₦airaland Forum

Wininiel:
lolz...rovyer,your observations were right but I would assume the writers never knew the rules to writing or never thought whatever they started with matters though they love writing.....

It's not so much about rules as it is decorum and decency.
I still maintain that anyone can write. But in order to be a classic progressive writer your work must be also acceptable to the larger (preferably more influential) population.

Borrussia:
What an amazing and educative piece.

Cc. Ishilove
Larrysun
Royver
D9ty7

Nice.

ThR0NeKiD:
Sir Royver, here is the story's thread!

20pages!

Let me start from the beginning.

standd:
Thank you. God bless you.
Now if I write, kindly find time to read and critique. Please, that is all some of us need to fare better.

I make no promises..
(but I always read your articles, they r so good they put butterflies in my stomach )

(coughs) And what do I get as payment? (coughs)

ThR0NeKiD:
Mmm, attimes, sir, the writer might not be able to hatch up a catchy title. Just like me, you could check my stories out. I would be pleased to have you there.

Sure, send me the link.

standd:
You make FP, Royver makes FP all the time, Kayemjay too, Safarigirl, D9ty7, etc.
Why did the dude pick on me.
The issue is to find ways to help writers write better so the section won't be neglected and relegated to the background the way it is now.

Now, I'm beginning to feel that folks here just want to hit FP, they don't even care about the quality of work they churn out or how to revive the section.

The solution lies in your post.
If the writers want to make fronr page, they should make their works presentable and have more quality. It should serve as an incentive for them.

standd:
This thread says you should suggest ways to help improve the quality of works churned out in this section. You are asking about terrorists!

^^^^^
Terrorist!
***runs away

kayemjay:
knock knock...anybody home?

Hehehe...

*Runs away before Larrysun brings out his koboko*

Kayemjay!
GCOFR!
How are the terrorists that side?

ThR0NeKiD:
You should read those by the yet unknown writers, sir Roy. The evil's in scrolling down till you find a story scribbled by a popular writer.

But that's what I do, honestly.
The first thing that draws me to a story is the title, if its something that catches my interest then I dive in, only to see people eating murdered babies after raping their 5yr old daughters. (I'm exaggerating a little but u get the point).
It turns me off completely.

Okay, so I have some spare time on my hands today and i decided to pop into nairaland and see what has been going on. I came across what promised to be an interesting story and i settled down to my oatmeal breakfast and began reading.

The first few lines shocked me to bits.

It described the raping of a helpless little girl child by an obnoxious fellow.

Now, sure, things like this happen in our wicked world and all that but the thing that bothered me is that i honestly didn't see the correlation of that first shocking act to the rest of the story. Please I am not trying to criticize or bring down the writer, far from it and due apologies if feelings are hurt but i decided to say something about ti because I noticed it is a kind of trend on this forum by certain writers and i also wanted to know if i was the only one that feels disgusted and turned off when i see stuff like that at the beginning of a story.

Its not the first time I have been disgusted by stuff like that on this section;

1. There was a story with a very nice first paragraph i was reading. Things were going well for the little girl and her family. Suddenly some assassins came to the house ,killed the father then went on to rape and kill the mother and siblings in front of the little child's eyes, then went on to rape her and turn her into an assassin.

Haba. That was too much in my opinion. Why all the evil, as if stretching your mind as far as it can go? what did the character do to you?

2. Another case of a man and his lady who were strolling down the street then were attacked by assassins(again), the woman was raped and killed in front of the man and the baby in her womb stabbed severally( ), and the man made to watch and then they came for him and he begged and then was gutted like a fish and killed. All because they wanted to steal from them! Shuo!

3. Another child case where the child was gleefully raped by the father, in fact, many stories where the child is gleefully raped by the father and the mother is dead or doesnt care and the child wished someone would come and help but nobody came etc etc etc.

What's with all the extended violence? Or am I reading too much into it? And the strange thing is that for stories that i manage to push past my disgust and continue reading, from the next chapter onwards the story continues as if nothing happened in the first paragraph at all. Why start a love story with so much violence, where is the moral in that? Even an action story doesnt necessarily have to start with someone shocking the hell out of the audience.

