creative writing:creating unique writing style Publishing,Physical,Historical/social,Publishing

Publishing 

 Physical

 Historical/social

 Publishing

Any creative writer looks forward with eagerness to the day s/he will see his works in print. The joy of seeing ones works published is inexplicable. Unfortunately, the objective of writing differs from one writer to the other. Some writers write because they want to share with the readers their perspectives on certain social issues. Some others simply want to make money. Agreed, writers are expected to earn some money from their works. Actually, there are full time writers who earn their living through their writings. Economic consideration is therefore important in creative writing. In that case, you must ensure that you 68 produce qualitative works that can sell and also can be relevant at all times. These are hallmarks of good works. Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People deal with corruption in Nigerian politics. These books were written many ago back but the issues treated are still relevant in contemporary Nigerian politics. The economic crunch has forced a lot of people to write. This crop of writers, write whatever they have in mind, with little or no consideration to literary devices or grammatical rules. They rush to state Ministries of Education (Curriculum development units) and push these works into the list of books for students. Self publishing has become the order of the day. Consequently, there are many substandard works in our markets. Some of them are hawked in buses and streets. Here, we advise you to ensure that you write well, do not be in a hurry. There are novels that took years to complete. When you conclude your work, revise it very well and send it to a publisher. Your manuscript may be rejected but do not give up, try other publishers. Many of the renowned writers suffered rejection by publishers but they persevered. However, some of the manuscripts are rejected because they are badly written (Maxwell-Mahon Introduction 2). Send your manuscript to reputable publishers. Some of the publishers may ask you to pay fully or partly for the publishing perhaps because they are afraid that it will not sell. If you can afford it, pay but insist that your work be sent to an evaluator. The evaluator’s report helps the writer to effect some corrections. At the end of this unit, I will include the evaluators report for one of my plays Whose Fault to give you an idea of what an evaluator’s report looks like. You can, before sending your work to the publisher, give it to someone who is knowledgeable in the area to assess for you. If you write a play, look for an opportunity to put it on stage. There is this general saying that a play is not a play until it is seen ‘live’ on stage. Try also to align yourself to a creative organization like Association of Nigerian 69 Authors (ANA). This association has branches all over the country and they organize reading sessions for their members. During these sessions, you could present your work and get objective criticisms and suggestions on how to improve your work. Below is the evaluator’s report. WHOSE FAULT: A REVIEW 1. Theme Whose Fault is a play that questions the source of man’s adversities. Is it the potency of traditional gods in an age when science and Christianity have done much to sustain a contrary point of view? Is it man’s unbridled surrender to dirty passions of various kinds that plague humanity in contemporary times? A thematic statement of the play could be that any discourse on the source of man’s adversities is inconclusive. Put more bluntly, in apportioning blames for man’s calamities, one has to be very cautious for man’s ruin emanates from reasons that are personal, sociological, political, religious, cultural as well as fatalistic. Is it Beka’s refusal to be Udo’s priest that ruins him? Is it his wife’s adulterous relationship with Bassey, an act which she proudly protects, ostensibly to sustain the loitering economy of a once prosperous family that precipitates Beka’s predicament? One is even reluctant to consider Adaku’s (Beka’s wife’s) adulterous relationship with Bassey as part of Beka’s punishment for refusing Ude priesthood. This is because immediately we meet her in the play, she cuts the figure of a nononsense, insatiable wife who drives her husband very hard. Nor is one very ready to consider Kene’s death in a car crash. In the same regard for even the boy believes that people die when and how God (not gods) wills. These are enigmatic aspects of the play that keep 70 the audience contemplating the real cause of Beka’s fall. Ultimately, the play contains the story of a prosperous man who dies (for insanity is a kind of death) after a tortuous fall from grace to grass. The play also touches on the issue of government’s insincerity in instituting and using the results of celebrated inquiries, the national economic crunch that discourage youths from marrying and the Christian’s resistance to superstition. But these are not major concerns. ii. Plot and Structure The play opens as two women, Osodi and Oyidi are returning from market. There are four movements in the play three of which are divided into parts. The use of movements is adequate especially as lights will be used for scenic delineation. The women discuss first the prevailing immorality in their village, Umuogom and later settle on the “beer-parlour” business and its results exemplified especially in the ruin that has overtaken the family of Bekanma Emenike. When the play ends they are again on their way to market and are discussing the same issue. Perhaps the suggestion here is that the major part of the play is a flashback that reveals the reason, for the initial story the market women were telling. The women hurry home when hasty movements of strong men suggest that something unusual has happened in the village. The unusual thing, we discover later, is that Beka is mad and is being sought by the strong men of the village. This is the end of the first movement. In the second movement, Beka refuses the entreaties of the traditional village council that he should become the new priest of Udo. Beka feels that this office will reduce his chosen life style in 71 the city. It is also against his Christian