The Mysteries of Writing

CC photo

By

John Chizoba Vincent

Sometimes you don’t even know how to explain what you have written. You look at yourself after reading what you have written and ask yourself if truly you were the one that wrote it. Sometimes you proffer solutions to some issues and problems and other times, you leave those problems to their problems. The problems become another’s nightmare finding a way to solve them. These are the mysteries hidden in the act of writing your thoughts into a living being, putting something down for others to read.

You can’t get it all right as a writer, that is why we have editors that see from a different angle from our own. Sometimes you are blocked for days from writing by your muse holding you captive; sometimes words don’t even come in conclusion to what you stand for. Hence, the efficiency of your words matters, the efficacy of what you’re trying to put down out there matters to you more than anything else.

You first consider the audience you are writing to and yourself, your readers must be put into consideration, balancing them the same way you balance yourself. You may leave some of them at a loose end to find their way to your innermost thoughts and other times you journey with them as they read your mindset; however you might lose yourself when trying to carry everyone along, when trying to be fair and square with your analysis and citations towards the psychological behaviours of your readers. Your ability to communicate to the heart of your readers is key. Mysteriously, you don’t really get what you have written many times but your writings are being interpreted elsewhere by someone. It is solving some problems out there which you don’t know. It is filling a vacuum for people out there which is unknown to you. The secret there is that your name is taken into consideration leaving no doubt.

It travels afar leading you to that spot where you cooked it up. It is unexplainable how far it could take you through the secret of unmasking the world and the very best of yourself. The sound of your mind becomes more active, the zeal to affect lives become unbeatable till a particular reason and mission is accomplished. Writers are gods among us, they are real prophets who see before it comes to pass. The truth behind every event in the act of writing remains a mystery which you might not really understand how to explain it to another.

Sometimes, some ask me why I write and others ask what inspires me to write and others ask me to teach them how to write but in all these things I believe writing is something you build within yourself reading others or training yourself. No one is a better writer, no one does it better, and no one can get it all right because what tastes good to Mr A might end up tasting bad to Mr B. That is how it is. You cannot solve all the problems coming to you. You can’t proffer solutions to them all. You leave them at their own mercy to solve their miseries themselves. Methodologically, the entirety of your bravery lies in the brevity of your muse to establish the main reason why you write.

You are indispensable, you measure your words worthily, wonderfully you make your gut thrill people, writing becomes an addiction, a journey, a new wave of intellectualism you can’t pocket but allows everyone see what you have written to interpret it their own way. The illusion there is of something you can’t understand, the imageries are larger than you, your thoughts are larger than life itself; these are the mysteries in life and mysteries exposed by writing.

A good writer writes from the heart. I’ve read books that had me in tears and at the same time left me blank. I’ve started books I could not put down until I lost myself in it. Writing is the metamorphosis of the universe. I’ve read books that had me talking to myself wondering about the nature of man and the universe itself. I’ve read many that made me question life and the principles governing it. And those that made me want to change my beliefs and those that made me want to try other different beliefs and concepts about the myopic mysteries of men.

I’ve read books that I believe will stick forever in my heart till my last breath on earth. Even those that would remind the world that a man like me once lived in this space. I have even written many things that could be read a thousand years to come after I’m gone for good. Most of those books have not been best termed “best-sellers” but even when I pass them on to my friends, they always agree that it had something extra special. Authors have their ways of relating these mysteries to us even if we don’t really understand them the way the authors saw them when writing those things out.

I’ve also read books that have made headlines, written by so called “best-selling” authors and written some off as hogwash and forgotten them as soon as I put them down with a bad taste and anger because my money not well spent. What those books have taught me is how not to write and how not to allow fame to affect my art. There are always big differences between writing for fame and awards and writing to pass a message out there and writing purposefully; there are big differences in them.

Most writers today want to be out there, to be known, heard of and seen without unleashing the mysteries to which they are called to write. It’s human to want that, but in this process of becoming, there should not be any element of rush and trying to please; write it the way it is or the way it comes to you. A lot of talent is lost in the need to be heard. My advice is to take it easy, the secrets imbibed in those mysteries of writing will fetch you out to the world. Take time to hone your skill, have others read over and correct those mistakes you do not see. Take well and take note the criticism of others in good faith and understanding. Don’t get angry or try to prove them wrong with high ego. No one does it better, no one is a better writer out there, we all have our loopholes and flaws.

Most important of all, don’t try to imitate others or copy their style of writing, but try to work on what works for you at all times. Listen to the voice you hear within your heart. Reach within and bring it out, putting aside the fear that you are touching and writing on a subject most writers out of fear won’t touch with a ten foot pole. Dare to be different with a difference. Trust me, you’ll come out very great. Mysteriously, you’ll be amazed how far you have gone or done yourself when you look back and see what you have so far written.

Great words don’t come easy but we also need to be concerned about the fact that most writers that made it big and became appreciated were frequenters of foreign nations. That was the edge they had and it’s a menace to the ones who are in a country who do not appreciate creative writing like our own home country. Just as the Brazilians are known for their footballing prowess, Nigeria is beginning to make a name for herself in producing the very best writers from other country to Nigeria.

John Chizoba Vincent

John Chizoba Vincent is a cinematographer, filmmaker, music video director, poet and a writer. A graduate of mass communication, he believes in life and the substances that life is made of. He has three books published to his credit which includes Hard Times, Good Mama, Letter from Home. For boys of tomorrow is his first offering to poetry. He lives in Lagos.