₦airaland Forum

Hi guys, you can now vote for my story with just your email address.Click this link to vote abeg



http://imbube.org/contestants/searching-for-hope/

EvaJael:
Wow! This is helpful. I think God blessed your brain with ways to help writers be better at what they do. Thanks a lot Divepen1

You're welcome...

cbella:
Perfectly put........you are good at what you do.....

been getting some tips from writertain.com tho

Awaawwnn...

During Rainy Period in a poor character houses and area

Sight
Greyness of the sky, water splashing from roof
Leaky roofs for some
People running to pack their clothes and foodstuffs
People pouring dirt from dustbins into drainages


Women and children scrambling about to drop buckets and big bowl under roofs
Fallen soaked clothes
Arrow-like rain pouring
Trees dancing to the tune of wind
Water dripping from trees
Animals are being ushered into their pen and cages


Children playing gleefully in the rain
Boys and men playing football in the rain
Traders rushing about to cover their wares
Shop owners covering their wares and dragging some into the shops
Rugged or good umbrella being carried about to get goods


Dirties from dirty roof being washed down
Sky devoid of birds
Animals hiding among trees
Earthworm poking out of the soils
Frogs among marshy area
Cars sinking into marshy roads
Overflooding of drainage
Blocked drainages
People falling into drainages because of over-flooding



People trying to cross and over-flooded road
People drenched in the rain
Flushed bodies
Wet hair
Body hair raising
People shaking
People hiding under shades- shops and houses with open compounds
Stray animals trying to find cover in people’s houses



Smell
Rawness of food
Rottenness of food
Horrible smells of unwashed drainage
Toxic smells of Sewage
An unexplainable smell of cold



Feeling
Cold
A desire for warmth
A desire to hug oneself
Warmth from within



Sound
Rushing water
Women shouting at children
Women calling to their neighbours
Splatter of water on roofs
Howling of wind
Noise from dancing trees
Wailing of Power-lines for those living under it.

Silence of animal
Laughter of children playing in the rain
Wail of children whose parent eventually flog for being in the rain
Whistling sounds of people as they blow air from
http://writertain.com/2017/10/18/rainy-day-in-a-poor-characters-house-or-area/

Casting a boss, Repogirl...
Come here and drop your Name:
(not necessarily full) Present State: Single or Engaged
Literature Crush

Creeza:
Ive been castd before sha. Divepen1 check well. Thanks bro, knw u're busy and all

chai. I have to start writing them down.

Ashiat39:
Thank you Dive, I really learn a lot from this and get to understand WHY and HOW. I believe it will help me as well, thank you again

Gracias..

Character voices are the essential parts of any story. They help build your theme and friction in stories. In order to fully explore your story, you must be able to give your characters their own distinct voices. To achieve that, there are some key things you must do and they include the usage of
1.Choices of words
2. Confidence Level
3. Quirks and Mannerism
4. Metaphor/ simile / comparison



1. Choices of words : Each character must have their own choice of words. These choices are determined by many factors.

a. The character’s educational background: is your character one that has a great deal of education? Then, their choices of the word would include great vocabularies. A professor of law would probably use more vocabulary than a secondary school student. The educational background opens the readers to come to the level of this character and help them imagine the scenario and the character better.


b. Jargons: this is the knowledge a person has in something. A computer geek would use words like Algorithm in sentences. While a singer would be focused on the tone of words than a doctor, who would use more words that have a lot of medical terms.


c. Who they are talking to: many characters are not able to express themselves fully in some context when they are talking to people. The choice of words of a science professor to a little child wouldn’t be laden with technical languages as it would be when he is talking to a colleague.

d. Generation of your character goes a long way in determining how your character speaks and the words. Most often, the imported words and vocabularies from their generation to this generation. While a boy of today might say.
“I don’t want to be restricted’. Someone from the pre-independence era would say.’ I want my independence. I want to be free’.

f.Slangs: there are some slangs that are common to some generations. When your character from another generation wants to use that slang, he or she might say. ‘I have scammered the man, as they use to say. The slang of a community would be different from that of another community. That means you can use that to determine the speech of your characters.

g.Culture: some characters are so much vast in their culture that they can use the language fluently. In linguistics, they code mix or code switch. Code mixing is when you mix words from different languages in a sentence (emphasis on words). While code-switching is mixing words different sentences.

