Craft vs 'Straight' in Writing

Outside was wet and cold. The stubborn persistent rain slowed awkwardly to a continuous drizzle all over the town. But it was warm in the little hut; maybe a little too warm for comfort but the two men were not complaining. At one end of the hut was the 'groove' in which lumps of charcoal reddened by fire supplied the heating. It was Mallam Buba's room. He reclined on his bed, propped by the left elbow while his right fingers gently fiddled the woody brown beads of his rosary.

Excerpts from my upcoming Book, Blood of

Our Fathers

Sometimes I post excerpts from my upcoming book on Facebook to give my followers a taste of the content. I love the comments and questions I usually get on those posts. I always take my time to read and respond appropriately. Some of the comments are very reasonable that I sometimes prompt my editor to take note of them. However, some are just lame.

The excerpt above was from the sixth chapter. It's a story depicting the lives, trials and tribulations of Africans pulled by fate into the Second World War (1939-1945). I got a comment (an inbox, actually) from a friend who thinks the narrative is too 'strong and 'crafty for younger generation to comprehend. Instead of using complicated language of the 30s and 40s, why not use the normal simple and straight language mostly used today to tell the story?' He wrote.

African literature in particular has a peculiar narrative structure. It's normally replete with mature language that strictly represent deep cultural values as the stories are designed to entertain, inform and instruct.

Craft I believe, is an art, not science. Fiction, whether written now or in 1487 with a content devoid of craft has no magic in it. Great writers of all times (from Shakespeare to Dickens to Sheldon to Dan Brown) won greatness not only from their fictitious stories, but by how they narrate those stories wielding the power of craft.

Craft is the writer's power!

How I define craft in this sense? It is simply the magic you do with words in your writing. It doesn't require big grammar or heavy poetry, it's just a way with words that make readers feel they are reading a work of fiction, not some straight read of some legal document or financial statement.