What Makes Your Writing Thick

                   

Every new dawn, by desire or compulsive phenomena, we are approached with the necessity of composing ideas, events, facts, or tales, in hard or soft format. Either as a prosiast, playwright, a poet, a blogger or even on one's Facebook time-line; we want to write a shimmering article: one that will stun our audience off their feet and keep
them engrossed. Surprisingly, this is a daunting task to many. The following are what would make the skin of your writing thick and done easily:

1. THE MESSAGE/THEME: A good writer ought to learn to develop the art of maintaining a central theme even if other minor themes may surface. The theme should be clear, enlightening, and something that reawakens your audience. It is the heart of a written work. Make it outstanding.

2. THE SUSPENSE: No doubt, a story without suspense is like a beautiful bottle with tasteless ale. Most likely, it would be spewed out the moment it comes in contact with the tongue (I guess you don't want such   discouraging reaction from your audience). However, suspense pulls the interest of the readers, and makes them commend the piece as interesting. In my observation, it is a binding knot that grasps the unwavering attention of your audience. And attention is what every writer craves for.

3. A COHERENT PLOT: We all know the plot is a logical arrangement of a story. A disjointed or inconsistent plot portrays a writer as an amateur with malnourished show of skill.  A superb plot is well structured with coherence, consistent in its telling, flowered with compelling lines, and passing an inspiring message. So do well to peruse the article you are about to write or must have written and righteously rate it in a scale of 10. Don't forget to do some readjustments if need be.

4. SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS: Yes you got me right!  Syntax and semantics. Giving attention to syntactic technicalities such as concord, tense, aspect, use of word class in the correct order gives a writing good value face. On the other, semantics which deliberates on the meaning conveyed ought to be addressed duly.  In other words, endeavour to adhere to clarity of expression. Avoid ambiguity. Delete phrases or sentences that would distort the intended meaning. These give your write-up a standard appraisal which you long for.

5. VOCABULARY: Keeping the choice of words in your article or novel simple attracts a general audience. Nonetheless, this should not deny you of your literary exploration license. Your piece can still be embedded with roses, but make sure it does not become superfluous. You can introduce one or two uncommon dictionary words because many read to learn new words and keep up with their communication skills.

6. CREATIVITY: What do you think George Bernard Shaw, Grazia Deledda, Ivan Alekseyevich Bunn, Alice Munro and Wole Soyinka all have in common? They are all Nobel Laureates endowed or, more aptly, have ingeniously cultivated their gifts of creativity. They are known as literary gods; made through creative writing. They formed a path of their own. I don't know whatever definition you find in the dictionaries, but to me, creativity is thinking through the pen with a new voice. It is like a golden thread that weaves fragments of words into an heavenly whole that makes readers go wow! Creativity in characterization, settings, narrative technique, and the progression of plot is an essential ingredient of good writing. Creativity resounds through eternity. It is what makes you unique, it is what makes you thick. Forge a style. Invent. Try out something fresh. Find your voice. Don't be an echo.

7. EDITING: You have written a masterpiece with an amazing theme, an enchanting suspense, a superb plot, creative use of language.......but not so fast dear writer. Before you click the submit tab, have you meticulously taken the time to try spell check? Have you perused for accidental misuse of punctuation markers, or unconscious skipping of prepositions, conjunctions, and words? Have you checked if there is incoherence in your narration?  I don't mean with just your MS Word, but the application of your understanding of the language or better still employing the competency of a professional editor, or editing firm. Delete extraneous items. And beneficial it will be if you can edit your work not just once nor twice but above three times.

Now you have gotten all it takes to make your work of art become a masterpiece. Go and slay those pages. Bye!

©Chidinma Ahika

[B.A/Ed. Eng/Lit. University of Benin. 2018]

Chidinma Ahika is a guest writer, a prolific poet and Essayist. He currently studies English/Literature at the University of Benin, Nigeria.