?Writing Nigerian? by Eghosa Imasuen - EditIQ

I started writing seriously in 2005. It was a decision made without thinking, on the spur of the moment, provoked by a need to fill a gap I had noticed in our stories. I had never heard my voice, had only read a few stories written specifically for me.

So I wrote my first novel, To Saint Patrick, published in 2008 by Farafina. I was still timid, still unsure how to write in Nigerian English. So I kept the experimentation to only dialogue. I introduced a character named Sergeant Tuvo Oghenovo who was from Warri and who only spoke pidgin, used nigerianisms, and engaged in playful banter with my protagonists, the slightly more straitlaced Ayo and Hadiza. I liked it.

I had to learn while writing. Listening to Nigerian Pidgin English and reading same on the page are two very different experiences, separated by kilometres of enjoyment and awkwardness. You listen to Warri people speaking, you get lost in the singsong variations of tone, of meaning, of context. You read the exact same sentences and you find yourself stumbling over syntax, over new spellings, over unnecessary re-spellings of common English words. A chore, a common experience, I gather, as any perusal of a National Orientation Agency, or Ministry of Health, educational poster written in pidgin will testify. I call this written version NTA Pidgin. And no one speaks this way. And in the typical way exceptions have of proving hypotheses true, I find that the TV and radio adverts in pidgin are even more difficult to understand than the written versions of NTA Pidgin.

Why can?t they just write it the way it is spoken? Wetin hard for inside?

I grew up in Warri. My first language was English, close second was Pidgin. We learnt in from the househelp, and from my father?s trailer drivers. So as you suspect I am proficient in its use. But I never use words like ?obonge?, ?orishi-rishi?. I speak plainly, to communicate, to crack jokes without beating my audience over the head with a hammer, making them laugh at my intonation while not listening to what I am saying.

So back to the techniques I used in my second novel, Fine Boys. Fine Boys started as an experiment in voice. I wanted to tell a story of my university years, of the characters, the typical archetypes in any coming-of-age story.? I wanted to speak of the uppity young man finding the world a much bigger place than he imagined it to be, I wanted to write about the hard man with a good heart, about the class fool, the beautiful girl. I wanted to write about friendships, which in teenage years last forever. I would do this with our voice; I would do this in the way we spoke, the way we sounded. And I wanted to translate these stories into the medium of the novel. Had this been done before? I am sure.

For ease of understanding, for fluency, for a fluid reading experience for my readers (a maxim I have taken to heart is attributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne: ?An easy read is a damned hard write.?), I settled for certain rules in writing in Nigerian.

Keep the dialogue simple and uncluttered. This seems straightforward enough.? Do not complicate your sentences. Dialogue written in dialect can be very difficult to read. Make sure you intersperse speech with hints. You could have the speech modifiers doing some of the work. Or you could have one character speaking plain English, and have his responses clarify what is being said by the pidgin speaker.

Spell original English words as correctly as possible. There are many opinions on this issue. This is just mine. I find reading ?de?, ?dey?, ?dose? utterly confusing and am comfortable with ?the?, ?they?, and ?those?, even though?like most Warri boys?I pronounce these words as written in the first example.

Do not italicise your words. I use italics for emphasis. For the stress of words spoken in dialogue. I also use it to push an unconventional meaning of a word. I almost never use it for our words; I find that intrusive and reeking of self-doubt. This is the information age. If you written your copy properly and with a light touch, there will be almost no reason for a reader to break his flow and consult Google. In context, words like ?yansh? and ?mumu? need no explanation. Phrases like ?He lived two NEPA poles from here,? will almost certainly be understood by even the most parochial of reader. Be confident, speak in your English. It will be understood.

The rules all say one thing. Learn your craft and write with confidence. And remember nothing can trump emotional honesty. Understand your characters, do not judge them, listen to them and write what they say.

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Eghosa Imasuen is the author of To St. Patrick and Fine Boys, both published in Nigeria by Farafina. Fine Boys was released in 2012 and is receiving rave reviews. Read more about Eghosa ?Dr. No Pretension? and his use of language here and enjoy an excerpt of Fine Boys here. After that you?re going to want a copy of the book! To get one email orders@kachifo.com or call +2348035730205

Tags: Eghosa Imasuen, Fine Boys

Source: http://www.editiq.com/writing-nigerian-by-eghosa-imasuen/

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