Muse Guide

Writers tutorial entry; how to make your dialogue sparkle

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One sign of a fine cabinetmaker, I’m told, is the 
deftness with which he handles his nails. 
"Of course," he added, quickly "the finest 
cabinetmakers are often female." 
To resume my metaphor... each nail should do 
its job without calling attention to itself. The 
same might also be said about the dialogue 
tags we use when writing fiction. (For example, 
'he added, quickly’.) 
Technically called ‘inquits’ or ‘turn ancillaries’, 
dialogue tags act as stage directions to convey 
to the reader, perhaps subconsciously, who is 
speaking and - sometimes - in what mood or 
manner. 
The modern convention is that inquits should 
be invisible, like carpentry nails. To decorate 
our dialogue with colourful tags like ‘he 
snortled’, ‘she chortled’, ‘they fumed’, (or worse, 
'she beamed'), is perceived today as clumsy. 
The reader trips over them and falls out of the 
story. 
True, florid tags can be used to good effect 
when writing comedy or farce. ('"Yes, no, 
maybe. Who knows?" he verbigerated in 
despair’). But if you don’t intend to be funny - 
or the humour doesn’t work - the reader will 
yearn to hide your thesaurus. 
Solution #1 : 
Don’t use dialogue tags at all if it’s obvious 
from the context who’s speaking. If it’s not 
obvious, a volley of innocuous inquits like ‘he 
said’, ‘she said’, and the like, may be forgiven. 
They're stage directions, supposed to be 
invisible. But they’re boring. Sometimes, you do 
need to convey the manner in which a 
character speaks, and without using too many 
adverbs - the sign of an amateur. So... 
Solution #2: 
Characterise the speaker, and mark who’s 
speaking, by using a variation of the Pathetic 
Fallacy. This is the poetic device of granting 
human emotions to non-human phenomena or 
objects. It’s also a nifty little trick when writing 
dialogue. 
NOT: ‘"Sir, you insult me," he glowered.’ 
Properly speaking, ‘glower’ cannot be used as a 
verb for a speech act. (We’ve all done this, and 
worse, but - if overdone - it becomes hilarious.) 
INSTEAD: "‘Sir, you insult me!" His eyebrows 
lifted with menace.’ OR ‘The shadows darkened 
in his face.’ OR ‘The room grew cold.’ OR 
‘Thunder crackled in the hills. The storm was 
growing closer.’ 
It is now clear from the obliging behaviour of 
the environment both who is speaking and in 
what manner. The Pathetic Fallacy has come to 
our rescue. 
Solution #3 : Let characters convey their moods 
with actions not with adverbs . 
NOT: ‘"That is very foolish," she said, 
reprovingly.’ 
INSTEAD: ‘"That is very foolish." She made a 
close inspection of her fingertips.’ OR ‘She 
clicked her ballpoint pen.’ OR ‘She bit her 
finger-roll in half.’ 
We have now replaced the adverb 'reprovingly' 
with action. The scene has acquired energy - 
plus a little extra characterisation. 
Use this device too often, however, and readers 
will cry ‘How well s/he writes!’ rather than 
‘what a good story!’. No matter. A story, so 
grossly over-written, might win the Booker 
prize... 
(Even if it's unlikely to win a story 
competition.) 
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Writers tutorial entry; how to make your dialogue sparkle

One sign of a fine cabinetmaker, I’m told, is the deftness with which he handles his nails. "Of course," he added, quickly "the finest cabinetmakers are often female." To resume my metaphor... each n…

10 Dec 2013

Writers tutorial entry; how to make your dialogue sparkle

One sign of a fine cabinetmaker, I’m told, is the deftness with which he handles his nails. 
"Of course," he added, quickly "the finest cabinetmakers are often female." 
To resume my metaphor... each nail should do 
its job without calling attention to itself. The same might also be said about the dialogue tags we use when writing fiction. (For example, 
'he added, quickly’.) 
Technically called ‘inquits’ or ‘turn ancillaries’, dialogue tags act as stage directions to convey to the reader, perhaps subconsciously, who is speaking and - sometimes - in what mood or manner. 
The modern convention is that inquits should be invisible, like carpentry nails. To decorate our dialogue with colourful tags like ‘he 
snortled’, ‘she chortled’, ‘they fumed’, (or worse, 'she beamed'), is perceived today as clumsy. 
The reader trips over them and falls out of the story. 
True, florid tags can be used to good effect when writing comedy or farce. ('"Yes, no, maybe. Who knows?" he verbigerated in despair’). But if you don’t intend to be funny - or the humour doesn’t work - the reader will yearn to hide your thesaurus. 
Solution #1 : 
Don’t use dialogue tags at all if it’s obvious from the context who’s speaking. If it’s not obvious, a volley of innocuous inquits like ‘he said’, ‘she said’, and the like, may be forgiven. 
They're stage directions, supposed to be invisible. But they’re boring. Sometimes, you do need to convey the manner in which a character speaks, and without using too many 
adverbs - the sign of an amateur. So... 
Solution #2: 
Characterise the speaker, and mark who’s speaking, by using a variation of the Pathetic 
Fallacy. This is the poetic device of granting 
human emotions to non-human phenomena or 
objects. It’s also a nifty little trick when writing 
dialogue. 
NOT: ‘"Sir, you insult me," he glowered.’ 
Properly speaking, ‘glower’ cannot be used as a 
verb for a speech act. (We’ve all done this, and 
worse, but - if overdone - it becomes hilarious.) 
INSTEAD: "‘Sir, you insult me!" His eyebrows 
lifted with menace.’ OR ‘The shadows darkened 
in his face.’ OR ‘The room grew cold.’ OR 
‘Thunder crackled in the hills. The storm was 
growing closer.’ 
It is now clear from the obliging behaviour of 
the environment both who is speaking and in 
what manner. The Pathetic Fallacy has come to 
our rescue. 
Solution #3 : Let characters convey their moods 
with actions not with adverbs . 
NOT: ‘"That is very foolish," she said, 
reprovingly.’ 
INSTEAD: ‘"That is very foolish." She made a 
close inspection of her fingertips.’ OR ‘She 
clicked her ballpoint pen.’ OR ‘She bit her 
finger-roll in half.’ 
We have now replaced the adverb 'reprovingly' 
with action. The scene has acquired energy - 
plus a little extra characterisation. 
Use this device too often, however, and readers 
will cry ‘How well s/he writes!’ rather than 
‘what a good story!’. No matter. A story, so 
grossly over-written, might win the Booker 
prize... 
(Even if it's unlikely to win a story 
competition.)

Writers tutorial entry; how to make your dialogue sparkle

10 Dec 2013

Writers tutorial entry; how to make your character more plausible

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Encouraging an emotional bond between a 
reader and the protagonist is one of the most 
important jobs a writer has. We do this through 
empathy - a deep, meaningful connection that 
forms when we put the reader into the 
character’s emotional shoes. Many writers 
struggle with how to do this, because it usually 
means showing the character’s vulnerability . 
This can be a tall order if one has a tough 
character who equates emotions with 
weakness, because their hard shell prevents 
anyone (including the reader) from getting 
close. 
As people, we connect to vulnerability. It makes 
us feel that we are glimpsing at what lies 
behind the mask a person wears day -to-day, 
and seeing into the heart of who they truly are. 
So making sure our characters experience 
vulnerability, no matter how tough, how jaded, 
how determined they are to hide what they feel, 
is incredibly important. 
The problem is, most people don’t like feeling 
vulnerable. In fact they protect themselves 
against it, and avoid it at all costs. This leaves 
writers with a conundrum: how do they show 
their character in a vulnerable light to help 
create that closeness with the reader, yet stay 
true to authentic human behavior? The answer 
lies in understanding universal triggers for 
vulnerability, and then placing the protagonist 
in the path of one. 
Here are some ways to make your character feel 
- and appear - vulnerable, whether they want to 
or not: 
Through not knowing what will happen next. 
People crave control, of having power over 
what the future will bring. Take that away and 
you are left with the feeling of not knowing, of 
having no influence or say in the outcome. By 
placing the power in another’s hands through 
choices, actions and decisions, you rob your 
character of control. The resulting feelings of 
frustration, anxiety and even despair are all 
ones that reinforce vulnerability. Readers have 
all felt a loss of control at some point and so 
will deeply identify with the character’s range of 
feelings. 
Through the mistakes they make. 
Despite our best efforts, we all make mistakes. 
Not only do we hate it when one happens, we 
tend to beat ourselves up about it, growing 
frustrated and disappointed for not being 
smarter, stronger or better. Characters who 
make mistakes feel authentic, and it humanizes 
them to readers. Besides, mistakes create great 
plot complications & conflict! 
Through personal failures. 
Not succeeding at what one has set out to do 
is one of the most heartbreaking moments an 
individual can experience, and it is the same for 
our characters. A hero’s personal failure, 
especially one that has repercussions for 
others, is one way to break down those steel 
walls and show our hero as vulnerable and 
human. 
Through a death or loss. 
A deep, personal loss is never easy. Often a 
person only realizes what they had or what 
something meant when it’s gone. Again, this is 
a universal feeling, something all readers can 
identify with. Written well, seeing the hero 
experience loss will remind readers of their own 
past experiences. Death is final, but other 
losses can be potent as well. The loss of hope 
is particularly wounding. 
By having one’s role challenged. 
Whatever the character’s role is (be it a leader, 
a provider, a source of comfort , etc.) and 
having it challenged can be devastating. Roles 
are tied to one’s identity: the husband who 
loses his job may no longer be able to provide 
for his family. The leader who made a bad 
decision must witness the resulting lack of faith 
from his followers. The mother who fails to 
keep her child safe feels unsuited for 
motherhood. When a role is challenged in some 
way through choices or circumstances, it 
creates self-doubt, making the character feel 
vulnerable in a way readers identify with. 
By casting doubt on what one believes. 
Each person has set beliefs about the universe, 
how the world works, and the people in it, 
allowing them to understand their place in the 
big picture and instilling feelings of belonging. 
When knowledge surfaces that puts trusted 
beliefs into question, the character suffers 
disillusionment, a powerful feeling that can 
make them feel adrift in their own life. 
Disillusionments are an emotional blow and 
everyone has suffered one at some point. This 
can be a good way to trigger that feeling of 
shared experience of vulnerability between 
character and reader. 
By experiencing fear or worry for another. 
This ties into that loss of control I mentioned 
above, because one directly or indirectly has a 
lack of influence over circumstances affecting a 
loved one. Fear and worry can also create road 
blocks about how best to proceed. It’s one 
thing to take risks that only affect oneself, and 
another to take risks that will impact others. 
The paralysis a person feels over what decision 
to make when it impacts relationships is an 
experience readers understand. 
By having one’s secrets brought out in the 
open. 
Secrets are usually hidden for a reason and are 
often the source of guilt or shame. When one’s 
secrets are revealed, the character is stripped 
of their security, and they believe others will 
view them differently as a result. Readers can 
empathize with this raw feeling of being 
exposed. 
This article was courtesy angela aukerman 
 