For example, Code-mixing English and French: ‘ I am vinght nuef ans and I love you’, Chukwuemeka said and winked. Code-switching. ‘Hey! I am Chukwuemeka, j’ai vinght nuef ans. And I think I am falling in love with you. Comment tu appelle’.

h. Gender: although this is something that might be explored different, you have to consider the gender of your characters. Most women are known to use a lot of adjectives than men. And when they do, they talk about the softness, the beauty of things. And when they describe bad events, they use words like ugly, horrible, terrible and the likes of them.

http://writertain.com/2017/10/17/%e2%80%8bcharacters-voices-in-stories/

kayo80:
Great story. I just voted. I wish you all the best.

Thanks baba

Debbietiyan:
Already voted
I totally agree

Gracias

Creeza
Drop your Name: (not necessarily full)
Present State:
Single or Engaged
Literature Crush

For a while now in our discussion of theme we touched aspects like
The Missing Theme Elements In Most Stories
Things To Explore While Including Themes In Your Story

This little post aimed at revealing to the essence of your story. Your story is a plot but the plot must end somewhere. If it’s a romance, will the character lost the woman he had been hoping to marry because of his wicked witch of a mother? Why did he accept? These little questions are the arguments in your story. With your plots, all you are doing is to fully explain your side of the arguments. For example, in the movie Drag Me to Hell, if you were to write an opposing tale, you might want to say that the lady escaped and was never tortured by the woman again. But, for you to make us agree with you, you have to make the characters do things that would compel people to agree with you.

This means that all the elements of the stories must be aimed at building the story. The elements of yours story such as the characters, the plotting, the tone, and all other aspect that must fully explain the reason your theme ended in such way.

Since your arguments are embedded in your story, all you have done was to show us the behaviors of your characters. For example, if you’re exploring patience in your story, the characters must go through the elements that were described earlier.



http://writertain.com/2017/10/16/543/

For a while now in our discussion of theme we touched aspects like
The Missing Theme Elements In Most Stories
Things To Explore While Including Themes In Your Story

This little post aimed at revealing to the essence of your story. Your story is a plot but the plot must end somewhere. If it’s a romance, will the character lost the woman he had been hoping to marry because of his wicked witch of a mother? Why did he accept? These little questions are the arguments in your story. With your plots, all you are doing is to fully explain your side of the arguments. For example, in the movie Drag Me to Hell, if you were to write an opposing tale, you might want to say that the lady escaped and was never tortured by the woman again. But, for you to make us agree with you, you have to make the characters do things that would compel people to agree with you.

This means that all the elements of the stories must be aimed at building the story. The elements of yours story such as the characters, the plotting, the tone, and all other aspect that must fully explain the reason your theme ended in such way.

Since your arguments are embedded in your story, all you have done was to show us the behaviors of your characters. For example, if you’re exploring patience in your story, the characters must go through the elements that were described earlier.



http://writertain.com/2017/10/16/543/

Come and drop
your Name: (not necessarily full)
Present State: Single or Engaged . Literature Crush

Eyinimofeoluwa:
VOTED THIS STORY IS NICE.....FOLLOWING

Thanksasss

Stormyweather:
Who are the mods in charge of literature section? Help push it to FP so I can get more opinions
cc lalasticlala
Cc divepen1
Cc et all

You got all the replies because it was on Fp

souloho19 Come and drop your Name: (not necessarily full) Present State: Single or Engaged Literature Crush

GSteve001:
Done

Graciassss.. Thanks a lot

queenitee:
I love it, I'm definitely voting

Thankkkkk uuuuu

youngoracle:
Hi guys...on behalf of ghostwritter himself, he wishes to tell you all that his post on this forum had been blocked and will be unable to post anything on this forum or any other. Same thing that happened to the 'corridor of Hell' had began to happen. Seun, lalasticlala, Divepen1 what's happening? ...you want to make him stop posting...right?
From Ghostwritter's Spokesperson.

He was banned by uncle spambot.. He's unbanned..

festwiz:
That was one rather long episode, certainly enjoyed it. Thanks to those that fought for the honour of the guys over at the literature section. You guys are awesome. Especially kayo80 and divepen1.

Kayo80 did most of the works. Kudos to him

Writingdiva:
Voted!

The mandatory sign up process makes it harder to vote, but then again your efforts here makes it more than worth it.

Thank you veryyyyyt much....1000 kizzes for you..