There are certain literary bodies that will turn down a story simply for heavy content like that.
There are certain rules that follow(even though strictly speaking there are no rules when it comes to storytelling---stay with me here, I'm ranting )

1. You can't kill babies: or even if you do, make it a one-liner. No one want a description of how the baby was stabbed severally for God's sake. its a baby!

2. you can't kill kids. you even see it in hollywood movies and novels, most times the kids survive and even when they dont the director doesnt create a scene for it. one minute the kid is backing away from the assailant, the next minute the body of the kid is seen(usually face down). they know why the do it like that. Its a huge turn off focusing on how the killer gutted a kid, makes one wonder if the writer is ok emotionally.

3. Same rules above go for pregnant women, no matter how evil they have been.

4. literaly anything can happen for men, but still, why subject the man to inhumane torture and raping and hacking and taunting and killing and pissing on his body( i read this one somewhere too) only because you want to steal his car come on!



Is the idea to garner readers?
Or am I too sheltered and such stuff is now commonplace?

Even if it is true that as writers we are allowed to let our imagination run wild but i think if you want to achieve international acclaim some storytellers need to tone it down a little on the disgust and violence. (unless you want to go the way of Stephen king and even he toned it down after a while)

My spare time is up

p.s This writeup was done in a hurry so pls pardon mistakes and such.
Also pls pls pls no beef intended on writers, just had to express my feelings somehow.




cc larrysun
ishilove
standd
dyoungstar
senbonzakurakageyoshi
divepen1
d9ty7
etc

aboyaji:
Following...

Had to laugh out loud when I read this line :

Even the snail did not work. We now started using hydraulic because my friend tell me hydraulic treat anything."


"Did it work?" I asked with mock curiousity.






You are one hell of a clown ROYVER. Would they have brought the baby to the hospital if their medication worked?

Loool
That was the idea, sarcasm

Hello all,
For me, the major factor is time. No time to keep up with new stories as they pop out , no time to even write stories anymore. It would be nice if those who frequent the literature section more often to try and contribute to the quality of the stories here in whatever way they can.

missterious:
I deleted it.

You did not!
When?
Have I been away so long?

missterious:
No, it's long & green. They cut it & sell, that's why it's called cutting cutting soap. Lol

Missed you, Royver.

Missed u too babe,
Especially your diary, haven't had time to peruse it as I used to...

hahn:
Lovely story. Your writing style is very cool. Following

.
Why thank you very much.

rapmike:
Soda soap as in Canoe bar-soap?

That's ridiculous, though possible.

Poverty at its peak.

Aje - butter
Canoe soap is ten times better than soda soap

She came into my office with huge pleading eyes, like she wanted to report something to me but didn't know how. her skin was covered in blisters and dried up rashes and I squirmed in my seat as I imagined how those blemishes would feel to her. As i watched she itched and scratched and i involuntarily found myself doing the same.

Her parents followed soon after. Her father, a no-nonsense looking type of man, walked in proudly in his dirty blue overall and straw hat. No one needed to tell me he was a labourer and a hard-working one at that. his small stature was easily lost in his towering demeanor as he looked down at me through his thick mustache as i sat on my chair. I resisted the urge to stand up and salute him.

His wife came in next. She wore a bright yellow blouse and two wrappers wrapped around her thick waist. She smelt as bad as he did and seemed to have this "I-dare-you-to-say-anything-about-my-smell look. They ordered the child to sit down and then glared at me like i was the cause of their problems. I smiled but they didn't reciprocate. It wasn't anger I saw though but pride. Proud parents both of them. It dawned on me suddenly that their pride would have and would continue to bring them a lot of grief in this life.

'Good afternoon sir, madam.' I enthused. "What can I do for you?"

"This is our daughter." The man said, pulling the little girl towards me. I guessed her age at ten and then looked at her card: six.

Man, she looked old.

"She has rashes on her body, we have been treating it and treating it but it refuse go". The man explained in his near perfect english. I decided to relax him a bit.

