‘Lack of culture, time, gave my narrative wings’

Bookshelf: Your book, ‘The Mirror’ is a 385-page epic poem. How did you pull this off? Onesi Taiwo Dominic: I had come across other writings like the epic of ancient Greece by Homer. These were really long works in chapters. Particularly, there is the Iliad, which chronicles the ten-year Trojan War, the Odyssey, which chronicles […]

Bookshelf: Your book, ‘The Mirror’ is a 385-page epic poem. How did you pull this off?
Onesi Taiwo Dominic: I had come across other writings like the epic of ancient Greece by Homer. These were really long works in chapters. Particularly, there is the Iliad, which chronicles the ten-year Trojan War, the Odyssey, which chronicles the adventure of Odysseus, the hero of the war. These works formed a foundation and reference point for many other authors. Particularly, epic poetry was fundamentally formed for the narrative, historical and the novel only gradually developed from that. The novel has gotten popular, but even before, two to three hundred years ago, the epic or narrative poems were in existence in Europe. In Italy there are works by Dante, who wrote ‘The Divine Comedy’ Milton in England and so on.
So, I was aware of these works and basically came to the conviction that for poetry to become popular and a focal point for readers or for a nation, culturally in literature, it had to be a story, because all the other really great poems that were universal were basically stories. They dealt with great events and the actions and experiences of striking historical figures. Stories were rallying points because everyone loves stories. Not everyone may love good poetry, but a story is what everyone can enjoy. So I decided at that point, with the advice of a friend, that it was the way to go and began to conceive ideas for stories. At some point, this idea came to me in a discussion with a friend. He spoke about a mirror and it stuck and I built upon it. When I thought about narrative poems, I actually thought about short pieces. Now, there’s a narrative poem, very popular in English Literature called ‘The Rime of the Ancient Marina’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I was hoping to do something of that length, at the most two thousand lines, but as I worked on the poem and the concept deepened and the scope expanded over the years, I found out that it became an epic narrative. What I have been able to conclude in ‘The Mirror’ is just the first part of the entire story. I have written shorter narratives of two hundred lines and I said, if I can replicate this feat, I could do more. I tried to do about forty lines a day with stanzas of four lines each. The lines of ‘The Mirror’ are well over eight thousand. But that didn’t happen in a year. It took over ten years because there were years in between when I wrote absolutely nothing and times when I wrote little because of the distractions of earning a living. Eventually, I really had to make the sacrifice, so I took time off and focused on the book.

Bookshelf: How did you succeed in maintaining rhyming scheme all through?
Dominic: When one conceives a poem, you try to perceive what the mood of the poem should be. Is the mood something that’s going to be dignified? The sought of tale you are telling, kind of characters and the seriousness of the work. You are also thinking about your target audience at the same time. These are the things I had to consider. The mood of the poem will often determine the tone and the tone by extension will help you decide the form. When you have to use a blank verse, maybe in the manner of Milton, It has to be really poetic because the beauty of the poem needs to be evident in the lines which do not have rhymes. Music has to be sustained in each line and carried over melodically to the next line. That requires quite some dignity and stateliness. You know that you may have dull moments and you have to keep each line lively in order to hold the attention of your reader.
For myself, the concept I had chosen and the length I had intended was something shorter and not too dignified. I wanted a simple story which had in itself a very deep spiritual concept and I had wanted to wrap that in a story that had an entertainment value that could excite the way a movie would, so I needed it to move swiftly like a ballad.  I wanted to reach children as well. This is why I chose a rhyming scheme I considered to be musical.

Bookshelf: Do you write in other forms?
Dominic: Yes I do, in blank verse, sonnet and many other forms.

Bookshelf: Were there moments you were discouraged writing this very long poem?
Dominic: I had moments of apprehension which I think is not uncommon with writers who undertake something quite huge. There were times when the challenge of making a living and completing the work would make me imagine I will never get to finish. Also, when I had writers block or overwhelmed by the scope ahead of the work. But once I had resolved that I had to sacrifice time to achieve it, my confidence grew.

