The path of writing is long and complex. Mastering literary art and, even more so, becoming a recognized craftsman of the word usually implies an enormous energy display that must be dosed and directed strategically. However, before starting to work, it is necessary to know our objectives. Are you interested in selling? Is your intention to remove the foundations of Literature? Do you want to innovate, discover new ways for art to advance, or are you simply interested in exploiting your talent to gain recognition?
Michael Owhoko, a seasoned journalist, author, and public relations consultant with extensive experience in the financial services, oil & gas, and media sectors, provided us with some valuable writing advice. An oil and gas expert, he’s written several books including The Language of Oil and Gas; Career Frustration in the Workplace; Nigeria on the Precipice: Issues, Options and Solutions; The Future of Nigeria; and Feminism: The Agony of Men. One of his other responsibilities is to run an online newspaper called Media Issues, which he founded.
He attended the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, for his undergraduate studies after completing his primary and secondary schooling in Warri. He eventually earned a Master’s degree in Political Science in 1999 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Mass Communications in 2001 after gaining experience and studying at various institutions. As a result of his successful defense of his thesis in 2021, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Political Science by the Selinus University of Science and Literature.
Commercial works or literature
The big question usually revolves around two big questions. Your dream is related to the story in which the talented young man, with little training in the field of letters, publishes a book and achieves a resounding success or this other vision perhaps fits better with your aspirations: to work seriously with an organized scheme to develop your work until mastering the art gradually. Which of the two visions best suits your wishes?
Of course, the history of Literature and its trends is linked to the social intricacies of each era, the aspirations, and desires of each generation. The Realism of the 19th century defends aesthetic postulates that are very different from those of the Avant-garde advocated by the French in the first half of the 20th century, whose objective was verbal experimentation and the fragmentation of art, all of which laid the foundations for postmodernism.
Popularity and quality
If the Internet and Amazon have fostered “the democratization of information,” they have also allowed banality and lousy taste to reign in their respects. They are not exclusive concepts, but “popularity” is synonymous with concession and artistic expression on more than one occasion. Popularity is confused with quality.
The method changes but the essential remains
The method of connecting with the public, the technique, and the trends changed over the years. Great writers know it. That is why Anna Rice is an innovator of the figure of vampires because she was able to give it such human qualities that her saga leaves the reader breathless, that is why Humberto Eco surprised the world with The Name of the Rose because he was able to string together a history framed in the fashion of the historical novel, of the period in which he lived, without renouncing its essence and incidentally, it delivered a formidable criticism of the Catholic Church.
The Writer’s Goal
Do you already know what your goal is? Methods and trends change, but the writer’s goal will remain the same: yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever; promote reflection, reflect the different edges of the realities that consume the human being, show the enormous diversity of characters, the conflicts that plague us, the wars that decompose us as well as the dreams and desires that possess us. The way and the degree of depth with which we wish to reflect this reality will depend on our commitment to Literature and our aspirations.