Introduction to Photography

Introduction to Photography

Photography entails the manipulation of light to create permanent impressions and visual images. The ability to write with light is made feasible by the use of a light tight mechanisms/cameras of varying designs and capacities and often, using equally light sensitive materials to preserve images captured by the camera.

Photography covers the making of both the still photographs you keep in your albums and motion pictures both on cinema and tapes. The name motion picture is an expression descriptive of the effect of the quick passage of photo frames when its reel passes through a projectory apparatus that displays it on the television screen.

Although modern technology permits for the use of digital equipment in photography and therefore implies ease, the best of photographers/photojournalists are those who have a good grasp of the film based conventional photography. Thus, this article intends to provide you with practical and technical knowledge about photography/photojournalism.

Basic Photographic Materials
The innovation of modern digital cameras with in-built memory notwithstanding, conventional photography that depends on the use of these materials has continued to persist, and will do so until such a time when modern technology is able to proffer a better alternative. These are the basic materials required at different degrees to make photography possible:
• The camera
• Celluloid film
• Battery
• Developer
• Printer
• Printing paper/surface.
The Camera is a light sensitive but light tight machine that has three major parts working together to make light writing possible. These are: the lens (comprising of adjustments measured in F-Stops and S-Factors), the flash light (while some cameras have in-built flash lights, most reliable cameras for professional use have detachable flash guns), and the camera body. The body has most of the controls and features, which include; the film chamber (where film is loaded), the view finder (for cameras that are not reflex), the battery section, the shutter knob, the film queue lever and the film rewind knob, among others. How these elements interrelate to make light writing possible is explained in basic photographic process below.

The Photographic Film is a light hyper-sensitive plastic reel containing chemicals, the reaction of which creates permanent images ‘burnt’ to the plastic base of the reel. A photo film has three layers, each performing a distinct, indispensable function. See illustration as follows:



Light reaching the gel in the centre section is trapped between the plastic base and the coating. Silver halides coating trapping the gel on to the base is light penetrable while the gelatin is the element that reacts to light by ‘burning’. Its degree of burning determines the volume of light reaching it. Thus, an object in bright colour attracts a deeper reaction than that in deep colouring.

Basic Photographic Process
Taking a photograph begins when you aim your camera lens at an object, any object, and push down the shutter knob. However, before this could be done, you would have loaded a celluloid film or a video tape into the provided location on the camera. Also, you would have fixed batteries of adequate size and capacity into the light writing machine.

Bear in mind all the time, that light is the most essential ingredient of photography, without which your camera and film would be pf no use.

When the camera is aimed at an object/subject, its eye/lens picks everything within view range and this sight is transferred as light towards a pin-hole at the centre of the camera, which serves as link between the lens system and the dark chamber where the film is readily prearranged and waiting in queued frames.

There exists a relationship between the camera aperture (pin-hole), the shutter and the influx of light that determines the quality of the photo frame: a well lit centre of focus (volume of light hitting and passing through the lens) results in a very brisk movement of the shutter and along with it, the reflex opening and closing of the aperture. The camera is built in such a way that the pin-hole is the only way through which light enters the film chamber to cause series of chemical reactions in the pre queued section (frame) of the film.

When film is exposed, its chemical content reacts in a manner similar to burning, in varying degrees, depending on the intensity of light to which it is exposed. A frame once exposed, is wounded to another section free from further light, while a fresh frame is queued behind the aperture for exposure.

At the end of the day, exposed film is developed/washed using chemical agents and water, leaving only the latent images burnt to the plastic base of the film reel, while the silver halides are completely removes as are unexposed sections of the film.

Latent images are permanent and can be enlarged to desired sizes and printed on either gloss or matt printing papers or on canvas.


Elements of a Good Picture
A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. This let us modify to say that it is only a good picture that is worth a thousand words. Lots of times as a commercial photographer, your clients may return photos to you in rejection of their quality. Often they may not be able to point out to you what in particular they dislike about the picture, yet they may even be angry at you because the picture you have produced for them is not good. So what makes a photograph good or bad?

The professional as well as the amateur photographer needs to provide answer to the question above, and let that answer stick to his/her brains to be remembered each time the camera is aimed at an object/subject. Elements that determine the good or bad status of a photograph include, but are not limited to the following:

Composition: this refers to the positioning of objects/subjects within the photo frame. The photographer must bear in mind at all times, the relevance of head room and nose room, as these affect how appealing or not your photographs turn out to be. Compare the following examples:


Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Fig. 5

If you were asked to choose between figures 1 and 2 above, your choice would have most certainly, be similar with mine. Why? Because a sooth Sayer is not required to know that when taking a side view of a subject, the space (nose room) in front should be more than the space behind, because his/her front is the centre of attraction. Similarly, the portrait labeled figure 3 is unacceptable compared to figure 4 because why the latter has ample space (head room) between the tip of the subject’s head and the border of the frame, the former hasn’t.

Exposition: when pictures are either too white/blur or too dark, it means that they have not been properly exposed. This is dependent on the photographer’s ingenuity in manipulating the features the camera in synchronizing aperture to shutter speed in response to available light. The camera transfers light to the frame. Thus, the amount of light transferred determines how bright or not the photo will be. Over exposed pictures always turn out white and blur while underexposed ones turn out dark. It is both technically and professionally wrong for instance, to take out-door picture at mid-day with the camera flash light on, as this will always give over exposed result. Yet many free focus auto cameras have uncontrolled flash guns. The onus is on the photographer to select the best equipment to use.

Focus: there are three factors a photographer will have to consider when the need arises to focus a camera lens. These are: the far field/background, which spans from the immediate back of the object/subject of focus to the end of sight. Concentrating here leaves the background better lit and brightened than the centre of focus, and therefore, results in a bad picture. However, this can be a suitable strategy of achieving special effect of blurring the fore-field and centre of focus in order to direct attention to an object in the far-field.

The centre of focus on the other hand, is (and should always be) the object/subject at which you aim the lens of your camera. Fore-ground refers to the space between the camera stand and the object/subject of focus. Making the fore-ground over bright relinquishes the object of interest, but can, like the background, be a special effect.

Like the human eye once again, the camera sees objects that are either too close or too far vaguely therefore, the photographer should endeavour always to set the lens and other factors to a point where the object of interest is most clear.

Camera Angles: this refers to the position from which the camera picks an object, that is; up, down or straight level. This is measured in degrees. The primal base for measuring camera angles is fixes at the human eye level of 90°. Anything below this is called a high angle shot while above this is seen to be a low angle shot.
The relevance of camera angle to the photo frame can not be ignored, as this determines the status of “importance” or not of the object/subject in the photograph. Summarily, a low angle shot reduces the size and relevance of an object in frame, while a high angle shot does the exact opposite. See graphic illustration below.