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Writers tutorial entry; how to make your character more plausible

Encouraging an emotional bond between a reader and the protagonist is one of the most important jobs a writer has. We do this through empathy - a deep, meaningful connection that forms when we put th…

10 Dec 2013

Writers tutorial entry; 5 things to stop doing (if you really want to finish your novel)

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Your novel isn’t going to write itself (I mean, if 
it were, it probably would have finished itself a 
long time ago!). Here are the five things you 
need to stop doing immediately if you want 
turn yourself into someone who stops asking 
questions about how to write a manuscript 
and starts bragging to friends about how you 
completed your manuscript. 
1. Nix the excuses. 
We get it, life is busy and writing is hard work 
sometimes. Still, excuses never changed 
anything, never inspired anybody, and never 
made any dreams a reality. Goals like writing a 
novel don’t die on their own. We suffocate them 
with our excuses. 
2. Stop trying . 
Your novel needs less “trying” and more 
“doing” from you. Like Yoda said, Do or do not. 
There is no try. 
3. Stop the Inner Critic’s crazy rants. 
Shut it down. Duct tape its mouth. Stand on its 
neck. Whatever you do, don’t let the Inner Critic 
make you doubt yourself. There’s no reason to. 
This is open range and there are no rules, no 
right and wrong. You can do Whatever. You. 
Want. 
4. Don’t overdose on caffeine. 
Seriously. I’m sorry, but it has to be said. Call it 
tough love if you want, but more writers go 
stark raving mad in espresso-fueled rages than 
any other artists (with the exception of polka 
musicians, for obvious reasons). 
Trust me on this. You don’t want your 
neighbors finding you crawling through their pet 
door at 3am in search of more coffee because 
you ran out at your house two hours earlier. 
Not that that’s happened to me. I’ve just heard 
stories. 
5. Stop thinking it should be easier. 
That’s like hoping gravity will get less gravity … 
er … ish. Less gravity like. OK, poor choice of 
words. You know what I mean. Bottom line: 
writing is what it is. Sometimes it’s easier than 
at other times. Expect it to be work and you’ll 
be thrilled when it doesn’t feel that way. 
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Writers tutorial entry; 5 things to stop doing (if you really want to finish your novel)

Your novel isn’t going to write itself (I mean, if it were, it probably would have finished itself a long time ago!). Here are the five things you need to stop doing immediately if you want turn your…

07 Nov 2013

Writers tutorial entry; how to write a simple haiku 2

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HAIKU AND HOW WE WRITE IT. (PART TWO) 
Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi 
Help us promote #creativity by liking our page 
USE SENSORY LANGUAGE 
(6)Describe the details. Haiku are comprised of details observed by the five senses. The poet witnesses an event and uses words to compress that experience so others may understand it in some way. Once you have chosen a subject for your haiku, 
(7)think about what details you want to describe. Call the subject to mind and explore these questions 
•What did you notice about the subject? What colors, textures, and contrasts did you observe? 
•How did the subject sound? What was the tenor and volume of the event that took place? 
•Did it have a smell, or a taste? How can you accurately describe the way it felt? 
(8)Show, don't tell. Haiku are about moments of objective experience, not subjective interpretation or analysis of those events. It's important to show the reader something true about the moment's existence, rather than telling the reader what emotions it conjured in you.[5] Let the reader feel his or her own emotions in reaction to the image. 
oUse understated subtle imagery. For instance, instead of saying it's summer, focus on the slant of the sun or the heavy air. 
oDon't use cliches. Lines that readers recognize, such as "dark, stormy night," tend to lose their power over time. Think through the image you want to describe and use inventive, original language to convey meaning. This doesn't mean you should use a thesaurus to find words that aren't commonly used; rather, simply write about what you saw and want to express in the truest language you know. 
ABOVE ALL 
Be inspired 
Practice a lot 
Communicate with other poets. 
ADDITIONAL TIPS: 
•Haiku has been called "unfinished" poetry because each one requires the reader to finish it in his or her heart. 
•Contemporary haiku poets may write poems that are just a short fragment with three or fewer words. 
•A Haiku doesn't always need to rhyme. 
•Haiku originated from haikai no renga, a collaborative group poem that is usually one hundred verses in length. The hokku, or starting verse, of renga collaborations indicated the season and also contained a cutting word. The haiku as its own form of poetry continues in this tradition. 
Sample Love Haiku 
•Refreshing and cool, 
love is a sweet summer rain 
that washes the world. 
•Love is like winter 
Warm breaths thaw cold hearts until 
one day the spring comes 
•A bird flies sweetly 
on paper wings. Telling all 
of my love for you. 
•Every day I will 
love you more than you could know. 
We are here as one. 
•The softest whisper 
beckons me closer to you. 
I love you, dearest. 
•Vast as a mountain, 
my love for you shines through for 
all the world to see. 
Sample Funny Haiku 
•One shark said to the 
other when eating a clown 
fish: this tastes funny. 
•The bartender said 
to the neutron, “For you, sir, 
there will be no charge.” 
•A question for you: 
Where does Washington keep his 
armies? His sleevies. 
•An octopus went 
off to war. It’s a good thing 
that he was well-armed. 
•A wise man once asked, 
“Why, pray tell, is the sand wet?” 
Because the sea weed. 
•The best way to carve 
wood is extremely slowly, 
whittle by whittle. 
Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi 
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Writers tutorial entry; how to write a simple haiku 2

HAIKU AND HOW WE WRITE IT. (PART TWO) Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi Help us promote #creativity by liking our page USE SENSORY LANGUAGE (6)Describe the details. Haiku are comprised of details obser…

02 Nov 2013

Writers tutorial entry; Limerick and how we write it

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LIMERICK AND HOW WE WRITE IT. 
COMPILED BY: MOSES S. OLAROTIMI 
A limerick is a poetic form that can be particularly fun to read and to write. Limericks are often humorous, mean-spirited, or pornographic. I'll explain the form, and you can d...ecide how down and dirty you want to get. 
Limericks consist of five lines. The rhyme scheme is AABBA. In other words, Lines One, Two, and Five all rhyme with each other, and Lines Three and Four rhyme with each other (in some limericks, Lines One and Five end with the same word and rhyme with Line Two). 
The limerick is a very structured 5 line poem. Originally, according to Wikipedia, limericks were a bit obscene, but that has changed with the times. The first, second and fifth lines, the longer lines, rhyme. The third and fourth shorter lines rhyme. (A-A-B-B-A) 
Creating a limerick is not that hard. The first line usually introduces a person from a place, the third and forth lines have the comic twist and the last line a conclusion. An easy way to start is to make a list of words that rhyme after you set up the first line. 
Here's an example of a classic limerick by Edward Lear, where the first and last lines rhyme: 
There was a Young Lady whose eyes, 
Were unique as to colour and size; 
When she opened them wide, 
People all turned aside, 
And started away in surprise. 
Here's another example by Lear, where the first and last lines end with the same word: 
There was an Old Person of Dover, 
Who rushed through a field of blue Clover; 
But some very large bees, 
Stung his nose and his knees, 
So he very soon went back to Dover. 
The typical rhythm of a limerick is like this: 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
Let’s see a poem that help explain this better: 
There was an old man from Peru, (A) 
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM 
who dreamed he was eating his shoe. (A) 
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM 
He awoke in the night (B) 
da DUM da da DUM 
with a terrible fright, (B) 
da da DUM da da DUM 
and found out that it was quite true. (A) 
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM 
Here is a simpler way to go about writing a Limerick 
For example, I had wanted to make a poem for my brother, Ted. I made a list of words rhyming with Ted: 
Bed Instead 
Bread Led 
Red Fled 
Read Lead 
Fed Ned 
Dread Wed 
And so on….I put down the first line: 
There was a sweet guy named Ted… (after that it practically wrote itself.) 
Who would rather lead than be led 
Along came Patty 
Ted got a bit batty 
And now he follows instead. 
This is a poem and limericks especially lend themselves to poetic license. 
One of the best poets to use this device was Dr. Seuss. In “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, he talks about how the Grinch was in Cindy Lou Who’s house and he was taking her things. 
“And the Grinch very nimbly 
Stuffed all the presents one by one 
Up the chim-bly” 
Of course the word is chimney. Many times I have my 2nd graders correct me…I simply tell them chimney doesn’t rhyme with nimbly! 
Words-places especially-can be made up to rhyme, as with this limerick (author unknown): 
There once was a girl from Devrizes 
Whose breasts were of 2 different sizes. 
One was small 
And of no use at all 
The other was quite large and won prizes. 
Is Devrizes a place? Who knows but the syllable count and rhyme work! 
The bottom line is - limericks are fun and easy to write. Try it and see! 
COMPILED BY: MOSES S. OLAROTIMI 
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Writers tutorial entry; Limerick and how we write it

LIMERICK AND HOW WE WRITE IT. COMPILED BY: MOSES S. OLAROTIMI A limerick is a poetic form that can be particularly fun to read and to write. Limericks are often humorous, mean-spirited, or pornograph…

