breathing:

Personally I prefer reading about the world I live in, maybe that makes me a realist but there are more readers for your kinda writing than mine.

Pyrrho: OP, OP. Wat shld our Writers write abt? Shld they write abt d love, wen many brothers ar dying of bomb blasts and one police officer jst slapped u at d junction. Shld u write abt a bright future, wen thr is no electricity? Shld I write abt an utopia, wen my salary is delayed, even though its xmas?
Jst tak a look at d last thread, wat an 'interesting' question.

sholay2011:

Take it easy bro. D OP isn't saying ppl shudnt write abt societal themes or av historic events as dia story background, but Nigerian writers shud find d balance between writing for entertainment of d mind and writing for a social cause. Ironically, william shakespeare is known mainly for combining both...but wiv more emphasis on entertainment of the mind.

goldenbrown: Which way Nigeria literature? Guess writing has become a medium and strategy for another Civil war in Nigeria. For instance,Niger Delta Authors are found of writing Angry books.. First they lament the plight of their homeland and devasted environments caused by Oil companies. Its not bad writing about your Environment but writers should bring these settings to a limit. For instance I read an excerpt of a Novel tittled "THE ELEME BOY" written by a young writer christened Jonah Okpabi. Its a good book to read but I view that book as an authobiography and a direct attack on the Government and Oil Companies. I think writers of this generation should have gone beyond the extent of making much emphasy to their immediate environment in what they claimed to be fiction. The same is said of writers from the East who think the only way of restoring their lost world is by publishing books that is incapable of standing the test of Truth and Time. What about writers from the West whose literary works is a direct attack on their Northern counterparts. On the part of the North, I think writers like Yusuf, Usman etc should be off from the literary scene. What is the fate of Nigerian Writers?

kagari: What is happening to our poetry, what is d hype bout writing novels. Poems reflect more fantancies than novels

breathing:

Hehe, this is a new one. Interesting. Please can you list some contemporary SANGUINE Nigerian literature . Infact if possible, just list about two contemporary books under each of the four temperaments.

sageon: “The writer does not write in a vacuum” Every inked script derives from a pulsed apprehension of prevalent debates, conditions and issues that defines a writer’s space. Regardless of our denials and the well-oiled machinery of denunciations and revisionism, the truth must be told-Nigeria is still unready to define itself.

In all my travels and work, I have never encountered a people so terrified to embrace, discuss, negotiate and define a collective vision as Nigerians. Open debate is readily stifled and hijacked; dissenting voices come under severe censure; associations are regarded with suspicion; a person’s name- delivers more on its origins than the bearer. These aberrations are endless and, indicate conditions, symptomatic of a people yoked, unsure and in denial of their history and heritage.

It needless shouldn’t come as surprise to have writers mirror these issues in their works, having regard to extant debates and the plethora of unresolved issues. Whether, it is done in deliberate misinformation, acerbic or colored impressions, the paths chosen are entirely indicative of the writer’s surmise of the best mode of interaction with his chosen audience. Besides, they live and share common space with the community, or are emotionally linked with the space that is called home.

It would alien and unwelcomed to write of manicured gardens and an ordered society, in one that clearly abhors it, nor would any appreciation, nay- apprehension, come with descriptions that suggest an Eldorado or bliss-it just wouldn’t settle in. The present derives from the past, and a people who deny their own, only guarantee themselves a hollow future.

maclatunji:

So many "big" words. The summary is that writers should be free to write about their environment as they see it- for good or bad.

Redmosquito: Mehn! I know so little nigerian writers! What is up with Vigorous advertisements?! God knows I will be willing to buy the first nigerian book that gets advertised on NL (and is easily purchased online). Everybody expects us to know writers when the writers dont bother with advertisements.

Redmosquito: Mehn! I know so little nigerian writers! What is up with Vigorous advertisements?! God knows I will be willing to buy the first nigerian book that gets advertised on NL (and is easily purchased online). Everybody expects us to know writers when the writers dont bother with advertisements.

maclatunji:

Lack of funds is the problem.