F-Stop, S-Factor Calculation
The relationship between the shutter speed (S-Factor) and the F-Stop (lens width adjustment), as they affect aperture can be summarized in the following statement: the brighter the light, the smaller the aperture, the faster the shutter speed. Or the dimmer the light, the wider the aperture, the slower the shutter speed. The implication of this is that like the human eye, when you are taken from a well lit space to a dark room, you open your eyes wide on order to see well and when you return to a well lit environment from a dark room, you tend to narrow your eyes to be able to see meaningfully.

While some camera speed and aperture are pre-calculated and fixed, others are left for the manipulation of the photographer. While calculating this, the time and weather of the day, as well as the location (whether indoor or outdoor) should be taken to cognizance and so should the type of flash gun. Where there is need to move the S upward, the F should also go in opposite direction, to such a proportion as prevailing circumstance shall dictate.

Photo Editing
Like any creative writing, photo journalism requires editing for several reasons. These include:
• For better communication and ease of understanding
• To fit into available space
• To lay emphasis
• For beauty.

Photos are edited by captioning, cropping, adjusting colour and composition, altering of unwanted sections, adjusting brightness and by adding special effects. When captioning pictures, the obvious should not be stated, as this under estimates your viewers and discourages their interest.

SPEECH COMMINICATION - Basic Principles

Speech making is perhaps one of the innate abilities of man, irrespective of one’s citizenry, or ethnic affiliations. Yet many people speak without understanding that it is a special ability without which communication between people and groups would not be possible.

Speech communication differs from normal day to day talking in which one speaks sporadically without considering ethics and skills. However, it is similar to every day communication in that they are both driven by the aim to communicate meaningfully.
Speech making is an organized communication aimed at sharing specific message about a given subject to create impact towards solving human problems.

This article provides guidance in the following areas:
Types of speech
Sages/steps in the speech making process and
Structure of a speech

Types of Speech
The onus remains squarely, on every speech maker to identify the type of speech most suitable to his/her purpose. For emphasis, it should be known that the aim of your delivery should be the sole factor dictating the style/type of speech you should choose to use.
Generally, there are, for conveniences, sake, four basic speech types, viz:
• Argumentative speech
• Persuasive speech
• Educative speech and
• Informative speech.
Argumentative Speech Type
Arguments imply elaborate presentation of all perspectives to an object or a subject of discussion, before settling down for the most applicable option. What comes out of an argument as most acceptable may not necessarily be truer, or better than other options, but the process of arguing makes it best, when compared to the others. This is why one choosing this type must bear in mind that it is his/her approach to it, and the ability to convince that determines the success or failure of the entire process.

While this may be closely related to persuasive essay, the dissimilarity lies in using points to convince at all cost.
To argue therefore, the speech maker needs to clearly and exhaustively raise every point of the issue and state facts about it. And this statement of facts is the “why” of the validity or not of your argument.

Persuasive Speech Type
As the name indicates, this type of speech is meant to stimulate a favourable disposition towards the subject of your concern or to appeal to audience to see it your way and act as you desire.

Companies, individuals and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that depend on project grants are often required to their proposals in brief, before forums of grant agencies. In doing this, they are expected to give brief, straight-to-point run down of what they propose to do to achieve goal, if given grant. This summary must necessarily include a statement of methodology and justification why it has to be your proposal, and not that of another. You must convince that using so and so method, you will be able to achieve set goals within the specified time, without waste of resources and this, you must do without doubt.

A high point worthy of emphasis is that to persuade, a speech maker must JUSTIFY why you are convinced that your method is most suitable to deliver best result. Your entire exercise will be meaningless if it fails to provide justification.

Also, students defending their research projects/thesis/dissertations ought to bear this in mind, as they will at one time or another, need to persuade their tutors I favour of their work.

Educative Speech Type
Although teaching in a class room situation requires more than speech making skills, it would do you well as a professional teacher, haven undergone training in the profession, to add these to your skills. As one who teaches in a school or a religious organization, one makes speeches often, both officially and otherwise.

Advertising agencies as well make use of this type of speech as product display demonstration to teach prospective consumers of a new product a step – by – step approach to using it.

An educative speech provides a comprehensible how-to-do-it guide to given subjects and must be done carefully to avoid confusing consumers/students/audience/congregation.

Informative Speech Type
The aim of this class of speech is to make known. This may come in presentable form in which the speech maker delivers it to audience or may be a press release. Whichever the case, both the writer and giver of speech must choose words carefully in order not to mislead, as the aim is to give accurate, unmistaken information as at press conference, organizational report forums, annual general meetings, state of the affair reviews etc.

Whether as government official, a politician or celebrity wishing to tell subordinated, colleagues or fans and the mass media something, this type of speech serves you best, as it equally serves the technology company wishing to inform its market of its newest innovation.

Security agencies and Public Relations Executives of all manner of corporate entities should be versed in this type of speech, as they will find it useful in the course of their careers.

Stages in the Speech Making Process
As already stated in the introduction, why you make speech is to communicate towards an end. Thus, your speech can only be seen as a success if the aim is achieved at the end of the day. To achieve an aim, professional speech communication follows a procedure, which is here written as the stages/steps in the speech communication process. They include:
• Research: If you are to speak, it means that there is someone you are to speak to, about something, something of importance to both of you, and at a given time and place. Your first responsibility is to FIND OUT what it is you are going to talk about. Whatever it is, you must study it to know far more than you will need to talk about and in this case, it is necessary to preempt the likely questions your audiences are to ask, and provide answers in the speech you make.

where and when necessary, consult with people such as experts, who have better technical understanding of the subject than you and to these, pose ALL your questions and let their answers be the knowledge with which you confront the exercise, as these answers should be the basis of the speech you present. In doing this, you should avoid stating the obvious. By this I mean elements that can easily be deciphered and understood should not be your primary aim to explain, rather you will do more good to seek out areas that are not likely to be understood at first glance by the lay man and on these, place your emphasis.

If for instance your speech is a political manifesto, it will be more profitable to describe in detail, what you intend to do to solve certain societal problems and your conduct in office, should you be elected, than to dwell on the might of your political party or on the electioneering process - whoever your audience are already know how to vote and how strong your party is but even if they don’t, there are people stationed to teach them those.

If on the other hand your concern is a product/service as a PRE/Advertiser, or an issue intangible as those handled by spiritual leaders and programme facilitators, seek out beforehand, opinions and opposing views about the product/service/issue. Be sure to find out details about the product/service/issue as to how it functions or implications of every standpoint in an issue. It is only this detailed understanding of subject that places you above your audience to be able to grant answers to their every question, including the ones they are not able to ask.