02 Nov 2013

Scenerymania entry; Butterfly robbers 2

Muchos Calidad: 
He sat down carrying his wide gapped gob on his 
neck, wearing on a bright look, 
well' he said, ''manners from above is 
descending, 
remove head-dress to embrace it''. 
He stormed into the car, ignited the engine then 
suddenly he stopped, He himself couldn't 
guessed what exactly he's trying to do at that 
time, courageous him, he slammed the trunk 
shut, lock'd the car and directed his gaze 
towards the building as he was equally 
reminiscing 
on some poetic verse which quotes- 
''Slunk i did the earth with my gadding fork, 
tilled the crust for greatness with vim and 
boastful vigour, 
galivanting steadily as our visage seemed hot, 
when you aim a soup of gold in pot, 
and a brunch feast of crystal munch, 
a bloke will strive to loom creamly groom'd, 
adjoin'd being prettily cautious, 
a bulky purse, sweats of post lone moon, 
a winking vault of silver coins against all odds''. 
Blackjesus: 
He held firmly a russian type 9mm luger pistol on 
his left hand, an attending vetenary doctor was 
removing the bullets that managed to pierce 
through his deliquent self, he was trembling with 
dancing lips out of fear,'I I I I.....amm through 
sire', 'are you sure their are no loopholes in the 
treatment served?', scolded Blackjesus, 'yes sir, 
yes sir' he tremulously replied. 
Its now eight o'clock in the morning, he's 
thinking of going back for the money, 'where are 
my guys now? I know they shouldn't have been 
caught, huh!, yeah! The car!...BT-9855', yeah!' 
Thats the number on the plate, i will surely get 
the money back', he was totally sunk in his 
thinking chair, 'is the food ready?' he shouted, 
the cooking via vetenary doctor actually wasn't a 
good cook to start with but in the presence of 
that angel call'd death, many will garnish their 
mums to be spared of their precious but chaos 
filled life. 'Five minutes sir', he replied. Hastily 
with hatred, Blackjesus was looking at him as the 
man excused himself to titrate water waste off 
his body, on entering the comfort station, he 
brought out his phone and dial'd a number, on 
the other end was a coarsed voice that replied, 
'hello, this is area 14 of the state police force, 
how may i help you'....I......'tuuuumb' that's the 
sound of a bullet piercing through his brain, 
standing before his laid figure was Blackjesus 
who pleasurely caressed the trigger of the pistol 
with his left forefinger, he picked up the phone 
and muffled these words into the mouthpiece: 'he 
has done more than heavenly permits, if you dont 
want to perish like him, dont tail me, at my end 
here is a peril point, ha ha ha(he laughed 
sarcastically)'. At the receiver's end was an 
astonished cop afraid of the courageous 
Blackjesus's threat. He quickly pass'd on the 
communication excerpt between them to his 
immediate boss. 
''Dear God, Knockdown the predator that 
devours, 
we the timid prey prays, 
enemy preciously greets, hail the fox-y behaving, 
peace arraigns fear, effort in zilch, 
striving to tackle it, oppression scores in brace, 
anguish 'n' dolor in fresh mint, 
colors of hope we then paint. 
Team A: 
'Code blue' announced the director of area 14, 
we've gotten an intel right away. So easy a job 
was done in tracing the call since it wasn't 
Encrypted. He continued: St. Louisa close, 
mainland, butterfly city, so pepare fifteen 
members of 'A' 
team for the operation. In a blink of an eye, three 
anti crime van were out on the road, the 
vanguard was led by the 'A' team leader in 
person of Officer Michael. 
Muchos calidad: 
Happy him called office off for that morning, his 
bright and embracing visage spouse saw him 
heading back inside and was curious to know 
why he suddenly boycotted the ambition of going 
to work that morning, he said with full 
amazement: Hermione, a thought just chimmed a 
bell in my mind, i think its high time for me to be 
my own boss, i dont think i can do early crows 
job anylonger, tis like i'm fed up, why cant i just 
establish myself. Astonished and dumbfounded 
her stood still fixing her gaze on his, she had 
pledged to support him without questioning, 
come rain, come shine, all the marital vows still 
fresh in her brain as the cojugal ties hasn't 
exceed'd two full moons. She said: Intrinsic, are 
you sure you're doing the right?, 'yes my 
love, would you please come outside and let me 
show you blessings disguising in my trunk?', he 
added. 
Hermione's eyes couldn't believed what she saw 
as amazement cloaked her emotions, sharply she 
retorted: Intrinsic(muchos calidad's nick), are 
you sure you're in your right senses?, we need to 
move out of here immediately, this isn't mannas, 
tis rather the handiwork of men, i can see 
shadows in our trail, everyone else seemed like 
an antagonist coming after these lifes of our two, 
in a matter of time, the owner is coming back for 
it, so a must we should double up'. It's as if two 
opposite charged wires had touched in Calidad's 
inner pate, bewilderment in his eyes as he rushed 
inside then into his workshop, the dame watched 
him in sheer amazement as he brought out a 
spare tyre, a 17-18 wheel spanner and a 
superhydraulic car-jack, he quickly replaced the 
deflated tyre and faced his companion, ' tis like 
we're good to go'. As far as i know, obliging 
Hermione too was a sharp bitch', sitting 
beside Intrinsic as they enjoy'd a smooth drive, 
for almost forty minutes, they whispered nothing 
to one another, both were deep in thought, 
Hermione broke the silence as she asked, 
'Intrinsic, where are we heading to?, 
'an hotel where we shall plan on an absconding 
mission', he replied. 
Itsdenty: 
In a boggy vegetation where liveth majorly 
fishermen, there was an old shack whither in it 
hover'd equal mixture of fishlike aroma and 
sawing dust as the breathing gas for the 
occupants relying on the air space, Itsdenty 
could be seen with the aid of the beams of 
ultraviolet that manouvred their ways in through 
different angles of slit in the horizontally laid 
planks used in constructing the shack. He woke 
up with bandage around his left shoulder, he 
yawn'd as tears ringed his sight, the first thing 
that came to his mind was the money, last grace 
he did for the group was hidding a tracker on the 
money bags, so anywhere the money might be 
carried too, the location would easily be traced. 
'Is anyone out their, he yelled, a rough, rugged 
looking man appear'd to him, he continued; who 
are you? The man displaying a wry face of partial 
ire answered while squeezing it, i'm Israel', 'Why 
is your face wrinkled, do you want me to iron it 
out for you? Jokingly Itsdenty said, i just need to 
know who you are for helping me and putting me 
here, i meant no harm so i couldn't figure out a 
reason why you should be angry, where am i?', 
'king's port', Israel replied, 'i saw you on the bank 
yesternight while you've passed out, so i brought 
you in, removed the bullet in you and dress'd 
your wound when i realized you're still a living 
thing.' 
'Oh! Obrigado my dear, gracias, i really 
appreciate your kind gesture, ehmmmm please i 
need you to continue the good work by getting 
me a computer system, be it a laptop or desktop, 
Itsdenty stressed.' 'Hmmmmmmmm, you'll have 
to wait till evening time before i can assure you of 
one, Israel replied.' 
A snag didst occured few seconds later has 
booming sound shrilled the environment and it 
polluted the surrounding air, the noise was 
drawing nearer as you can easily hear the 
sentiments of the approaching mob, they were 
few men, all nine in number, they were coming to 
destroy Israel who seems to be the fish friend on 
the sea, fishes and sharks always love to clamp 
inside his net, and his shack is always full of 
kinds of fishes, Many has approach'd him to 
share his super technique with them for a 
ransom but Israel had nothing to tell them, now 
they harbored the believe that he is a kind of 
wizard who is having a coquetting affair with a 
water goddess and thats why the evil wench had 
been generous to him alone. Israel cried out, 
'please tis like end has come for me, you need to 
find your way now', Itsdenty smiled, 'let them 
come 
he said, i will show you who your visitor is', 
'really? his face lightened up a bit, An elephant- 
like 
pate guy kicked the wooden door opened, 
through which they marched in, they 
were all holding weapons of different kinds, Israel 
was shivering trying to figure out in his brain the 
first word of our lords prayer in the bible, my 
father...no!...my mother who sat in 
heaven..uuuurgh! No!..he consistently stuttered. 
Itsdenty spoke out, 'hey you quarterwitted big 
headed guy, are you crazy? You wanna break 
that door or what? Huh?' 
They looked at 
eachother and laughed aloud, hahahahahaha, 
Itdenty cut in again as he scolded, 'shut up!' 
these two words ran a deep chasm has it shook 
their spine, seeing him has a one handed fellow 
made them laugh and now the audacity he had 
to yelled at them really woke their angst, they 
charged at once against him, he ducked blows 
and graced punches in series on their faces, 
giving many bruises while he was unscathed, 
they were filled with surprises as they ran away. 
Hormobah: 
This fat-neck'd guy with a wounded right hand 
woke up on an executive bed in a furnished room 
designed with premium arts of best in the 
country. 
Last night, as he stagger'd through the rough 
untarred road to the doorstep of this admirable 
detached duplex, he knocked thrice on the door, 
the last he saw was a boy that appeared before 
him before he pass'd out. 
About half of an hour afterwards, he woke up and 
overheard a doctor who seemed to have just 
concluded a treatment session on him is 
admonishing the family to inform the law 
enforcers about their unwanted guest. The head 
of Thompsin's family reached for the receiver to 
dial the police office as Hormobah sprang up 
from his bed and thrusted the surgery knife with 
which the doctor used in removing the bullet in 
him towards Mr. Thompsin and his throat was 
slitted by it, his wife scream'd as their two kids 
fainted, the doctor couldn't move, he dashed 
towards the doctor and twisted his neck in the 
anticlockwise after which he sent Mrs. 
Thompson forth to heaven as well. 
The fainted kids were tied to the dinning chair 
while he taped their mouth, even if suddenly they 
stirr'd back to life, they wont be able to shout for 
help, he went back to bed and enjoy'd a 
wonderful dream ride. 
The kids has already woken up, tears soaked 
their sleeves as if they've been drenched in rain, 
Hormobah felt pity but the dead ones were too 
dangerous to be spared of their lives, he couldn't 
risk being caught at the expense of being nice. 
He told them, 'sorry kids, i cant keep your 
parents alive, i know i did a very wrong thing but 
i've gat no choice, you're allow'd to come back 
for your revenge in the future, when you're man 
enough'. They hid their gaze in his has he 
removed the tape covering their mouth and 
walked out of the house. 
Wahid: 
After crawling out of his car in the depth of the 
sea, he was too exhausted to swim through to 
the bank, he passed out along the line, a group 
of merchants on a voyage rescued him has they 
headed towards north of the globe. One of them 
has heard about night fish hunting and thought 
of it amazing, he threw the line with a crayfish 
bait hoping to lure big fishes but Wahid grabbed 
the rope as his last hope and the hunter thought 
he already had a big catch, he couldn't pull it all 
by himself, so many were ready to help out of 
gluttonous intents, to their surprise it was a man 
pull'd up and not a fish, angry many felt so 
disappointed to the extent that they were never 
ready to check out if he's alive or truly dead, 
many agreed he was dead so push him back 
please, they chorused, it was the hunter that 
gave him the first aid and revived him. On waking 
up the following morning, he saw so many people 
on the yatch, they were moving towards the 
north, he couldn't buy that idea, he was weak as 
well, he thought for some minute then he decided 
to take control of the yatch. The yatch 
comprised of eight cabin, each with five bunks 
each, all should be up to thirty five men on the 
ship. Many were bickering while drinking rum, 
many were having amorous display with an 
opposite sex, he rush'd to the store and picked 
one thin but thick iron rod and an 
'english' (cowboys' pistol) he went to the sailor's 
cabin and smashed the rod on his head 
unnoticed. He moved on silently and killed so 
many people standing isolated by smacking, 
smashing or turning of their necks, he entered the 
main hall where all voyagers were bickering, 
'stouting and suyaing', and spray'd bullets 
amidst them killing all, now he has taken over 
the ghost ship and he's in full control, he headed 
the ship back towards butterfly city, he shouted, 
'this is where i belong'. 
To be continued......
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Scenerymania entry; Butterfly robbers 2

