Ola Awonubi with Wasafiri prize judge Mimi Khalvati in 2009
Since winning Words of Colour Production’s first short story writing competition in 2008 Ola Awonubi has gone from strength to strength. A year later she won the prestigious Wasafiri New Writing Prize in the fiction category with The Go-Slow Journey, a short story set in Nigeria. Her most recent short, Illusions of Hope, features in the Best of Naija Stories Volume 1.
Despite working full time, she has written 25 short stories, and is now working on her first novel. But it isn’t all plain sailing. Awonubi shares her challenges in trying to secure an agent with Joy Francis, and explains why budding writers should not give up the day job – just yet.
In 2008 you won the first Words of Colour Productions short story competition with The Pink House. On reflection, what impact did that have?
It was the beginning of me starting to take myself more seriously as a writer. After winning the competition I decided to study an MA and that opened other doors. It gave me a chance to be with other writers, receive feedback which is critical for a writer who wants to grow and improve their craft. While there I decided to send in a short story to the Wasafiri Journal and the International Journal of Literature, established by the Open University.
You went on to win the Wasafiri fiction category with The Go-Slow Journey, an unconventional romance set on a bus stuck in traffic in Nigeria. What were your professional expectations after having two wins in 12 months?
To get an agent. That is something I have been trying to do. I was writing more short stories and working on putting a collection together. I now have 25 short stories about different things, not just Africa, including a period romance set in WWII with an English couple. I am still looking for an agent. No matter how many rejections you get, you have to make sure you send your stuff to competitions. From writing short stories I am now writing a novel about the boarding school experience in Nigeria.
You work full time as a PA. How do you discipline yourself to write?
When you have a passion to write you find the time to do it. I made sure I wrote when I was doing the MA as I couldn’t afford to take one year off to write. I went to Waterstones and looked the titles on the shelves and imagined my name up there. When I get home from work I eat, watch a bit of telly and then aim to write 1000 words. I’m a creative person. I could be reading a newspaper, get an idea then write down a few words. The passion drives you and helps you to create the discipline to say, every day, I must write down a few words or a paragraph so that in a month or two you have a short story or the beginnings of a novel.
Which writers inspire you?
One writer is Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Another is Charles Dickens. Dickens has this way of exploring different personalities. His characterisation makes his books come alive leading to character-led plots like Fagin in Oliver Twist. You could put Fagin into any race, any person. I’ve just got a new book Open City by Teju Cole, a new writer with a new voice. I’m also reading Anne Tyler, an American who writes about small town America and dysfunctional families. I’m interested in what makes people tick.
What are the challenges you face moving from winning short story competitions to making a proper living as a writer?
As a creative person I would love to write all the time, to be able to create a masterpiece. Most of us will not reach the heights of Harry Potter [by J.K. Rowling]. I wouldn’t advise anyone to leave their day job. Begin to think of creative ways of making your skills make money for you. Maybe go into copywriting or greeting cards. I help people out by writing wedding poetry, and I’m thinking about getting into greeting cards. I’m also thinking about working on a script I did for my MA. When you have your dream, be prepared to listen to someone with industry experience about how to make it sellable. You have to stay optimistic that no matter the knockbacks, you will get published in the end.
Awonubi’s latest articles can be found at Olawritesfiction on wordpress and on Twitter at Ola Nubi.
[toggle title=”Read an extract from Awonubi’s short story The Go-Slow Journey.”]
It was a rainy morning a few months ago, just before the redundancy. She must have been in her mid twenties and lay spread out on the road in the hot sun, her eyes opened to the heavens, her mouth full of blood. They found the baby she had tied on her back, several meters away. It made the Go-slow worse as vehicles had to manoeuvre around the bodies until the mortuary van came. People shook their heads and said a prayer for them but minutes later they would shrug their shoulders and talk about the government, the rising cost of living, the lack of basic amenities or the latest highlife tune.
The long buses and vans were for the middle class workers from banks, foreign companies and their children. You knew you had really made it if you had your own car- not a ‘jalopy’- or old banger but a sleek Mercedes with a driver to ferry you and Madam around town.
One day he would own his own car. It would be long and sleek and turn heads like a beautiful woman. There was one standing tall and slim in the crowd. She was a shade of polished mahogany, a real African queen, her light pink skirt suit hinted at the kind of curves and contours that young men like him could only stare at and dream about. Maybe she sensed his thoughts, because she turned and looked at him, her expression obscured by her large sunglasses, then back to the traffic.
Don’t go there my friend. This one pass your level.
A lorry drove past blazing with the words E go better. Things will get better one day.
That was what made people live in this crazy city. The dream that one day you could shift level from ‘danfo’ to ‘middle class’ and then onto ‘Big Man’ status so you could sit in an air conditioned car and look down at the people rushing to get into the yellow pieces of metal with broken windows that sucked in air as they rattled down the road……..
©Ola Awonubi 2012[/toggle]