When you have satisfactorily understudied the subject of your presentation, you should as well endeavor to study the people to whom you will be speaking. This may require going the extra mile to study the various groups of people likely to be present at your presentation as well as their depth of understanding of the subject. Also, their depth of understanding of the language of communication is of importance, as this helps your diction for proper understanding.

You may as well, need to take a closer look at the place and time of your presentation. Though this may not be of same relevance as the first two, but is advisable because the place and time of an event contribute to a large extent, to the atmosphere of the event and in effective communication, the atmosphere is as important as the message itself as it colours the meaning of a message. This is why “good morning” at a time may be a greeting and at another time, a disturbance, as “yes” may mean yes at time but mean “no” at other times.
• Speech Writing: A well-researched speech may often end up poorly delivered if it is poorly documented, as many speech makers find the Read Only Strategy (ROS) more convenient than any other method. For a speech to be remarkable, its research, documentation and delivery must be sufficiently mastered.
Whether commissioned to write a speech for someone else to deliver or not, speech writing requires an interplay of excellent writing skills controlled by specific facts gained through research conducted at the initial stage with appropriate and accurate choice of words and illustrations, analogies etcetera.

Here are the basic formats of speech writing: the scripted speech, the semi-scripted speech, the outline speech and the unscripted format.
Scripted Speech: Earlier I mentioned ROS (Read Only Strategy) which is my description for a speech that is pre written and delivered verbatim unfortunately, this leaves no room for improvisation thus, where the speech writer is different from its presenter, the latter may have little or no idea about the technicalities of the subject of discussion, as he/she only read what is on paper. In this case, questions asked pose a great challenge to the presenter and may often be a source of embarrassment. A person delivering speech using ROS, without sufficient rehearsal may get pronunciations wrong and dodge questions at the end of the exercise as politicians do, because they are hardly involved in the creation of their speeches. However, this is the most used type of speech, practiced by political icons and celebrities because of its convenience.
The hugest merit of this is the convenience and the fact that individuals who are extremely shy or incompetent can hide away their weaknesses behind the paper already written for them. Also, the speech presenter may not need to have a deep knowledge of the subject, provided the writer of the speech does a good job. It is of advantage to persons who make many speeches within limited time and have little or no time to rehearse.
Notwithstanding, the problem with ROS is that it leaves the audience bored, as the speech maker is buried in the paper rather than keeping contact with the people to whom the presentation is being made.

The Semi - Scripted Speech Format: a speech is semi – scripted when only the principal lines of thought are written down, leaving the rest to be done on the spot of delivery. The preacher in a religious event may for example, write down a theme and scriptural texts while leaving the connected sentences to the process of delivery.
This method, a combination of ROS and improvisation proves beneficial when the speech writer is the same as the one to delivers. Otherwise, it becomes almost impracticable to deliver a semi – scripted speech prepared by somebody else. Where it is feasible, the writer and presenter must necessarily require massive effort at rehearsals which may not always be forth coming.

Out – Line Speech Format: Highly flexible and creative method that only notes in sequence, key points while leaving connected sentences to the delivery point. The advantage of this lies in the fact that where the atmosphere does not permit certain lines of thought or use of language, the speech maker changes direction. And because it is outlined rather than scripted, prevailing circumstances, at event venue, such as mood, time and language suitability are easily manageable. However, this method is most successful where the speech writer is the speech maker or where the latter has equal in-depth knowledge of subject and shares similar views with the former.

Unscripted Speech Format: This, otherwise referred here as improvisation or impromptu, is a speech format that requires no prior writing at all. Its success solely depends on the speech maker’s ability to improvise, that is, to create instantaneously, a spontaneous response to the situation. This, experience has shown, is the most effective speech style that does not fail to take audience along, as it is a child of circumstance.
Often you are asked to provide a repertoire or vote of thanks without warning. Using this format, you get your data from the prevailing circumstance and must immediately become a millionaire in thinking and in language if your audiences are of the millionaire class or you can be a road side mechanic if those are the people you are to communicate to.

The problem with this is that for beginners, improvisation could be challenging, as it requires tact and a lot of self-confidence.

• Rehearsals: After your documentation, the next stage is rehearsals. This simply means a trying out of yourself, a practice simulating the actual presentation you will be doing.
When doing this, critique your eye contact, facial expressions, gesticulations and general comportment. While practicing in front of your mirror may not be exactly similar to doing it in front of a thousand people, it gives you an idea of your look and performance and allows you to improve on those areas. You may like to present to your friend, spouse or kin to have their inputs.
• Speech Presentation: The essence of all the activities carried out from stage one is to achieve a remarkable presentation, such as would leave a desired impact by achieving the goal pursuant of which the speech was meant to be made. It therefore cannot be over-emphasized that this is the most vital aspect of the entire exercise, as it is the only thing people see and know about. Audiences do not follow you to your closet to see that you have researched your piece well but they will decide whether or not you have done well once you have delivered. For this reason, I like to say that it is better to conduct a poor research, do a poor documentation but superb presentation rather than having it the other way round.

To aid your performance in this regard, a couple of problems have been identified and solutions proffered here:

Overcoming Stage Fright: The incidence of stage fright is one menace too many that ruins otherwise, a remarkable speech. Your ability to manage this is as important as the other elements in the process involved, as your audience are not lenient, but are always looking for loopholes to capitalize on in unmaking your effort.
Ironically, everyone has some level of stage fright. The only difference being that some see the high tensed atmosphere and the rapid beating of their hearts as a positive force that complements their strength of delivery, while others fret at it.

What constitutes stage fright is fear; fear of the many eyes gazing at you, possibly “dissecting” and finding fault in whatever you are telling them, what you wear and the entirety of your being. Surprisingly, all this is more imagined than real, as audience hardly have any doubt until you give them a reason to. When you give the impression that you are in control, they accept that you are and thus, look up to you for answers.

Your appearance and perhaps gesticulations which you may have seen as errors become model to be emulated. This is why you must make your fear work for you.
There are several tricks to achieving this, two of which are suggested below:
Ice-Breaking – this refers to a ploy of ventilating tension rising from high expectation and an aura of formality. Audience expecting or rather, awaiting your presentation are kin and formal. This formality exerts more pressure on you, as you feel intense need and anxiety to deliver. In extreme cases, this raises doubts inn you as to whether you can satisfy them or not so you begin to stammer, jump words on the speech or add nonexistent words to the already prepared piece.

