It's never been a better time to be an author or aspire to become one. Writing is an art and a craft that needs to be developed through regular practice and study over a long period of time. Fortunately, some of the world's greatest writers, the ones who mastered the craft and whose names have been passed down to us through time, gifted us with their stories. Many of them took time in-between the creation of their novels and short stories and poems to codify their writing philosophies, their writing strategies, and their writing habits.
Junior Observer met Imeth de Silva, a Grade Ten student of S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia whose dream is to be an author. By reading some of his works, I realised that he had really processed the art of writing. He says author of Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling and Enid Blyton were his inspiration. “I was influenced by their stories as there was a lot of imagination. I love mythical and detective stories as well. My stories are based on many themes such as detective, mystery and mythical. Up to date I have written 14 books and I am planning to have a continuation series of the books as well,” he said with a smile.
“I sent my books to M.D. Gunasena Publications two years ago but were rejected and they told me to try it again in the future and keep writing. I attended the Voice Over Festival of Performing Arts organised by the British Arts Festival Association and won the first place in Creative Writing category twice. I read books, collect stamps and watch television during my leisure time. I like to watch cricket and animal planet on T.V,” Imeth says.
He is able to write better now and believes that the credit goes to his parents. He said, “If it was not for my parents, I would not be what I am today. My father, mother and my brother supports me a lot to achieve my dreams. My father helps me to contribute to newspapers. So far I have contributed many articles to the Junior Observer. My parents wanted me to join the Scrabble at school which also influenced me in writing. I am also a member of the debate team. I was awarded the ‘Best Performing Newcomer’ at the ‘National Scrabble Championship’ in 2017.”
Imeth says that he likes to read long stories so that he feels that he is in the book. “If you want to reach your ambition, you should keep on trying to achieve it and should never give up,” is the message that he would like to give the world. “My son is a prospective writer whose ambition is to become an author in future. He started his writing at the age of nine and there are about 10 – 15 English story books written by him unpublished to date. His effort is to publish his own book and we are in the process of finalising some. We have approached certain offices for subsidy in this connection due to high costs. Presently, one of the books is at editing and page setting stage.
I am happy that he also writes to newspapers,” says Imeth’s father Asela de Silva.
Imeth himself has performed illustrations for all his books. He has completed reading Famous Five, Secret Seven, St Clare’s series of Enid Blyton, Diary of Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, Harry Potter by J K Rowling, Narnia by C S Lewis and books of David Walliams on top of many others.
Very soon all of us can read Imeth’s stories online by accessing his website http://imethdesilvawritingdomain.com/ which is currently under construction.