Muchos Calidad: He sat down carrying his wide gapped gob on his neck, wearing on a bright look, well' he said, ''manners from above is descending, remove head-dress to embrace it''. He stormed into t…

02 Nov 2013

Writer's tutorial entry; make your story plausible and your character real

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If you want your character to do 
something unusual, do it yourself . 
Otherwise, you will never be able to convey - 
convincingly - how the experience looks, feels, 
hears, smells or tastes to the character. True, 
you might not wish, personally, to flee a drug- 
crazed axman or abseil one-handed down the 
Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. But if it’s do-able, 
do it. 
When I wanted my character to rescue a heron snarled high in an ancient elm, I scaled my plum tree. 
After ten feet, my hair was thick with dust, 
leaves, and insects. (I had never realised how 
dusty tree bark can become in dry weather.) 
My trousers grew green with mould and I 
became massively perforated like St 
Bartholomew with little twigs. 
Of course, I then got stuck. (Branches are never 
as close to hand in real life as they are in 
fiction.) My wife had to rescue me with the 
window cleaner's ladder. 
On another occasion, I needed a thief to climb 
an old staircase with a lantern in his hand. So I 
did exactly that. I found it was necessary to 
step on the inside of the stairwell to avoid 
telltale creaking noises and to breathe very 
slowly (ditto). I also had to tread on the balls of 
my feet (ditto) and to balance myself on the 
banister by my left elbow. (I didn’t want to 
leave tell-tale finger marks.) 
Have you ever dragged yourself across an 
attic floor, gibbering? 
In a different tale, I was minded to have my 
protagonist explore the eaves of an old castle 
in search of dark family secrets. Luckily, I live in an old house. So I dragged myself across a blanket of 18th century dust. My knee went through one of the 
ceiling planks. Below it, I found an orange - 
perhaps the lunch of some bygone builder. The 
orange was entirely hollow. Its inside had 
withered away to leave only a perfect 
mummified shell. 
It nicely symbolised my fictional family - 
immaculate before the gaze of the world but 
rotten within. 
You can't make these details up. You have to discover them. 
So if a detective finds the full mark of a flat foot 
on a dusty stair, I realized, it had probably been 
put there for a deceptive purpose. Because 
people typically climb stairs on the balls of their 
feet. 
All these little points of observation found their 
way into my story. 
When historical novelist Elizabeth Chadwick 
sets her stories in medieval castles, she visits 
them - with camera, notebook and tape 
measure in hand. If she tells you that her hero 
in 1395 wriggled out of a kitchen window of 
Ludlow Castle that was exactly 15 inches wide, 
16 feet above the courtyard and ten paces from 
the main gate, you can trust her. She’s 
measured it. 
That’s one reason she has a loyal readership. 
Apparently, some readers make a point of 
visiting the locations of her novels, just to 
check her measurements! 
Don’t imagine it. Do it. Walk your story, so far 
as sanity permits. And readers will then believe 
you - and your story. 
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Writer's tutorial entry; make your story plausible and your character real

If you want your character to do something unusual, do it yourself . Otherwise, you will never be able to convey - convincingly - how the experience looks, feels, hears, smells or tastes to the chara…

02 Nov 2013

Writer's tutorial entry: Haiku and how we write it

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USE SENSORY LANGUAGE 
(6) Describe the details. Haiku are comprised of 
details observed by the five senses. The poet 
witnesses an event and uses words to compress 
that experience so others may understand it in 
some way. Once you have chosen a subject for 
your haiku, 
(7) think about what details you want to 
describe. Call the subject to mind and explore 
these questions 
• What did you notice about the subject? What 
colors, textures, and contrasts did you observe? 
• How did the subject sound? What was the tenor 
and volume of the event that took place? 
• Did it have a smell, or a taste? How can you 
accurately describe the way it felt? 
(8) Show, don't tell. Haiku are about moments of 
objective experience, not subjective interpretation 
or analysis of those events. It's important to 
show the reader something true about the 
moment's existence, rather than telling the reader 
what emotions it conjured in you.[5] Let the 
reader feel his or her own emotions in reaction to 
the image. 
o Use understated subtle imagery. For instance, 
instead of saying it's summer, focus on the slant 
of the sun or the heavy air. 
o Don't use cliches. Lines that readers recognize, 
such as "dark, stormy night," tend to lose their 
power over time. Think through the image you 
want to describe and use inventive, original 
language to convey meaning. This doesn't mean 
you should use a thesaurus to find words that 
aren't commonly used; rather, simply write about 
what you saw and want to express in the truest 
language you know. 
ABOVE ALL 
Be inspired 
Practice a lot 
Communicate with other poets. 
ADDITIONAL TIPS: 
• Haiku has been called "unfinished" poetry 
because each one requires the reader to finish it 
in his or her heart. 
• Contemporary haiku poets may write poems 
that are just a short fragment with three or fewer 
words. 
• A Haiku doesn't always need to rhyme. 
• Haiku originated from haikai no renga, a 
collaborative group poem that is usually one 
hundred verses in length. The hokku, or starting 
verse, of renga collaborations indicated the 
season and also contained a cutting word. The 
haiku as its own form of poetry continues in this 
tradition. 
Sample Love Haiku 
• Refreshing and cool, 
love is a sweet summer rain 
that washes the world. 
• Love is like winter 
Warm breaths thaw cold hearts until 
one day the spring comes 
• A bird flies sweetly 
on paper wings. Telling all 
of my love for you. 
• Every day I will 
love you more than you could know. 
We are here as one. 
• The softest whisper 
beckons me closer to you. 
I love you, dearest. 
• Vast as a mountain, 
my love for you shines through for 
all the world to see. 
Sample Funny Haiku 
• One shark said to the 
other when eating a clown 
fish: this tastes funny. 
• The bartender said 
to the neutron, “For you, sir, 
there will be no charge.” 
• A question for you: 
Where does Washington keep his 
armies? His sleevies. 
• An octopus went 
off to war. It’s a good thing 
that he was well-armed. 
• A wise man once asked, 
“Why, pray tell, is the sand wet?” 
Because the sea weed. 
• The best way to carve 
wood is extremely slowly, 
whittle by whittle. 
Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi 
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Writer's tutorial entry: Haiku and how we write it

USE SENSORY LANGUAGE (6) Describe the details. Haiku are comprised of details observed by the five senses. The poet witnesses an event and uses words to compress that experience so others may underst…

27 Oct 2013

Writers tutorial entry; how to craft a real fictional word

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When we craft a fictional world for a 
commercial readership, the reader wants to 
believe in our world and mentally ‘live’ in it. The 
novelist Clara Reeve made this point as long 
ago as 1785. 
‘The perfection of [the novel] is to 
represent every scene, in so easy and 
natural a manner ... until we are affected 
by the joys or distresses of the persons in 
the story, as if they were our own.’ 
For example, if you want your character to take 
a bus from Leighton Buzzard to arrive before 
her Luton office opens at 8am, use a real 
timetable. ‘She jumped on the 6.55am Arriva 
and it brought her to Luton at 
7.44am, with just enough time to buy a 
newspaper.’ 
Yes, there is such a bus! If you invented it, 
some reader would be sure to spot the error, 
discard your story in disgust and possibly chide 
you in a web forum. (Before you mention it, the 
photo at right does not depict an Arriva bus.) 
But if you are verifiably correct in all your 
minutiae (even a bus timetable), such tiresome 
pedants will not only indulge your Big Lie - the 
story itself. They may also, in admiration, buy 
everything else you’ve written . 
Authors have used this trick since classical 
times to give their stories credibility. Both 
Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid built 
fables around a real city - Troy. The fiction of 
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales cites the real 
roads and wayside inns of 14th century Kent. 
James Joyce consulted Thom’s Dublin 
Directory to find a real Dublin house - vacant 
in 1904 - where he could lodge the fictive 
Bloom and Molly of Ulysses . And so on. 
Problem: It’s easy to research a place we 
know well. But suppose our story is set in a 
location - say Santo Domingo (to take a 
random example) - that we can’t easily visit? 
How can we still discover those little details of 
local colour that are so trivial they are not 
mentioned in guide books - but which are so 
accurate they will convince a Santo Domingo 
shopkeeper that we live next door to him? 
Solution: find the place on Google Maps and 
YouTube! 
The highly respectable poet, Prof Grevel Lindop, 
recently published an enchanting book Travels 
on the Dance Floor . Inexplicably, he 
journeyed around the seediest nightclubs of 
South America - at the age of 61 and by himself 
- to dance the salsa. When back in England 
and writing up his notes, he discovered he had 
forgotten some details of his nocturnal forays. 
(Strange, that.) 
So he did a keyword search on YouTube. He 
discovered amateur videos. They had been 
shot in those very bars, clubs and dancehalls 
where he had sashayed away the night. They 
gave him the local colour to put in his book. 
‘Thank heavens,’ (he must have thought) ‘I 
can’t blame the tequila. There is a pink 
elephant hanging from the ceiling at La 
Sarten! ’ 
(And there really is. I've just found it on 
YouTube.) 
Seriously, YouTube - and other video and 
‘virtual tourist’ sites - offer us powerful ways to 
populate our stories with intriguing minutiae. 
They convince because they’re true . We’ve 
been there. And all without the expense of 
travel (or tequila)! 
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Writers tutorial entry; how to craft a real fictional word