To break-the-ice, you can tell a short, relevant story or begin by doing an out of the way exercise like giving a joke or introducing yourself. This breaks the air of formality and helps both you and your audience relax enough to conveniently and enjoyably face the business of the day. By the time you have made your audience laugh or you have expended your pent-up tension telling a story, you will have made the atmosphere informal enough and gained the rapt attention of the audience.
Pen Cap Trick: Another way of managing stage fright is by directing the tension to your finger tips rather than to your head and mouth. This is possible by keeping your fingers actively engaged, as the natural course of function of the human system directs pressure/energy to a part of the body that is engaged in an activity. Therefore, if your attention lies only with your eyes and vocal cord, they will have to find a way of expending all the energy directed at them and in the process, mistakes could be made.
Splitting this pressure from your upper region to another section helps to keep balance in the overall management of tension and helps you coordinate and concentrate better in the efficacious delivery of your speech. The trick is to keep an object in your hand which your fingers will be compressing while you do the talking.

Because this activity is more physical than the intellectual role of speaking, more tension/pressure in exerted and expended here, leaving your heart with less thuds per time, and your concentration devoid of excessive anxiety.

However, it is advised that you pick an object that would not attract more attention than the speech. Something small enough to be completely hidden in your pals, and that does not make noise would do. Many people use paper clip, which they bend and straighten many times, while they speak. I had used pen cap made of plastic.
Looking, not Seeing: When presenting a speech or any creative work before an audience, many beginners find that they get lost if they focus on keeping eye contact with specific members of audience. The fact that your audience are taken along more when you keep eye contact with them is not to say that you must pay attention to the expressions on the faces as this will, more often than not, distract you. You can look in the direction of your audience generally without seeing of focusing on any one in particular. That way, everyone thinks you are looking at the next person and you end up achieving satisfactory presentation at the conclusion.

Diction: This had been touched earlier, but cannot be exhausted. The language of presentation should be chosen in line with the characteristics of the audience. Generally, a verbose speech is unnecessarily lengthy and full of jaw breaking language that make everyone clap for you not for the meaning and sense derived from your presentation, but for the amusement. The bottom line is to communicate, not to impress.

Structure of a Good Speech
A good speech, like every good piece of writing, is not just poured out at audience, but is meaningfully communicated only when it meets a prescribed, conventional specification. Every speech, good or bad has the following components, which either makes or mars it, depending on the writer/presenter’s ability to weave the various components into one beautiful piece or failure to do so, which leaves the work deformed like a physically challenged man.
• An introduction: this being the first line of your presentation, it is the most important as it sets the tone and mood for the rest of the presentation. If therefore, your introduction is good, it captivates audiences’ attention and stirs up interest: sends questions, expectations and anxieties running in the minds of the audience. So also does a poor introduction kill their appetite, so that rather than get anxious to get the rest of the gist from you, they get anxious to dispose of your time wasting presence. Speech makers of reasonable experience will tell you that the most embarrassing moment of their careers was when an audience just stared at them indifferently, while they made frantic efforts to get their attention. Often, they’d ignore you and fill in the gap by telling stories and holding pockets of briefs underground.
To avoid such pitfalls, your introduction must stir interest and be interesting enough for one man to tell another to keep quiet let him hear you well, as each speech must be worth the time spent to receive it. Otherwise, they would just switch off psycho-mentally, while leaving you to make the noise.
To achieve this, you can ask a rhetoric question, use an anecdote (a short analogical story) or a catchy quote but which must be relevant and which would make your presentation easier to achieve.
• Linkage: while some may argue rightly that the body of a speech and this section are indistinct, there is a need here to split them for the purpose of proper better understanding. A linkage is a sentence or two that connect the introduction with the details’ section (body) of the presentation.
• The Body of Details: Haven captivated the interest of your audience in the introduction and properly linked it using appropriate word, the emphasis now rests on providing all the details that are the main thrust of the presentation. All the points you may have gathered in the research will now be knit together beautifully and well explained to answer the questions your audience are likely to be asking. Your points must be well explained and objectively convincing enough that at the end, your audience will be left in no doubt (even if their own opinion differ), but rather have clear understanding of your impressions.
• The Conclusion: the last line of a good presentation should leave a lasting impression on people’s minds. Often, a relevant quote or rhetoric does the magic but the speech writer or (and) the presenter should understand that the relevance of the devices to subject or occasion as well as your accuracy of expressions is what leaves indelible marks on the minds of audiences. The conclusion should be food for thought, something people should remember long after they may have forgotten everything else, including the speech maker.

Nigeria is 50 – What’s in it for the Youth?

If as the age long proverbial axiom says, “a fool at 40 is a fool forever” what about one at 50?

Since 1960 when Nigerians took hold of the reins of power to control the affairs of their own lives and probably to give the “masses” total “independence”, the youth have been the most neglected segment of the country, benefiting nothing much more than being tricked and conned by the ruling class.

History has it that at a given point in the corporate life of the entity Nigeria, youths had had access to a good life, evidenced in free education, cheap health facilities, and waiting employment opportunities, to mention a few. We are even told that government parastatals and private organizations booked for young individuals who were yet in schools, to offer them jobs.

Ironically these are the same people ruling us today. Some of them indeed, were sponsored by government to higher institutions abroad, with every provision, including reading materials, feeding and wears. Given such background, one would have expected the beneficiaries of such benevolence, who had benefited as much privileges from the colonialists, to want to do better than their predecessor in developing their ONLY motherland and its people.

But alas! Fifty (50) good years have seen only the recycling of people who were not able to retain in their heads and hearts, the beauty of loving and being remembered for the good they do to their country. They are remembered all the same, for the bad.

We are also told by those who were old enough to have understood the scheme of things, that the epoch between 1969 – 1973 saw a certain man named Yakubu Gowon emerged to rule the the country with genuine love and intent to elevate the common man, irrespective of geopolitical, ethnic or religious affiliation, to an appreciable state. Apart from this, in fifty years, all others have only taken us four steps back for every one taken forward.

Controversial statement say you? Especially so because the slideshow of our “heroes past” reeling out in your imagination presents such wonderful images and names like Obafemi Awolowo, Namdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Mohammadu Buhari, and Olusegun Obasanjo, to mention a few. Well, you are entitled to your opinion as is everyone else.

Those personalities no doubt, contributed greatly to the corporate existence of the country Nigeria and so also did they contribute immensely to our present state, good and bad.

For instance, sectionalism which plagues us today, history books say, emanated from little fall outs between our pioneering leaders of eastern cum norther cum south-western extractions as demonstrated in their partisan politics. So we may say they wriggled power out of the hands of the whites who were foreigners scrambling over our resources (yet had better intent to develop us), only to gore each other to the detriment of younger generations of fellow Nigerians.

Do not misunderstand this to mean that we advocate the return of the colonialists; never! We are only decrying the regrettable fact that in fifty years we have not had any messiah among our own as capable as those “exploitative slave masters”, none as honest as the “dubious” white man who left his own home to come and “steal” what belongs to us. Yet we have had a thousand who stole more than the colonialists did.