Lack of fund?! Writing is not meant to be a full time job ooooo! In my Opinion! See Isaac Asimov, master of sci fi, even he believed that! He was a chemistry lecturer, nothing to do with english. All I'm trying to say is Writers are meant to have another job that they can then use to fund adverts of their books, Damn!

maclatunji:

View this https://www.createspace.com/4023008

Redmosquito:
See! You have enough funding to have ur own webpage! I dont know how expensive that page cost, but wouldn't it be better and easier to to advertise the book on NL.

dumodust: i strongly feel the old stereotypic writing is dying out... the world is more like a village now, literature anywhere can be read with a click of a mouse and we have a new generation of Nigerians that grew with both local and foreign novels, both dstv and nta and have traveled widely.
i'm optimistic that things are going to get more interesting soon...
the only thing that bothers me is the publicity and publishing aspect. i think writer organizations in Nigeria have sort of turned themselves into cliques and cabals that endorse and promote their cronies and members... some published work from Nigeria applauded by the ANA and their likes are heart wrenching and excruciating to read. if they cant connect to the new generation, then they wont be read and they wont sell and a books success is ultimately measured by that not some reviews from a bunch of supposedly experienced and learned nigerian critics. maybe we need to form a group, take the bull by the horns, form a small company, wean talent from nairaland and co, patiently develop them and edit their work and publish them. it wont be easy, but it can work...
the other alternative is international publishers but the competition is too much and it's so hard because our writing maynot connect with their ideas...

maclatunji:

This guy has his hands on something.

dumodust: redmosquito i feel you on the mysticism and mythology aspect, i have something in the pipeline, a great idea but it's so hard getting the right facts about nigerian gods and history... our ancestors never had written records unlike the greeks, egyptians etc. research is very important when planning to write such a book so that facts are not misrepresented and so that your book wont be ridiculed. i'm still researching and writing and when it clicks, it will be on nairaland for criticism and reviews.
anyway, see how the western writers have popularized and romanticized their gods(eg-thor), some africans have tried to do the same but werent so successful but there was a ghanaian that wrote like two books about ananse(very good).

a friend once said the difference between thor, sango and amadioha na packaging...lol. besides, sango also carries a hammer. the problem is that nigerians innately want to kill that aspect of our beautiful history to demonstrate their religiousness.
i pity our kids, they may have no history or mythology to fall back on and refer to... our history will start from when the missionaries came.

maclatunji:

Have you ever written or published a book? Like play, like play, I have interacted with some writing and publishing experts in Nigeria and the consensus is that writers are undervalued and most remain poor in a country like Nigeria. Even the few that are lucky to have their books published suffer from piracy and meagre royalties from publishers.

It is little wonder that most take to lamentation in their works. Poverty and disillusionment are very strong themes in their lives.

That is why I spoke of getting another job! Writing should be a side thing not a main thing. And mehn! I agree with you on piracy

Redmosquito:
That is why I spoke of getting another job! Writing should be a side thing not a main thing. And mehn! I agree with you on piracy

maclatunji:

How can you be a creative writer when you struggle to survive with most crappy jobs out there?

Redmosquito:
haba! What about Asimov? What about stephen king? These are only the few I can mention, but there are many more

goldenbrown: Which way Nigeria literature? Guess writing has become a medium and strategy for another Civil war in Nigeria. For instance,Niger Delta Authors are found of writing Angry books.. First they lament the plight of their homeland and devasted environments caused by Oil companies. Its not bad writing about your Environment but writers should bring these settings to a limit. For instance I read an excerpt of a Novel tittled "THE ELEME BOY" written by a young writer christened Jonah Okpabi. Its a good book to read but I view that book as an authobiography and a direct attack on the Government and Oil Companies. I think writers of this generation should have gone beyond the extent of making much emphasy to their immediate environment in what they claimed to be fiction. The same is said of writers from the East who think the only way of restoring their lost world is by publishing books that is incapable of standing the test of Truth and Time. What about writers from the West whose literary works is a direct attack on their Northern counterparts. On the part of the North, I think writers like Yusuf, Usman etc should be off from the literary scene. What is the fate of Nigerian Writers?