full course on creative writting-starting

planning
Starting

By now, you have the idea and an outline and you are confronted with the problem of how to begin. You stare at the blank sheet and you have the pen in your hand with a thousand and one options in your head. Even some renowned writers encounter this problem. In fiction, as in life, no venture no success, so take the plunge. Just start the story, what will be uppermost in your wind will be to rouse the attention of your reader, so that he or she can hardly wait to reach the end of the story to find out what it is all about. I said earlier that anyone who survived childhood has at least one story in him or her. You may start with the story of yourself. Try to recollect a significant and interesting event in your life that you could start with. Read the paragraph below which is the beginning of a novel, African Child by Camara Laye and later get the novel and read it. 33 I was a little boy playing round my father’s hut. How old would I have been at that time? I cannot remember exactly. I still must have been very young: five, maybe six years old. My mother was in the workshop with my father, and I could just hear their familiar voices above the noise of the anvil and the conversation of the customers. Suddenly I stopped playing, my whole attention fixed on a snake that was creeping round the hut. He really seemed to be ‘taking a turn’ round the hut. After a moment I went over to him. I had taken in my hand a reed that was lying in the yard – there were always some lying around; they used to get broken off the fence of plaited reeds that marked the boundary of our compound – and I thrust this reed into the reptile’s mouth. The snake did not try to get away: he was beginning to enjoy our little game; he was slowly swallowing the reed; he was devouring it, I thought, as if it were some delicious prey, his eyes glittering with voluptuous bliss; and inch by inch his head was drawing nearer to my hand. At last the reed was almost entirely swallowed up, and the snake’s jaws were terribly close to my fingers. You may decide to present your ideas in a circle like the one below. Study the circle below by Osaronomwen Osamagie on herself. 34 Lemon 1 S si e t s r 2 Brothers October 1, 1987 JSS 2T I’II use i O t samagie Osarobomwen Yes Jollof rice & Chicken Q e u e n s C o l el g e Salewa D o g s H , o s r e Surgeonit si very S ut pdi N aught ni ess Death Power, Fame, Strength, Wealth. Osaronomwen Osamagie, Queens College, Iwaya, Yaba, Lagos. JSS 2T Now, draw your own circle, call it ‘you’ by name divide the circle into sections and in each write the following: • Your name • The number of sisters and brothers you have • The country you live in • What you like about your country • What you do not like about your country • Your favourite food • What you like the most • What you dislike the most • Who you love the most – who your favourite person is 35 • Who is your best friend • What you want to become • What you fear the most • What you think of the world • What you like about the world • What you dislike about the world • What you think about nature • What will you do with your money if you are rich • What you will do if you have power to do something • The books you like to read the most • The most important thing you have been told • Your favourite subject • Your favourite colour Use what you have in your circle to write a poem or short story You could start your story by narrating an incident like the one or above, or describing a character as in the one below from Chukwuemeka Ike’s Toads for Super. The opening point of your work is very important. Try to introduce your principal characters at the earliest opportunity. You could start with a dialogue, narration or description, the important thing is to ensure that you are consistent with your choice. Ensure that when you start the writing and continue, the tempo or “pace is not slowed down immediately after the lengthy narrative introducing the characters and putting across other background information” (Ike, 136). His Royal Highness, Ezeonuku III of Onuku, arrived at the prefabricated temporary residence of the Vice-Chancellor of the 36 University of Songhai in a manner intended to leave the ViceChancellor in no doubt that he was the First Class Chief for Onuku Province, member of Songhai’s Upper House, the most influential personality for miles around, and the bossom friend of the Governor – General, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Educational Affairs, and every important personality you could name in Capital City. Never was a title more becoming to its bearer. His Royal Highness, nearly six feet in height and over two hundred pounds in weight, exuded royalty and dignity as he walked, and he talked, and in the slow and seemingly deliberate manner in which he rolled his neck from side to side. On this occasion, he brought with him his court musicians, who rarely accompanied him except on very major occasions such as the opening sessions of Parliament. This was a sure means of adding the Vice-Chancellor to his ever growing list of V.I.P friends and admirers. The court musicians travelled in a black Morris Minor which preceded His Royal Highness. By the time his milkwhite Buick Electra stopped in front of the Vice Chancellor’s log hut, the three-man ensemble was already praising him to the skies, forming a manilla in front of him as he stepped out of the car. He stood his full height in front of them, looking vacantly and majestically into the distance and failing to notice the smiling Vice-Chancellor who had moved up for a handshake. When he raised his beaded right hand which carried the regal fan, the little man with the oja skipped in front of him to pay special tribute with his instrument. H.R. H. absorbed the encomiums with the dignity of his office, nodding slowly but continuously as 37 encomium toppled over encomium in quick succession. Occasionally a touch of humour earned the flutist a dignified half-smile.