Bleep NO!!! It's good english or nothing, absolutely nothing, at all!
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And @OP, are you trying to limit the sales to Nigeria? That's a BAD move. Think, if Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Chimamanda Adichie wrote their books in that disgusting, illiterates' language, would they have recieved the international acclaim they have now?
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Imo, anybody speaking or promoting that . . . that . . . thing, should be taken out back and shot!

Pidgin is actually good.Like I do on many occasions on nairaland.if i have information i needed to pass across to readers and not wanting foreign visitors to understand (even on foreign blogs where Nigerians chat and meet to share information),rather than write in vernacular,i write it in pidgin and i've been having good responses.NO TRIBE IN NAIJA GO SAY E NO UNDERSTAND PIDGIN.Na our second official language be dat,PIDGIN ENGLISH 101.

Why not? If Pa Gabriel Okara's The Voice was accepted why not plain pidgin. His style of English in that book is even harder than Pidgin.

Poster, I will advice you not to waste ur time written such novel, it will be a failed project. The category of pple that really speaks the pigin english dont even read novel. Those are the likes of bus drivers/conductors, market men/women, brick layers, caperters and all other artisans. Whereas, those that read our local novel(such as secondary school students, undergraduates, unemployed graduates etc, very few employed) prefer to comunicate in good english rather than pigin. So they would find ur novel unappealing. For someone like me I read a new novel at least once a month(despite my tight schedule at times), but the last time I read a Nigerian or Afican indigenous novel was so many years ago, when I took English and literature as my elective course in my 100 & 200level. So do you now think if I should now decide to read an indeginous novel, I will now start considering the one written in pigin English, after tasting the high standard foreign ones written by the likes of John Gresham and Robert Ludlum, for instance?

And for those trying to compare it with pigin English radio programmes like the ones done on Wazobia FM and co, dont forget that reading a novel is quite different from listening to radio. Even the stark illitrate aboki men are always listening to radio. But its takes more to pick a novel and read. A novel is not even like the complete sport magazine that an average bike man can even read on daily basis.

Depends on the plot!

Who are your audience ? Do they read ? Speaking pidgin English is not the same as reading pidgin English. It is too hard to read especially since many words tend to be created as you fancy and you may need to interprete yourself as you go along. A short story in pidgin ? maybe . A full length novel in pidgin ? Don't waste your time.

For me the issue is not whether it is English or pidgin, it is actually the poor reading culture. Plus you limit your market to the local Nigerian market; no Booker Prize and chances for an international publisher to publish and expand your market is limited. However, if you can add illustrations and make it a cartoon novel I think you might have a market with good publicity.

Unless basket mouth or I go die will be reading it for me.

No. Wont buy it because i cant really read it. Its too hard to read and understand. But i can speak it and pieces it

maclatunji:

http://www.wazobiafm.com/stream.html Wazobia fm 95.1

The hottest radio station in Lagos and by extension Nigeria.

Naija fm 102.7 http://naija102.com/index.php/multimedia/listen-live

Thanks a lot..

@ekitikan,thanks 4 ur advice,i thought onces from a place,is not of that place.wise up man

reading pidgin is fccking difficult!
I'd pass on the offer and read a book written in yoruba instead.
Even here on NL,i skip pidgin posts especially idumagbogbotigbo's post.
Bottomline,count me out!

90

I'll buy!

The thought of a book in pidgin is actually fun but in reality it will not be a very wonderful idea cos most people that spk pidgin all the time cant even read and write in English which they would prefer to learn first. And 4 someone like me, reading such a book will be last on my list of academic, spiritual books,newspapers, magazines even T.v. Reading such a book will occur if every item on my list is exhausted and i am extra bored and out of all available alternatives (where the rest are not available). Anyways I'm just tryin 2 give u my own opinion. Stay blessed. (Have u written a bk in English language b4?)

nice idea...but most likely an unprofitable project...

sun_temi:

Abeg free story jare. Pikin is ours so I care less about what they think of it.

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True story my brother, I don't give a shiiiiitttt what any foreigner thinks, pidgin is ours & I'm a proud Nigerian,I would speak it anywhere....In fact,intentionally sometimes when I talk to foreigners I speak pidgin just so they feel my side of national existence & if they dont/cant figure it out its their business. Jamaicans speak their patua & everyone thinks it's cool,only Nigerians would always be having inferiority complex about their own things.
.
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@Op....go ahead & write great stories in pidgin if you like,lots of people would read it. I write poems in my spare time & post on my blog & recently,I've been thinking about also writing poems in pidgin too.

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Sorry. I'd never buy a novel written in pidgin.

Ya, why not?

im trying to build my english not chop it into pieces

It all depends on your targeted readership, in 2004, I once read a novel about the Biafran war written by Ken Saro-Wiwa titled "Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English", one of my most entertaining and informative books about the Biafran war. Actually, I had to read it all over again after finishing it to repeat the wonderful experience.
You can't tell, you might end up carving a literary niche for yourself. Yes, you might strongly be rejected by many and accepted by some as well, but your creativity, literary approach and persistence will put you in the class of the giants.

Why not? If the book sweet then count me in.

There's a good novel in pidgin, its titled "Soza Boy-A Novel in Rotten English" by Ken Saro-Wiwa.Great book and full of laughs.

Thanks. I feel if we speak and sing in english why not write it. We have TV stations and radio houses that broadcast in pidgin. Personally, i have found out that i am able to create scenes, characters and flow better in pidgin english. I also write in english, but it is reserved to non-fiction cos thatz my forte. But when it comes to fiction, i am able to relate better in pidgin. Lets promote our own. Thanks for your comments and criticisms.

Igbo,english,pidgin .i dy kamkpe.

Sure if your story is good and you market it well people would buy it. After-all Ken Saro wiwa has a book written in rotten English "Sozaboy". He described rotten English as a mixture of pidgin and plain English ignoring the rules of grammar. You just have to make sure you don't use too much slang's cause warri pidgin would be difficult for most people to understand. I use pidgin in my written also but mainly in dialogue as shown below.

Then he paused and looked at my eyes which were blood red and laughed saying in Pidgin English, [size=20pt]"O boy you don high."[/size] He was making a jest over the fact that I was intoxicated then he continued, “Promise me that if I die in this game you would tell your children about me, tell them how intimidation and revenge made me whom I am today. Skip all the dirty parts and tell them how I saved you from trouble severally, tell them how no one could tamper with you because you were my friend, tell them I died a hero and my spirit dwells in Valhalla, a place where all great warriors go. Tell them that I am brewing (drinking) from Mimir, the fountain of wisdom with the gods.” Then he growled like a wolf. I said to him, “You will stay alive! Friend, stop talking about death.” He looked at me and said, “You are a Christian and you believe in heaven right? If you don't die, how do you expect to get to heaven? I believe in Valhalla and you need to die in battle before you get there, so promise me friend!” I replied, trembling in fear, “I will tell not just my children, but the world,” then he walked out happy. Extracted from "Don'T Join" http://www.jollyrougeseries.com/?page_id=25