Victor is a teenage boy with big dreams of writing more… Who loves reading…
He is a child of God. And acknowledges Him for everything!!
Who is Victor Karol Maingi?
Victor Karol Maingi is a 16-year-old form two student in Nairobi, Kenya. He enjoys reading books, playing piano, chess, basketball, football, & touch rugby and is a member of the school chapel choir.
Reading books inspired him to write, starting with compositions at school, then developed into writing of books – including three incomplete manuscripts. He also has a collection of his best reads towards building a library and is a volunteer with African Kids Book Club.
He is the author of The Ghastly Makungu Forest and The Mysterious Mashimbo Hills. Victor lives in Nairobi with his parents, and his siblings; two brothers and a sister.
Victor's Journey...
Through my parents first, they taught me to pray, and took us to church. We go to church every Sunday and some weekdays.
We pray at home before any engagement… We do rosary every Saturday and Sunday, but my parents… they do daily mass, daily rosary, spiritual reading etc
We have a get together every evening where after finding out how day was, we pray and read the bible.
At school, God is the Centre of everything… as much as we are engaged in many other activities. School took as through catechism, in class three I received my First Holy Communion, in class eight my Confirmation. Every day the first thing I do is to enter the chapel and pray, and dedicate the day to God. I recently joined the school chapel choir.
I started reading earnestly earlier on, more in standard six and started writing in class seven… the short stories. After I had read so many books, I thought I could write… I like the idea of creating your own story.
The first book took a couple months to write. I could write on the whim… what came to mind.
The second book was my mother’s idea. The story had been developing but it all came together when I was in seclusion during my rite of passage of passage. I completed it and brought it home, and gave it to my mom! – she types without looking at the keyboard…
It was at school, during composition writing. My classmates used to read and ask me for advice, or how I wrote…
Adventure… a story of curious boys, daring, and courageous… Who at the thick of things, realize they need God in their lives.
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before you begin writing a book?
I do not do research; I think of the book and write… the power of imagination…
You can do all those things, just do in moderation. Cultivate good habits.
To always cultivate the gifts, to push them even if they do not want… to insist, to be consistent… the kid may not realize in the moment what the parent is doing… the parents should not give up…
The parents should know that they are lucky to have talented children, they should nurture that.
What is your message to young and aspiring writers?
Just cultivate good habits… it is not easy, but keep doing and doing
Caroline, how was your experience publishing with CLC Kenya and also iGen Teens Program.?
My journey with CLC started when I attended a book launch of one of my friends, published by CLC. I took Muthoni’s contacts and wrote her. She responded after some days and we scheduled an early meeting. That is about five years ago…
I shared Victor’s manuscripts… a story for another day… there are three actually… With time, he wrote Ghastly Makungu Forest and told us we do away with any of those manuscripts. Then I encouraged him to write Mashimbo.
I have enjoyed working with CLC. We together have cultivated lots of virtue. I must say CLC is a great editor, they have taken me through various steps, and more to come. My mind is now opening to the writing and publishing world. CLC accepted my son’s raw work when other publishers had turned us away. I thank them greatly, that we are now here…
Book 1: The Ghastly Makungu Forest
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Book 2: The Mysterious Makungu Forest
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