faith. But his community, his friend, Obiora and indeed his father, Enuka bring a lot of pressure on him to accept the priesthood. Beka and wife insist and ask the community to leave them to face the wrath of the gods. In the third movement, neighbours are consoling Adaku and are pondering over the fire that razed Beka’s store, the first in his woes. A policeman arrives, and, contrary to everybody’s anticipation, he announces the death of Kene, Beka’s second son in a car crash. Many months later, Adaku is piqued by the dwindling standard of living of the Beka family into proposing that she would start the beer parlour business. Unknown to Beka, his friend, Bassey now Adaku’s lover, makes satisfactory arrangements for the take-off of the business. Adaku’s beer parlour attracts many customers. Some discuss the sponsorship of Adaku’s business and one of them informs Beka of Adaku’s infidelity. Bassey is foolhardily thirsty for romance with Adaku when Onyechi (I suppose the author means Beka, p. 79) moves into the beer parlour and fires a pistol at him. A bullet hits Beka’s son, Okey instead. Bassey runs away. Fourth movement begins with a comic scene in which a drunk customer gives more details of Adaku/Bassey affair. Comedy derives from the fact that the customer is talking to Adaku in her beer parlour while insisting that he was going to Adaku’s beer parlour to talk to her. Obiora confronts Bassey in Adaku’s beer parlour. Bassey runs aways and brother-in-law, Obiora, and sister-inlaw, Adaku engage in a heated discussion on the fate of the Beka 72 family. Each tries to apportion blames as they try to answer the title question, whose fault? Adaku will not return to the village to help her mad husband. She will not show her son, Okey to anyone. Okey had escaped death from his fathers bullet. She insists that her family should be left to face the Udo, an expression of the fact that Udo is not responsible for her predicaments. In part II of this movement, Bassey is in a love prattle with Adaku when Beka rushes in, tries to strangle him and drags Adaku into the inner rooms to forcefully take her to bed. She is saved early enough by two policemen who handcuff Beka. Bassey is still alive and is carried to hospital. In part III, Umuogom village women are going to market. Osodi and Oyidi discuss Beka’s madness that has defied treatment by all reputable herbalists around. While Oyidi believes that Beka’s lot is a consequence of his refusal to be Udo’s priest, Osodi argues to the contrary. The play ends with nobody being able still to ascertain whose fault Beka’s predicaments are. iii. Characterization The author displays a good knowledge of characterization. Characters are plausible, consistent, convincing and well-motivated. The protagonist develops. There is nothing for which any character could be faulted. As will be expected in a play, a few major characters like Beka, Adaku, Bassey and Obiora carry the story while many others are used and quickly dispensed with. 73 iv. Technique It has already been pointed out that movements 2 and 3 and in fact 4 are flashbacks that reveal the reason for the Eyidi/Osodi story about Beka’s family in movement I. An interesting feature is that at the end of the play, the women are still telling the Beka story. Movement I is an interesting exposition that intimates the audience with sociological details, important characters as well as the important issue of succession to Udo priesthood. The transition from one movement to the other is logical and the plot is coherent. Conflict, for example, arises when Beka refuses the priesthood. The climax of the play is the movement 3. Movement 4 is essentially a resolution. Even part I of movement 4 which could have been less relevant carries the weighty information of Beka’s madness and Okey’s safety. In all, there is a well-knit plot that flows to the end. There are no conscious efforts to create beautiful figures of speech. Dialogue is interesting but the author loses his initial intention to differentiate status of characters by their language. Muoneke’s speech on p. 19 is exemplary in its carriage of traditional speech patterns. Osodi and Oyidi, the market women regrettably lose their traditional speech patterns as they suddenly speak the language of university graduates. (compare language on p.1 and p.7). Many spelling, punctuation and other errors exist. A few examples will suffice. All identified errors have been indicated and corrected in the manuscripts. Run (p.37, line 16) is written for ruin. Please (p.2, line 26) is written for pease, greated (p. 12, line 4) is written for greeted; especially (p.26, line 17) is written for especially. As for grammatical errors here are a few examples. “He dare not” (p.9, line 74 9) is written for “He dares not”. “If I were chosen, I will – (p.36, line 16) is written for “If I were chosen, I would … There are other grammatical errors which have been identified in the manuscript. v. Publishability This play is publishable. It provides an interesting reading and I dare say production will be easy and entertaining. The theme is relevant as well as philosophical. It can be a good addition to your titles especially for the interest of the general reader and drama students. Please publish when some editorial work has been done. When your work is being sent out to an evaluator, your name and all indicators to you as a person are erased. This is to enable the evaluator to give an unbiased and objective assessment of your work. In the same way, the publisher gives you the evaluator report without the evaluator’s name and other information about him/her. 4.0 CONCLUSION You are a novelist, a playwright or a poet because you have something worth saying and have an idea of how to say it. Some people have the talent to write but may not realize that they have it. It is not only those who read English are creative writers. Cyprian Ekwensi for instance was a pharmacist. Each writer has his/her own style but there are basic devices/techniques that are expected in a good literary piece. The basic aspects are the theme, the plot, the language, characterization and the setting. However, each genre has its own unique characteristics. So before you write, arm yourself with the basic requirements of the genre you have chosen.