₦airaland Forum

LMAO,

WTF is Morocco Ville?

and though I can tell you that I am related to the person who goes by the name ayomorocco, I can assure you that I am not her. Who cares if you believe this or not? I have other relatives who use this forum as well. But then it is predominantly a Nigerian forum. The fact that you have been accused in the past of having multiple IDs does not mean that everyone does. . . LOL

Adichie was known here before she won the Orange broadband prize (and I was aware it is for women only). What I was saying is that having won the Caine prize, one would think that Helon Habila should be in the biggest bookshops in Britain.

Orikinla:
Nairaland needs more members to continue to expand and Seun will not reduce the number of members, regardless of their mission on the forum.

Nairaland has a board for posting adverts, gratis.

Seun permits many members to have duplicate accounts and does not lose sleep over spammers.

I want the Administrator to ban members with more than one account and delete spam posts.

A friend joined Nairaland to attract attention to his younger brother's music and has not posted on any other topic.
Some members even joined Nairaland to attack Orikinla and others created new accounts to flame other members in disguise.

Seun should not let Nairaland turn into Oshodi Market in Lagos.
But MySpace is the most notorious for spammers and predators.

LOL. . . I did wonder when you'd bring this issue up again. Ol' boy get over yourself.

Orikinla:
SMC,
I am very grateful for your corrections and beneficial advice.

As you noted, the Memories of a Refugee Child needs to be edited.

Having my portrait on the cover is risky, because those Islamic terrorists roaming cyberspace can use it to hunt me, since I dismissed their prophet in Unveil Me My Love.

You are welcome. And is that Unveil me my Love, a book? a short story? or what? I have done a google search and zilch came up as an exact match.

Also, seems like despite winning the Caine prize about 6 years ago, Helon Habila has not cracked the British market like Adichie has. I walked into Waterstones yesterday to buy some books and they don't know him (his name does not come up on their system so I cannot even have the book ordered) . Though they did not have Ben Okri's 'The Famished Road', I was told I could order that one and have it delivered.

I know this write-up is a little lengthy, but if you are an aspiring writer or even a published one, this article is a must read as it clearly brings to fore that with persistence, every dog (or writer) has it's day [and many more to boot]. I have tried to cut it short in places without derogating from the overall message.
                                                                                                                        . . .Cheers, SMC

[center][size=18pt]Dealing With Rejection
by Alex Keegan [/size] [/center]

Getting a form letter, a "no, thank-you" from a publisher is not a rejection; it's a purple heart, it's acknowledgement that you are a real writer, that you are submitting, that you are in there fighting, that you recognize that hard-work and persistence will counterbalance bad luck and choosing the wrong moment, the wrong editor.

It is a pre-requisite for eligibility for The Pushcart Prize, for The O'Henry Award, for the British Booker Prize, the Canadian Governor General's Prize, for the National Book Award and for the Nobel Prize for Literature that the author must have been, at one time, an unpublished author.

Now take that paragraph (or write your own) print it large and pin it above your computer. Every author, each and every single published author, as well as going to the bathroom every day, was once an unpublished hopeful, a wannabee, unrecognized, nowhere, zip, in the wilderness, out in the cold, depressed, probably poor, right on the brink of becoming an engineer (or working as an engineer and learning to go without sleep). If it was easy everybody would be doing it,

Publishers not taking your work are simply publishers not taking your work. It may be and often is because your work is not yet good enough, but it may be because your piece is too long, too short, too good, too tough, not tough enough, too similar to a recent story, not similar enough to the publisher's typical story, too sexy (or not sexy enough) too fantastic (or too realistic). There are many, many reasons (and excuses) for a publisher not taking your work, which is why you must write, write, write, submit, submit, submit.

It goes without saying that you should know your markets and research your targets, read the literary journals, take note of the authors and titles being published, find out about editors, but that's another article. This one is about dealing with the "not for us at this time's".

The Writer's Book of Checklists (ISBN 0-89879-454-4) by Scott Edelstein lists 21 excellent points on how to live with rejection and rather than simply reiterate those, I'd suggest you get a copy and take a look. But the essence of Edelstein's article is that the piece, not you is being rejected, don't let rejection shake your faith in your work, listen and consider every comment on a rejection, and keep submitting and keep polishing.

From here on, I will be talking about shorter works, short stories and articles or poems. In a previous article in the Internet Writing Journal, I argued, isn't becoming a writer, a serious, consistent writer at least as tough as a degree? A University degree takes three or four years full time. Why should we expect to become writers in a shorter space of time than that?

…You cannot fail if you work at your art, if you read, read, read, write, write, write, submit, submit, submit. If you are capable of reading this article you can write well enough to get published.

Rejections are side effects, meaningless. I had made myself a target, to publish everything I wrote. Sure I began with Paris Review and Atlantic, sent stuff to New Yorker and Story, but when they rejected me (overlooked my obvious future fame, I mean) I aimed a tad lower, then, if I had to, lower again. But I kept my belief in myself, my work.

