₦airaland Forum

millieademi:
I have six words for you gracile- thank you, thank you, thank you.

This was elucidating

LarrySun:
I really can't tell, honestly. Stories just pop into my head and I write. But the more I write a story, the better the plots get. Also, I'm a fan of surprise endings; therefore, no matter what story I write, I try my best to infuse the surprise.

Perhaps I can say my inspiration is drawn from the fact that I want to prove to the world that Nigerians can also come up with great storylines.

I used to read a lot of novels while growing up. It got to a stage where I started feeling that I could write better stories than some of the novels I read. But I was scared of writing. I could only read, I didn't believe I could write. Indeed, I couldn't speak anything grammatically-accurate. At a time, I debated about the idea of writing in my local language, but hell, I suck at that too. Yet, the stories forming in my head couldn't leave me alone.

Ironically, I was the best English Language student in my class, but I couldn't speak the language perfectly. Funny but true. I didn't believe in myself. I saw writing a story as a very big deal. I didn't know I had to start from somewhere.

The ideas in my head eventually took over. I started with a very short story, an incomplete one. I showed it to some of my friends, but they didn't show interest in it because they weren't accustomed to reading stories. The story went without a single person reading it. But that first attempt helped me a lot. It helped me to start believing in myself. It inspired me to go push further. If I could write something like that, then I should be able to write something better.

I started my first novel in 2007 and ended it in 2010. It was my most fulfilling three years. Nobody knew I was writing a story. I would lock myself in my room and write. I finished it within the first year, of course, but I spent the remaining two years polishing and repolishing it, adding and subtracting ideas. When I was done. I locked it away in my shelf. No one knew about it. I told nobody.

In 2011, I had a girlfriend. Lol! She encouraged me further. I came out of my shell and told her I wrote a story. I think it just came out unexpectedly. She wasn't a novel-reader either, I had no reason to tell her. But it slipped out. As soon as I said it, she got interested. She begged me to read it to her. I was scared. A lot of things bothered me. She might be bored like my initial friends. The last thing I wanted to do was to shove what I had done down the throats of people who gave no damn. But she continued begging me to read it to her. I decided that I would give her the manuscript to read herself. I was sure that she would drop it after the first page like my other friends had done with my initial short story. Besides, I didn't have the best handwriting in the world.

She insisted that I read it to her. She wanted something romantic, hearing me read to her was her idea of a perfect romance. Perhaps she thought I wrote a romantic story. But what I wrote wasn't Romance, it was Detective Mystery. Surely, she would sleep off, or just ask me to shut up, please!

I started reading while she lay on my laps. Oh Lord! For hours, I was reading the story to her. She listened to me quietly. When I thought she had gone to sleep, she would ask me a few questions just to show that she was following. By the time I got to a few chapters, she was no longer laying her head on my laps, she was sitting and resting her head on my shoulder and watching my mouth. Lol! She was probably seeing the characters and actions from my speech. Halfway, she was totally enthralled. By the time I finished, she had cried and laughed and jumped with happiness. She confessed that it was the best story she had ever read. From the way she said it, I believed her.

That statement is what has been keeping me going till today. She believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself. Although I am not yet a complete writer, I still have a lot to learn; but I owe everything I am today to her because she is my first reader. We are separated but we are still very good friends.

After that, I started nursing the idea of typing the story. I couldn't afford to pay to get it typed, I would go anywhere I could find a free PC to type. To cut everything short, I discovered Nairaland shortly after typing it in 2012. There were a lot of like-minded people here posting their stories. I was initially scared that my story would be stolen if I posted it online. After much thoughts, I decided to give it a go.

Mehn! It was one of the best decisions I had made. Almost everyone who read it loved it. They all inspired me. It became such a sensational NL work that a lot of other people plagiarised it on their various platforms. Someone even publicly claim ownership to the work. Lol! To be honest, I never thought I would write any book after that one. I only wrote it to prove that I could write a better story than some of these bestselling writers. But the raves from Nairaland inspired me to write a sequel, which a lot of people told me was even crazier than the first book.

I apologise for this long epistle. Lol! I just want to tell you that anyone who desires to become a writer can be. There's nothing stopping you except you. You have to believe in yourself. If I can do it, then you can definitely do it. Forget about the fear of being mocked for errors. You will only get better. If you have that story in your head, WRITE IT! However, whichever, whenever!

Peace!

LSD

joseph1832:
gracile. You're a hood girl? How hood are you?

CsRockefeller:
You are back my Jos babe

joseph1832:
How about a brothel? The happenings there is enough to give one ideas that burn brighter than the Sun.

Royver:
Hey babe, I'm still here. Trying to make a comeback, can you beleive it? That's life i guess.

TiffanyJ:
Madam, where you go hide? It's been ages!

teamwilly:
Konji

EvaJael:
Gracile!!! Oh my God! I've missed you too. How have you been?
Please tell me you have a new story on board, lemme dance for you