In 50 years honestly, can we boast of one, no, two (since we are already able to mention one who was different) men who have been reasonable enough to remember the days of their own youth, how they enjoyed the fruit of the land? Have there been any two, who therefore, made genuine effort to present younger generations with something close to what they enjoyed in their own time?

This does not imply that in 50 years our leaders have not been good in anything; rather, there are fields where they have, together with us, broken records.
Let’s cite instances: it is well known even to children that the name Nigeria is synonymous with “being smart”. Yes! When you get to where order is required, be smart. If justice is what is needed, be smart; when the world around you is starving of honesty and moral consistency, even if you have all it takes to make a difference, be smart – that is how to be a true Nigerian. without that, without scratching anybody’s back, without falsifying your age, count yourself out because your type aren’t here; you won’t even secure employment as a youth.

And if the United Nations or Transparency International dares to raise an eye brow, call the Jerry Gana’s to sugar coat or the Akunyili’s to help rename us so that our black letters will be dispatched in white envelopes.

Is this fault finding or pessimism? I’d call it being realistic. This is not about complaints alone, lets now mention also some of the best of our achievements:
If you were a man at fifty with children and grand children, wouldn’t you smile contented if at least 65% of your household, especially the most smile contented if at least 65% of your household, especially the most young and energetic, are unemployed?

If at age 50 nigeria boasts of congress men that break each other’s jaws with clenched fists over money the way European colonialists scrambled over our land and resources (though they did not kill each other); if indeed at age 50, with grand children old enough to be grand fathers, Nigeria can boast of having what some have called “spare parts dealers, money miss road” in decision making positions while professors and honest men and women are only fit to be their “special advisers” and “personal assistants”. If really the money in one’s pocket (irrespective of what one does to get it there), matters more than his intellect, abilities and strength of character. Then shouldn’t we agree that motherland has indeed come a long way both in age and achievements? We should therefore, be saying “bravo!” and celebrating, not complaining.

However, I, as well as anyone who cares, would love to be shown one individual (other than the cake sharers), who is happy with the state of things in Nigeria. While the masses are hurting, the rest of the world is jesting and marveling at how backward we are with the lion share of natural resources the creator has chosen to bless us with.

Youth! So where are you? Is there a country you will call your own outside Nigeria? Are you reduced to an escort to others in this journey? Have you forgotten so soon the money you had to pay to gain admission into higher institution? And now that you have managed to graduate successfully or otherwise, are you not unemployed only because you haven’t got N250, 000 to pay?

Don’t you know why? Because the old unproductive man who was sponsored with your resources long ago, to get trained abroad is long due for retirement but stayed back on “contract basis” so there is practically NO VACANCY.

And don’t you go hoping he will soon die because if he does, there are some people somewhere who have been collecting the salaries of the other man who died 1o years ago, as if he were alive and working. I pity you because these are not the late man’s kin. No! They are those on top.

Frankly, they have suspended the family of the deceased from receiving his entitlements from his years of meritorious service to the nation. While waiting, the wife too has gone to join her husband in his grave and the eldest of their children is too young to claim anything. So you see? The “big wigs” have at least 10 more years to dance on the late man’s grave before declaring him dead enough for his family to begin processing to collect his entitlements.

So what are you going to do than to wait as usual anyways? After all, with all your intellect, talent, strength of youth and the academic qualification you now brandish, are you not playing “boy boy” to some opportunist to earn a meal?
There was once an old man who was a little retarded upstairs. He would pass stool around his house, leaving only a narrow passage way to the door. This irritated neighbours so much that they stopped taking food to him so he had to go from house to house in search for food. After a meal, he would thank the house owner first for the food and then for the house, saying that their house did not smell as horrible as his.

One day, when he said this, a child renounced him, saying he was a fool for littering his house with feaces and advised that he clean up the house to stop it from smelling horrible.

Similarly, Nigeria seem to demonstrate to the entire world, including younger, poorer states, that experience may come by age, never wisdom.
Like the lunatic, Nigerian leaders have for 50 years, enjoyed life in America and Europe when they flirt there either to hide stolen money or to dance away in celebration of other people’s achievements. Often they tell tales of how beautiful, organized and comfortable those places are, including how civilized the people there are but leave theirs in perpetual darkness.

Again, we repeat that the leaders of other countries have not necessarily achieved more feats than those of Nigeria. For example, Nelson Mandela of South Africa is known world over for his love for his country. He was never a military chief yet he spent almost half of his life in incarceration fighting for his people. When he returned, THE PEOPLE made him president, a response well deserved.
Here in Nigeria, we have a general whose only war we know about was the “legitimizing” of corruption.

While the former resisted genuine requests to stay on in power as president, the latter, as well as all others who had had a chance to be at the helm of affairs before (except of course the one we already acknowledged as being different), have suddenly realized that they did not do enough harm during their first missionary journeys so they now toil desperately to return to Aso Rock (recycled, old wine as they may be); either to “right the wrongs” they have done or most likely to wrong the little right they may have done.

In conclusion, we may say our golden jubilee is well deserved, a celebration of achievements either ways. But we must admit notwithstanding, that when measured against ideals, our leaders have for 50 years, championed leftism while those of other countries have done well to develop their countries, especially their youth.
So youth, if you are thinking of depending on government for anything, you had better change your mind because if those guys there have been there 50 years and we are where we are, it means because they wouldn’t go, we are going to be here longer. God forbid!

But if you think this is being unfairly pessimist, I’d say; you are entitled to your opinion as much as I am.

MEGGIDO: The Globalisation Poem

Megiddo
1960, the year
McLuhan, the one
Professor, they call
Profess he what? Ask I
Village proclaimed, fore saw.

50, the years
Indeed and indeed
Seas and oceans now shrink
Hurray, rivers and valleys merge now
Our globe is small
Our village is small

What place this is
Jerusalem, we may
Shinar, Nineveh, Sodom, we may
Gog of Maggog, Gomorrah

Our village it is
Washington or Oju
Brisbane or Axum


Globe made village, village made globe

Bubble then we may, no hindrance now
Shout we shall, they hear us now
Electric, electronics circuit now
Out –do we, space and time now

Jubilate, celebrate, we may
Come then, pop the wine
Let the washing begin
From Atlanta, stop not
Through Peru ere dusk fall

Wash we till dawn
This village of no secrets
Little ones in rot wallow
A name haven’t we built we?

Market place of ideas
Buy, sell oppression
Interfaces for terrorism
Our village of great glory

Closer knit the town crier pulled this home
Farther yet apart, the rich and humble
Free philantropism
Charity of doom, our village co-operative

One village live we
And have we millionaires’ quarters?
North and south
How the wide wild West work
And still have we Asia Africa and Latin America

This village of mine have we a head
This village of his share no names
This village of mine has one tongue
This village of his is Babel.