Every time I received an overlooked-my-obvious-talent-note I sent the story out again, immediately, (always immediately), and I tried to send something new to the editor who had just said no. What this meant was that the volume of my work circulating grew and grew until at one point I had more than seventy items circulating.

…This year I've made 168 submissions, had 107 rejections, and right this minute I have a total of 49 items out there. But I've also had 43 hits. What I have is regular feedback, good and bad, but I work, I write, I submit. I know that the key to success is hard work and determination, a single-minded focused determination. I can count. I know that three rejections mean a sale. I welcome rejections, every rejection takes me nearer the next sale, every hit in Blue Moon Review or a competition in Ireland takes me nearer the letter from Atlantic, the yes from Paris Review, that cheque from The New Yorker.

Ignore this thread, it is a duplicate of the first thread of same name that occured somehow.

Seun if you can kindly remove this thread I'd be chuffed (not the other one o).

lilian777:
SMC?
Are you thinking what am thinking? Careful ya'll, i must say.
Infact, my people, thread softly on this ground! Puleeeeeeze!

I sure am. Seun should nip all this crap in the bud.

Orikinla:
SMC,
Fine.
But, be more specific.

I will appreciate your critical analysis of the narrative grammar.

Post the erroneous sentences and your corrections.

I did not say I have done a critical analysis of your story. I just said I observed a number of errors. Now I will be happy to point them out to you via e-mail or IM in good faith, but I won't be drawn down the path of doing that on here and risk it degenerating into something else.

Orikinla:
SMC,
I take full responsibility for my mistakes.
The short story is a good introduction to the book.
Both the readers and critics have made the short story one of the hottest releases on Amazon Shorts and Amazon has corrected the "typos".

Editing my writings is not easy.

There were two voices in Memories of a Refugee Child .
And I doubt if you understood the difference.

Formal editorial resolution would have spoilt the beauty of the narrative style. So, my editor knew what he was doing when he overlooked the peculiar language of the narrator.

Where exactly have these critics made this story one of the hottest stories? Cos I have looked and looked and I have not seen even one review/critique of the story (as regards the readers, I am not in a position to dispute that as there is no means of verifying how many times the story has been downloaded). Moreover, I am on Amazon right now and the "typos" you say have been corrected remain unedited (and no, this is not the copy I downloaded a couple of days ago).

Regarding the issues of two voices in your short story, you say you doubt if I understood the difference. I never knew there were two voices/angles so there was never a difference to understand. I have briefly glanced at the script again and though I have not read it over a second time, I still didn't catch the dual narrative style. I guess I'll take your word for it.

Like I said, feel free to disagree with me.

But do note that I also said that Hounour/Titles may be given (after numerous years of proving yourself or post humously, not just because of one or two achievements).

Let's agree to disagree as I stand by what I have stated and I am sure you stand by your opinion too.

Orikinla:
SMC,

The fact that since Ben Okri won the Booker Prize over 10 years ago and the Nigerian society or government did not honour him shows the low level of our art appreciation. And the Nigerian government did not even celebrate the recent achievements of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Pa Chinua Achebe.
I am still very disappointed that Pa Cyprian Ekwensi, the real first Nigerian writer of genius has not been given the dues he deserves.

I disagree with you regarding giving writers (or anyone for that matter) honour or chieftaincy titles or the like. Nigerians need to get over the attitude that every achievement must result in honour and fanfare. You may disagree with me, but I am of the opinion that this is what happens in a society of either failures or of underachievers. If everyone was a high achiever, why would we need to honour one or two achievements?

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a "Well Done" when the occasion demands it. However, I believe Honour should come after numerous years or even a lifetime of being at the top of your game. Many Artists, Musicians, Composers, Scientists etc who today are heralded as geniuses were not recognised in their lifetime. Let us not get carried away with plaudits or the lack thereof, as these will come when you are good.

Orikinla:
N.B:
You should read my true life short story [b]Memories of a Refugee Child on Amazon Shorts and give me your critical analysis.

A reader in North America just pointed out a critical error in the story. An error that even the editorial staff of Amazon Shorts did not notice.[/b]

With regards to your short story, I have read it and I found a good few errors. Now whether or not they are critical to the crux of the story, I do not know but they are the kind of errors that should not be found generally in published works especially when one has an editor. If you do have one, Sack him.

FYI, Amazon Shorts will not spend any considerable amount of time editing your work (whether they do at all is debatable). It's not their Modus Operandi as the Amazon Shorts are meant for quick turn around.

THIS IS SPAMMING

Orikinla:
The best writers of the new generation in Nigeria have not been celebrated.

The fallacy and hypocrisy of the Nigerian society show their intellectual ignorance.
Must our writers win prizes before they can be appreciated?

@Orikinla,

Well Said Mate.

Like I said before, If you say so MATE.

And just for the record, I am not in some dispute with you over anything. I just expressed my displeasure at you scattering one poem all over the place and if that offended you, too bad.

PS I have not criticised your poem nor have I read it for that matter, so your acknowledgment will be unfounded.

Ben Okri

Probably Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie