How to Awaken Your Pan-Africanism Instincts Through Writing

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The art of writing is among the most ancient means of communication. It began in ancient times through ancient languages and has evolved to be a great deal in communication. Whether in business, political, academic, or other professional purposes, writing addresses human day-to-day lives and livelihoods.

 

Don Maxwell Jr.
Anybody can write their experiences. Every experience is worth writing.

Civilization is created and nurtured by men and women of society, but it is preserved and brought to beauty through art. Writing is one of these arts that make, nurture, or even destroy civilization. Therefore, in awakening the instincts of Pan-Africanism, the art of writing plays a significant role.

 

Furthermore, it is through the art of writing that writers have written; religious and great books, social laws, constitutions, legal contracts, etc., and globalized cultures and traditions, in which thousands of men and women have had the privilege to learn easily what other men have toiled for. Even though not everybody will be gifted with the talent and enthusiasm to write, anyone can write. Yet, not everyone will be successful in realizing his or her potential as a writer.

 

Why You Should Write About Pan-Africanism?

Civilization is full of proof that writers are part and parcel of its development. Practically, every record of history that has since found its way to the top table of civilization was a writer’s imagination and was brought to life first through writing. Writers have done the world a great favor in recording its history. African people who aspire to be writers can take advantage of this known fact and tell their tales on their own.

Reason Why You Should Write About Pan-Africanism;

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To express your Pan-African thoughts, ideas, and imaginations, and express your emotions and your reactions towards them.

 

To educate and liberate the masses. As the famous saying goes, ‘Each one, teach one,’ you can take on writing as a way to pass on the continents of your imagination to other people. with persistence and continued effort, you will be sure to educate one or two, or even the masses.

 

To preserve your culture and traditions. If you are a true African and value and revere your culture and tradition, you must preserve it by any means necessary. A hundred years from now, your descendants will either be reading about how you lived during your era or wishing they could have access to their true history. You can start writing a journal or keeping a simple diary. As simple as it may be, you are surely recording your day-to-day life, which can be used to correct mistakes and improve on the positives. 

 

To correct and rebuild civilization. In a great number of occasions, writers are always inspired, and/or moved by intense experiences that trigger their imagination to write about a certain topic. Whatever experience you have, you can write about it, which when read by other people with the capability to digest the feast of reason you serve, can learn to correct and rebuild their own lives. 

 

To express your understanding or knowledge on a certain niche. Especially the knowledge and philosophy of Pan-Africanism. The current generation of Africans needs more content of Pan-Africanism than it did in prior centuries. Through writing, you can express your knowledge of Pan-Africanism to educate and awaken other still-asleep Africans.  

 

Why Write?
Writing allows us to express our feelings and share our experiences.

Sources of Inspiration to Enthusiastic Pan-African Writers 

The first and crucial part of writing (whether article or book writing) is not the actual writing itself but aligning yourself with the enthusiasm and eagerness to write. Whether they know it or not, everyone has a story in them. Perhaps, a great number lack the starting point, others are waiting for the right time, and the majority don’t/haven’t realized that they have a story inside them. 

 

Stop waiting for the right time and start doing the following and you will write like you are crazy.

 

Connect to the society around you – love, respect, and value your roots and traditions. Accept their ups and downs and you will understand what is required of you as a competent builder of civilization. 

 

Identify the relationship between politics and society – Understand the significance (values, beliefs, advantages, and shortcomings) of your sociopolitical landscape. Expand your horizon and understanding of current affairs, and how they influence your society.

 

Identify deficiencies of society around you – No society is perfectly ruled or governed. The core of civilization is that society is subjected to continuous change and change is the only constant. Identifying the sociopolitical landscape around you gives you the knowledge to identify the deficiencies in your society, which you can write about to correct and rebuild civilization.

 

Propose possible solutions to your societal issues – When you think there is a backslide in your society, the thinking must never stop only at the backslide but must continue to the bitter end which is the solution for the prevailing issues. Great writers are criticizers, for critics are the first fans, but they are also solution providers, they owe that to society.

 

Imagination – This is the last step before you hit the keyboard. Put your imaginative faculty to work whenever you want to express your ideas or emotions. The best way to apply imagination in Pan-Africanism is to think of the past, how it affects the present, and how it influences and re-images the future. When you start connecting these three, you will find yourself identifying the deficiencies and proposing solutions to various sociopolitical issues around you.


Imagination
Imagination is every writers starting point.

How to Develop Writing Habits

Practice makes perfect. Like every other form of art, writing is no different. There are things that great writers do, those that make them stand out from the crowd of writers who lack the ideas and content to spearhead the desired change in society. 