My home here share rules, share principles
Our home here share no bonds
We commune in mortal face and pace
They reach in many means by lightning


My village took six moons of the conquerors to march
Our village takes sixty seconds of electromags to round

In Megiddo lives the village head
To Megiddo we head
Megiddo lies ahead
To doom, destruction, desperate, we head.


Paraphrase
It was in the year 1960 that Marshal McLuhan, the one they call professor, and I ask what he professes. O! He it was that made the proclamation that predicted the coming of the village.

Of course his prophecy has come true; for seas and oceans have shrunk, hallelujah, even the rivers and valleys have merged and made the globe really small, our village is small.

What is this our village? Call it Jerusalem if you like, we may call it Shinar, Nineveh, Sodom, Gog of Maggog or Gomorrah


It is our village, whether it is called Washington in the USA or Oju in my Nigeria. Whether Brisbane or ancient Axum, the village has become the globe and the globe is now a village.

Let us dance now that our global village has no hindrance. We will shout because from every where, we can now be heard all over the globe because we now have electric circuits that have made it possible for us to beat time and space.

We may jubilate and celebrate so let’s gather to drink wine, and celebrate every where; from Atlanta there shouldn’t be a dull moment, down to Peru. Begin in the evenings before night

Let’s celebrate till dawn on account of this village where no information is hidden anymore, where even the children swim in moral decay. Haven’t we made a name for ourselves?



Our global village is a market place of ideas, where we buy and sell oppression (globalisation widens the gap between the haves and the have nots), yet we learn from each other, ways of sustaining this relationship. Globalisation has multiplied terrorism, yet we glory in the global village.
The mass media (town crier) has succeeded in pulling us together but the rich and poor have yet been separated farther. Even our co-operations and philantropism (grants, donations etcetera) have no answers.

Will you say we live in the same village really? Yet we have a distinction between (developed, developing and under-developed) nations. A close knit village yet we have the North and South divide, where the North is millionaires’ quarters and Asia, Africa and Latin America remain impoverished.

In my village, there is a village head. This global village doesn’t even share similar names. My village speaks one language; this global village has nothing but confusion.



In my village there are rules and guiding principles that guarantee moral life styles. This global village has nothing holding it together. In my home town we relate at human pace and face–to-face but in this global village, the mass media transmit in lightning speed, with nothing personal.

It took the colonial masters six months to navigate to my father land, now it takes only sixty seconds for electromagnetic waves to round the whole globe.

The head of this global village lives in Armageddon and to Armageddon we are hurrying, desperately seeking destruction.

Notes
While the world celebrates the emergence of the global village (globalisation), there are issues that must be raised. This global village has succeeded in over coming the difficulties posed by time and space in communication but hasn’t it equally widened the gap between the rich and the poor? Haven’t terrorism and moral rot also been globalised without remedy? This piece places

Creative Writing Techniques: An Introduction.

By Dreg En Ay

Have you noticed lately that the sphere of ideals no longer has much control on reality as it was taught to have been by the great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle? Nowadays, emphasis has shifted from what “ought to be” to “what is”.
Consequently, a thousand and one media now exist, all transmitting and disseminating information but with little communication. Little communication because everyone has become a media in himself/herself thus the conventional mass media though have great impact still, but are only chosen according to each man’s self augmenting needs.

In this era world over, socio - economic systems no longer reward anybody for his/her labour, rather every one sells himself and his abilities out to get him/her rewarded.

You are therefore, daily accustomed to seeing young men and women carrying gadgets of social communication, including laptop and note book computers, enabled telecommunications handsets that do not only allow easy and efficient accessibility to business partners, consumers and clientele, but also serve as ready modems to the World Wide Web.

The challenge every individual must face now is how to be relevant in the stiff competition that has arisen from modern trends, in order to make his/her ideas and personality sell. As it must be insinuated from the scratch, that no one makes your point for you if you fail to make it; you are simply left out.

On this note, when you hear, read about or actually know someone personally who you assume is asserting the rights of the less privileged, wisdom demands that you look again, as you will see that they are only agitating for their share and more of what the “system avails”.
Furthermore, in this century, one can’t ignore the fact that his level of exposition to relevant information determines his/her level of transformation, which in turn, determines his/her overall success.

It is undeniably glaring therefore, that to stay above the floods and hold sway in his/her field, everyone must, in these times, must necessarily acquire skills in self expression. This is what makes it important for everyone to understand the basic techniques of creative writing.

So, whether as a student with huge interest in skill acquisition to critique, create and analyse creative writings, or perhaps your interest lies only in the appreciation of a particular genre for pleasure, this article is baited to improve your outlook, as it contains a concise, yet elaborate practicable guide as well as academically sound perspective to self development in creative thinking that will prune you in such areas as:
• Prose and poetry
• Dramatic/play writing
• Music/song writing
• Stage/theatrical productions and
• Speech communication.

Meaning of creative writing
The term “creative writing” suggests the idea of causing to be by writing. However, the process of creative writing goes beyond the incubation of ideas to create a notable world. As a field, it encompasses every acceptable technique and methodology of self expression, by which your creation achieves beauty and at the same time, achieves meaningful communication in reflecting human situation as universally empirical.

However, while being empirical in science may mean a pattern of strict adherence to a prescribed process of understudying phenomena, in creative thinking, this refers to the fact that whatever world you create by your writings must be similar with human experience enough to stimulate desired emotional response in a dimension that everyone who has had a similar experience would be able to identify with the characters and social situation created in your works.

Based on the above, creative writing may be seen as a means/tool of presenting in a manner to achieve pleasure/entertainment, inform or teach a lesson informally and to achieve beauty without undermining the universally accepted standards of and devices of self expression and presentation.
Stages in the creative process

While the following stages may not necessarily occur in a particular order, they are stages every creative thinker goes through in passing across his ideas. These include, but are not limited to:
• Ideation
• Mapping/outlining
• Elaborate detailing
• Pruning/editing and
• Dissemination.

Creative Ideation
This refers to the process of receiving inspiration to write. That time when you begin to put your strands and bits of thinking together towards making a whole story that would be meaningful and appealing. This largely happens within the creative sphere of the mind but may often be triggered by external factors.

External factors that may motivate the ideation of a creative thought or stimulate the flow of inspiration include personal experiences, witnessed experiences of things which did not happen to you but which you witnessed happen to another. What you see with your eyes equally play a huge role in stimulating your inspiration. Others are things, people and places you love or hate.

Simple and effortless as creative flow of ideas may seem, it is what stops majority of people from thinking and writing creatively, as it requires attention and servitude. Hard as they try, some have complained that they are never able to make any meaningful coordination of their thoughts, left alone putting them in black and white.