Please do join in making this happen..


http://imbube.org/contestants/searching-for-hope/

divepen1 , Audreytimms, Repogirl, Larrysun, Skarlett, Missnande, Gmike2rule, kimberlywest, Debbietiyan,oluwabuqqyYOLO Meneski,Jazmiynne, Tolulolu0122, Gsteve001, marianneada, shalomdee, shewrites, Alennsar, smilingB1, susiivy, yorhmienerd, Queening, horlah1, hadduni, Tuham, Evaberry, Queetener, Missmossy, ladySuperb, Charytea, pncessadeola, Michelle55, seunlly, bejeria101, Halyma, Diamondwriter, bitingcool, Williamsesco, Lordshola, ibawon, sharliz, richiearmany14, sammyendowed, Abbydammy1, prisiliveth, FelicityLucita, Tori46, harsol, speezyWears, eitsei, rachealfst, Toppzy001, Opeoluwa99, Maryclaire1, haleemwale, yusufIbrahim, pepperoni55, alarmednigerian, BlizxydoDo, TosinBecca, Bensoate1, Twinkle004, Nmaglit, divatolaz, Ansasan, opybycar1, granely, pweetyz, specter, Eniqurl, Precial419, lettruthprevail, Oyinda8100, joyce21, crislyn, swanky47, jasmine4, damlaz24, Aloedamz, michaelunique, Hadampson,lovelydaisy, Ukez15, Bollie29, Bossy512, heemah, ashatoda, Abefe99, PrettyMizQdot, Queenakande, Diamondamsel, Evajael, IRALIFE, àkejujoe, hannie20, Shakyroh320, sulips, MissTega, shugaoftouch, Hashtagmoniker, Gynah33, ifecoded, rayos, BlissfulJeff, hammedroyabat, Queenitee, muzzafar, WHOcarex, iamozipatrick, Stevenbright, darwinbrown, Elpoche, Adefiery,tylesh,Olabantu, Ireneblush , Bibi294, dafil22, Nofuckgiven, namedonfinish, Lankyannie,
Oyinda1242, xaviercasmier, Ellagold35, Eniolaewa, smomeydrinkey, kimkardashain, mhizgap, Ladysuperb, Eyinimofeoluwa,


http://imbube.org/contestants/searching-for-hope/

Jhaytee4all:
Please, could I get the right/permission from you to publish this on my FP page?

Also, the link you gave didn't direct me to fill any form, just a spanish language I couldn't even comprehend.

Yes you can...

I don't know how. I'll check into it

GSteve001:
Hmmm what's the word count?

Minimum of 2000 words... Maximum of 5k

Casting Chumzypinky
drop your Name: (not necessarily full) Present State: Single or Engaged Literature Crush

Now ready for voting: http://imbube.org/contestants/searching-for-hope/

Post

Grace Ademola was searching for hope and the only place she was sure she could find it was in death. One problem with her was that she wasn't one that conformed with the ways of others. So, she couldn't die the same ways others died- by jumping down a bridge or someplace very high; by stabbing oneself or by poisoning oneself. Some had even tried suffocating themselves. There are some methods that had been known to have a massive failure because the people didn't always get a good timing. Example of such was those that jump in front of cars. She would have loved to jump in front of an oncoming car, to get a very fast death.

However, she preferred the one she chose over the others. With the readiness on her part, she, as well as many others, would die. That was a perfect way to give up one's life. The man had made the plan and she loved the fact that she would be the executioner. The man, whom many of her friends referred to as the Boom, had shown her a better way to die, a better way to have hope. As she sat beside a young lady, who was reading a book in the BRT bus, Grace stared out of the window and was very sure that life was hopeless. The only place one could find hope was in death. The woman tried to pick something in her bag, and Grace sighted a pocket knife. That was it: everyone was afraid of death. If only they could come to the knowledge that death was the only means of finding hope.

The day Boom saw her, she was seated in the sand, wallowing in tears, in front of a burning furnace. Her father, a widower, had just been alleged and executed by fire for being a member of the Bokoharam. They said he had a strange bag and questioned him about it, but he adamantly refused to allow them to open it. But by the time they dragged it from him, what they found brought his demise. He was an inventor and had just finished a project he wanted to take to Baba Sule, the man who would connect him to an investor. The whole ordeal started after she ran off to buy snacks, while he waited impatiently for her. He didn't want her to follow him, but she insisted until he allowed her. By the time she returned to where she left him, all she could see of him was his head before it was immersed in the blazing fire.

She kept crying and became oblivious of the world, even when Boom placed his hand on her shoulder. He lifted her and clamped her weeping face to his body. They had snatched away the hope she had of ever going to the University or of ever being a great woman in life.