 

No one gets better at writing overnight. You can spend a whole day or night trying to become a better writer but you will be wasting yourself away and eventually give up on the first sign of defeat. Writing as an art is mastered over a long period and requires dedication and commitment, open-mindedness, and the ability to change your mind when confronted with new ideas.

 

The following practices can help you master the art of writing, and develop in you great writing habits that are essential to becoming a master writer. They include;

 

Read more (Books, Documentaries, TV and Reality Shows, Movies, etc.) and Write Regularly – Originality is key. The more you read, the more you understand concepts and data, and how to use it. Consequently, the more you will expand your horizons. You will not know/understand “what is” when you are ignorant of “what was.” Writers before you hold the greatest insight for you to work and improve on now. Great writers are those who are well-read. 

 

Associate with diverse opinions – Writers are/should not be rigid. When doing your research cover all areas, and consider all opinions especially those that don’t sit right with your own. In them (diverse opinions) lies the greatest content of your niche.

 

Appreciate loneliness – Those who draft great ideas do so when there are no destruction or hindrances. They love to sit alone and in silence. It helps them recollect their ideas and reduce them to writing. Note that this loneliness should only be appreciated when you want to work on a chapter, article, or paragraph of your project. Otherwise, do not build a fortress for yourself, no man is an island. In life, you will constantly need other people's ideas to improve on yours.

 

Writers
Loneliness is every writers fortress.

Appreciate feedback – Great writer appreciate when they receive feedback from their readers. They receive feedback with open minds and room for improvement. Do not look at critics or criticism as your obstacles to success but rather as your first fan and means of support. Consider every feedback and improve on them.

 

Do not downplay your imagination – When you put your imaginative faculty of mind at work, do not downplay or limit it to only those that sit right with you. Put down everything you imagine (note down your daydreaming) and do not discard anything you write either on phone notes, social media pages, notebooks, or graffiti. Be ready for hunches or inspiration when they come to you and you will be not only a great writer but a unique one.

 

Writing Your First Pan-Africanism Content

When you are ready. No! Perish the thought of waiting for when you will feel ready. You are ready to write right now when you decide that you are. Begin at once whether you think you are ready or not. Do not wait for the perfect time, for civilization itself is not perfect, but is a continuous journey from chaos to order. Order that no generation of man has ever attained or arrived at. Additionally, do not wait to be motivated by external sources. Instead, endeavor to begin at once. The action itself will generate the motivation required to keep you going.

 

In considering the following few steps, you can be sure of writing and publishing your very first Pan-Africanism content. Either as an article, social media post, or a book. 

 

Choose your niche, stick to it (e.g., African history, or sociopolitical and cultural background), and fall in love with it.

 

Do your research. Extensive reading, watching documentaries, and listening to your elders will be better for a start. If you cannot hit the library, connect with your great-grannies. They have seen more, they know more.

 

Be authoritative and own your content. When writing factual information about your history or culture, you must show mastery and authority in your expertise, to show that you understand what you are writing. This is important as it makes your readers to have confident in you as a writer. Thus, they keep coming for more

 

Take note of the 3Cs – Be Clear, Concise, and Correct. Start with a few words (500 words) and increase the number as your experiences increase. Simple writing is good writing. This makes your readers actively engaged and not bored halfway through reading. 

 

Do your citations properly and with care. This helps readers identify that you are not crazy or making up stories from God knows where…

 

Develop a personal website or blogger site especially when you want to own and dictate your content. See this YouTube tutorial below.



How to Effectively Edit Your Content

For starters, it is important to take note of the fact that as a writer you are speaking to the world and not to yourself. Therefore, it is very essential to ensure your work is error-free especially when you have no professional editor in your team. The following are some hands-on editing techniques you can put to use in your content. They include;

 

 

Use clear and concise syntax – Always let your subject agree to their verbs. Check on spelling mistakes and your tenses. Understand fully the principles and techniques of your writing language.

 

Check on your structure and flow to ensure completeness and quality of sentences. Work on the thesis sentences, develop the thesis paragraph, and finally the entire book or article.

 

Inspect your grammar according to your content originality and niche e.g., in Politics we don’t say killed, murder, etc. but we often say assassination, etc.

 

Optimize individual words, phrases, and sentences to deliver a strong impact. (Refer to the preceding sentence)

 

Ensure text readability by using simple language, especially in factual writing. Ensure logical flow and continuity e.g., Monday must come before Tuesday, third before fourth, etc. Understand different transition words (Therefore, additionally, Even, although, etc.) and how they are used to ensure clarity and flow.

 

Ensure facts are accurate. Do not embarrass yourself and your culture by lying to your readers.

 

Finally, get your head off on writing and let it cool down. Give yourself a break (30 minutes to a day) freshen up and get back at it later.

 

N/B; Do not make your first draft the final draft, allow room for more rewriting and as many edits as possible.


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