Bookshelf: How did you discover your central character, Xothar?
Dominic: The character stood out as the first and only outstanding significant element in the story. As I imagined everything, I wanted him to come alive, a figure that was an instrument for a story. That’s why the conception must become really organic. I wanted to hold the readers’ sympathy all the way through, so that even after the work has been read, the character becomes a part of their imaginative life, a part of the literary landscape and even culture. I wanted to create characters that will become reference points for discussions, just like Shakespeare and other great writers have done.

Bookshelf: What influenced your choice of the name, Xothar?
Dominic: When I thought of the story and concept, I had the challenge of locating it somewhere, in a country, a culture or time. Every time has its culture and the elements that accompany that period. If I have to pick a time and a place, then I have to be sincere to what actually transpired and existed, so I had to be very familiar with everything. I am also a Nigerian and some of us who are artists, sometimes carry the burden of staying true to our culture, to project something about it, where we were born, where we grew up and what actually goes on there, because that’s what we should be intimate with.
Now, in the way the inspiration came, it didn’t arise from my locality, culture or country. It was a purely spiritual concept and as I developed it in the way the inspiration guided me, I realised the difficulty of situating it in my own country. That possibility wasn’t going to work because it was supposed to be ancient and historical. There were horses and the closest I could relate that to was Northern Nigeria. Even at that, it was different. I didn’t also want to place it in a foreign country, because I didn’t want it to seem like I was writing about another culture. So what I did was to create a platform on the plain of the imagination that existed in a timeless place. I didn’t want to give any cultural or national identity to the character. In that way, I would have more freedom to focus on the actual essence of the story, which for me was the most important thing. The essence of the story will take volumes and if I had to wrap it up in a time, place and culture, it will be a whole lot more. I wanted the story to move swiftly without extra baggage. I wanted individuals to feel free to locate it in their own cultures and countries; in a way that Xothar could belong to anyone. So the names Xothar, Hegel, that have appeared so far, were names I conceived. I allowed myself to be guided in the conception of those names with the sense of spirituality I was trying to define. I was inspired by such models like the movie, Avatar.

Bookshelf: When and how did you decide, this is what I want to write about?
Dominic: There were a number of other stories I had been inspired with. I asked myself, which I thought will appeal more. I thought ‘The Mirror’ was more challenging and I felt, when I am able to handle it, I will be able to take up others. In fact, what I have been able to do is take those other ideas and weld them into the plot of the subsequent parts of ‘The Mirror’.

Bookshelf: Xothar saw his true self in the mirror. Were there hidden meanings in what you were trying to depict in the work?
Dominic: The concept of ‘The Mirror’ is that of spiritual truth. It underlines the main purpose on earth and of creation. To be able to understand why everything exists and the purpose, is for me to grasp the will of the Almighty Father who has created all things for a purpose. So if you understand that purpose, you have understood His will for that thing and being able to understand that purpose is to understand the truth, why we are here on earth and what we are here to achieve. For myself, I will say life has to do with development and that which develops to bring the greatest good is the purpose of life. Most of us are not aware of that and go about with other purposes, some of which are earthly. I am convinced that the final goal is the spiritual which transcends the earthly. To put it simply, if I am a writer, I could write to make money and a living or in a way that people will be touched and affected by my writings and become enlightened in the way they relate with one another and so the way the government formulates its policies can be communicated through my work. So I write to achieve to improve the essential qualities of life. Those qualities that can’t be seen, that you can’t put a price on are spiritual and in their development lies the purpose of life. I believe that we are essentially spirit and it is the spirit that forms character and decides what one really is. ‘The Mirror’ shows us our actual state and poses a question. Many people will be shocked if they see themselves as they really are.

Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment?
Dominic: I am working on the sequel to ‘The Mirror’ and editing my collection of short stories