Leaving UK, I found identity in Nigerian characters – Awonubi

Bookshelf: How did you start writing? Ola Awonubi: Funny enough, I just grew up with a desire to write. Even as a child I was rewriting fairy tales in my head and including myself as one of the characters. Growing up in the UK there were few books with positive black characters. I read books […]

Bookshelf: How did you start writing?
Ola Awonubi: Funny enough, I just grew up with a desire to write. Even as a child I was rewriting fairy tales in my head and including myself as one of the characters. Growing up in the UK there were few books with positive black characters. I read books from the ‘Ladybird’ and ‘Enid Blyton’ series. Enid Blyton was a favourite, so I decided to rewrite one of the stories and include myself as one of the characters. I wanted to see myself in those books. I wanted the Prince to kiss someone that looked like me, for some kind of positive representation on the TV or radio. So I decided to create my own world, with my own pen. Then I went to Nigeria and I found I could identify with the characters in the Pacesetters and the African Writers Series in the books of Achebe, Emecheta and Ekwensi – just to mention a few.
Bookshelf: What do you do when you are not writing?
Awonubi: I read more books, socialise, go to church, work and so on.
Bookshelf: Do you see yourself writing as a full-time career?
Awonubi: I look forward to that day. Meanwhile, I have a day job. My writing is done in the evenings after work.
Bookshelf: What genre do you feel most comfortable with?    
Awonubi: They are short stories, literary and contemporary fiction. If you look at my blog – https://easytowrite.wordpress.com, you will see from the kind of short stories I write that ‘Love’s Persuasion’ is different from my usual style but when I was writing this I had to remember to show the romance developing and bring it to a positive conclusion.
Bookshelf: What was the inspiration behind ‘Love’s Persuasion?’
Awonubi: ‘Loves Persuasion’ reminded me of growing up as a teenager in Nigeria and watching how society framed and set the parameter of many women’s lives and I wanted to create a young lady who wanted more than what society dictated she should be content with.  I wanted a relationship where a woman was affirmed and respected unconditionally – so I created Tony.
Bookshelf: Did you draw from any personal experience?    
Awonubi: They were memories of growing up in Nigeria for the locations and the rest were from my imagination and Nollywood.
Bookshelf: How did you work at developing your major character, Ada Okafor?
Awonubi: I wrote about Ada because she reminded me of the many strong and ambitious young ladies that I have worked with over the years in different fields of endeavour that want to be recognised on their own merit for their accomplishments and hard work, in a society and work environment which is strongly masculine, a society where unless they prove their worth as a wife and mother, they have no purpose.
Bookshelf: Why did you choose romance?
Awonubi: It was a challenge. I had never written in that genre before but with the help of friends and other writers in the writers collective that specialise in writing about romance, I gave it a shot.
Bookshelf: What books helped in grooming you the most?
Awonubi: They were those written by Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Doris Lessing, Jane Austen and Francine Rivers.
Bookshelf: What titles have you read under the Mills and Boon series?
Awonubi: I read quite a few when I was growing up. I have read a few from the Kimani imprint (Mills and Boons with African American characters) and Love Inspired series, ‘Small Town Romance’ and Cecilia Locke’s ‘Called to Love.’
Bookshelf: How did you clinch the contract with Ankara Press?
Awonubi: A writer friend informed me that a publishing house was looking for stories about romances set in Africa. I had a story in mind which I started to work on and I sent the synopsis and the first few chapters to the publishers and they were interested and asked for the whole manuscript. Then the work started – I began the process of mapping out the story and the characters, writing notes and setting it all out, working through several drafts and revising until publication.
Bookshelf: What was your major challenge while writing the novel?
Awonubi: Trying not to overwrite the characters or descriptions, avoiding melodrama and being disciplined about editing, because sometimes less is more. Also, forgetting about the formulaic romances I had read before and trying to write something different.
Bookshelf: What are you working on presently?    
Awonubi: I’m currently working on a collection of short stories based on the African experience as well as another romantic novel based in Nigeria. I always look out for short story competitions I can submit my entries to, such as Bridport, Mslexia Short Story prize and the Commonwealth writers prize to mention a few.