| Nnorom Azuonye: My E-conversation with Emman Usman Shehu
(continued from previous page)
NA: Obviously the passions that shape your writing stem from an insuppressible desire to tell a story. But what determines the angle at which you approach a story?
EUS: I have come to realise that there is more than one way of telling a story and I am willing to find the best way of telling a particular story. But some themes remain basic to my story-telling – injustice, betrayal, disappointment, failure, exploitation, manipulation, love, etcetera.
In the past ten years I have become more concerned with the fate of the indigenous people in my part of the country. I have written some articles in this respect and fortunately some of these are available on the Internet. This perspective is gradually being reflected in my creative writing. I wrote a play – “Season to Reason” – about the problems of early marriage and Vesico Virginal Festula (VVF) and it has been performed in Sokoto, Lagos and one other southern city. I have been toying around with the idea of developing it into a full-length stage play and a movie. I am a trained screenplay writer and director, so the latter is not an awesome challenge but finding the funding to make a good movie. I have a number of writing, acting, directing and production credits during my NTA Sokoto stint that would ensure I undertake a credible production.
NA: How long does it take you to convert an idea into a piece of literature for public consumption?
EUS: Over the years I have also noticed the transformation of my craftsmanship. In the early days I could dash off a number of poems in a day, so too a short story. Infact the manuscript of a novel I wrote in my first year as an undergraduate for a British Council creative writing contest was done within the span of a week during which I totally abandoned all my lectures and this was partly inspired by what I had read of Ekwensi writing the inimitable Jagua Nana over a weekend.
Now I know better that a concept should go through a period of gestation and that an Ekwensi is the type who has mulled over an idea mentally for a period of time before committing himself in writing. In other words there are various strategies of writing, and the individual writer needs to find that which suits his temperament.
At the moment I am working on a short story about the pogrom that took place in North in 1966. Because I have several unfinished manuscripts which were done by just writing as the idea came and seeing where it would lead me to, I chose a different approach this time. I decided to outline the concept, the way I would do with a film concept. Its taken me almost six weeks to do an outline I am comfortable with but I know that writing the actual story will not take that long because I have figured out the essentials of the story and there is a clear sense of direction. For a writer who has to hold down a job that takes most of his time, this approach appears more favourable.
NA: Do revisions or re-writes scare you?
EUS: In the early days, yes, I was scared of re-writing because I had this false notion that whatever I had written was inspired and sacred. Now I know better and I actually look forward to the process of rewriting because it enables me explore the possibilities that can be gleaned from an initial draft. Most times I do the first draft in longhand trying to capture the immediacy of the inspired moment. This is followed by several versions on a typewriter or computer as the new format apes the finished product and that enables me to see unexplored possibilities and flaws that could be improved upon.
Writing is actually ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. The problem is finding time to perspire especially if you have other commitments essential to your survival. It’s a difficult juggling act given the poor service associated with amenities like water, electricity, alternative energy resources, transportation and so on which tend to inhibit one’s commitment to writing.
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