I gravitate towards the darker, more unsettling and horrifying aspects of my imagination: A conversation with Sima Essien

Uchenna Emelife

Sima Essien won the OkadaBooks Campus Writing Challenge, in 2018, for his short story, "All Your Colours.” He has also won a Freedom Magazine award & an Abubakar Gimba Prize for Short Fiction. His creative nonfiction, “Sweetness” appears in the MissBloodSugar World Diabetes Day (2019) anthology.
He is currently doing his first degree in English and Literary Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a huge fan of comic-book superheroes, Marilyn Monroe, and classic cinema.

In this conversation, Uchenna on behalf of Book O'clock inquires about Sima's prose and what it means to him.

How long have you been writing and can you briefly narrate how the experience has been so far?

I only started writing properly three years ago, but I have been putting stories on paper since I was a six year-old. The whole journey of writing and aspiring has been a bittersweet one; there have been victories and low moments. Regardless, I have learnt a lot. I'm still learning, still growing.

What do stories mean to you and why do you tell them?

“I tend to view stories as remedies.”

They're much more than expressions of whatever our imaginations hold to me. I tend to view stories as remedies, whether I'm writing or reading. They do a lot of good for the mind, and I tell them because it'd hurt to just lock them up inside. Besides, I love telling stories, and making other worlds.

Stories are indeed remedies. In a single book can contain a thousand antidotes and the other worlds you mentioned give reality a run for its money. I find stories an escape, a fortress, a haven.

Of course. Nothing draws the mind deeper into a tale than a good book.

Moving on, what's the highest impact any of your stories has had on either you or a reader?

“I always invest myself deeply in the stories I write.”

I can't really measure impact, for the readers. From time to time, I get feedback: someone tells me that they cried reading my story, or that it made their day, things like that. Still, you can never really know how someone actually feels about your work. Sometimes, they'd get a totally different sense of your words than you intended, and that's fine.

I always invest myself deeply in the stories I write. I'm right there with the characters, fully experiencing it all. So yeah, they always leave something in me, be it a lingering sadness or plain satisfaction.
I find it extremely difficult to write a story while being detached from it.

I noticed this attachment too and this leads to my next question.

Most of your stories are told using the first person so much so that readers find it difficult to tell when it is fiction and when it isn't, is there a deliberate reason for this?

This is a difficult one. Writers are allowed to break that particular rule, and I started indulging in that recently, after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated. It's a sublime book, awesome prose. The writer employed an avatar of himself in the narrative, and this technique was executed excellently.
I have never actually used this rare technique in formal works. I'm not so confident yet about it. It's only ever on personal platforms, and it's mostly for fun. I won't say it's deliberately done. I'm way too blasé about it.
As for your question, it all goes back to that need I always have, to be deeply invested in a story.

Take this from someone who utterly enjoyed (read as freaked me out) your last two published stories where you experimented the said avatar style, you should definitely apply it in your next submission. He-he.

Lol. Alright. Thank you so much for the encouragement. I have toyed with the idea of an altered version of me, as a secondary character for a novella I'm working on. I might just go through with it finally.

Yay!!! I demand credit for the push when the novella comes out (laughs).

Definitely. Hehehe.

How do you handle rejections?

“Nothing should ever be enough to repress the self-belief you need to progress.”

I have always been kind to myself on losing out from shortlistings and whatnot. I just take my 'L' in peace, learn, reconfigure, and move on wards. Win some, lose some.

Nice. You're not like me then who feels the sharp knife stab of rejections as I read the dreadful mails. (laughs)

Lol. It's supposed to get easier with time. But, I really wouldn't know. Regardless, nothing should ever be enough to repress the self-belief you need to progress.

What are your thoughts on Literary Prizes?

“As writers, the work should always be honed towards perfection as much as possible, whether there are literary prizes or not to be clinched.”

Otosirieze Obi-Young once made a statement about how literary prizes shouldn't be the sole parameter for judging a writer's legacy or progress. This was after someone expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that James Baldwin never won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Yes, prizes can spur writers to create magnificent art. But, should it only be that way? Of course not. It's understandable if financial value is considered, writers need money. But, as writers, the work should always be honed towards perfection as much as possible, whether there are literary prizes or not to be clinched.

Do you have a writing ritual? Like what you do when you want to write, when writing or do you just write?

Ideas often come, and I usually procrastinate until a deadline looms. Lol. But no, I don't have much of a ritual for myself. I only write when there is great need. And, deadlines. I totally admire and respect writers who have cultivated the necessary discipline to always sit in the chair and hammer at a keyboard till a word count is reached. I'm still aiming for that level of commitment. Very soon, very soon.

What can you say is the highlight of your career so far?

Definitely winning the OkadaBooks Campus Writing Challenge in 2018. It was a glorious time. I'll never forget it in a hurry. My first major triumph, and to have been judged by stellar writers too—I still relive the bliss. Lol. There may be other milestones down the road, but I'll never forget that one in a hurry.

I sent in my congratulations when this happened, but congratulations once more.

Thank you very much.

You mentioned working on a novella in an earlier response, when will this be due? And are there other projects you're working on you wouldn't mind sharing?

“I usually gravitate towards the darker, more unsettling and horrifying aspects of my imagination.”

The novella is still a hesitant dream, but I've always wanted to work on a short story collection. An anthology of weird stories, so to speak. I usually gravitate towards the darker, more unsettling and horrifying aspects of my imagination. I'd very much like to unleash that on the poor readers. Once I am fully committed to that goal, I believe it'll only be a matter of time before I have my name on the front cover of a book, as author.

We are definitely looking forward to that.
Best wishes, man.

Thank you very much. 🙂

Thank you for this session too. It was interesting and at the same time, informing.

Thank you very much as well, Uchenna. You've been quite great an interviewer. This has been a pleasure.

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Uchenna Emelife is a journalist, creative writer, content creator, and a literary enthusiast. He has written for Nigeria’s Nation Newspaper, the ICIR, Opinion Nigeria, Minority Africa and Punocracy. A third year student of Literature In English, Uchenna was awarded “Rookie Journalist Of The Year” by the National Union of Campus Journalists (NUCJ) in 2019 and “Essayist of the year” by the local chapter of the NUCJ and “Campus Reporter of the year” by Pen Press UDUS.

In 2020, he co-pioneered a book club in his school, Book O'Clock UDUS where he reports and writes about books and currently serves as the deputy editor-in-chief of Pen Press UDUS and the Programs Director of Minority Africa.