When we craft a fictional world for a commercial readership, the reader wants to believe in our world and mentally ‘live’ in it. The novelist Clara Reeve made this point as long ago as 1785. ‘The per…

19 Oct 2013

Poet's corner entry; phoenix on hellish isle

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phoenix on hellish aisle.. 
Since tommorow worries had been an occupant, 
that fogged my mind's sight as it seems bleary, 
parallel i couldn't breathe, it's a hell in the pant, 
i ducked peril throws as it advanced fiercely, 
a fixture was drawn betwixt me and my heart 
grants, 
conjugating success, achievements ovary also 
was hairy, 
so i pull'd the last strand of hair; Godly warrants, 
all the way thither has made the body certainly 
weary. 
.......... 
Slunk i did the earth with my garden fork, 
tilled the crust for greatness with vim and 
boastful vigour, 
galivanting steadily as our visage seemed hot, 
when you aimed a soup of gold in pot, 
and a brunch feast of crystal munch, 
a bloke will strive to loom creamly groom'd, 
adjoin'd being prettily cautious, 
a bulky purse, sweats of post lone moon, 
a winking vault of silver coins against all odds. 
....... 
Slewing at rear crews running to catch up, 
their crows rang as it screeched on my guts, 
many rare events whilst hopelessness is 
obvious, 
i'm clearing that path for you, please hang on, 
without the chase their wont be a why for me to 
move on. 
....... 
Shrilled was my haste to kill these gods, 
slay their hearts and taste their bloods, 
visible lords spanking inviscible flogs, 
sharks of wraths, of frauds, of fugitive words. 
I've planted revenge in my heart deep sore ruts, 
the very one your evil doings habitating within 
has formed, 
in this heart i etched the sentiments of thy 
wrongs, 
it makes me dogmatic and fiery, like a tunnel 
vision, like an arch-demon, 
unleashing our humdinger fistful thrust in their 
unruly mob, 
carnivores clamped with diamond studded claws, 
varying reptiles of sulphuric hoarded venoms, 
all to tussle this impiety at war front, 
favourably safer shall be our future throng. 
......... 
Seeing this phoenix would thread on hellish aisle, 
rebirth in heap of ashes on funeral pyre, 
piercing daggers flow in lyrics of lyre, 
a spasm of 'minax', a thou of eyes for an eye, 
all milords should wear their soul greaves, 
these hiccups easily wont be mimed, 
i hail'd my rabbi's grit, that voiced through his 
words dried, 
he shalt scour'd theft with special smelted 
spears till traces died, 
morale of his like had built a fortress in my mind, 
and I shall step on every footprints he left 
behind. 
....... 
Stronger my helm has smeared proves, 
as i resist their libels with diamond slanderproof, 
they hurt their tendon while marking mine 
Achilles heels, 
quaking hoofprints, greater than horse' is my 
hooves, 
i will pay in ducats of grief and ruled this 
dukedom as it's my fief. 
This tufted ears show my ambition as i 
chameleon'd a lynx, 
my womb host plunged me in a sacred ocean 
greater than 'River Styx', 
think never these heels as my from-birth effetes, 
this kid is kinda invulnerable, no abscess in his 
wish. 
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Poet's corner entry; phoenix on hellish isle

phoenix on hellish aisle.. Since tommorow worries had been an occupant, that fogged my mind's sight as it seems bleary, parallel i couldn't breathe, it's a hell in the pant, i ducked peril throws as …

18 Oct 2013

Writers tutorial entry, How to write haiku

HAIKU AND HOW WE WRITE IT. (PART ONE) 
Compiled By: MOSES S. ROTIMI 
(1) Know the sound structure of Haiku. 
Japanese Haiku traditionally consist of 17 on, or 
sounds, divided into three phrases: 5 sounds, 7 
sounds, and 5 sounds. English poets interpreted 
on as syllables. Haiku poetry has evolved over 
time, and most poets no longer adhere to this 
structure, in either Japanese or English; modern 
Haiku may have more than 17 sounds or as few 
as one. 
When you're deciding how many sounds or 
syllables to use in your Haiku, refer to the 
Japanese idea that the Haiku should be able to 
be expressed in one breath. In English, that 
usually means the poem will be 10 to 14 
syllables long. 
(2) Use Haiku to juxtapose two ideas. 
The Japanese word kiru, which means "cutting," 
expresses the notion that Haiku should always 
contain two juxtaposed ideas. The two parts are 
grammatically independent, and they are usually 
imagistically distinct as well. 
• Japanese haiku are commonly written on one 
straight line, with juxtaposed ideas separated by 
a kireji, or cutting word, that helps define the 
ideas in relation to each other. The kireji usually 
appears at the end of one of the sound phrases. 
There is no direct English translation of the kireji, 
so it is often translated as a dash. Note the two 
separate ideas in this Japanese haiku by Bashō: 
“how cool the feeling of a wall against the feet — 
siesta”. 
• English haiku are most often written as three 
lines. The juxtaposed ideas (of which there 
should only be two) are "cut" by a line break, 
punctuation, or simply a space. This poem is by 
American poet Lee Gurga: 
fresh scent— 
the labrador's muzzle 
deeper into snow 
CHOOSE A SUBJECT 
(3) Distill a poignant experience. Haiku is 
traditionally focused on details of one's 
environment that relate to the human condition. 
• Japanese poets traditionally used haiku to 
capture and distill a fleeting natural image, such 
as a frog jumping into a pond, rain falling onto 
leaves, or a flower bending in the wind. Many 
people go for walks just to find new inspiration 
for their poetry, known in Japan as ginkgo walks. 
• Contemporary haiku may stray from nature as a 
subject. Urban environments, emotions, 
relationships and even humorous topics may be 
haiku subjects. 
(4) Include a seasonal reference. 
A reference to the season or changing of the 
seasons, referred to in Japanese as kigo, is an 
essential element of haiku. The reference may be 
obvious, as in using a word like "spring" or 
"autumn" to indicate the season, or it might be 
subtler. Example: poem by Fukuda Chiyo-ni: 
morning glory! 
the well bucket-entangled, 
I ask for water 
(5) Create a subject shift. 
In keeping with the idea that haiku should 
contain two juxtaposed ideas, shift the 
perspective on your chosen subject so that your 
poem has two parts. For example, you could 
focus on the detail of an ant crawling on a log, 
then juxtapose that image with an expansive 
view of the whole forest, or the season the ant is 
currently inhabiting. The juxtaposition gives the 
poem a deeper metaphorical meaning than it 
would have if it were a simple, single-planed 
description. 
Sample Nature Haiku 
• An afternoon breeze 
expels cold air, along with 
the fallen brown leaves. 
• Cherry blossoms bloom, 
softly falling from the tree, 
explode into night. 
• The warmth on my skin. 
Fire falls beneath the trees. 
I see the sun set. 
• Summer here again. 
Music plays sweetly, drifting. 
And life is renewed. 
• A winter blanket 
covers the Earth in repose 
but only a dream 
• An ocean voyage. 
As waves break over the bow, 
the sea welcomes me. 
Compiled by: MOSES S. ROTIMI
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Writers tutorial entry, How to write haiku

HAIKU AND HOW WE WRITE IT. (PART ONE) Compiled By: MOSES S. ROTIMI (1) Know the sound structure of Haiku. Japanese Haiku traditionally consist of 17 on, or sounds, divided into three phrases: 5 sounds…

18 Oct 2013

Thesaurus entry; sadness

Sadness is the wonderful emotion that helps 
you let go of things that aren’t working 
anyway. Most of us avoid sadness as if it is 
the thing that created the loss in the first 
place. It isn’t. In its healthy sate, sadness is 
evoked by the fact that you need to let go of 
something. Listening to sadness can help you 
let go of things that don’t work so that you 
can make room for things that do. 
The internal questions to ask for sadness are: 
What must be released? and What must be 
rejuvenated? Remember to ask both 
questions; sadness is not just about loss. 
Sadness clears away things that don’t work 
so that you can make changes in your life 
and make room for things that do work. 
Let’s organize some vocabulary to help you 
welcome the gifts that sadness brings you. I separate sadness into Sadness, 
Despair, Despondence, Grief, and 
Depression. These categories are reorganized 
here under the general category of Sadness. 
Soft Sadness 
Regretful ~ Disappointed ~ Disconnected 
~ Distracted ~ Low ~ Listless ~ Wistful 
Mood State Sadness 
Sad ~ World-weary ~ Down ~ Melancholy 
~ Mournful ~ Weepy ~ Grieving ~ Gloomy 
~ Dejected ~ Downtrodden ~ Heavy- 
hearted ~ Forlorn ~ Sorrowful ~ 
Dispirited ~ Discouraged ~ Drained 
Intense Sadness 
Despairing ~ Bleak ~ Despondent ~ 
Depressed ~ Anguished ~ Inconsolable ~ 
Grief-stricken ~ Hopeless ~ Heartbroken 
~ Morose ~ Bereaved 
If you’re in intense sadness, or if your mood- 
state sadness is continuous and repetitive 
(and doesn’t respond to a good cry), it’s 
important to check in with your doctor or 
therapist. Sadness has a powerful physical 
component that drops you downward — and 
if it stays activated for too long, it can 
interfere with sleep, eating, and your 
hormonal regulation — which then leads to 
more sadness and more disregulation. Just 
as it is with any other emotion, sadness 
shouldn’t hang around forever. It should do 
its job and move onward. If it doesn’t, and 
you’re in a constant sadness feedback loop, 
please seek help. 
Note for the grieving: Though grief is 
different from sadness, I’m including it here 
for ease of categorization. However, it is 
quite normal (and healthy) for grief to last a 
much longer time than simple sadness. This 
is because grief arises not merely when you 
need to let something go — grief arises when 
you have no choice about letting go, and 
when you’re losing something over which 
you have no control. Grieving is a slow and 
languid process that takes its own time. 
If you’re grieving, contact your local hospice 
agency for grief support. There, you’ll find support for your grieving process, and you won’t be hurried or shamed out of your honest emotions. Grieving is a 
vitally important process — it’s not the 
opposite of happiness — and it takes its own 
time.
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Thesaurus entry; sadness

Sadness is the wonderful emotion that helps you let go of things that aren’t working anyway. Most of us avoid sadness as if it is the thing that created the loss in the first place. It isn’t. In its h…

17 Oct 2013

Graphical muse tutorial entry; en grisaile

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Painting is about creativity, even as such special mastery of the hue value must be ensured. Value in paintings, designs, or drawings, presents a scale of light - dark hue for each selected colour. It hence helps in giving a painting the virtue of richness and a feel of depth. To be considered is a painting style known as grisaile, a painting which exploit the art of using value to paint exclusively on the grey scale. These sort of paintings can be as beautiful as ever if the artiste is indeed creative. Check the caption image, study it, and see if you can draw, paint, or design using the grisaile technique. Always remember to be creative. Enjoy your day. 
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</div>

Graphical muse tutorial entry; en grisaile

Painting is about creativity, even as such special mastery of the hue value must be ensured. Value in paintings, designs, or drawings, presents a scale of light - dark hue for each selected colour. I…

12 Oct 2013

Writers tutorial entry; how to build subplots from multiple point views

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Multiple viewpoints provide diversion from, and 
contrast to, the protagonist’s perspective. They 
can deepen conflict, enlarge a story’s scope 
and add to a novel the rich texture of real life. 
Subplots carry those effects even further. In our 
workaday world, we do not live in isolation. Our 
lives intersect, collide and overlap. Subplots 
lend the same sense of connectivity to a novel. 
They remind us of our mutual need, our 
inescapable conflicts and our intertwined 
destinies. 
Subplots and multiple points of view are often 
linked by their very natures. When you 
introduce several point-of-view characters in 
your story, you will be presented with the 
choice to create subplots for these characters 
and weave them into the main plot. How many 
secondary characters and subplots you choose 
to create will ultimately affect the pacing and 
structure of your novel. 
Of course, subplots and multiple points of view 
make novels longer and more work, but 
rewards for that effort are there for writer and 
reader alike—that is, if they are successful. 
—By Donald Maass, 
author of The Breakout Novelist 
WHAT MAKES A SUBPLOT SUCCESSFUL? 
Choosing a subplot begins with choosing 
characters with which to work. Who among 
your secondary characters is sufficiently 
sympathetic and faces conflicts that are deep, 
credible, complex and universal enough to be 
worth developing? 
If none are to be found, it might be worthwhile 
to grow some of your secondary characters, 
depending on the nature of your novel. Do you 
intend it to be a sweeping epic? If so you 
certainly will want to construct a cast with 
plenty of subplot potential. Is it a tightly woven, 
intimate exploration of a painful period in one 
character’s life? In that case subplots will only 
pull you and your readers away from the main 
purpose. You may not even want to clutter your 
novel with multiple viewpoints. 
Subplots will not have the desired 
magnification effect unless there are 
connections between them. Thus, the main 
characters in each subplot need to be in 
proximity to one another; that is, they need a 
solid reason to be in the same book. Therefore, 
in searching for subplots, I recommend first 
looking to those characters already in the main 
character’s life: family, classmates, friends and 
so forth. 
One of the most difficult subplot tricks to pull off 
involves creating story lines for two characters 
who at first have no connection whatsoever, 
then merging those plotlines. For some reason, 
this structure is particularly attractive to 
beginning novelists. While such a feat can be 
pulled off, again and again I find that novices 
fail to bring their plotlines together quickly 
enough. Beginners often feel the need to 
present scenes from each plotline in strict 
rotation, whether or not there is a necessity for 
them. The result is a manuscript laden with 
low-tension action. 
A second requirement of subplots is that they 
each affect the outcome of the main plotline. 
Subplots widen the scope of the novel’s action, 
but if that is all they do, then, once again, the 
result is likely a sluggish volume. 
A third quality of successful subplots is that 
they range. In 19th-century sagas this often 
meant ranging high and low over the strata of 
society, from princesses to beggars, from the 
palace to the gutter. Social scale is a bit harder 
to pull off today. More helpful, I think, is to 
portray a variety of experience. Your setting 
may be restricted to one milieu, but ranging 
over that milieu in all its aspects will enrich the 
world of your novel. 
HOW MANY SUBPLOTS IS TOO MANY? 
Novels swimming in subplots can feel diffuse. 
Two or three major subplots are about all that 
even the long- 
est quest fantasies can contain. With more 
than three subplots, it becomes difficult to 
sustain reader involvement. Focus is too 
shattered. Sympathy is torn in too many 
directions. 
Readers of overcrowded novels frequently 
complain, “It was hard to keep the characters 
straight.” That is often due to the author’s 
failure to maintain strong character delineation. 
Great saga writers have a gift for creating large 
and varied casts, but it is a rare author who 
can make more than 20 characters highly 
individual and distinct. In truth, only giant 
sagas need that many characters. Novels 
begin to take on breakout expansiveness with 
little more than two points of view and as few 
as one or, possibly, two subplots. 
Proof of this can be found in some of our era’s 
greatest sagas. James Clavell’s 1975 
blockbuster Shōgun is a doorstop of a novel, 
almost 1,200 pages in paperback. It is a 
massive and immensely detailed journey 
through feudal Japan. Scores of characters 
appear, many of them with points of view. For 
all its heft, though, there are really only two 
principal points of view: John Blackthorne, the 
shipwrecked English pilot-major who saves the 
life of powerful daimyo Toranaga, and the 
beautiful and courageous married woman with 
whom Blackthorne falls in love, Mariko. Even 
so, most of the book belongs to Blackthorne. 
Similarly, Larry McMurtry’s 1985 sprawling 
cattle-drive of a novel, Lonesome Dove, tells 
dozens of colorful tales—of cowboys, 
prostitutes, swindlers and such—but without a 
doubt the novel’s primary focus is cattleman 
Augustus McCrae. James Jones’ gigantic 1951 
epic of World War II, From Here to Eternity, is 
built around just two men, Pvt. Robert E. Lee 
Prewitt and 1st Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden; 
this in a novel that fills 860 pages in its current 
trade paperback edition. 
What these master storytellers know is that a 
large-scale story is nevertheless still just a 
story. Overcomplicate it and you lose the 
essential simplicity of narrative art. Readers 
identify primarily with one strong, sympathetic 
central character; it is that character’s destiny 
about which they most care. Have you ever 
skimmed ahead in a novel to find the next 
scene involving your favorite character? Then 
you know what I mean. Enrich your novel with 
multiple viewpoints, but keep subplots to a 
minimum. 
The subplots you do include should absolutely 
amplify themes running through the main 
plotline. They should be supportive, not wholly 
separate. How can you be sure the subplots in 
your novel are doing their jobs? Here is where 
your purpose in writing your novel needs to be 
clear in your mind. Most authors launch into 
their manuscripts without giving any thought to 
theme. Breakout novelists, on the other hand, 
generally are writing for a reason. They have 
something to say. You cannot fully grasp the 
relationship of your subplots to your main plot 
until you know what they are really all about. 
If you do not know—if, say, you are an organic 
writer—then perhaps it is best not to plan 
subplots but simply allow multiple points of 
view into your story, then see which points of 
view grow into subplots. (In fact, it is not 
uncommon for organic writers to find that a 
minor story line has mushroomed out of control 
and has become their novel’s main plot.) 
Finally, it is worth repeating that not all novels 
need subplots. There are, for instance, a great 
many point-of-view characters in John 
Grisham’s The Partner. Yet out of perhaps a 
dozen major points of view, no character other 
than Patrick Lanigan has a truly separate story 
line. The entire novel is built around the 
desperation of this runaway lawyer with $90 
million in stolen money. Everyone else in the 
novel either supports him or tries to tear him 
down. 
The Partner feels like it is elaborately plotted, 
but in reality its structure is simple: It is about a 
man digging himself out of the worst 
imaginable trouble. To be sure, there are 
endless complications, but The Partner has no 
true subplots. 
It is perfectly possible to write a breakout novel 
from the protagonist’s perspective alone. So 
how do you know whether to include a 
particular subplot or let it drop? The answer lies 
in a subplot’s contribution to the overall novel. 
Is it mere diversion, as in the oft-attempted- 
but-rarely- successful “comic relief” subplot? If 
so, it should be cut. 
On the other hand, if it complicates, bears 
upon, or mirrors or reverses the main plot, then 
it adds value. 
None of the techniques I am talking about are 
easy. Adding subplots multiplies the work 
involved in writing a novel. But it can also 
multiply the rewards, both for the reader and 
the writer. Think big. It pays off in many ways. 
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</div>

Writers tutorial entry; how to build subplots from multiple point views

Multiple viewpoints provide diversion from, and contrast to, the protagonist’s perspective. They can deepen conflict, enlarge a story’s scope and add to a novel the rich texture of real life. Subplot…

11 Oct 2013

Musical muse tutorial entry; 10 tips to help maintain your voice

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Some people spend hours at the gym or 
pounding the pavement to keep their bodies in 
shape. But beyond singers and actors, who 
worries much about their voices? 
You should, say Norman Hogikyan and 
colleagues at the University of Michigan 
Health System. 
"Your voice is your ambassador to the outside 
world," Hogikyan contends. "It portrays your 
personality and emotions. People make 
assessments about you based on your voice, 
so it is very important when you're speaking or 
singing to think about what people are really 
hearing. Problems with your voice also can 
have a tremendous impact on your life." 
According to the American 
Academy of Otolaryngology. 
Hogikyan and colleagues have put together 
the following 10 tips to help keep your voice in 
shape: 
1. Drink water to keep your body well 
hydrated, and avoid alcohol and caffeine. Your 
vocal cords vibrate very fast, and having a 
proper water balance helps keep them 
lubricated. Important note: Foods containing 
large amounts of water are excellent 
hydration-conscious snacks, including apples, 
pears, watermelon, peaches, melons, grapes, 
plums, bell peppers and applesauce. 
2. Allow yourself several "vocal naps" every 
day, especially during periods of extended use. 
For instance, teachers should avoid speaking 
during the breaks between classes and find 
quiet ways to spend the lunch hour rather than 
talking in a noisy staff room with colleagues. 
3. Don't smoke, or if you already do, quit. 
Smoking raises the risk of throat cancer 
tremendously, and inhaling smoke (even 
secondhand smoke) can irritate the vocal 
cords. 
4. Don't abuse or misuse your voice. Avoid 
yelling or screaming, and try not to talk loudly 
in noisy areas. If your throat feels dry or tired, 
or your voice is getting hoarse, reduce your 
voice use. The hoarseness is a warning sign 
that your vocal cords are irritated. 
5. Keep your throat and neck muscles relaxed 
even when singing high notes and low notes. 
Some singers tilt their heads up when singing 
high notes and down when singing low notes. 
"The high notes are on the ceiling and the low 
notes are on the floor," Rosenberg says. "Over 
time, you'll pay for that"—not just with strained 
vocal muscles but also by causing future limits 
on the vocal range. 
6. Pay attention to how you speak every day. 
Even performers who have good singing habits 
can cause damage when they speak. Many 
skilled singers don't continue their healthy 
habits when they speak; indeed, says Herseth, 
"many people—including singers—should have 
much more breath flow when they speak." 
7. Don't clear your throat too often. When you 
clear your throat, it's like slamming your vocal 
cords together. Doing it too much can injure 
them and make you hoarse. Try a sip of water 
or swallow to quench the urge to clear. If you 
feel like you have to clear your throat a lot, get 
checked by a doctor for such things as acid 
reflux disease, or allergy and sinus conditions. 
8. When you're sick, spare your voice. Don't 
talk when you're hoarse due to a cold or 
infection. Listen to what your voice is telling 
you. 
9. When you have to speak publicly, to large 
groups or outdoors, think about using 
amplification to avoid straining your voice. 
10. Humidify your home and work areas. 
Remember, moist is good for the voice. 
Further, warming up the voice is not just for 
singers, the researchers say. Think of it like 
stretching and loosening up before exercise. 
Easy, daily warm-ups for your voice: 
1. Do lip or tongue trills in the morning (try it in 
the shower or on your drive to work) to 
facilitate better use of airflow and breath. 
2. Perform gentle humming and cooing to 
warm up your voice in the morning. 
3. If you do more vocally complex warm-ups 
too, such as vocal scales, do the simple 
warm-ups first. 
4. Repeat these exercises throughout the day 
to reduce muscular tension in the neck, 
shoulders and jaw. 
5. At the end of the day, perform a cool-down 
of the voice with similar vocal tasks. 
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Musical muse tutorial entry; 10 tips to help maintain your voice

Some people spend hours at the gym or pounding the pavement to keep their bodies in shape. But beyond singers and actors, who worries much about their voices? You should, say Norman Hogikyan and coll…

10 Oct 2013

Scenerymania entry; Predator and prey part 2

The feast I had with Oduduwa was a wonderful one, but like I promised the rest of the events shouldn’t be hidden from you. So the hefty men continued, carrying a Falade oblivious of what his crimes are. They walked through endless paths until they reached an abandoned hut in the middle of a forest. There they dropped him like a bag of filled sack. The men left him still tied and gagged, they only slid the blind fold just over is moon so he could see. He saw them leave and for a long time nothing actually happened. Then later they return with a man, the man asked them to untie him and sit him down. Falade sat looking at the man, “Sir! I don’t seem to know you. How on earth have I wronged you?” 
The man let out an annoyingly long chortle that echoed through the huge forest, “You of all people shouldn’t ask me that question, don’t you know me.” 
“Sir, I don’t know you. Please how have I wronged you. I know I haven’t wronged so many people in my life, and even if I had, It shouldn’t be as terrible as to warrant being kidnapped. That is why I need you more than not to tell me my crimes. The man now drew out his own chair, faced Falade and said, 
“I remember six months ago you revealed to your people that you had a dream that says that people should stop buying maize grains that come from the west that they are the major cause of the diarrhea that has been affecting your people for a long time. I being the greatest farmer from the west felt the greatest impact of your revelation as your people stopped buying maize grains from me. Now your being here means, you are going to spend a month with us as a warning so that when you return back home you’ll reverse your revelation, because if we grab you like this again. You might just disappear forever you know.” 
“Falade was more shocked by the man’s words than scared. He wouldn’t imagine the little help he rendered for his people being his own headache. “Sir, I wouldn’t know how to reverse this to my people, since I made that revelation, the diarrhea incidence among my people has drastically reduced. However to go back there and tell them to resume buying maize grain from the west might not be a welcomed idea.” 
“Mr Falade, I don’t care how you do it. Just ensure your people resume buying grains from me.” 
“I won’t do that, my spirit even tells me it is your grains that specifically caused the diarhoea.” 
“Mr Falade we shall see about that, just know you’ll be eating a great deal of the grains, durinh your stay with us.” 
“And if I don’t?” 
“Believe me you won’t have any choice.” 
The man gave his men the nod and they strapped Falade to his chair and left him there to rest. 
The six hunters on the kings’ team laid at the feet a big tree; resting. It was late in the evening and the deep gloom that now ruled the green environment was quite intimidating.  The men were utterly rough and exhausted; they swept through a large part of the forest and couldn’t even find a trace of the lion. While the others rested, Rali stood guard and looked out for trouble. Night crawled upon them gently, and the crescent moon that hung on the star-lit sky wouldn’t help as it sullen darkness kept the forest cryptic. The voices of the nights then joined in, the owls, frogs, crickets and other nocturnal noisemakers voiced out and their sounds reverberated all through the dark forest. Then towards midnight, with their camp fire slowly losing its strength and a wearied Raji about to summon his replacement; a roar erupted further down the forest. Every of the sleeping men were jeered back into consciousness and even though they saw not what roared, they so knew what did. They right then knew where their journey should take them the next day. So when cock crewed the men held tight their weapons, and they then headed south towards the sound source. As they advanced, they notice a thinning in the denseness of the forest. Fewer trees now existed replaced by the forage plants. The men further advanced until they found themselves in the middle of a rough terrain, the place was much bare with only patches of copses here and there; until they opened into a strange remoteness. This place was like a little spring surrounded by low highlands. The place was like a strange abandoned Eden, the lion evolved from a little cavern that sunk into the southern end of the highlands. The lion charged at the men, and they were so prepared for him that recurrent shots was fired at him, a combination of Dane gunshots, arrows and then spears. The lion dropped dead before it could actually strike down any of the men. The lion lay dead, its blood dripping into the thin spring creating a tiny stream of red. The men then went further into the cavern to check out if anymore lion hides within; however they only discovered an ancient cave of medieval witchcraft and idolatrousness. So they left the place making sure they carried with them the dead lion. At nightfall they were already back in their village with the village men welcoming them with chants of appraisals. The men headed to the king’s palace where they were rewarded and designated but when mid-night fell the worse actually occurred. The men unknowingly as they entered the tavern had violated the sanctity of the sacred place and the bounded evil spirits there within were given the freedom to roam the forests and free to roam beyond. So they found it easy to discover the little village and they ventured into it, ready to damn some more living souls. So that mid-night, the night shook with scary strange sounds, many a man were forced to  venture out to check out what went wrong, others were too scared to so they locked themselves in their homes waiting for the morning to come to their rescue. It was a long night and when finally morning came. Many bodies laid plagued, half dead half alive, on the dusty grounds of the village. The bodies were covered in dusty grimes and were only left with feeble heart beats. The king rose, toured through his land to evaluate the havoc that befell his people. He commanded his guards to collect the plagued bodies and carry them to the town most skilled medicine men. The medicine men were, baffled by the alienage of the disease. They couldn’t proffer any solution. They therefore reported their dead ends to the king who, out of frustration at not knowing what else to do remembered Falade’s warning. Now he wished he had listened to him. He commanded his messenger to summon Falade for him. Falade however was not found, he was unavailable and that further heightened the fear in the mind of the king. Night was rapidly approaching and the villagers knew soon, another session of horror begins. So they all made sure they were inside their homes even before nightfall and they all bolted up. Unlike the previous night, immediately night came the horrors took over the village. 
Falade was tied legs and hand, he was given a mat to sleep on and as he slept, he dreamt again and this time, He had series of dreams, the first being that his kidnapper’s maize grains were not the cause of the diarhoea then, rather a natural, infection of the stream which later cleared, however the dream was meant to ensure the present situation he is in. The second dream revealed to him the ordeal his people are going through back home. The third dream directed him to a tree very close to his holding village and that tree, is a necessary ingredient for the ritual that shall drive the demons back home. The fourth dream revealed to him the abode of a powerful Ifa priest he needed to see to complete the request. The fifth dream then revealed to him the way to the ancient tavern. The next morning, less casualties were recorded in the village. Falade narrated his dream to the man and he also promised to help him out. They first went to the tree to get the leaves and then the Ifa priest next. Just as in the dream he was wearing the same cloth, he explained the situation on ground and the Ifa priest understanding the nature of the cleansing ritual followed them to the cave to perform the ritual. On getting to the sacred low land on whose end lies the tavern, he unveiled a calabash from his bag, and requested Falade hands him the leaves. He cupped out water from the little spring below their feet and squeezed the leaves and its green juice spread through the water. He after wards unveiled a fibrous sponge from his bag, then he led them all into the tavern. There, he located the ritual gouge, there he washed thoroughly with his drenched sponge. The priest afterward sprinkled the leaf-water juices all around the ritual room, in between which he chanted incantations. See,incantations are my fantasies, every Ifa priest knows this, the more he chants it, the more i'll be willing to help. Finally, when he was through with it, he asked everyone to face the exit and warn them non of them should look back. He threw back the sponge over his shoulder. They then left the tavern, though as they left, they could hear soft whispers and wails jamming together, but they’ve been warned not to look back so they all heeded. Falade thanked the Ifa priest adequately and promised his kidnappers that he’ll undo what he did by telling his new dream to his folk. Falade returned home to the arms of his fear-stricken village men, but then, Falade returned not just with a reassuring words, he rather returned with a guarantee that everything would be alright from then on.  That day, falade was nothing but a true hero. I always like happy endings like this. From that day on with our help Falade ensured his people remained alright, even when chaos threatens.
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Scenerymania entry; Predator and prey part 2