'Little girl, I'm sorry for your loss but you can't stay here', Boom said stiffly. ' These people are still looking for someone to blame'.
As he dragged her fifteen-year-old body out of the field, the only thing that lingered on her mind was the blazing fire and her lost hope.
'Leave me', she cried and tried to fight her way out of his grasp, but he was strong enough to drag her off the market, to a place she didn't know. By the time he had dragged to an uncompleted building, she came back to her senses and asked where they were. With a big scowl on his face, he told her that was the place to find hope for revenge.
'Hope?'
'Yes. Hope for a better future. Hope for revenge. We are the cleansers. Your father's death was tragic and he should be avenged'.
With tears still streaming down her eyes, she cried, ' They killed my father'.
'And they will pay'.

That sounded sweet. She rose and ran to meet him, staring into his cold eyes. 'How will they pay? My father was my only hope'.
Boom's stiff face cracked into a sad smile. 'There is no hope on earth. There is only hope in heaven. Riches and happiness are forever in the heavens. Only fools will find hope on earth'.
'But I want to be something big on earth', she said and crumpled to the ground as the image of the burnt body of her father's corpse flooded her image. Heaving heavily, she pulled an elephant grass that was growing in the emptiness of the house, pulled it and flung it at Boom. The elephant grass wasn't supposed to have a hope of ever breeding a field there when she had just lost hers.' I want something on earth. I want to hope on this earth. Who will know me when I die?'

Boom's strange smile remained on his lips as he strutted away from her. ' Hope can only be found where it is eternal'.
' But…'
'Do you know why many young people die?' He asked and turned to stare into her teary eyes. 'Do you know?'

Grace inhaled and rubbed off the catarrh that was escaping from her nose. He peered into her eyes and pushed his head forward. She was able to observe him a little. He wore a regular pair of trousers and tucked a beautiful stripe shirt into it. Yet, the shirt was folded to his elbow level, revealing the golden wristwatch he wore.
'Answer me', he said. 'Do you know?'
She shook her head.
'They die because they are after ephemerals. We call such things er… er… Temporary things. Things that don't l…'
'I know the meaning of temporary'.

'If you ever want to be great, do it for a cause… A reason… For something that would make you have riches. Your name would be on the tongues of babies. Mothers would want to name their children after you. Writers would write about your great deed. A lot of people would create things that would remind you. And what would be in for you…. What do you stand to gain? You would be rich in heaven. You would be given exceedingly great riches. Your name would be inscribed on the wall of your house. Are you looking for hope? There is your hope. Not here. It is in the eternal life'.

By this time, the sadness that was pumping her tears had disappeared and had been replaced by anger. 'What do I do? Tell me what I can do? How do I get to this place of hope?'

He smiled, turned towards the door leading out of the uncompleted building, and beckoned that she should follow him. They went to a camp where no one could ever imagine it could be. Although people had always complained about Boko Haram, no one had ever gotten the hint that they were in Lagos state and weren't only northerners. There, they trained regularly with Boom reminding her, and every one of the other children he had recruited, that there was hope in making the leaders die. He kept reminding them that the people were not their offender; that the government was the problem. But the government was the people. Until a new set of leaders took over, the country would still be in shambles. With that, they were trained on how to make people suffer.

Now that she was on the bus that was heading for the busiest market in Lagos, there was no way they wouldn't suffer the consequences.

As the BRT moved slowly through the traffic jam, the woman beside her stared at her for some seconds and brandished a bright smile. Grace looked away as the woman became immersed in her book again. Grace sat straight and began to contemplate on what she would do. Would she have the chance to let this go? Maybe she should remove the vest and put it on someone else. Maybe there was hope elsewhere. She shook her head as if it would help her ward off the feeling and the thought. The best way to do avoid backing out of her revenge plan was to keep her mind off it. So, she looked about and decided to peep into the book the woman was reading. She became so focused on it and read it along with the woman. Her father had always been keen on reading books, and he always gave her the chance to explore his own library. The part of the book she was reading was about how human beings weren't born for just any reason. The writer began to express how a lot of people have given up on life because they placed their focus on people and not in themselves and God.
She read that part just when they bus heaved forward a bit and stopped. She whimpered as she tried unfailing to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes. The woman beside her glanced at her again and was going to keep reading her book, but for some reasons, looked back at her.
'Are you alright?'

Grace nodded stiffly as she tried to fight back her tears. The author had given them some stories that really marveled her. The Author's impartation and expectation about life were all expressed in such a way that it instantly washed off the venom of anger Boom had planted in them.

