Tag: Bible

A prolific writer, Soji Obebe, a director with the Ogun/Osun River Basin Development Authority, Abeokuta, Ogun State, is author of many novels.  His works include A Pot of Rot, A Mind to Atone, A Ticket for Regrets, Where Lies the Honour and many more.  He writes basically to correct many ills of the society and point a way forward for the younger generation.  In this interview held in Abeokuta, he shares his high and low moments as a writer with Edozie Udeze

What sort of books do you like most?

Yes, I have been writing for quite sometime now.  And the sort of books I read are those that can inspire.  Books that inspire me a lot; indeed books that have to do with life.  Books that have to do with challenges in life.  Books that will help me to overcome many problems of life.  Then I also like books that talk about the life of individuals and what they have encountered to stem the tide of life.  That is autobiographies.  Then I love to read novels generally; by this I mean thrillers.  I love to read them to get my inspiration as a writer.

When you read a book, what are the salient things you look out for?

The basic things I look out for are:  what are the interesting things the author is telling me.  What can I really learn from that book?  What is the primary message the author is trying to convey to me, to his readers.  Then after that, I look at the language.  As a writer myself, I try to look at the way the author makes use of his language skills, in order to deliver his message.  Then the style.  I like to look at the style of the author and how he manipulates words.  Another thing is the vocabulary.  I’d like to be conversant with his vocabulary and anytime I come across a new word I jot it down and then look it up in the dictionary.

Who are your favourite authors?

Ah! My favourite authors?  Oh, I would say in Nigeria, I love Chinua Achebe a lot.  Anybody can almost read him and understand him.  He writes with elegant simplicity.  Wole Soyinka too.  But it takes a lot of hectic time to read and comprehend him.  Although it can be very tasking reading him, I love to read him all the same.  Then I love John Grisham a lot.  I have read most of his books and I learnt a lot from him and the way he presents his ideas.  Also Sydney Sheldom, I love his works, just the way I also love to read Harold Robins, Jeffery Archer, and many of these popular and bestseller authors.  They handle issues of life with special attention that you’d also love to be like them when you write.

When and where do you like to read?

I like to read in any environment where there is silence.  It can be in my house; in my room.  It can even be in my office.  I read almost anywhere so long as there is no noise to distract me or distort my flow.  Where-ever there is absolute silence so that there will be no distraction.

What is your preferred genre of literature?

Oh, yes, my preferred genre of literature is prose.  Of course I do read poetry, but not as often as I read prose.  I even write prose because that is where my whole interest lies.  Then as for plays, I prefer watching plays on stage to see how they interpret life and handle the issues of the society.  It is usually better to watch plays on stage because it will afford you time to enjoy it better than when you’ve read the book.

What inspires me most to write prose is that prose can be enjoyed by virtually everybody who can read.  But if you are not conversant with poetry you may not enjoy poetry.  It is likely to even put you off.  After reading two or three lines, you may get discouraged.

What book has had the greatest impact on you and why?

The book that has had the greatest impact on me?  Oh, the Bible, the Holy Book, I must confess.  Lots of stories, lots of life experiences are contained in the Holy Bible.  After reading it, if you are the type that thinks or reflects you begin to be inspired by it.  Oh, it is a great book indeed.  You gain a lot from the Bible and that is why I read it often and often.  I also love inspirational books that teach how to handle and deal with life challenges.  I have read as The Man Thinketh and so many of them I cannot readily recollect.

While growing up what books tripped you most?

Oh, okay, I read Oliver Twist a lot, several times over.  I read it when I was growing up.  The book taught me a lot and I began to imagine how the character was created.  You see, the person of Oliver Twist interested me a lot that I also began to create another character in my imagination.  I also read David Copperfield, another character that impressed me to no end.  These were some of the books I read in forms one and two.  They really became sort of eye-opener to me then.

Even though some of them were prescribed books, I derived pleasure in reading others that were not prescribed.  I saw the world through them and thereafter I began to develop interest in African Writers’ Series.

At what point in your life did you begin to nurse the idea of becoming a writer?

Oh, right from secondary school.  When I wrote my essays in secondary school, my English teachers commended me.  Then there was a time I wrote an essay on the disadvantages of illiteracy and I was citing examples with people who were not properly educated.  I was in form 3 and my teacher started commending me.  That commendation was all I needed to push me on as a writer.  It was more than ordinary essay for what I wrote there was a story to illustrate the fact that illiteracy was not good in any way.  From then onwards, I became interested in writing.  My teachers encouraged me and from time to time they would give me essay to write so that they’d mark for me.  Gradually, this started to ginger me on and then when I started reading some books in the African Writers’ Series, my mind began to dwell on how they were able to get these stories.  Some of the stories were not even far from me.  To me, I imagined how I could also use the things around me to tell my story.

Now, how has writing reshaped or re-ordered your life?

Oh, yes, it has reordered my life in one way.  I have been trying to watch my action and conducts in public.  But at times people I don’t even know would meet me and say, oh, you are Soji Obebe?  I would be surprised and say, oh, how do you even recognize or identify me?  Then the person would say, sir, I have read your books.  Then I’d be conscious of what I say or do.  Even on the net, whenever I open it and see the sort of comments people make about my works, I marvel.  In fact I got this awareness when I travelled to Ghana in 2009.  I was even going through the internet when I saw plenty of things Ghanaians were saying about my novels.

Some of my books are in the Library of Congress in the USA.  I was surprised to discover that too.  Some are also being used in most universities across Europe and America.

If you’re to meet your favourite author, what will be your first question to him/her?

I’ll ask him, how do you write or how do you come about writing?  Most of these foreign writers are full time authors.  But I’ll ask, how do you manage to be a full time writer?  This is so because in Nigeria hardly do you find someone claiming to live fully on writing.  No, it does not happen.  It is almost impossible finding people living completely on writing.

What time of the day do you prefer to write?

Oh, I prefer to write early in the morning when I wake up.  However most of the time I have to go to work and may not have enough time to devote to my writing.  At times I write on weekends when I have enough time to do so.  But it has to be when there is silence and quiet all around me.  At the staff quarters here, we have serene environment all around us.  And this is quite conducive for me to write.  I also try to write during the week when I am not so tired.

How do you gather the materials for your work?

I don’t talk much.  Those who know me know that I don’t talk much.  I think more, and I listen more.  When people are discussing or joking, I listen more to them.  At times I pick my story ideas from what they are talking about.  At times too, when I read a book I try to refocus attention in an area where the author did not touch.  You can easily look at it from that different area.  On few occasions, I’ll just be in the bathroom when an idea strikes my mind and when it happens I’d quickly jot down the idea so that it’ll not escape me.  Thereafter I can develop it into a prose.

Jotting ideas down, help to keep them fresh in my memory.  If I do not do that, I may forget.

What book do you plan to read next?

Ah, I have so many books by Jeffery Archer now in my collection.  One of them is Time Will Tell.  It is one title I want to start reading any moment from now.

How do you arrange your library at home?

Ah, do I have a library?  All I have are two bookshelves at home.  Then on my reading table there are many books there.  I have no standard library so to say, but I have many books scattered here and there.

Are you a re-reader?

Yes, I am a re-reader o!  Reason being that you can’t remember in details what you read the first time.  Then you can go back much later to see it clearer.