₦airaland Forum

pweetygiftofGod:

Centino:
Hi Evathyst.

Thanks for the critique and appreciation. First thing I should do is tell you about myself. I will do that by reproducing here something I wrote on a thread by EvaJael - one of the writers I really like here.

“If I want to read a novel, I write one” – Benjamin Disreali

I’m Centino. Relatively new here. The above quote is why I write. I have no heroes of the letter; I follow in the footsteps of none. I am my own inspiration. I got bored stiff with “literature” and began to fancy myself to do a good enough job for me. I reckoned if I write my kind of book, surely I would have likeminded people who will appreciate my style. I do not like fluff. If something happened in the afternoon, tell me what happened. I don’t see the point of describing the sun. How the environment laughed because the yellowish red hue of the sun tantalized the roofs. What’s that? I know what an afternoon looks like! I like a story. A good plot. Who likes who? Who hates who? Who is after who? Who fvcked who? The human experience robust and I just want to hear of it. From every perspective. And for goodness sake go straight to the point! If an adverb will drive home a point, I will use an adverb. If a simile sounds silly, I cut it out. If you are obsessed with words and you want to w*nk to them go and read a poem. Rules? They are not for me. I will write my own the way I want to. “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than write for the public and have no self” – Cyril Conolly. Word.

“The first thing a writer has to do is find another source of income… “Ellen Gilchrist.

And I will add, then you can experience true freedom. I will not write about an asylum seeking PHD holder who ends up as a cab driver in New York so that I can be appreciated internationally. I will not carry my Katakata Street to okada books and sell 10 copies in one year so that I can get something for my troubles. I will not read “how to be a successful author” and burn myself out trying to sound like someone else. If you want to be the next Chinua Achebe, sorry you came 60 years late. So I make sure I am not hungry. If the money comes, I want it on my own terms. So I write when I want to write, if I want to write, how I want to write. The only people I want to kill are the ghost readers on nairaland. Come on guys…Tell a brother and a sister that s/he is trying. You don’t know how far that can go. You think this is easy? Try it.

Finally. Most tellingly… “One of the things a writer is for is to say the unsayable, speak the unspeakable and ask difficult questions” – Salman Rushdie

At Easter I wrote a chapter I called Food for thought. In it I asked why anyone thinks Jesus whose flesh was dust like mine and yours would ascend to heaven where there is no such consistency. Do you think God is in the business of impressing people? Do you think creating heaven and earth and trying to save the souls of man is a circus? (Didn’t put it quite like that but you get my drift…). The result? I got the fewest likes that week. And guess what? It doesn’t matter. I will say it. I am a writer.

Aunty EvaJael. That is me o.

Having said that, you can now bundle over here and see what I do for nairaland mostly on Sundays. Many thanks.
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Now to those 3 questions.

1. I don't know why mama Akunna became what she became o. Na so I see am. I suppose it is because evil is irrational. I have known real life witches and seen confessions. Sister, they always have no clue why they have become what they have become.

2. I was tempted to go that route but I do not want to take the story away from the compound yet. Criminals don't always get arrested at any rate. Some vanish into thin air even in real life. Let's just say Talabi is still on the run. Don't be surprised to see him again along the like *wink*

3. Oh yeah. It centers on Ndifreke and his pregnant girlfriend for now. But she go born the pikin one day na...the plan has always been for this story to go on in perpetuity. As KpagoGIN noted, I also try to infuse current goings on and so for as long as things are still happening in Naija, inhabitants of 225 Katakata Street will still be there to talk about these things. The original idea was to get a group of common people from whose perspective we can view our polity. But the thing got away from me. Anyhow sha, I go just continue dey rough am dey go. I pray people continue to have interest.

Ultimately it's pure fun for me. If I can contribute a little laughter and enlightenment people really appreciate, I'm happy. I know the money will come. My only problem na ghost readers