Eneh Akpan Writes

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Short Story: Best Route to Mastery of Fiction

‘Young writers shouldn’t kid themselves about learning to write. The best way to do that is to train yourself in the short story.’

– Ray Bradbury

Writing stories is the same as trying to create a universe off-the-cuff. The game of fiction writing can be a trifle seedy sometimes. What’s more? Plenty of times, a writer gets stuck in a work with a goodish length, loses the rhythm that set the story in motion in the first place and then quits, altogether.

Here’s a tip, if you’re new to fiction writing, the short story would be a good place to start. The reason is simple enough: a novel requires more energy and skill, more commitment and time. But a short story can help you get a taste of story structure.

A novel is a series of short stories lumped together to create a bigger piece of literature. Many things happen in a novel–many lives erupt and must settle into a rich and meaningful stew by the time the script arrives at the resolution. Only a writer drilled in the tool of fiction can achieve such feat.

‘A novel is like running a marathon. Would you run a marathon if you’d never successfully run around the block?’

– Steven Barnes

Nevertheless, the basic concept of story remains the same for both forms of fiction. Description, narrative, dialogue, character development and other intrinsic aspects of plot, which are curtailed in short fiction become magnified and refined in a longer project like a novel.

Photo credit: Flickr

You can better teach yourself the art and craft of story while experimenting with plot, dialogue, theme and character development if you exercise with the short fiction.

Without a foretaste of the shorts, you might very well quit half way through your novel manuscript. In point of fact, starting with a novel might be an excuse to avoid writing anything to completion.

You’ll learn greatly if you stick with short stories. Going for lengthy jobs like novels might mean setting yourself up for disappointments–you may come to despise fiction as a whole.

Save yourself the time and the trouble.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

What Will a Writing Career Add to Your Life?

Before taking up the call to live by the pen (which automatically sets you up to die by the pen), or if you already crossed that bridge but discovered that, by a stint of fate, the land of the imagination is sealed off by the Dragons of Self-Doubt, do a little turning inward.

What will a writing career add to your life?

A million writers will without a doubt, answer that question in a million different, unique ways. But it is a subject any wo/man who casts him/herself wholly into the waters of make-believe–to captain his/her ship must be prepared to deal with before taking the plunge.

Maybe You Seek:

The opportunity to explore a universe unknown which only writing (possibly, fiction) can bridge;

The rhythm that thrums and binds your passion for language;

The fulfillment derived from creating people–chimeras–like a magician pulls rabbits out of hats. Something people would come to adore or fear as real;

The thrill of scaring the heck out of folks or on the other hand, watching people’s faces lit up as a smile twitches a corner of their lips from reading one of your creations;

The pleasure of getting paid for doing something you love;

Or is it just the money? (I hope to God, it isn’t)

Photo credit: Flickr

It would benefit you greatly to set forth on a trip as thrilling and appalling as a career in writing with a destination and end-result in mind. You want to grab a jackhammer, the extra pack of ammo, your map. And don’t forget your binoculars.

I’m not trying to steal nobody’s life as a writer. But you need to know these things; Know why you’re a writer. Why you even bother to rise early to stare at a blank page or the bland whiteness of your PC. Why you tear out your hair and rave on and on and on about finding new ideas for writing.

Hey! Think about it. What’s in it for you?

Be Honest with Yourself

Rephrasing Stephen King,

‘Folks who practice this art honestly would continue to practice them even if they were not paid for their efforts; even if their efforts were criticized or even reviled; even on pain of imprisonment or death.’

Stop what you’re doing and look long and deep within you. Really ask yourself this question:

What will a writing career add to my life?

You might be amazed.

Let your pen bleed!

Akpan

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Anarchy on Wheels

Photo credit: Thecityfix.com

Lagos bus drivers (besides being speed daemons) have a hang for maneuvering their buses with one-half of the tires rolling on asphalt while the other half bumps along suspended on the shoulder (God knows why), which is often than not a mud-rid depression. I guess you could call it a variant of talent just as people have a talent for walking into doors. Trucking with these road hogs sometimes, leaves me in strange circumstances–getting stranded is just one chapter in that book.

“Hey, driver! Take it easy, will ya?” Somebody yells from behind me as the driver navigates the Nissan Urvan through a nasty ditch.

