Enoquin:


Disappointing? No, I'd say different.
Similarities? Well, my stories rarely have happy endings. So, if you point out the similarities you are refering to, I'd be able to reply and clarify.

teamplayey:


Ok. As you pointed out 'your tales rarely have happy endings'.
Implying they do have sad endings. Sad endings are kind of dissapointing -so to speak (for lack of a better description); using Mfon for example, tales of two women, now this.
I'm not saying they should be predictable but whatever happened to Nature's Law of compensation?
This last story brought pain to my spirit, I hoped for a continuation. But it's all good.
May our good Lord continue using you to show us readers that His grace remains forever sufficient!

Enoquin:


My writings are basically based on research which includes reading, observing others, listening etc

spacefreak:


Cool. I really do like the way you write. You don't believe all stories should have a happy ending. There is always something to learn in every tragic ending. I think I understand why you mostly write short stories too. I think I'm typing alot now, I should put my keyboard away.

teamplayey:
Please what does TTC mean?

Enoquin:


Well, I am a realist. Much as there are happy endings in life, there are sad endings as well. Good things do not only happen to good people neither do bad things happen to only bad people. Most people give a happy ending to their stories but only few end their stories tragically.
Do all my stories end tragically? No, I mostly allow the characters dictate the course of the story.

Now, I am curious to know why you think I only write shorts...

Thanks

spacefreak:


Okay. I have theories which does not in any way stand as facts.

First theory. You are a realist and a very good writer. You could make your stories longer but that would only set up your readers for disappointment. When a story is gripping and the main character is likeable readers tend to generally expect happy endings. Writing it short keeps their expectations reasonable and not over blown.

Second theory. You have less time to work a short story into a long one and you are eager to get your point across to your readers.


Third theory. This is the most ridiculous but often true. You are mostly a lazy writer.

Like I said it's just theories. Don't take me too seriously

Enoquin:


Well, I am a realist. Much as there are happy endings in life, there are sad endings as well. Good things do not only happen to good people neither do bad things happen to only bad people. Most people give a happy ending to their stories but only few end their stories tragically.
Do all my stories end tragically? No, I mostly allow the characters dictate the course of the story.

Now, I am curious to know why you think I only write shorts...

Thanks

Enoquin:


You are looking at it from wrong angles.

There are long stories that end tragically. The concubine by Elechi Amadi, one of the most gripping Nigerian novels I read in my teens ended tragically. Never will I forget Ihuoma or Ekwueme and Emenike.

Things fall apart? The television series might have held me spell bound but the book did more than that and that was tragic too.

Books that have ended not in the way one expected?
The beautiful ones are not yet born by Ayi Kwei Armah
Weep not child by Ngugi Wa'thiongo
Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo etc
That's blowing your first theory off.

These stories aren't new. So, I didn't just sit and work on them now; they were already written and in my completed stories folder. They have even been posted on other forums. True, I have less time but brother I tell you, once a scene needs to be fleshed out to a story, it can be done. Not all stories need to be fleshed out and that's a truth.

Well, I have my lazy days as a writer. I write scribbles that I might not go back to or stumble on and flesh it out or discard it. Before I ever started writing short stories, I started on a long one. I still have my unpublished novel. I only plan to write 3-5 novels in my lifetime, shoot 2 into a movie.

Now to the truth:
I don't like screen reading. I love the paperbacks, the smell of a novel, the writing, the font, the paper used. The screen cannot compensate for half of that feeling so I stay off reading long stuffs online and that accounts for me writing short stuffs

Most Nigerians don't like reading muchless something long

Short stories show how disciplined a writer can be. Because instead of you rambling off, you'd have to get your point/description across with fewer words.

Lastly, when I develop a story. I have to feel what my characters are feeling or it won't pass off as realistic to me. I am my greatest critic. Sometimes, I allow the characters dictate the flow of the story other times, I get a grip on the characters and write it my way. I don't know how else to explain this point.

Now this was an epistle

spacefreak:


I understand. Thanks for explaining. Your reasons are logical. Didn't expect logical reasons.

Enoquin:


Were you expecting a rant?

spacefreak:
hilarious story. I love the use of pidgin. You are a good writer and you've got me thinking.

kilokeys:
she commands pidgin well..

kudos.. the question got me thinking..
werin im wan tell madam.. and werin oga wan madam..
eno u must finish it o

Enoquin:


You no even go with the flow, come dey write english as if na you born Queen Lizzy.
So, wetin you come dey think na?

spacefreak:


if I tell you wetin adee think so eh you fit no believam. I no fit dey outside dey wash pant. People eye dey everywhere

Enoquin:
Guy, this ya washing pant proverb no be here oh I laugh sotey I no fit type

spacefreak:


but you understand me na. I go like make we talk but no be for here. Bad belle people dey everywhere.

Enoquin:


Oya send PM. We no want make bad belle people even know the colour of the pant

spacefreak:


My pm dey act like mad man most times maybe na because say my account don old dey wear pampers. Try follow back make I try the matter.

Nmeri17:

Enoquin:
That I Might Forget

Sweat streaks across my brow
My heart beating faster than your thought
Ride me my lord,
Ride me that I might forget

Forget how easily I might slip
Into endlessness and despair
Harder my lord,
Harder, that I might forget

Forget the path that I chose not
Or how lowly I have sunk.
Easy my lord,
Easy, so we both don't crash

For I musn't forget my place
A slave doing the bidding of her master
Crossing lines that we shouldn't
Damning me to eternal despair
And you to what?

boolet:

Nice piece! Massages her master's ego as she tactfully pleads for leniency. The slave has everything to lose and with a rhetorical question says it's uncertain the master could lose.

Enoquin:


E be like say you no receive my reply true true...

Enoquin:


Guy, why you dey open teeth as if na only you dey use toothpaste?

How art thee?