‘How social media inspired me to become a writer’

How long have you being writing? I started writing seriously in 2010; I’ve been calling myself a writer for six years. Why did you decide to become a writer? Well, I have been writing since I was a child but I didn’t take it seriously. At a point in my life, I had a problem […]

How long have you being writing?
I started writing seriously in 2010; I’ve been calling myself a writer for six years.

Why did you decide to become a writer?
Well, I have been writing since I was a child but I didn’t take it seriously. At a point in my life, I had a problem with school and my sister introduced me to 2go. So when I joined I found myself in one of the 2go rooms. I wrote something small and posted it. One particular guy asked me if I was a writer, I said no. We got chatting privately and he inspired me to write. He challenged me to write a 1,500 word essay. I did and I took writing serious since then.

Having studied Law, do you practice as a lawyer?
No, not anymore. I practiced Law briefly after school.

Do you do anything apart from writing?
Oh yes, it’s not just writing. I do social media entrepreneurship. I have a lot of followers and I realized that a lot of people wanted me to do ads (advertisements) for them. They come and they say they want to put an ad (advertisement) on my wall and I say “oh sure.” So I’ll put it on all my social media handles and you’ll pay me this sum. I also do business depending on what I want to sell. Basically, I’m a hustler. I write, I do business and I’m also a farmer. The farming bit of is on hold for now because ever since I left Calabar, I have not had the space. I’m into poultry and I’m a fisherwoman at heart. From when I was a child, I was doing poultry. Fishery I wasn’t so much involved in but as I grew I loved farming.

Why did you take to social media as the platform for your writing?
Like fish to water, social media came naturally. At the beginning I had only a small circle of like 100 friends and followers but with time the circle grew. Also I like the immediate response from people. Critics help me develop my work. I took to social media because I wasn’t really writing for money but now things have changed, I don’t mind the money.

You said that your writing differs from time to time, so what inspires your writing?
Everything inspires me, I could be here, see an expression on someone’s face and I start wondering how the person got that expression. Why does the person have that expression. I could hear children playing or I could just be driving by the road and I see something that tickles my imagination and I write about it. I’m inspired by life itself, people, everything.

Okay, so when these things come to you, does it take you time to decide to write about it or do you just get home and say I’m writing about this thing?
Sometimes, for some things once they occur to me I write them down in a jotter, think about them and I explore to the farthest reaches of my imagination on what I’m going to write about them. For others, once I get inspired the story just comes and I know exactly what I want to write.

Do you have to research before you write?
Not always. If a story has to have a technical subject like Law, Medicine or Architecture, I will definitely do my research because I don’t want someone to get the wrong idea. I believe that in as much as we entertain, we also teach or if I’m writing a story on something that happened in the past, a historical story, I do research.
Maybe if I’m writing about Africa, Nigeria, our culture, I  ask my grandparents, older people. But, if I’m writing about contemporary issues maybe not so much because somehow, in the course of Law, I know a little about everything. Research is not necessary for everything I write.

Has your work ever been criticized and how do you handle critic?
[Laughs]My work has been criticized a lot. I remember a particular piece I wrote, I said that brave women choose prostitution, that it takes bravery to meet a stranger and sleep with them not knowing what is going to happen, especially when you have to go to their place and do that over and over again, most especially if you are doing it to survive. Till date, I think that’s the piece that brought the biggest backlash for me.
A lot of people did not like the sound of it, moralists thought I was propagating that prostitution is a good thing; there were hypocritical people, holy people and all sorts. I’ve come to realize that not everybody will see things my way so as long as I am not verbally abused I will take any criticism there is to take.
Tell me it’s not right, tell me I should have structured it a particular way, tell me I should take out some parts and whatever, I will take it but once you abuse me I will tune-off. I’m not listening to you again. When I started writing on social media and my work started drawing lots of attention, I told myself to be ready for criticism and to learn to sift the honest ones from those people who just don’t like me and will say any mean thing to get to me.

Do you have a target audience and does your target audience change from time to time?
Although I like writing for young girls and women, and that’s where I target most of my stories, my target audience changes from time to time, depending. I also do general stories. I’m currently writing for children because I find it really challenging. So, it actually depends on what inspires me at that moment if what inspires me is meant for kids, I’ll write for kids, if what inspires me is meant for men, I’ll write for men, if what inspires me is meant  for women, I’ll write for women. So, the shift in audience depends on what inspires me at any and every point in time.
You majorly write short stories, what made you gravitate towards short stories?
Novels are lengthy. I remember when I tried to write my first novel, I was motivated by  awesome writers who say “I had this story in my head so I sat down one day and in a month I finished a 6,000 paged story.” I’m like wow I’ll write a novel. And then I start and in chapter two I’m like so what’s next? That’s what made me gravitate towards short stories. Also I realized that social media is a short story, go straight to the point, give it as it is platform. So that made me take to short stories.

I read something about you being a feminist. Where does that come from?
Yes I am but I don’t like when people introduce me as that because there is more to me. There was a day someone referred someone to me and said, “Oh meet her, she’s a very good feminist” and for some reason I was unhappy because I am more than that. But I appreciate the writings born out of my beliefs as far as feminism goes.
At first, I used to use my writings to try and argue and get men to see my point of view because unfortunately in Nigeria when you talk about feminism, it all boils down to whether you are going to end up in the kitchen and that annoys me a lot.
At first I used to use my short stories to argue a lot. I will write really long semi-intelligent pieces about how it is from the women’s point but I realized it’s a  battle in futility. What I do now is that I actually write to teach women that as we are fighting for feminism, make sure we are ready to face the consequences. Don’t be a pick and choose feminist where you say he has to foot my bills, pay for anything I want and then later you get up and shout “I’m a feminist.” You don’t get to pick and choose. I’ve realized I’ve been able to touch a number of women to know that you don’t go on a date with a guy, carry five of your friends and eat for your ancestors. You then get back, come on social media and say you jammed a ‘mugu’. That’s not ‘mugu’ that’s stupidity and then you get back tomorrow and start shouting you are a feminist, that’s not feminism. If you are fighting for equal rights when you go on a date, offer to pay half of the bill. Feminism simply is saying equal rights, let’s split the burden so we can live long.

With regards to your writing, what are you working on now?
 Okay, I’m working on my book. It’s a collection of short stories. Over the years, I’ve been reading short stories that left me dissatisfied. So I’m currently working on short stories that have a definite beginning and a definite end. I want to satisfy my readers and myself.

What are your last words?
To anybody who is writing don’t be shy. If you are writing nonsense or not that’s what the editors are there for, to sift the nonsense and keep the sense.
Don’t refer to your work as write-ups , it’s very annoying. Call them what they are; short stories, fiction, historical and so on. If you call them what they are, people will not take your work for granted.
Be bold about your gift and don’t apologize for it. Be receptive to criticism, if it’s really harsh tell yourself  this person is really harsh, I  know I’m better than this, I’ll work on it. And also if you are someone who edits please be kind because a lot of people are not as strong as others.