“What the hell does it look like I’m doing?” The driver turns around and the look on his face says he doesn’t know from Adam what the guy is talking about. “I’m trying to get you jerks to work as quickly as I possibly can and you dare run off your mouth at me?” He cusses a little to buttress his point.

“Just take it easy,” another passenger, a lady with a child in her laps, says.

“We want to get to work in one piece,” adds yet another passenger.

And that makes the driver really press the pedal to the metal. “If you want, I can drop you off right here.” Yet, he doesn’t ease up so they can get off. No one takes up his offer either.

And the tango between driver and passenger that has by some method become tradition in Lagos, Nigeria begins.

If the makers of the 007 films could tour the roads of Lagos, aboard public transport for a day, they would learn vital lessons from the real-life car chases Lagos commuters survive on a daily basis. The anarchy we have somehow, learned to live with. The bottleneck drama we have dubbed James Bond driving. There are other ways to live with knowledge.

Mornings arrive with a sour-sweet taste in my mouth. On one palate is the pleasure I derive as I write this in this vehicle (I’m doing this on my way to work), on the other–maybe, the hard palate–is the situation I described above. Every now and then, I feel my teeth rattle as the driver who finds it impossible to stay on his side of the road, dive-bombs a bump or a pothole. I pause my writing at this time and look up, tensed. When the coast clears (some come later than others), I continue to write.

The road to hell is paved not with adverbs or works in progress but with hunks of junks called Nissan Urvans. Especially, the fleet operated by Lagos commercial drivers. Nevertheless, as I stated earlier, there are other ways to live with knowledge. Sometimes, life gets in the way and ruffles up my affairs like my rides to work do. I continue to seek ways to put my talent to use.

The one thing, which abides always, always, always is that I continue to write. In some amusing way, I find opportunity poking out of life’s stack of slack like rabbits bending blades of giant grass to take in the scenery. And like the roads that get me to work, this place becomes more and more familiar to me even when my writing is 99% bilge and 1% slog. I continue to write because like my early morning bus rides, I can see my destination looming over the horizon like the big arc of a rising orange moon.

“Owa o!” I tell the driver as the bus bumps and bounces towards my stop. He doesn’t seem to hear me. I yell “Owa o!” a second time.

“Ibo lowa!” he says as if he’s totally ignorant of the Bus Stop. I tell him where I’m dropping off and the bus sputters and coughs and finally comes to a halt several meters beyond my stop.

I leap out of the vehicle and hurry to take my next ride–the last hell ride–that would finally get me to work. It appears to me I’m almost eager for the jittery ride through torture and all that’s life threatening. That I almost crave for it.

But I know better. It’s the chance to reach into the richness of my imagination that I long for; the beauty of finding creativity on these anarchy on wheels that calls out to me–seeks to possess all I have and am.

Yes, I know better. And it makes me unafraid.

Akpan

Thursday, October 4, 2012

5 Tips on Reading Like a Writer

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

I have something for you. Especially, if you’re a writer but I guess any fervid reader might learn a few tricks from this post.

There is a world of difference between reading (despite the intensity of the reader) and reading like a writer. I know a lot of writers feel the same way, too. The tips which follow are not all there is about reading like a writer but they’ll suffice for now. For me, more than for you.

1. Live Inside the Story

This is an attempt to see the reader through your eyes as well as your senses. You’re learning how the reader is influenced by the printed page. Don’t act it. Really live in the pages and allow the words touch and move you until you hear the author’s pulse as the words pour through the windows of your eyes into your heart. Take the words through the follicles in your body.

2. Read with a Pencil Close By

If ‘Read a lot’ is the first part of the writer’s creed (The second part being Write a lot.), the writer ought to regard books as a student treats his/her textbooks. Underline words and phrases, which strike you as peculiar. Put a square around special words. Use curly brackets, asterisks, question marks, exclamation marks, any symbols that might aid sharp and brilliant recall in time of need.

The purpose of marking phrases or whole sentences and paragraphs is to help you find the appropriate words/phrases or paragraph during your writing period. It’s easy to identify a line or box standing in the middle of a page, to find the sentence it guards. Use highlighters and colored pencils/pen. Any word that kicks up your interest should be marked for further escapades.

