1. Writing a manuscript is like cooking jollof rice - it requires basic ingredients but can be elevated with extra flavors. 2. The basic ingredients of a manuscript are parts of speech like nouns, verbs, adjectives. But extra techniques like descriptive words, idioms, dialogue, metaphors can make the manuscript really stand out. 3. Using literary devices like oxymorons, hyperbole, and alliteration helps create vivid pictures in the reader's mind and makes the manuscript engaging and hard to put down.

1. So, you think you can
write?
THE FOODIE’S GUIDE TO AN EXCELLENT MANUSCRIPT
ANITA JACOB C.
Chief Editor, Words on Us

2. Writing is
more
than just
combining
words

3. Writing is an

4. Writing is like COOKING JOLLOF.
If you cook jollof rice and serve a guest, and then
the guest asks,
“Uhm…did you add salt?”
Would you be happy with yourself?
No!

5. This would be you…

6. Just like a pot of delicious jollof rice,
a good manuscript has extra
INGREDIENTS

7. But first, let’s talk a little more
about jollof rice.

8. A typical pot of Nigerian jollof rice must have the
following regulars;
- Rice - Salt
- Water - Pepper
- Seasoning - Onions
- Oil - Tomatoes

9. These are the components of a manuscript;
Adjectives, nouns, adverbs,
verbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, pronouns,
interjections…
These are just the things that a manuscript must have or it
cannot be called a manuscript. Right?

10. - Scent leaf - Fried plantain
- Curry - Rosemary
- Tatashe - Green pepper
- Nutmeg - Diced liver
- Moi-moi on top - Coleslaw on the side
AND A BIG PIECE OF CHICKEN
Now, if you really want to cook jollof rice that will make the guest take
off his shirt and sit on the ground to enjoy it, there is a lot more that
you can add to that pot of food.

11. Your guest…

12. In the same way…

13. There are EXTRA ingredients
you can add to your manuscript
to take it from
OK to wow!

14. 1.
DESCRIPTIVE WORDS
AND PHRASES
Groggily, emphatically, gloomy, fiercely, excitedly, absentmindedly,
like one who had been beaten up, as though the world had ended…

15. 2.
IDIOMSIn his opinion, he already had a foot in the door.

16. 3.
CONVERSATIONAL
QUESTIONS AND PHRASES
Have you ever had to break bad news to a loved one?
Imagine having to bring such bad news…

17. 4.
METAPHORS
and
SIMILELike a swarm of bees, they descended on him.
They were shielded by the curtain of night.

18. 5.
OXYMORONThe clang of a pot lid landing on the floor woke him up.

19. 6.
HYPERBOLEThe sound was deafening

20. 7.
ALLITERATIONThe big, bad baboon.

21. And so much more….

22. These extras collaborate to create a picture
in the reader’s mind,
making the manuscript easy to read, and
difficult to put down.

23. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by.
Do your best.
Colossians 3:22-23 (MSG)

24. Do more than write, EXPRESS.

25. Happy Readers!
RESULT?