#BookoclockTweetchat With Oyinkan Braithwaite
Rodiyah Omotoyosi Mikail
Last month on our Twitter handle, we had a thrilling conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite, the author of multiple prize winning thriller “My Sister, The Serial Killer”
The tweetchat was the first of a monthly literary tweetchat series tagged #bookoclocktweetchat where we host African authors and scholars and engage them in conversations surrounding literature.
In the tweetchat anchored by our co-founder Uchenna Emelife, Braithwaite responds to questions about her book and its writing/publishing process.
If you missed it, here’s a recap.
MSTSK is an unusual story. It is not what we see in everyday African fiction. What informed the story? How did the idea come about?
Braithwaithe: In 2007, I was researching the black widow spider and learnt that the female would often devour the male after mating. I thought it fascinating that the female would be so reckless and cruel. I suppose that’s when the concept was first planted in my mind.
While writing, did you have a complete picture of how MSTSK would start, progress and eventually end?
Braithwaithe: The first two sentences came to me fully formed. I followed the story from there. I didn’t know what would happen at the end till I got about halfway through the story.
There is this common belief that writers have a character that takes after them. Is this true about MSTSK? Which of your characters can you personally relate to?
Braithwaithe: I can empathize with Korede but I dont think we have anything in common besides being the eldest. I envy Ayoola’s live and let live attitude.
In MSTSK, you used several Nigerian native terms instead of finding Western equivalents or providing translations. We loved that about your book. It made it very Nigerian and relatable. Do you have a particular reason you did this?
Braithwaithe: I wrote MSTSK for myself. So I wasn’t thinking about how it would be received by the West, or by Nigeria to be honest. By the time it came to editing it, I was blessed to have editors who didn’t try to get me to scale back on its Nigerianess. I actually ended up adding more Yoruba during the editing process.
Your character, Korede never thinks herself enough. She feels like a shadow behind Ayoola and this costs her a lot including Tade. What’s your advise to men/women who like Korede suffer low self-esteem and inferiority complex?
Braithwaithe: This is a tough question because there isn’t a one size fits all solution for how to deal with low self esteem. And I think it’s a battle you may have to fight every day. But I believe a lot of the time you’ll find someone is suffering because they are comparing themselves to another. Stop. Our journeys are not the same.
We particularly love how you subtly spoke against various ills in the African society in MSTSK, further using your characters to demonstrate their effect on Africans. Is there a central message you intend passing across with your book?
Braithwaithe: I’m not certain I was trying to pass a message. I write about things that interest me and for the most part, I allow people to come to their own conclusions. Maybe that’ll change someday.
The ending of MSTSK was quite the cliffhanger. Is there going to be a sequel?
Braithwaithe: At the moment, I have no plans to write a sequel.
MSTSK has gotten an impressive number of accolades since it was published ranging from a Booker Prize nod to your recent shortlisting in the Goldsboro Books awards, while writing it, did you envision it’d reach this height?
Braithwaithe: I definitely did not foresee any of the things that have happened with MSTSK. I am truly grateful.
As a writer of a successful debut, what writing/publishing advice can you give to budding writers currently working on their first book?
Braithwaithe: Write first, worry later.
What are you currently working on? Any upcoming project we should all be on the lookout for?
Braithwaithe: I have just finished writing two shorter works of fiction.
Where can we find these shorter works? And can you share what they are about?
Braithwaithe: Some of them aren’t published yet. But I have two short stories that came out recently: The Last Tattoo published in @McSweeneys and The Scold’s Bridle published as part of a collection named Homeless Bodies and Other Stories @audible.
The Last Tattoo is about a woman who is competing for her husband’s attention/love with an almost doppelganger. The Scold’s Bridle is about a man who tries to tame his wife.
Have you ever taken up writing classes and the likes or have all your works sprung up from latent prowess?
Braithwaithe: My degree was in Creative Writing and Law. Since then, I have engaged in an online workshop or two and I hosted a physical writing workshop in Lagos in 2016. I also regularly buy books about writing.
What made you interested in sister-sister relationship that you so aptly explored in your novel?
Braithwaithe: That happened organically. The first time I explored the idea, the two women were friends. But I wanted there to be something that bound them together. You choose who your friends are. You don’t get to choose your family. But initially what I wanted to play with was a strong but toxic love between the two women - whether via friendship or sisterhood. In the end, sisterhood won.
What was the most challenging part to write in the book?
Braithwaithe: I think the scene where the father brings a woman home. It was just yuck but it also felt like it was the scene that centred the novel. So I also kinda love that chapter.
That’s it, bookies. We hope you enjoyed this chat as much as we did. Join us again in few weeks time as we host another big name in Nigerian literature. Want to know who that is? I guess you’d just have to stay glued to our Social Media to find out: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Medium.
Stay safe.
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Rodiyah Omotoyosi Mikail is a journalist, content writer and literary enthusiast. Her works have been published on notable Nigerian dailies and opinion sites like The Nation, Daily Tribune and Opinion Nigeria to mention a few. She was awarded the Female Writer of the Year 2018 by Pen Press UDUS.
Rodiyah is a budding poet, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Poetry Club UDUS, the Managing Editor of Pen Press UDUS and the co-founder of Book O’Clock UDUS.
