Rules in writing are debatable – Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu

Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu is the author of the novel, ‘The Domestication of Munachi.’ At the age of 14, she authored her first work, a novelette titled ‘Deep Regret.’ A versatile writer, she has written on various platforms, including screenplays. Here she shares her views about the rules of writing, her experience writing her novel, and what […]

Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu is the author of the novel, ‘The Domestication of Munachi.’ At the age of 14, she authored her first work, a novelette titled ‘Deep Regret.’ A versatile writer, she has written on various platforms, including screenplays. Here she shares her views about the rules of writing, her experience writing her novel, and what she hopes to achieve through the work. Excerpts:

Bookshelf: You are a writer as well as a marketing communications professional. May we begin with how you started writing?
Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu: Without this sounding like a cliché, I became fascinated by the magic of words when I was about nine. I have always loved reading novels. In primary school, I won the prize for the best library student, as I had borrowed and read the highest number of books in my set at the time. So the fascination with writing was a natural progression. It started one night when I watched NTA news and saw a girl – she was 14 at the time – launching her novel. The next week I dragged my dad to the bookshop – he used to buy me a lot of books then – and I bought her novels. They were so interesting. Crime fiction, can you imagine? I remember one of her characters was named Edgar. All her characters had foreign names. Anyway, I fell in love. The very next day, I took paper to pen and wrote the funniest stories anyone would ever read. But that was that.
Bookshelf: Can you remember some of those stories?
Okoli-Okpagu: The one I remember the most is ‘The Dancing Yams,’ a one-page story about a man who bought yams that danced their way out of his barn. I was nine then. Funny enough, I wrote a collection of short stories when I was about 10. My parents loved it so much, or were simply trying to encourage me, that they had the collection typed and bound, and then invited their friends over for a mini-launch. I remember standing in front of the ‘august’ crowd to read from my work and the next day I took my book to school. I gained many new friends that day.
Bookshelf: You recently authored a novel titled ‘The Domestication of Munachi,’ that’s about to hit the Nigerian book market. What was your source of inspiration?
Okoli-Okpagu: The story began as a very simple idea. Like every Nigerian girl, there would come a time in a girl’s life when her family members suddenly become her ‘guidance counsellors’ because they want her to marry quickly and properly, either for prestige or social status. So, ‘The Domestication of Munachi’ is an everyday story with everyday characters that could be your neighbour, your friend, or your sister. More importantly, the book captures the unique relationships in our typical Nigerian families – how close we are to each other, how meddlesome we can be sometimes, and how religious we are even to the detriment of our women’s well-being. I tried to bring the story home. ‘The Domestication of Munachi’ is endearingly funny in a way that feels comfortable as I drew many parts of the book and its characters from real life experiences. I was really glad and honoured when Parresia Books, the imprint of Parresia Publishers, decided to take the project on.
Bookshelf: How did you develop your characters, particularly the central character, Munachi?
Okoli-Okpagu: Munachi’s character development was pretty clear from the beginning. She views life in a funny, tilted way and has a strange name for every man she meets. I wanted to bring to life a character you would want to spur on, but whose decisions you would feel uncomfortable with. She is young; I would not say naïve. She is rather exuberant in her youthfulness, energetic and adventurous. She is so unlike her sister, Adanna, who is more willing to accommodate certain excesses. Though Munachi is feisty, she still has respect for her parents, which is typical in this side of the world. Munachi could also be your best friend.
Another interesting thing about her is the way she views certain situations and choices in her life. One, when she runs away from home, she has to make the choice of whether to live with her eccentric Aunty Chimuanya in Lagos and become what you would call a ‘Lagos babe’ or stay at home in Awka and marry a man she does not love, while accommodating her fears of marriage drawn from her sister’s and mother’s experiences. Two, the dichotomy of the church – on one hand, you have the Anglican church which is pretty much conservative, yet with its politics, versus the Pentecostal church, which is more liberal, yet unwilling to help build the lives of its ‘floor’ members. In the middle is Munachi, figuring out which of the two churches will fast-track her prayer requests to God for a good job.
In short, through the eyes of Munachi, many societal issues we take for granted are challenged and many uncommon scenarios are brought to the fore. So at every point in the book, Munachi is always torn between two worlds.
Bookshelf: Some writers believe there is actually no rule to writing. Do you agree?
Okoli-Okpagu: Well, there are the basic rules of writing, but I hate to constrain myself to all the rules, else my stories and characters would come out wooden. I adhere to the basic character arc rule, which is building well rounded characters, moving your plot forward at every point. Everything else is debatable.
Bookshelf: What do you hope to achieve through the work?
Okoli-Okpagu: I want people to challenge the norm, to think, to realise that they always have a choice. It may not be the best of choices but there are choices nonetheless. More importantly, I want women to become more confident in their decision making capabilities regarding societal views on marriage. The pressure is usually overwhelming in many cases, but if you look beyond that, you will see also that the strength of a woman is not judged by the man she marries but her own independent reaction to life’s challenges.
Bookshelf: Nigerian literature seems to be experiencing an outpour of a fresh crop of writers. What do you think is responsible for this?
Okoli-Okpagu: Yes! I am so very impressed by this renaissance, if I may call it that. I think Nigerian literature has always been there. Remember Chinua Achebe, Flora Nwapa and so many others, then The Pacesetters’ series which I loved reading at the time. The difference is that things have changed. Things are more liberal, secrets more exposed. The new crop of Nigerian writers is successfully framing their stories in the context of the changing times.
Bookshelf: If you are travelling by sea, what five books would you take along?
Okoli-Okpagu: I favour great stories and genres, and I read widely. I would probably choose randomly in these genres – literary fiction set in Nigeria, psychological thriller and historical novels. I would also take along some Michael Crichton books.
Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment as regards literature?
Okoli-Okpagu: I am working on two projects. First is my second novel, which I am excited about, something about a couple doomed by fate to be forever apart, not because of who they are but because of the duties they owe to the country. And how their choices influence the direction of their lives – what would happen if one had to choose between saving an entire nation or the one she or he loves. My second project is a screenplay for a new TV series in the thriller genre.