Chike Okeze is a young, vibrant Nigerian writer and author who uses his gift of storytelling to craft books that resonate with readers, books that highlight the rich cultural heritage of his people. In this interview, Chike talks about his journey as a writer, and the challenges he has encountered so far in his quest to make a name for himself in the community of writers.
Q: Tell us about yourself
Chike: Thank you, Mrs Ngozi. It’s indeed an honour to be on this platform to talk about myself and my writing career.
My name is Chike Godwin Okeze, an author, a Pastor and an easygoing and imaginative person.
I was born and brought up in Lagos Nigeria but hail from Ibusa, in Oshimili North, Delta State. I am the second child in a family of six; five boys and a girl, all grown ups now.
I have a qualification in Business administration and management, from Lagos state Polytechnic and I am an Associate Member Charted Institute of Business Administration (ACIA). I belong to the Literary Authors Cooperative, Lagos, of which I am a founding member.
Q: What inspired you to become a writer?
Chike: I have the gift of storytelling. As a child, I enjoyed folk tales. My mum was a good storyteller and never hesitated to tell my siblings and me bedtime stories. Let’s say I inherited the gift from her. Growing up I often find it easy to make up stories for my peers.
As a child, I was artistic and good at creating art. In primary school, I made money from my classmates through comic illustrations. But my interest in creative writing began in secondary school when I was introduced to literature as one of my subjects. Poetry was my first love of the entire literary genre. I wrote several poetries, mainly satire, with themes that centred on politics, war, nature and love.
My interest shifted from poetry to prose, in my later years in secondary school. Books such as Things Fall Apart, Bottled Leopard, The Concubine and so on, fired my imagination. I made up my mind to write, the first time, after I read, God Father, by Mario Puzo, an American author, of Italian descent. In 2001, I started writing a book, titled Death Toll and finished the project in 2005. Ever since I have not looked back on my writing career.
Q: What genre do you write and how did you choose it?
Chike: I write literary fiction, but not limited to that alone, I’m versatile in my creativity. I write stories that explore the African culture and realities of the human condition. The themes of my stories revolve around love, communal conflicts, marital conflicts, children's affairs, crimes, thrillers, and tragedies. These form the pool from which I develop my style of writing. I wouldn’t want to tie myself to one genre because of the way my mind works. I tend to flow in the path my imagination leads me.
Q: Have you ever experienced writer’s block and how did you deal with it?
Chike: writer’s block simply means when a writer is unable to write his thoughts down due to poor or lack of inspiration. In other words, the writer’s mind goes blank. It’s normal to experience a block as a writer, at least once in a while. I have indeed experienced it a couple of times in the past. I deal with this by taking a break and engaging in some form of relaxation. Writing is a product of ideas and is generated through inspiration and inspiration is drawn from the spiritual. So, don’t get worked up, when you experience a block, you’re not in the spirit at that time. It’s as simple as that. Again, you must ensure you have your work in progress outlined to serve as a guide so you don’t have to be cracking your brain on the next line of action in your writing project.
Q: How/where do you get information or ideas for your books?
Chike: I source information for my books from within my surroundings. As a writer I have to be aware of my environment and what goes on around me, because my environment is my primary source of writing information. I draw ideas from everyday people, daily events, current affairs, journals, other novels or creative works, the internet, social media, and nature, the lists are endless. As a writer, it’s left for you to narrow the subject you want to convey to your readers. I do a lot of research. For example, while writing Sacrifice of Peace, I have to study the communal lifestyle of a typical Igbo community of the pre-colonial era.
I will first have an idea of what I want to write about before I proceed to do a detailed plan of everything that would go into the story, from the characters, setting, period, and writing style to the plot before I start developing the story.
Chike: Yes, I have authors who influenced me. I may not know them in person, but their works made lots of impact on the way I write. Authors like Chinua Achebe, Emeka Ike, Elechi Amadi, and Prof. Wole Soyinka, made significant impacts on the way I view creative writing. Sacrifice of Peace was written to make a statement, about the authors and books that shaped my literary belief.
Q: How many books have you written?
Chike: I have four published books. They are; Amope the Slave girl, Ule the Lazy farmer, Helen: A Retrospect | A Reversion and Sacrifice of Peace, which is my latest. And I have about ten unpublished titles.
Q: What are the challenges you faced in writing and publishing your books?
Q: How do you market your book? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
Chike: Sacrifice of Peace has been in the market for quite a while. In my strategy, I printed a few hard copies, had a book launch and then reprint more copies for distribution to major bookshops across the country. I made that arrangement with my printer based in Ibadan. My number two strategy is to get it published on Amazon, an online bookshop, that’s the stage I am in now. Also, the design of my author’s website is ongoing, when it’s done, I’ll let you know. I have people handling the online stuff, and I hope it yields a positive result.
