Roodepoort writer publishes his first novel despite childhood stumbling blocks
Local resident uses his gift of imagination to tell his story through fiction.
Having a rough start in life, Paul Vorster (38) escaped through his imagination and is hoping to offer other children the same luxury through his new novel, Jack and Jill and a place called PHill.
Vorster, pen name PPJ van der Berg, explained his writing journey began when he was in Hoërskool Bastion, where he ‘wasted many a lesson daydreaming almost out of necessity, really, so as not to lose my mind entirely’.
When he was in his late 20s he was diagnosed with anxiety, ‘which explained so much of those fearful childhood years’ and why school made him literally sick. However, despite his anxiety, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in film and television at AFDA.
“Turns out anxiety wasn’t quite enough to stop me from telling my stories. Something I credit to my incredible parents, whom without I definitely wouldn’t have finished my degree,” he said.
About his childhood, he noted, “I’ll say this, my family and I had each other and sometimes not much else, but it’s in those times where an active imagination can save you, even from yourself.”
He explained his vivid imagination and ability to change the world with his mind came from his grandmother.
“This was a woman, who through adversity, found solace in the written word, and penned quite a few tales herself. She would take me on walks around the garden as a boy, not yet four, and tell me about the elves and fairies who lived in our palm trees. She’d tell me how she could see them playing, working, fighting or crying.”
He continued to say when he then asked why the fairies were crying or angry, she would let him fill in the blanks.
“Any yarns I’ve spun since those days came from her tutelage in my backyard and I can say without any doubt, the need to write a book, to tell a story, came from her.”
His novel, he describes, is a story of two six-year-old children on a faraway planet called PHill, where dreams on Earth would be reality. After the children lose their parents and are told by the ‘bigheads’ they have gone to ‘the better place’ they are sent to an orphanage on a giant’s back. They then decide to escape the orphanage and go in search of their parents, however a witch who steals the tears of children when they dream to keep herself young is standing in their way.
“In many ways, this story is a reflection of my childhood memories. Not so much in the story itself, but rather in how we see the world as children, how we interpret hardship. The story of Jack and Jill is meant for a younger audience, but there’s more than enough for the older generation to latch on to. I didn’t want to write down to anyone, feeling that, even when I was struck by unthinkable tragedy as a child and was shielded by those older and wiser, I was never fooled by what was happening. Thus this book doesn’t shy away from pain and loss but it’s seen through their young eyes, unapologetically so.
“I hope that this little story, silly as it may be, awakens a sense of creativity in the knee-high community, while at the same time reminding the more … seasoned of us, that the world isn’t always as black and white as we’ve become accustomed to,” he concluded.
