Your Life Is Material
Segun Iwasanmi@iwasanmisegun212159
2 days ago
© Segun Iwasanmi
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There's something funny about Nigerians. We can say "I'm fine" with red eyes, cracked voice and one dangerous sigh that can trigger panic in a nearby person. We are naturally dramatic creatures, we just hide it well under "I'm managing."
A friend of mine, Rita Oluwasaanufunmi, recently wrote a book titled Behind The Twenty-Year Odyssey. I had the privilege of editing it and later serving as moderator at the launch. While working on the manuscript, something kept disturbing me. The book was too relatable. You know that kind of writing where you stop reading as an editor and suddenly start remembering your own life? One minute I was correcting sentence structure like a serious professional, next minute I was looking upward and blinking hard like somebody fighting dust in a very dry harmattan. I used to pride myself as a big boy. Strong man nah. Omo, this book squeezed something out of my face. Wait first, who just called me cry cry baby? Haba nah 😀
But that experience reminded me of something many writers still struggle with. People don't connect to perfection. They connect to truth. That thing you think is too ordinary, too personal or too embarrassing might actually be the heartbeat of your story. Most writers hide the real parts. They remove the pain, soften the family issues, polish everything until the story starts sounding like a church testimony collected under supervision. Meanwhile the stories that follow people for years are usually the honest ones. Achebe wrote people. Chimamanda writes people. Not robots. Not motivational quotes wearing human skin. Jealousy, pride, trauma, fault, humanity. The names change but the emotions never do.
Your life doesn't need to be hidden. It only needs arrangement, meaning and structure. That's the work. When I sit with a manuscript and I can feel the writer hiding, I know exactly where the story loses its grip. There's always a point where the truth stops and the performance begins and the difference is always loud somehow. Getting someone to help you find that point and shape what's underneath it, that's usually what changes everything.
Somebody out there is waiting to see their own confusion explained through your story. They may never say it out loud, but one well written chapter can follow a person for years.
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© Segun Iwasanmi | ™The Man With The Story.
Book Writer | Screen and Scriptwriter | Creative Fiction writer | Book Editor.
I help people turn rough ideas into bold stories that work