3. Read between the Lines

Look beyond the obvious. Strip the words of contextual and metaphorical context and dig straight for the meat.’

Read guided by the simple but forceful truth: you are a writer. Make the words on the page appeal to you; listen to the author’s heartbeat as he speaks to you. Weigh each word on the scale of your emotion as the meaning slides home with an audible thump.

4. Add Your Own Words

Here’s one important reason you should have a pen or pencil beside you when you read.

Reading is a stimuli for creativity. A word, a phrase, an expression could spark a bust of inspiration and you would want to mark your place with… words. No other spot can serve that need like the space beside the words that initiated the inspiration.

Add your words to the ones already on the page; it will make you feel like you belong. The pages become less formal and more personal. To have your thoughts side by side, buttressing, explaining and magnifying the ones on the page gives the idea of everlastingness to the printed text. It keeps the memory of the experience fresh.

5. Observe the Writing Style

Ask yourself questions like, How would I write this, if given the opportunity? Or How would this look if I had penned it?

Be on the lookout for peculiar twists, things out of the way the author uses to achieve a particular effect.

Note the beginning, the middle (body, if nonfiction, rising action/climax, if fiction) and the landing of the story. We can always learn a thing or two from one another. Sometimes, it might be what not to do while writing in a particular field or genre.

What a writer needs to do above all else, is to live inside books. Read intensely and in every field there is. You need to be something of an expert at various times to write in a particular field.

So read. Let the words form pinions under you, fly you beyond the edge of reality until you tread unknown pastures, and smell the fragrance of the Shakespearean Rose.

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Monday, October 1, 2012

She Got Game

Happy Independence Day, Nigeria!
Photo credit: Radio Nigeria Online

Snug as a slug in a Glock,

She drops in like a bomb

And steps across the threshold.

She’s a wonder to behold.

She don’t break stride or cringe in fear,

They all fall down as she comes near.

Screams of jubilation tear the air;

She just turned 52 but her charms conceal the years.

Now who dares step to her when she mount the stage?

‘Cause if you’re game, she’s same.

She done trade her shame for grace;

She’s bad;

She got game.

Cooked as a book with a good hook;

She breezes in like a spook

And marks her place as a rule.

She faces competition and cooks their goose.

She don’t stumble when she scores a hat trick,

Why, she been at it more than half a century.

All her children sing, Nigeria, ‘Tis of Thee!

For one more season, she triumphed as one winning team.

Now who dares step to her when she climb the stage?

‘Cause if you’re game, she’s same.

She done trade her shame for grace.

Oh mama! Ain’t she game!

She’s bad and

She got game.

Akpan

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Your VILLAIN is Someone's HERO

Photo credit: Flickr

Yeah, and why not?

They all seem to be fighting for a cause.

Here’s a striking example from personal experience:

From a different P.O.V, Thomas Harris’ famous character, Hannibal Lecter would have been a formidable villain.

I had the misfortune, or whatever you might call it of reading ‘Hannibal’ first before any of the other books in the series. I ended up disappointed when Dr. Hannibal was not caught or gutted (not necessarily in that order) at the end of the story.

I was rooting for Clarice Starling and completely ignorant the whole time of the fact that Dr. Hannibal was the main character of the book while Agent Starling was tagging along for the ride! Imagine the surprise when Hannibal annihilated everything in his path and successfully kidnapped the FBI agent (Starling) assigned to his case.

The most fearful villains are the ones amped up with a reason for their actions. Morality issues are added boosts for these ‘bad guys’. Most of them believe their actions are for the good of humanity.

When you arm a villain with feelings and concrete emotions and throw in a bit of history in the mix, the reader either despairs for the hero of the story or falls in love with the ‘bad guy(s)’.

Villains do not understand why people hate or fear them. Many are driven beyond the lip of sanity because of the way people react(ed) toward them. You might need to remember this when you create villains for your story.

Making your villain(s) formidable and lovable involves giving them:

1. A history

2. A cause to live or die for

3. Concrete emotions–may involve making them fall in love, probably with somebody who doesn’t know who they really are. (This makes your reader see them as humans and as people going through rough times.)

Of course, your heroes do not always have human or superhuman enemies but when they do have ‘em remember your villain is the next guy’s hero.

Love them or lose your readers!

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan