Stories are Influence: A Conversation With Agboola Timi Israel
Uchenna Emelife
Agboola Timi Israel is a semi-writer who thinks of inchoate things at all times. He's written three novels, including a short story collection, won the Man Booker and Pulitzer prizes from fiction, and sits writing salty letters to restaurant owners in a small house by the sea; all in his mind. He's 20, big-lipped, and in love with a short girl.
In this conversation, Timi shares with Uchenna Emelife of Book O’Clock his writing influences, why he writes, discusses his "The Billionaire” and much more.
Can you take me through your writing history; when did you start writing and how has the experience been so far?
“Writing has been exhilarating, has been freeing. It can be complex, sometimes, maybe beautiful, but it’s been always engaging, always pleasing.”
When you say when did I start writing, I won’t pretend I know what you are asking for. If it’s fiction-writing, well every other kid back then wrote some sort, as I did, too. If you implied serious fiction-writing, my first experience would be when I was 11 years and so impressed by Dean Koontz’s The Face that I began to write my own version of it, set in Emperor-run China. So, fan-fiction.
Another seminal moment would be my attempt at a personal essay about my Dad's development of a church from scratch but it was pretty raw as you can imagine.
The experience of writing has been life-altering. Writing gives its own purpose, its own perspective. You sit and you create things. Real life and real people. Writing has been exhilarating, has been freeing. It can be complex, sometimes, maybe beautiful, but it's been always engaging, always pleasing.
If I didn't write, I would be lesser. A scientist; an orator. Anything to let out, anything to convey my thoughts, anything that might contribute.
Beautiful.
Your response has already answered my next question of what work inspired you to pick up the pen. But then besides Dean Koontz, were there other writers that were inspirations to your venturing into writing?
Early on: the popular staple, Nigerian writers who wrote poorly printed novels and filled so many of us with wonder. Make a guess at a popular writer, series or publication and I'd probably have read them. So I can't begin to say. I just read all I could put my hands on. So thanks to Macmillan and all the fuzzily-remembered authors of great and banal fiction.
Serious influence may be traced to Wole Soyinka — not his 'deep’, obnoxious books but for his autobiography, Aké, which is one of the sweetest books in existence, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (much later), Harper Lee of To Kill a Mockingbird, and whoever wrote Oliver Twist — which my unreliable memory insists is Robert Louis Stevenson.
Much thanks to American writers, too, a horde too big to mention. These guys and their paperbacks were a quarter and half of my literary diet throughout most of my life.
I think I have covered the official gibberish. Now I can tell you about Bunmi Oke, whose flash fiction I saw on Facebook, "We Lost Another One Fella" gave me more drive to write than a thousand teacher-demanded letters, compositions and essays about my holiday. And almost immediately, I was blessed to chance upon Akintunde Aiki and his blog. His magnetic deliberateness to prose composition set me on the right path just when I began to seriously engage with the literary world.
I'd recommend the blog to any up-and-starting writer.
Stevenson definitely did not write "Oliver Twist" (Laughs)
Moving on, what do stories mean to you and why do you tell them?
“Stories are influence. Who doesn’t want to influence?”
Ah, that's a difficult one to answer. It has been answered so many times.
Stories mean everything and nothing — it just depends on who’s telling them and how they are telling it.
I tell stories because I feel I can make them mean something. Maybe give a burst of pleasure, a sense of wonder, a moment of lust and thirst. Stories have to affect, whether it's by their composition or by the the plotting or a combination of both. A story that can't affect is no story at all. Stories are influence. Who doesn't want to influence?
A story that can't affect is no story at all. Apt!
What side of you do you reveal when you write? Is it a side that's always repressed but blooms when you pick up the pen? Or is it just the everyday you?
I try not to reveal myself. But my thoughts, all the variety of it, do come through. Maybe a bit of my personality, too.
If you haven't noticed, writers tend to sell their views and lifestyle in the books they write. This is why a disproportionate number of fictional books contain characters who write semi-seriously.
What's the highest impact any of your stories has had on either you or a reader?
Funny thing, I have had perhaps more published works of nonfiction than fiction, formally and otherwise. But if you are talking about fiction, impact may still be a bit difficult to capture. Out there, my most impactful story may either go to "Spice", a semi-erotic, psycho-horror work of fiction published in an anthology by Victor Daniel, a friend. I believe it was my first formal publication. I was 16 or 17 years old at the time and the publication brought three major editors into my social media inbox: they had come to gauge the story with the author, who looked his age. One of them has since offered to edit my works for free and I’m talking about a very brilliant editor who makes a living from editing. The publication also got me into a flash fiction contest on Facebook which gave me more connections and opportunities than it might sound. Spice is a falling pack of cards that hasn’t ended its course.
The other one has to be "Owls at Night", published first on my Facebook wall before it got redeemed by PRAXIS Magazine. Owls at Night simply affirmed my writing to a couple of important people who I now call friends.
But otherwise, soon-to-be published pieces have had the biggest impact on me. "Where No Rain Would Fall" was gargantuan. I outdid myself, I guess. I had too much to commit to paper and the pages of that piece shimmered with some ethereal essence. It was unlike anything I'd read before and I knew it, the same way you know Half of a Yellow Sun is a special novel. It felt like I was beyond myself, writing a story meant for my thirties, and so, fittingly, I lost the uncompleted draft to a hard-drive crash. I haven't found the magic of the story again though it bubbles somewhere. The other quite impactful work would be "My Mother's Wife", which should appear in Lunaris Magazine, too. I got lost in the atmosphere of that one and in so doing, I shed a tear, which is bad, not commendable and to be outlawed by governmental action.
Sorry about "Where No Rain Would Fall" that must have been really painful. Losing something you cherished that much. You will find that magic. You will.
And Last line (Laughs)
I may have missed "Spice" but "Owls at Night" was superb. The prose was beautiful.
Have you ever thought of quitting writing? If yes, how did you find your way back?
“Writing is how best I express myself”
No, I haven't. And yes, I have.
Writing is how best I express myself in part (you can't even begin to fully express yourself in writing but you can try some). So I've never thought of quitting. If I need to write, I would. I also think you should clarify the sort of writing we're on about.
I also know I will stop writing for a large stretch of time during the future. For an entire decade or something. The only explanation I can give for that is that, shocking as it may seem, I can do several things a bit better than I can write.
By writing, I mean writing professionally.
It is indeed shocking. Mind sharing what those things are?
Well, they pertain to a field occupied at the top by quite young billionaires. I am an amateur, so far. But the sense of Deja Vu is strong, the restless rustling of ability and potential.
Can we go back to talking about writing?
Yeah sure. You have a lot of online presence especially on Facebook, what effect (the good and the bad) has Social Media had on your writing?
“It gives more opportunities than it takes”
Overall good. I've been exposed to good friends, talented people and helpful folks who I might otherwise not have met. I've also been able to develop healthy personal relationships with people who love to write and read, some sort of community I've been able to build around myself.
Social media has been negative for the generally known reasons. Nothing to add to that. But, for me, it's been outstanding. Without social media, I would have to do a lot more than I currently do to try to make a ripple.
It gives more opportunities than it takes, for sure.
In which of these situations do you find fulfilment; completing a writing or it being read?
“A good story is a good story, published or not. Read or not.”
Of course, both. But if I had to choose, then writing.
This would explain why I'm not so into submitting to publications. A good story is a good story, published or not. Read or not. I am grateful enough to be able to read a couple of short works of fiction and nonfiction that friends send to me and I can assure you that I've read some very beautiful pieces among them. So, writing is an end in itself for me. Reading, of course, can't be ignored, but in so far as it's a form of external validation, I can ignore at gunpoint.
Your recent writing venture, The Billionaire. Can you briefly tell me what it is all about?
The Billionaire is as economical as it is creative. I have not been shy about that. It's a business and also a show-room of what's possible.
I've always been interested in having a discussion with an audience of very bright people in a small room, so this is a small effort at that until the dream can be realized.
I think I've summarized everything that The Billionaire is about. An email newsletter designed for bright people who like sweet words, sweet drinks and everything else that's good about life. It's cheap, convenient, and features some of the best writing you may have seen in a while. Plus some other things.
Like, I said, it's a business. A swap of value for money.
To all following this, the issues released so far have been the most mentally engaging. I heavily recommend you subscribe.
What would your advice to other youngsters who have the passion to dive into the world of literature be?
“Sit the eff down and read”
That they should be realistic about what they want to do and plan out their lives.
Also, sit the eff down and read. If you want to improve your writing, try to find something that reads better than what you have known. Your desire for improvement must be matched by your desire to be entertained.
Also, words are important. Composition is important. You may want to write science fiction and romance and vampire thrillers all you want, but make sure it sounds like a musical masterpiece.
Don't just use a word because it's efficient, use it because it's a delightful musical note, a soft ping in a stream of other pings.
And stop reading for entertainment.
Thank you so much, Timi for this session. It was quite informing.
Wish you the very best in this path.
Thank you, Uche.
_______________________________
Uchenna Emelife is a journalist, creative writer, content creator, and a literary enthusiast. His works have appeared and are forthcoming in Nigeria’s Nation Newspaper, the ICIR, Opinion Nigeria, Minority Africa, Punocracy and others. 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, Programs Director of Minority Africa and the Resource Officer of the Caliphate Arts and Literary Forum.
He tweets @uc_emelife.