Ideation to most creative writers happens slowly and intermittently at the initial stage but grow frequent, spontaneous and often aggressive with passage of time aided by constancy of practice. (See more of this discussion under domesticating inspiration in subsequent pages).

Mapping/outlining
This entails registering the ideas as they drop into your creative thoughts as they come. This may just be sketches or main ideas, leaving the nitty gritty for much later. Outlining is like laying the skeletal foundation of the world you have received in your imagination to build.

Because inspirations come in flashes, they get very elusive if not penned down and experience has shown that the best of inspirations come uninvited and if lost, are not easily reincarnated.

Creative mapping and the previous point (ideation) go concurrently mostly, but some experienced creators who find that the process of mapping interferes with inspiration flow may choose to keep the head down and store up the flow to write them later. But without experience, this may not come easily. Frankly, it may be a sure way to lose precious ingots of ideas.

Elaborate detailing
The outlining stage of creative process helps to preserve ideas for this stage. An initial mapping of a creative piece, be it a song, poem, prose or play may look very unattractive and meaningless. This stage therefore, entails providing connected sentences, lines, paragraphs and detailed description/elaborate intriguing of the world as it exists in your head.

The creative writer must always be conscious that his writing is his creation and the life of its people as well as their resources, natural and human, depends on him. Where you create for instance a wonderland, real people would leave this busy world of ours on vacation to serve tourist term in your world. Otherwise, it falls flat among worlds that are never candidates for permanence.

Elaborate detailing is the stage where the nitty gritty is put together to make the work beautiful.

Pruning
Albeit this begins with ideation and runs concurrently through the process, it is presented last on the list here because as it is important, so is it inevitable. This is simply editing of all sorts and may be done at every point in time, as the aim is to present you virgin world a master piece.

Editing only ends with the publishing of your creation to its intended audience once this is done, except for subsequent editions/revisions, whatever errors there may be, whether failure in aesthetics or mere grammatical failures would stay on forever like a child born of unwanted pregnancy.

It is advisable for you to give other people chance to edit, even possibly critique your work prior to its publishing, as you will discover that you overlooked very ignoble errors but which are big enough to ruin your work.

Creative structures
That creative writing is creative on its own disqualifies the word structure in its literal meaning. Not that this has nothing to do with its physique, but structure in creative writing is deemphasised from the physical form of having a head up, hind limbs behind and trunk at the centre.

Here, what it implies is that there are ideal features a creative piece must have, and not the order of these features.

Broadly, every creative work of art has some type of the following:
• Introduction
• Connection
• Explanation and
• Conclusion.
For the purpose of emphasis, take it again that the order and style of these rely extensively on your creativity as a writer. It is your duty to choose a style most suitable to your work.


Elements of construction
Achieving creative masterpieces requires a writer as creator of worlds and scenarios to know understand and adhere to the elements or techniques of writing. These elements discussed here are what make or unmake your writings.

• Universal standards/landmarks: like the creative writer of the Stone Age, the modern man must recognise the existence of certain acceptable standards that are practised all over the world. In as much as the arts have no formulae, there are yardsticks that will make your piece either good or bad. Believe it or not, not minding your mechanical accuracy, people know when work is good or bad and they will tell you by the way they react to it.

Telling a good and interesting story alone does not make your work fit for eternity but to these, you must synchronise the ancient landmarks of the profession.
If for instance, your genre is poetry, not minding the incidence of the “free verse”, landmarks should be seen as opportunity to express yourself beautifully and meaningfully rather than an obstacle to avoid. You can try to imagine what poetry would be without figurative expressions and the use of such devices as rhyme, rhythm, and meter etcetera. The poet must know the basic types of poetic designs that have been identified and their respective features, as his/hers must fall into one category or another.

Otherwise you will end up writing chopped –up prose for poetry.
This also goes for all other genres; the creative writer must identify the archetypal landmarks and standards in the field and play by the rules.

• Functionalism: the creative principle of functionalism does not imply similar meaning as the sociological philosophy that everything plays a specific role in society. Creative functionalism means that there are functions or roles that literature as a mother field for creative works, is expected to perform. For your work to be seen as creative, it must fulfill at least one of these functions of literary scholarship:
a) Preservation and refreshment of language and culture – it is the duty of literature as a way of life to preserve the language we speak, cultural values and practices. Language here does not mean dialect, not that literature does not preserve or refresh dialect, but the emphasis should be on its ability to retain expressions that were used thousands of decades back for generations yet unborn.
It is also the most articulated means by which to know the history and culture of every group, whether written or passed by word of mouth. Also the manner and style of literary presentations makes otherwise ordinary language interesting, lovely and tasty in the mouth and ear both to the speaker and the one who hears. Therefore, as a creator of worlds, when you put your world together, it is necessary that you provide refreshment to expressions.

For example, you could say in your writing that “it is now obvious that Dennis and Juliet have a relationship beyond casual”. Another way of offering same rendition is this; “it stares you in the face that Dennis’ hand shake with Juliet is well beyond the elbow”. The two statements share the same meaning but one of them, the latter, is more pleasurable to hear and to say. Also, it says more volumes than the former.

b) Entertainment – more than anything, people patronise creative works for their entertainment value. This is not to scare, but to hint that the fastest way to buy audience’s/fans’/consumers’ hearts as well as their pockets is giving them entertaining pieces that are interesting enough to relax the nerves.

In the past, research has shown, people read more in the past than they now do. Why? Because the shift of emphasis to material accumulation has left majority of people with no time to read, as books require full attention to decipher.

Audio music on the other hand, receives more patronage because it in itself creates room for one to combine with financial and other activities. For this reason, the streets like the offices are alive with men and women whose ears are plugged with one audio device or another –simply because the audio media allows you to receive entertainment while working, driving or sleeping, which the book does not permit. This singular point poses a greater challenge to the creators of music, without undermining other branches of creative writing. As the world designates lesser time for entertainment by the day, the challenge is to continue to meet the entertainment needs of targeted audience.

Simply put, your work must entertain if it is creative enough so if you are wondering how to write creatively, one way is to dwell on subjects, ideas and characters that have entertainment values. More so because the world of today is too serious pursuing money that without creative writer to cushion the effect of hard labour, many will go nuts, as “all work and no play...”

c) Standpoint – majority, if not all creative works are a response to a particular social situation. Script writers for audio, video theatrical productions as well as poets, novelists and playwrights build up illusionary worlds with their characters and scenarios, simulating real life situations and suggesting ways of either solving or worsening identified problems.

This ties us in to the function of literature to teach, inform and educate. And this role is not done through the usual school type of pedagogues’ teaching but done using creative ways.

Your creative work will only be truly creative when it makes a statement about a given human situation. This is the secret behind the world’s greatest literary works.