"Ehen, as the rash no go wetin una come do na? Una no fit clap for am make e run comot?" I smiled.

The girl giggled.

The woman hid her grin behind her hand.

The man said nothing. Just looked at me deadpan like; This is a serious matter and you are joking?

"Like i said doctor, this rash has been here for a long time." He said slowly and deliberately. it was obvious he didnt come to hospital for the laughs.

I stopped smiling immediately.

"How long?" I queried.

"Three years now." He replied. "We have tried rubbing cream, palm oil, crude oil, snail (at this point my jaw dropped),

"Snail"

The man glared at me.

"Yes doctor. SNAIL"

I pretended i understood and nodded sympathetically.

"Even the snail did not work. We now started using hydraulic because my friend tell me hydraulic treat anything."


"Did it work?" I asked with mock curiousity.

"Not at all. Doctor I have tried all I can, and wasted so much money. I decided to come to hospital to see if we can run test." he finished finally.

I asked the now scared looking girl to stand up. When most kids are being handled by a doctor they think we are going to magically bring an injection and needle from somewhere and jab them with it. Many a children's doctor has found himself chasing round a room trying to catch a child that has made up its mind to protect his or her bum from that horrible magical needle, usually the mother assists in trapping the little buggers. On my own part I try to play with the child a little and gain thier trust. Its easierto examine a child and make a diagnosis when they are not screaming the office down in sheer terror.

So i called this six year old girl and she began to panic. So i asked her about her rashes. I showed her the scar on my right hand to and scratched it vigorously, getting her to realise i knew what she was suffering. Finally she helped me scratch my rash and allowed me to examine her. During the few seconds I used to gain her trust her dad watched me like a hawk.

"Doctor should we hold her down?" he finally asked.

"No, no, just be patient please." I encouraged. The mother said nothing and watched from afar off.

I finally got her to show me her rashes and even to pull her dress which she did willingly.

her body was covered with the stuff. They looked like abrasion marks, the kind of thing you see when you scrape your knee on cement floor. She winced when i touched them but did not cry. At the end of my examination I took a sweet from a corner of my desk that i kept handy for such occasions and looking at the father first for approval, gave it to her. She smiled sweetly in thanks and proceeded to open the wrapper noisily.

"Do you have any other children sir?" I asked. he shook his head, no.

"Do any of the other kids in the compound have the same rashes?"

Another no.

"What kind of water do you use?"

"Pipe bourne water from overhead tank." the mustached father replied brusquely.

"And this rash has been there for three years?"

"Yes sir." he replied.

I sat back and pondered. I had seen these rashes before somewhere, I just couldn't bring it to mind just yet. I looked at the parent's skin. They were hard and brittle-looking, but then they were honest hardworking folk, i wasn't expecting their skin to be soft...

And then it hit me.

"Excuse me, what kind of soap is this girl bathing with?"

"Cutting-cutting soap." The man replied.

"Which one is cutting-cutting..."

"Soda sir. We use soda to baff her..."

"WHAAAAAAT?" I shouted. "Why would you do that? why would you bathe a small child like this with soda soap?"

"But, I bathe with it and it does nothing to me. Even my wife bathes with it...Its very affordable. We started bathing baby with it three years ago..."

It's been a long long time since I've been here.

It's been a long long time since I have been anywhere.

By anywhere I mean anywhere inside my head.

The outside world has kept me too busy

So busy i didn't notice my shadow had upped and left for a few days.

So busy I forgot to eat or sleep or breathe...no, I'm rambling now.

I need a pause button.

Better yet I need to breathe.

The Buhari/Johnathan saga season one is over...

Season two loading, coming out May 29, limited editions only.

The governors tremble and honorable men suddenly remember to return money they once lost in their pockets.

The south africans court war and religious fanatics scream for blood

And I hear a bell, it should be a trumpet but it is a bell

A bell sounding, a herald, coming.

Its been two days, day three is dawning.

Are you ready for the awakening?

[size=4pt](sometimes, I make absolutely no sense...or do I?)[/size]

aboyaji:
Royver is there to represent us. Just have a little faith

hmn! Thanks for having faith in me.