Also, there is a work in progress, to have Sacrifice of Peace used as a literature book in schools in one of the states in the country. I am waiting for approval from the education board.
Q: What do you consider your best accomplishment so far as a writer?
Chike: As a writer, I always have this sense of accomplishment whenever I complete a book project. I often feel relieved when I finish writing a story. Some years back, I completed a draft titled, Rape on Campus, and felt like giving myself a treat for achieving such a feat. But I had no cash on me, so I decided to take a stroll and run into a relative, I had not seen for a while, she took me out for a treat, and I ate and drank. Sometimes, nature knew your heart's desire and conspired to give that to you. But I’m hoping that a time will come when my title will become a household name across countries of the world. That will be my greatest accomplishment.
Q: How do you coordinate your daily work with your writing time?
Chike: Before embarking on any writing project, I have all my ideas laid out, which makes it easier for me to have time for other activities. Mostly, I use my spare time to write, like during breaks, I always have my writing pad and plot outline handy with me. I write down information as inspiration flows. I also draft something while in transit. I utilize the night hour and weekends for my story development. These and more, are the ways I schedule my writing routines and at the same time engage in other activities.
Q: What are the challenges of being a writer in Nigeria?
Chike: The challenges are numerous as I have stated before; one, is the issue of little or no funding for writers to research, write and publish their works. Two, publishing houses are not willing to promote the works of creative writing, like our foreign counterparts. There are issues of piracy and the inability of the government to confront this monster headlong. There’s also the issue of poor reading culture, a result of a poor educational system. Lack of support by government and private institutions in promoting book-related projects and programmes.
Q: Are you a self-publishing author or do you have a publisher?
Chike: My first book, Amope the Slave Girl, was published by Macmillan Nigeria Publisher. I submitted the work and they accepted it for publishing, with payment of annual royalty as the contract stipulated. But the company is yet to match their words with action, for I have never received any royalties from them. After my experience with Macmillan, I decided to self-publish my books. I published a book titled, Ule the lazy farmer, a book I tailored for school-age pupils, on a friend’s advice. So, I have tasted what it takes to work under a publisher and to self-publish.
Q: How do you promote your books and are they yielding interest?
Chike: what I have done with my books was to print a few copies and sell them on demand. Now I am looking in the direction of E-books. I have been making campaigns via my social media. I have engaged some social media influencers like you, to talk about my books. Sacrifice of Peace will be live on Amazon on 30th March 2023; I engaged the service of an American, to deploy her expertise at ensuring good sales for the book.
Q: What kind of feedback do you get from your readers?
Chike: So far, the feedback is impressive, though the distribution of the book has not reached a wider populace of readers, due to limited copies. But the testimonies are positive. An account of two bank staff that bought the book got me smiling. The lady said her cousin couldn’t stop talking about the book and carried it about. The book is attracting lots of testimonies and positive responses from those who have read it.
Q: Your book, Sacrifice of Peace was reviewed in this blog, give us some information about the writing of the book.
Chike: The idea of the title Sacrifice of Peace was conceived sometime in 2016 and much research went into birthing it. I wanted to prove that an Epic story of African culture can be written by a writer of my generation and to honour the likes of Chinua Achebe and Elechi Amadi who have done it in the past.
I also wrote Sacrifice of Peace to mirror the social ills of communal conflicts common among African communities and the need to embrace peace.
One objective I had while writing the story was to preserve and promote the African culture and to make it a subject of conversation among young pupils in literature classes in our schools.
I have to give my mother credit, for providing me with the folktales and songs used in the stories. I couldn’t have done it on my own without her input.
Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers, especially in your genre?
Chike: My advice to them is to have in mind that writing is a narrow path and it’s also like a marathon. But it rewards the diligent. They have to be diligent with their crafts; seek guidance from those ahead of them. It won’t be long before they begin to reap the fruit of their labours. I am not there yet, but I know I have passed a lot of stages to be where I am now, I can attest to the fact that it has not been easy.
Q: What else are you great at that few people know about?
Chike: Singing and creative arts, but I never took them seriously. As for arts, because I didn’t have an art teacher in my primary and secondary school, I lost interest in developing it further. But for music, my introverted nature kept me back from going public with my singing abilities.
Q: What is your favourite music/film?
Chike: I should say I don’t have a favourite music. It’s like a seasonal thing for me. But there are artists I love their songs, the likes of Bob Marley, John Legend, Faze and Majek Fashek.
Again, I am not the type that watches TV programmes often, but I love drama series.
Q: How do you relax and what are your hobbies aside from writing?
Chike: I am an indoor person, when I
am not seriously engaged or reading, I watch football. In the past, I played football, but I stopped due to physical constraints.