The film “Helen of Troy” like “Romeo and Juliet” seems to make a statement that love is greater than every sentiment and so deserve any sacrifice made for it. So also does the science fiction film “Matrix” makes a statement that the creator of the universe has destined everything to be as it will be, and there is nothing to change it, not even the combined effort of all enemies, human and spiritual.
Read any book, watch any movies or listen to any music. Any work that has no stand point, something that it is advocating, teaching, encouraging, discouraging or informing about cannot pass for a creatively master piece. So when you write, isolate a situation and address it.

It is not expected that creative work must be prescriptive, the point is in having a viewpoint to pass across about a chosen theme, which must not necessarily be consistent with expectations of real life but is a product of imagination curdled by creativity.

• Style: self explained as this may seem, it is one of the trickiest aspects of creative writing especially for those whose duty it is to review creative works. This is so as there are no formatted creative styles from which one would choose. Rather one’s style of presentation depends on his/her creative abilities. Good news is everyone has a style, deliberately manipulated or accidentally discharged.
The advice however, is that one should always take into cognisance the audience in choosing a style to adopt.

You can choose to tell your story from the middle, the end or from its chronological beginning. You may even choose to mix poetry with prose at some point, use hanging sentences, slangs or any other device. If yours is poetry or song, you can decide to rend lines evenly or otherwise, inject rhythm or meter. All these must be dictated by three primal factors, namely: your understanding of your audience, the subject/style suitability and your creative ability to maximise use.

• Diction: once again, be reminded that this is a generation of busy people. Even unemployed youth are busy staying idle so your aim as a creative writer should be to communicate sufficient volume within limited time given to you piece and for every audient’s time spent on your work should be well rewarded in enjoyment derivable from the work.

Furthermore, creative writers for novels, newspapers and magazines need be mindful that many people read while in transit and at such times, dictionaries are not handy. Also video and stage productions get offensive if those watching have to break every minute to either write down a word or punch the “pause” key to go get a dictionary.

However as earlier said, literature has a duty to teach and refresh language so while it is recommended for creative writers to use easy flowing language as much as possible, it is equally recommended that to avoid leaving a piece flat and over watered, the diction should be mature and well balanced.

This again should depend on the audience, the subject matter and author’s ingenuity in language construction. Whatever you do, mechanical accuracy should not be taken with levity.

Only suitable figurative language and relevant idioms should be used and the language should be allowed to flow, except when intended to create special effect by a particular pattern of presentation.
• Representing Universal Reality: creativity is beneficial in relation to the expression of human situation. The best masterpieces are those that arouse empathy, and with which people can identify. This is why you often see people cry while watching a movie or reading a book.

If the subject matter is crime, it should be an edge from which human experience can testify to its reality (or the similitude of reality). If it’s about war, famine, death, love or rite of passage, your inevitable assignment is to see to it that the piece should be able to attract a personal empathy or identification from a higher number of targeted audiences who must be of right thinking people.

• Conflict: it was stated in previous pages that entertainment must be achieved in creating a world through writing. Closely related to this entertainment value of creative pieces is its degree of conflict which raises suspense, tension and sustains interest.

A good manipulation this translates into enslaving your audient, who takes up your work and cannot keep it down to go ease up or to eat until “the end” shows up. Thereafter, he/she spends a good chunk of time wondering about, and digesting details and possibilities of the work.

Luckily, human societies as well as individual relationships are connected by conflicts of varying degrees. Thus, whatever subject matter takes your fancy, creating a conflicting situation the escalation or resolution of which characters play out would hugely be rewarding.

When using this technique, your ingenuity must be the sole dictator of the position of your conflict and with it, suspense. It is the proper management of this element that places James Hardly Chase’s works above all peers. Whether you choose to dispatch your message using the climactic plotting or it’s opposite, the line is that there must be enough conflict to make your creative work a masterpiece.

• Domesticating Inspiration: the hub of everything said and yet to be said in this essay is inspiration. Everyone creatively minded or not, receives inspirations from different sources and by differing means. For the creative writer, the great icons of the era have called this source the Muse. To many, this is God; to some it is nature and yet to others, an atmosphere.

The challenge here is that because what puts one person in connectivity mode with the source of his/her inspiration may ironically put another off. So really the onus is squarely on you to identify, woo and domesticate/personalise/configure yours.

The implication is that if you discover that unusual ideas come to your head each time you are in a noisy environment, you should place yourself in such environment more often. If on the other hand you discover that you think clearer creatively speaking, when on your bed, it means you need to create more time to lay on it more often.

The point therefore, lies in the creative writer’s ability to identify what kind of environment and mood causes inspiration to flow and to make deliberate efforts to court such conducive atmosphere and haven done so, protect each flow from unnecessary interruptions that would result in the Pablo Picasso’s “Man from Pollock” experience.

• Unblocking the block: one of the most daunting challenges to creativity is how to “unblock” the initial blockade of one’s creative faculties. Quite often, many a creative talent die with pent-up uncreated worlds simply because they did not know how to start writing. To beginning writers, initial apprehension, explained as “terror of blank page”, may result from inability to tune one’s system to a suitable frequency from which to download inspiring thoughts.

When this is the case, you have wonderful ideas in the head but are not able to put pen to paper to preserve them so they go away and find someone else more receptive.

The practical tested way of overcoming initial apprehension is to start writing. Your first few lines or perhaps may not be worth being kept, but just write and leave that to the pruning process. Once you have started, you’d see that the process flows more spontaneously than you had expected. Thus you may set out to write a few lines, a scene, a couple of lines or a page but end up writing volumes.
As many ideas as knock at the door of your creative mind, not necessarily in any particular order or in their “perfect” state. Just collect the fish together with the prawns and snails so you can sieve and synthesise later.

The word Perfect is placed in quote here because no work of art is perfect. Why? Because there are no formulae in the humanities; creativity with flexibility is the watch word.

To elaborate on this, i tell you the story of three blind men who went to a games reserve to “see” animals. After visiting elephant’s pen, one of them who had touched the ear said “Ah! So this is what elephants are; flabby, soft and flat.” Another said, “Elephant is so long and hose like”. He had touched the trunk. Yet the third exclaimed, “goodness me! Is that how an elephant’s body is? As strong as steel rod.” He had touched the elephant’s tusk.

Now each of them was right in his description of the elephant. Yet this was from each man’s point of view, and according only to each man’s understanding and perception.

Similarly, the field of creative writing is bigger than anybody and so it is impossible to paint a perfect picture, as what you see as perfect may be to another man, terrible. So if one may ask, whose definition should we take as most suitable and thus, perfect? However, there are archetypes and ingredients that make your work a masterpiece by popular opinion and these, this essay has offered.