Writing is not a threat, if you must thrive you must learn to reduce the fustration and struggle you associate with it. Follow the steps to cognitive development and find expressions through writing. Remember, you have a voice and deserve to be heard.
“Writing is not my thing?”, this is probably the statement of an average Nigerian student who has been given an essay or a creative piece to compose. What’s the big deal with writing anyway? Isn’t it easy to simply compose a post like “Just dey play” and attract massive attention and likes on social media? Why the annoying stress on grammaticality?
The misconceptions about the writing skill has made many students skeptical about it. However it is an unavoidable activity in their curriculum, therefore it becomes a bone in the throat. If you are a student reading this article, you are probably here because you have a deadline to meet and so you need to get motivated to start or continue that project. Another possibility would be that you decided to read this to see how you can improve on your writing skill.
You see? I am right!
Talking about misconceptions, many Nigeria students and students generally by extension view writing as a necessity or obligation to perform in order to attract grades. Well writing is so much more than an assessment strategy. It is a means of communication; a way to express your feelings, thoughts and opinions. Everybody has a voice and deserves to be heard, just like the speaking skill, writing helps you to constructively express yourself.
The palava
There are diverse reasons students detest writing, these reasons have however created a stumbling block in the way of accomplising good and quality writing. I will be stating four enigmas students encounter with writing, nod your head if it applies to you.
• Do you think writing is talent that is meant for a few people? If yes, that would mean you have diminished your interest in writing and accepted the fate that writing might not just be for you. To clarify this, you must understand that writing is a skill that can be learned and nutured into success. Just like all three communication skill is learnable without any physical deformity, so is the writing skill.
• Many a time, your view towards writing is that of intellectual assessment. You hold the perspective that writing is to test your cognitive competence. You are not wrong, in many instances the writing skill serves as a test and measure of intelligence but before it became an instrument of measurement, you must understand that writing is means of communication. If you focus less on expressing yourself and give more focus in trying to impress your examiner, you will gradually become bored and fall out of interest eventually. You are suppose to derive pleasure in venting your impression.
• I know you do not have a problem with graphology, maybe you even have good calligraphy, but the problem is creativity! How to put words together to enthrall your readers leaving them in a spot to gulp all your contents to the last drop. Creativity is only a clone of another creative. In other to get inspiration you must pay attention to details, that’s why as a writer it is expedient to be perceptive. See what others do not see in any situation. The world around you is a beautiful art, find your inspiration there.
• Majority of you are very small with words. Do you ever get stuck in a speech conversation because you cannot find the right words to fill a vacant space? The same applies to writing, when you do not have a good control of words writing tends to prove difficult. Words are the weapon of a good writing, delivering your opinion without interruption would require you equip yourself with substantial amount of words.
The way out writing with “no wahala”
Writing is made easy if only you ken the secrets behind successful writing. Under this subheading are four powerful secrets to improve your writing skill.
• Change your mindset: Before any written work it is necessary to change your mindset. So away with the pessimistic ideology about Writing, it is not for specific people, it is not punishment from instructors. Save yourself from ‘This is not my thing’ syndrome. It is your thing, own it!
• Build your vocabularies: To express yourself constructively, you must endeavor to develop your lexemes. Words when used appropriately can add life to your piece of writing. Words can serve as good servants of properly handled. You can build your vocabularies by reading, there is no short cut, you have to read, read, read.
• Obey grammar rules: Grammar are principles set up to guide the use of a language. The English language has a compendium of grammar rules that should be strictly adhere to. The punctuation rule is a key rule in grammar, simple signs like fullstop(.), Comma (,), question mark (?)… Can change the meaning of a sentence without proper placements. Grammar rules such as agreement rules(Concord, collocation, parallelism, coherence..) should be strictly followed as they contribute to the flow of sentences in a linear sequence.
• Practice: ‘Practice makes perfection’ a cliche with eternal verity. After putting the afore mentioned steps in action, it would be incomplete without practice. How do you practice writing? You can start by documenting what you enjoy doing. For example, ‘an experience in your day’, ‘ games you enjoy’ e.t.c From practicing with your interest you can then extend it to other areas of life.
Writing is not a threat, if you must thrive you must learn to reduce the fustration and struggle you associate with it. Follow the steps to cognitive development and find expressions through writing. Remember, you have a voice and deserve to be heard.