STANDARDS & QUALITY: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A GREAT WRITER?

There is a towering standard that I have come to place on writers, especially writers who have successfully produced quality pieces. I'm not talking about Facebook writers. I mean, Facebook is a good place to start out and I'm not despising your humble beginning, but I'll stick to published writers as I move on. 

This post is for those who have at least, once, successfully have their works in a journal, or mag, or blog, or in prints. Somewhere outside of social media and its teeming sycophancy. 

If your last work was a bomb, I expect the succeeding ones to be bomb too. You may choose to make it atomic or biological, it just has to explode my mind. You can't afford to be a “One-hit man”.

I won't lower my standards, expectations or ratings because of your past feat. You have to be able to continue to repeat it. That's the writer's bane and we all bear it. If your writing is already getting a seven stars out of ten, then let nothing pressure you into releasing something that begs to be rated a four. 

This is why I cringe heavily when I read works that are subpar, no, scratch that, works that are aesthetically mediocre, when compared to previous publications. It is not about perfectionism or bloated ego, it is about setting oneself up to a standard and deliberately holding oneself up to it. 

A friend of mine recently sent me a piece he considered for publication, and after reading it, I told him point blank that the work is crap. Okay, I really did not use the word “crap” but, I made him realize how less than average the work is. 

I took my time reviewing the piece, highlighting the good and the bad, the cringe-y, and the pleasing part of the work.

If I have ever edited or reviewed your work, you'll agree with me that I don't know how to be subtle or coat my thoughts. I'll give it to you as bare as possible. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be kind, I just won't give you false hope or impressions. 

After reviewing the work and sending him a 2-page full document about what I think of the work, he appreciated it, and confessed about how he won't have expected something else from me. I praised the work where necessary and I offered tips on how to get it better. 

My editors don't lie to me about my pieces, so I see no reason why I should not be able to offer criticism to the works of others, especially when it is requested. If your work is crap and I've seen how you react to criticism in the past, I'll entirely ignore you and move on with life. 

African writers (read as Nigerian) should strive for quality over quantity. Every average work out there is a dent, and generally adds to the collapse of literature. It is why people like Pa. Ikhide would boast about how the era of Chinua Achebe had better writers and stronger voices than now.

Every mediocre work out there drowns the already chocking standards, and it's not a good reflection of African literature. Of course, we can't all be great writers but we should strive to be at least decent writers.

We should encourage the culture of repeatedly pushing out quality works. 

If doctors commit medical malpractice, we call them out on it, even sue them. If judges sashay the constitution and make a mockery of the rule of law, they don't get away with it. If teachers teach the wrong things, we question their competence and ask them to go become better. Why can't we do the same to writers? 

Why do we feel it is not our place to tell a writer that what they've put out is second best to garbage? Why can't we criticize a work with a straight face? Who says there's no standard or metrics, hence, every work is a masterpiece in its own lane?

When would we stop seeing critics as disguised haters, a leper — one whose hands do not have the dexterity to make wàrà but the temper to pour a finely fermented wàrà away. 

I'm puzzled on how to wholly end this piece. Like a doctor, who just removed a tumor and is confused on the best suture methods to seal the cut with. However, I hope everyone who reads this sees the sincerity and the genuineness in this piece, and not think it's a sub post or attack. Godspeed. 

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Ololade Edun is a contemporary Nigerian Creative, Microbiologist, and a medical student. His pieces are experimental and they dissect societal themes.

His works have been published or are forthcoming on The Kalahari Review, Lolwe, Brittle Paper, Voice Lux Journal, Melbourne Culture Corner, The Shallow Tales Review, Mixed Mag, The Scribe Post, EBOquills, Afro Lit Mag, The B'K, Pawners Papers, Parousia Mag, Neuro Logical, Literandra & elsewhere. 

Ololade is an editor for AWS, and a podcaster for The GhostPen Project. When he is not writing, Ololade is reading or drowning in Indian/Pakistani playback songs. Say "Hi" on Twitter @OloladeWrites or on FB @Ololade Edun.