring writers find their own authentic voices. She won second prize in the Afrikaans category of the AVBOB Poetry Competition in 2019. In 2020, she won the Neville Alexander prestige prize for her contribution to the development and validation of mother tongue as a tool to unite and build bridges. She runs online creative writing workshops and offers in-person mentorship.
As we enter 2025, Fredericks shares three creative writing exercises that help her students keep writing closer to home.
Exercise 1: Writing in your mother tongue
Start by writing in your mother tongue if you are not doing so already. Find a register in which you feel comfortable. Remember that the writing can always be translated afterwards into the commissioned language or register of choice.
New techniques should also be tested in the mother tongue and in a familiar register. It will allow you to concentrate on the challenge at hand and to not overthink or struggle with second- or third-language rules. The important thing is that your most authentic voice should be captured.
Exercise 2: Writing freely
If you are working in a group and with a particular theme, start the writing process by just talking – discuss topics and themes freely, exchange opinions and information. Then go into writing for three minutes, then five minutes, then 10 minutes. Keep whatever comes to mind, whatever bleeds from the discussion.
Start with what you already know about the topic. Stay with your rawest, most authentic reaction to it. At the same time, remember that accuracy of description often depends on research, so learning more about the topic or theme will broaden your knowledge. Never underestimate your readers’ reference or knowledge on the subject you have chosen.
This exercise is not only good for keeping the writing machine well oiled, operational and focused but also reveals your natural narrative voice, which ultimately translates to the authentic self.
Exercise 3: Sensory-conscious writing
This is the exercise, I think, all writers have to do constantly to develop and harvest an authentic voice. It trains the writer’s noticing mind without relying on initial, knee-jerk judgements. Often, judgement is the block that prevents you from authentically experiencing what is happening. And so, you should reserve judgements until you have captured your observations. You have your senses available to record everything accurately first-hand. You just need to flex this already operating skill and develop it into a tool for gathering an endless inventory of sensory experiences.
Expose yourself to comfortable as well as uncomfortable sensory environments. Observe them as fully as you can. Then record facts first, before adding impressions. By doing this, you build an inventory of experience in such detail, you can later adapt the information into whatever form you need to present the work.
For instance, say you are on a train that has been delayed and are feeling most uncomfortable. Instead of getting annoyed, record your sensory experience on all levels. Thereafter, record your emotions towards the experience. In this way, you will be able to write at will and not only when inspired.
In the next few days, deliberately place yourself in a situation that is challenging on a sensory level. Then record what happened, staying as close to your sensory experience as you can.
The 2026 AVBOB Poetry Competition opens for submissions on 1 August 2025. Visit the AVBOB Poetry website at www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and read some of the prize-winning poems from previous years as you prepare to find your own best words.