She rose and rushed down from the bus. The woman with the book shouted after her to know if she was alright. But how could she be alright when the only thing on her mind was how she had stupidly wanted to blow up a whole market, full of living human beings? With the bomb vest attached to her body, there was no way she wouldn't kill a whole lot of people. The next thing on her agenda was how to get to a place she could die alone. And peradventure she did kill people, the number would be fewer than that of the big market she was going to. She ran off, with her very big Jalamia dancing around her.
'Young woman…Young girl', the woman from the bus called, still chasing her.

Grace was very sure that if she got tired, she would stop following her. But the woman kept running after her as if her life depended on it. Still crying, Grace ran off into the suburb part of the country. And she kept doing so as she knew the implication of not remaining in the bus. Despite the fact that Boom trusted that their anger was fueled, he always claimed that the fear of death always jolted people out of their anger, and make them wet their pants. That means each of them always had someone that kept a tab on everything they did. As wrong as she felt he was, she saw the meaning of what Boom meant.

She led the lady far into the forest and repeatedly chanted her plea of forgiveness to God. However, when she got to the end of a closed area, she turned back like a cornered animal to face the nosy woman.

'Get away from me. Leave me alone. Go', Grace shouted as she knew the other person would soon notice her disappearance.
The woman who was holding her phone on the right hand, and her book in the second hand, yelled at her. Despite Grace shout at her to stop following her, the woman came nearer. Now, whatever this woman thought she was doing, she was about to die a merciless death and she wouldn't want it to be her fault.

'Get away from me'.
'Don't worry. I will help you. Is something wrong?'

The opportunity to save the woman was becoming slimmer per time. Seeing that she would soon be the cause of the death of the woman that made her have a change of mind, she hurriedly removed her Jalamia and provoked a gasp from the woman, who fell backward while trying to withdraw from her.

'What's that?' The woman said as she rose to her feet.
'Run. It's a bomb. It would go off soon', she shouted as the woman stopped crawling away.
'Wait… Wait… We can do something. We… We..'
'It's a bomb'.

'Yes. I read about diffusing it last week. Is… Is there a timer there?'
Hyperventilating now as death crawled near, she glanced at the vest and at the woman. 'There is no time. My watcher would soon be here'.
The woman was adamant, she hurriedly dumped her bag and the book on the floor and rapidly began to type into her phone. 'Yes, yes I got it…'
The woman grabbed her bag and removed her pocket knife, and ran to meet Grace. She searched for a part of the vest and stabbed it. The vest tore a little.

'Careful'.
'Don't move. This vest is rigged in such a way that any movement on it would blow it up'.
The woman tore the vest. By this time, Grace was sure she would die. However, they got it off in time. The woman gently dropped the vest and pulled her away. Grace was very fast herself. They both ran off the area, but not for long because the blast from the bomb threw them away, making Grace become unconscious.

By the time Grace woke from her unconsciousness, she was already in a hospital and the woman was sitting beside her. She felt like asking the woman if her only job was to poke-nose in the affairs of other people.
They later left the hospital and the woman made her live in her home after lying to the police that they were both victims of the bombs, that Grace was her ward. The woman said she wanted to sanitize her mentality and the first book she gave was the one she was reading on the bus: Just A Little Love.

On her first day of reading those books, she couldn't help wondering what would have happened if the woman hadn't read about diffusing bomb online. What would have happened if someone hadn't written it? What would have happened if she hadn't read that book? Grace opened the first page and prayed she find hope in it.



Remember to cast your vote here: http://imbube.org/contestants/searching-for-hope/



Please mention people and do share... Thanks....

Writer



“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
– Aristotle


“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one
– John Wooden..

“The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews.”
– William Faulkner


“Who do you spend time with? Criticizers or encouragers? Surround yourself with those who believe in you. Your life is too important for anything less.”
– Steve Goodier


Tht80

“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.”
– Elvis Presley

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”
– John Wooden
“One mustn’t criticize other people on grounds where he can’t stand perpendicular himself.”
– Mark Twain


“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.”
– Dale Carnegie

“Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.”
– Emmet Fox

“When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.”
– Unknown

“It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.”
– Daisaku Ikeda

“I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.”
– Charles Schwab

“I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man’s self-respect is a sin.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery



To Wrap it up

“A man interrupted one of the Buddha’s lectures with a flood of abuse.
Buddha waited until he had finished and then asked him:
If a man offered a gift to another but the gift was declined, to whom would the gift belong?
To the one who offered it, said the man.
Then, said the Buddha, I decline to accept your abuse and request you to keep it for yourself.”
So Tht80, keep your criticism to yourself.

MystiqueReine:
what are we supposed to put in the ID/passport part

Not necessary

Wowww... Witchcraft and Demons... Oya na