Sunday, April 27, 2014

Wordsmiths and Word carvers – Innovation and Ingenuity in Writing


Words are flowers in the florilegia of life.


JRR Martin, author of the Game of Thrones trilogy, once said that writers come in two categories: architects and gardeners. Architects see the big picture; gardeners pay attention to detail. Great writers combine both skills, according to their personalities. To write, one must have a premise or intent towards a set of subjects. Writing serves as a triggering point for ongoing conversations between the writer and his own ethos, the writer and the themes and characters he/she employs and the writer and his society. It is the clarity of such conversations that informs great writing.


Writers are usually good readers. You cannot write if you have not subjected your mindscape to the methods of other writers. You are not really obliged to copy their style but if there is something about their works that works (forgive the pun, I couldn't help it), please study and see how  you can inculcate that style into your writing. There are no rules in writing. The only rule is that  you make sense and stir your readers to contemplation on a specific (or set of) themes and situations. No one writes in a void just as no one reads in a void. There has to be a point of reference, a place of discomfort that constantly clamors for a writer's attention. It is through that discomfort that the writer reaches the catharsis needed to espouse his/her work.

In her book, So Long A Letter, Mariama Ba states that

The power of books, this marvellous invention of astute human intelligence.  Various signs associated with sound: different sounds that form the word.  Juxtaposition of words from which springs the idea.  Thought, History, Science, Life.  Sole instrument of interrelationships and of culture, unparalleled means of giving and receiving.  Books knit generations together in the same continuing effort that leads to progress.

Writing is work done well through repetition – the more you write, the better you get. There are so many people in this world with wonderful stories stuck in their heads. They have not build the discipline to sit down and write the story out. Writing is an art but it also a craft. You cannot succeed by neglecting the craft side of things. Talent is nothing if hard work is nonexistent. I wrote in an earlier post that poets should aim for a minimum of 10 poems a month and writers should aim for, at least, a short story a month. There is a proverbs that states that it is through discipline that we find freedom.

Remember writing, like life, is a continuum. You will always get a chance to clarify a thought you began in one work in the next one. The problem with starting a work lies in the fact that we want it to be perfect in our minds before we write. That can be a stumbling block to getting any work done. The idea is to write and write and write, even though you might not end up using what you wrote. You will be preparing yourself through exercises of clarity and clarification.

Words do not have to be always placed where others think they should be. Especially in poetry, you have the license to 'destroy and rebuild' language if it makes your poem work.Do not try to sound like others. That is a big mistake. You can start a story anywhere you like. You can play hopscotch with your themes or hide and seek with your reader. What I am conveying is this simple truth: be comfortable in your skin as a writer.

Remember that you are writing for the audience of one. Never let criticism determine the course of your writing. Criticism is to make you conscious of weak spots, not to strip you of your strong points. Any criticism that shreds your abilities to pieces is not worth listening to. Writing attracts, as it should, a lot of criticism. You get clobbered for spelling errors, syntax confusion, tautology, style, subject matter et cetera. Consider criticism as a sign that you are important enough to merit the attention of others. Use it as a tool to assess your work objectively.

Find a theme you are most passionate about and interpret it in every way you can. Life is full of prisms and paradigms. It is your task as a writer to utilize them as vehicles for your ideas. The danger of writing on popular topics is that we set ourselves up for needless competition. Smart writers find a way to make obscure subjects interesting to their readers. There are countless themes and variations in this world to be used as tools for writing. I suggest that you commit to reading subjects that are new to you. Try breaking down those new subjects with your powers of analysis and you would see nuggets of insights hiding in plain sight.

Pay attention to your craft. Attend workshops, seminars and programs where you are likely to be encouraged by the work of other writers. I would be the first to state how important it is to write alone. However, like flowers, we are better when we cross pollinate. The flower does not have wings and legs to execute pollination. Hence, it uses the bee's activities to serve its own purpose. Some of us are flowers, some of us are bees. Each group shall get what it wants if there is an effort towards collaboration.

Pay attention to your art. Editing, proofreading, formatting, style, tone, theme, context et cetera. Stephen King said,
Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.

It is important to spend time on perfecting one's identity. We just cannot wing it to success. That has never happened. Thoughtful development of one's skill as a writer involves periods of self-critique and repositioning of ideas. Do not regard any of your works as done. Subject it, as you would to an piece of gold or diamond, to ensure whether it is the real deal. We cannot allow the comfort of self-preservation to get in the way of a better version of our work.

Do not slow down for accidents – Keep on writing even when you do not feel like it. Remember, great writing comes from great pain. So you got a rejection letter. So what? Keep writing. So, someone said your poem or short story sucked. So what? Keep writing. Remember writing is an extension of life. Do we stop attending school just because a certain teacher dislikes us? The journey of writing, like that of life, is traveled upon by the determined. You cannot let anyone or any situation punk you out of your purpose.

Writing demands a comfortable relationship with truth. This is the core of Wole Soyinka's writing when he explains how

truth and power for me form an antithesis, an antagonism, which will hardly ever be resolved. I can define in fact, can simplify the history of human society, the evolution of human society, as a contest between power and freedom.

Fiction still has its basis in truth. There is an almost sacred requirement for the writer to expose truth through his/her work. Some tend to hint at truth; others place it in the limelight. Writing places on us the pressures of our surroundings. We must hone our catharsis towards two main goals: the stating of problems and the suggestion of solutions. Both activities require the power of clarity to evoke response in the reader. That is how poets like Dennis Brutus exposed apartheid. That is how novelists Peter Abrahams used Mine Boy to tell the story of being black in white South Africa. Writing gives us an intangible weapon that is appropriate for the shaping and sharpening of thought in our world. As a soldier spends a lot of time practicing with his weapon, we are required to become conversant with the nuances of our trade.

Boris Pasternak advised, focus on a reality which feeling has displaced, art is a record of this displacement – You are presenting a world (known or unknown) to your reader and it is your duty to leave them stunned (and stirred to action) by the time they are done reading (or listening). Novelist Benjamin Kwakye states in Kojo Ansah that

If people would spend thinking half the time they spend talking the world would be a better place. If people filtered their thoughts before they spoke, they would not come out with the rubbish we hear these days.

There is a call to thoughtfulness in this realm of writing. We need to let the sacredness of our duty in our societies sink in and prompt us towards excellence. We have to think through our works. We have to think through our careers. We have to think through our contributions to our societies. As we smith and carve words into pieces and sculptures of existence, may we not forget to remain catalysts. Our duty is to inform the world of its present state, one book (one poem, one story and one play) at a time.



Never forget to utilize the need to use structure, poetic license and identity in writing


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