Sinmileoluwa Akinpelumi, 27, is the owner of Nova Creative Writers, which is an online platform for young writers with limited or no opportunities and resources to publish their works.
In an interview with Punch newspaper recently, Akinpelumi, said her platform offers a free community where writers can upload and publish their articles, books and poems. It also serves as an online library for readers.
The AAUA graduate of Law said her passion for writing started in secondary school, adding that her first published novel was in 2019.
“It took me almost three months to finish my first novel (of more than 60,000 words), while my second book took about two months.
“A lot of mental work and research goes into writing a book, especially fiction. Building my story, creating characters and establishing settings are few of what I try to assemble before I start writing. Consequently, all these affect the duration of writing a book. I once completed a novel in two weeks and sometimes, it takes up to three months.
“However long it takes, what is important is not to mount unnecessary pressure on oneself as a writer. There is no fixed time to complete a book,” Akinpelumi noted.
She said the secret to her writing formation is through soliloquizing.
“I talk to myself a lot while writing. I adopt the voices of characters and read out my dialogue to listen and be sure that what I wrote sounds like what my character would say. I also listen to music while I write. Music tunes my emotions to suit my writing and it helps me better to convey my character’s emotion. Music also helps me to focus better and cut off distractions. Ninety five per cent of the time, I write with an earpiece plugged to my ears,” she said.
Akinpelumi added that the human mind has an endless and ingenious ability to create, only if we let it.
Related: Why I Started Nova Creative Writers – Sinmi Akinpelumi
“I construct some storylines and wonder what goes on in my own head sometimes. Our minds process thousands of thoughts daily. If we focus on just one, there would always be a story to write. If we allow ourselves to see beyond the ordinary and embrace the possibility of extraordinary, you would be surprised at what stories you could write,” she said.
The young writer who had now written seven novels, though only two have been published, noted that a good reader must love originality.
“It is non-negotiable. The average reader does not want to read the same story more than once or twice. I value originality a lot.
“There are times I would withdraw inside my head to develop a story, and an idea I had seen in a movie would pop into my head. I always push those ideas out because I don’t want it if it’s not original. It can be an inspiration, yes, but there must be visible authenticity,” Akinpelumi said.
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