The feast I had with Oduduwa was a wonderful one, but like I promised the rest of the events shouldn’t be hidden from you. So the hefty men continued, carrying a Falade oblivious of what his crimes ar…

08 Oct 2013

Scenerymania entry; predator and prey part 1

Predator and prey

Men, they would never stop amazing me with
 
their disbeliefs. My name is Orunmila and if you
 
should ask a Yoruba man who I am, he would
 
ask you to ask the next Ifa priest you see. So
 
that faithful afternoon the sun that glared across
 
the dense forest that I peeped at was a real
 
bother. Falade was there, at the lighter entrance
 
of the forest. He was pointing to the dense
 
undergrowth, just beneath a tall dongoyaro tree;
 
“the lion shall appear from there,” he told them.
 
They looked at where he pointed, it was barely lit,
 
and the undergrowth only got a fraction of the
 
initial sunlight from above. Then beyond the
 
thick denseness were further darkness, it wasn’t
 
that dark further inward as the undergrowth
 
faded, but see, nobody dared explored as falade
 
mention of a lion scared everybody. Falade was
 
indeed a demi-god as we made him one, the
 
skeptical minds of humans, believes only a man
 
born of a god can be a demi-god, but see; we
 
can bestow a common man the power of a demi-
 
god and he becomes one. I remember that
 
meeting that we held at the god’s chamber at the
 
beautiful rainbow cloud, I remember I and
 
orunmila merging our powers to create a light,
 
however it was not just any light but a visionary light.
 
So we looked through our telescope and saw
 
falade, he was sleeping in his room and we saw
 
nothing short of his heart of good. We imagined
 
that if he wields that power he would do nothing
 
but help a whole lot of people out of their earthly
 
mysteries. So that night, as he slept calmly in his
 
room, we let the visionary light descend upon
 
him, it impacted him, merged with his soul and
 
behold; a new demi-god was born. He himself
 
didn’t know except from then on, he had dreams
 
that came true. So everyone saw him as some
 
kind of shrink, and visions as you know are not
 
always positive and when he had those negative
 
visions and he let them be known, Confused men
 
thought he was their source of bad luck, like his
 
imaginations somewhat created their reality. So
 
even with his very good heart Falade began
 
having enemies. They seemingly waited for the
 
right moment to get at him. The three men
 
though founding falade’s procurement to be
 
ridiculous as the existence of any lion within that
 
area ought to have been reported long ago. They
 
yet couldn’t help it but want to see it through, so
 
they waited patiently even though the soon
 
falade claimed was getting too long to be soon.
 
The sign falade was waiting for was the fall of a
 
huge brown leaf and the sign had already shown
 
thirty minutes ago. In his dream the lion showed
 
like just five minutes away from the falling of the
 
huge leaf. However what he failed to realize is the
 
fact that the time frame in a dream land is so
 
disproportionate and is often graded with our
 
own imagination. So, one minute in a dreamland
 
could be actually more or less depending on how
 
we assumed it was when we wake. The sky was
 
getting a mild overcast and the resulting gloom
 
was getting the waiting men on an edge but see;
 
They couldn’t see what I see as the lion was
 
already nearbyas it showed its mane leaden
 
face, in pursuit of a very big mole. The men,
 
seeing the lion was actually surfacing screamed
 
and took to their heels and the startled lion too
 
dashed to the comforting gloom of the forest.
 
Falade however stood his ground, he knew there
 
would be no causalities, however he needed to
 
show some of his village men what dangers
 
impends in the forest and that they needed to be
 
careful when they venture into the forest. So after
 
the day’s event, Falade receded home to enjoy
 
the comfort of its serenity. The next day however
 
he was awaken by the sound of the village
 
square gong.
 
Falade rose grudgingly from his bed and headed
 
straight to the village square, the village square
 
gong was hardly sounded but when it was,
 
important information was to be passed across
 
to village men. He found himself among some
 
hundred men and he was quite indifferent from
 
the others as his shabbily look adequately
 
pointed to the fact that most off the men were
 
actually woken by the sounded gong.
 
The village king, the old man with the golden
 
crown; everybody respects him, especially as he
 
serve his men heartily. However we the gods
 
aren’t that pleased with him as he was of low
 
beliefs. He ascended the village square’s VIP
 
platform, a raised platform built by the village
 
youths, out of the oak trees that filled the forests
 
surrounding the village. He found the royal
 
corner, where stood a fancy crane chair which he
 
heaved into to face his village men.
 
“My people,’ his royal voice rattled, It was
 
brought to my attention that a vicious animal
 
now roam the forest of Igando. The animal we all
 
call lion. Therefore I had arranged for a team of
 
hunters that will help us hunt down this animal.”
 
He swiveled his head left to the sturdy Otun, he
 
then signaled somewhat to him. The robust man
 
simply signaled and of course the men he
 
signaled to understanding him perfectly walked
 
out of the crowd to ascend the platform. “Here
 
they are; he said pointing to the armed men
 
standing in a line facing the crowd. The men were
 
all middle aged and Raji, the most skillful of the
 
men was a respected hunter as he had hunted
 
down several big animals in the past. Everybody
 
cheered the men that stood in front of them
 
except Falade, He blamed himself for risking the
 
life of the little lion. “Tomorrow, he continued.
 
The team will set out on the hunt. All they need from
 
you are your good wishes. May they return safe
 
and victorious.
 
“Amen” the crowd echoed.
 
The king returned to his palace, the team
 
descended and the crowd dispersed. Minutes
 
later Falade was back home, but see; this young
 
man was very troubled. He was still bitter about
 
the king’s decision. Obviously, our claim that he
 
holds a heart of good is now what turns vivid to
 
you. He exposed the existence of the lion only to
 
save his people, however he didn’t expect them
 
to hunt down a lion that’s done nothing wrong
 
yet.
 
That night, Falade dreamt again, he saw the lion
 
being killed and then certain darkness, crawling
 
upon the village. That scared him; the next day
 
he was the first to knock on the king’s door. The
 
man was on his throne, enjoying the company of
 
his royal entertainer, he gave Falade a deserved
 
audience, though personally he didn’t like Falade
 
that much. He once thought and many more
 
times; that what if one day, Falade approached
 
his people and tell them about a dream that
 
claims his reign would bring sorrows to his people
 
eventually, what if?
 
“So Falade, what brings you to my palace this
 
morning? You want to give a send forth gift to the
 
departing team?”
 
“No your highness, I actually come to warn you
 
about the danger involved in this hunt, you
 
see…………..”
 
“Oh! I understand your fear, but this team is quite
 
capable. The men are up to the task.”
 
“No! I didn’t mean that your highness but rather
 
that killing the lion will bring unexpected chaos
 
into the land.”
 
“How do you mean?” the king inquired.
 
“Your highness, I had this dream that after your
 
men killed the lion that a terrifying darkness took
 
over our community.”
 
“A dream! Falade haven’t you learned that not all
 
dreams are visions, even if like we all know you
 
actually do receive those visions; what if this
 
one is purely your imagination?”
 
“This is no imagination your highness, I feel
 
certain boisterousness when I get these visions.
 
Your highness, you got to trust me on this like
 
you’ve always does.”
 
“I’m sorry Falade, but you’ve given me no
 
adequate reason to want to call my team off. I
 
see no way in which killing a lion would cause a
 
chaos.”
 
I felt where I was, a certain jostle of my crimson
 
cloud, now I realized I’ve almost forgotten that
 
Oduduwa invited me to a feast. I smiled; my
 
humble cloud is always there to remind me. So
 
soon, I shall leave for the feast. Falade though
 
sees some of these visions; however it is not in
 
his power to seek the details. He only knows the
 
little we want him to know. In as much as we’ll
 
prefer a good time for our mortals and all, yet we
 
must let destiny and fate have their stay.
 
Falade left the king’s palace utterly disappointed,
 
if you’ve got good eyesight, you’ll see those
 
worry gather on his face. Falade wished he could
 
actually just find a way to reach out to the lion
 
and warn him. However he didn’t know his
 
greatest of worries was yet to come. He could
 
her drums, gongs and the villagers ‘songs as
 
they send off the hunters. Not long after they left,
 
he heard a knock on his door. “come in,” he said.
 
Then three hefty strangers came in, they had
 
bare chests and had linen-cotton underpants
 
tapered by raffia leaves. The heftiest of the men,
 
grabbed him like a little piece of log and flung
 
him unto his muscle leaden shoulder another of
 
the men held his kicking legs and then the third
 
gagged his mouth very tightly and blindfolded
 
him afterwards. The third man handed the
 
second a tape with which they tied his leg and
 
Falade was then carried off on the first shoulder.
 
My cloud trembled again I smiled at the events
 
down below me, I’ll go for the feast now. When I
 
return, you shall get the rest of the event.
 
To be continued………………………………………
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Scenerymania entry; predator and prey part 1

Predator and prey Men, they would never stop amazing me with their disbeliefs. My name is Orunmila and if you should ask a Yoruba man who I am, he would ask you to ask the next Ifa priest you see. So…

08 Oct 2013

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Musical muse tutorial entry; 10 tips to help maintain your voice

Scenerymania entry; Predator and prey part 2

Scenerymania entry; predator and prey part 1

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