A WRITING CAREER IS MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT - ALEXANDER NDERITU - DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL OF PEN KENYA CENTRE
Alexander Nderitu is a Kenyan writer, poet, playwright and critic. He is the Deputy Secretary-General of PEN Kenya Centre and a Regional Managing Editor for the global news portal TheTheatreTimes.com. He has authored four e-books: When the Whirlwind Passes (novel), The Moon is Made of Green Cheese (poetry); Kiss, Commander, Promise (short stories); and Africa on my Mind (YA novel). In 2017, Business Daily newspaper named him one of Kenya’s ‘Top 40 Under 40 Men’. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Collins Elesiro Literary Prize. In this chat with Wole Adedoyin, Alexander Nderitu talks about his life, writing and latest book.
WA: TELL US ALL ABOUT YOUR WRITING BACKGROUND- WHAT YOU’VE WRITTEN, WHAT YOU’RE CURRENTLY WRITING.
AN: My writing journey truly began when I was a teenager. My high school essays were often read out to the rest of the class. I was always destined to be a writer. I was literally born on UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day/Shakespeare’s birthday; April 23rd. At the age of 22, I released my first novel, When the Whirlwind Passes. It was Africa’s first e-novel. I have since authored three more books: Kiss Commander Promise, Africa on my Mind and The Moon is Made of Green Cheese. I have also penned numerous poems and articles over the past two decades. They have been published and translated all over the world. One poem, Someone in African Loves You, has been broadcast by the BBC and translated into several languages. I also write stage plays, the most recent being a biography of Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai. It’s titled The Talking of Trees. Wangari Maathai and I hail from the same region of Central Kenya and she’s a major inspiration to me.
WA: WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT A PIECE OF WRITING?
AN: Style, mostly. But also unique ideas and high concepts. I want to be taken on a mental journey and, hopefully, learn a thing or two.
WA: WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE WRITERS AND WHY?
AN: This is actually a more difficult question than one might assume. I have been an avid reader since childhood. My preferences in genre and authors have changed over time. I also write in different genres, and I have ‘heroes’ in each one. But when I first resolved to be a novelist, my inspirations included Ian Fleming, Frederick Forsyth, Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clarke and Robert Ludlum. As you can see, those were bestselling authors in the crime/espionage genres. I love espionage books and films. There are two spy tales in Kiss Commander Promise, which is a collection of short stories.
WA: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A NEW WRITER STARTING OUT?
AN: Read widely. Research thoroughly. Dare to be different.
WA: WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?
AN: Emotive issues. Inspirational people. Big ideas. Injustices around the world. Beauty. It’s a whole range of things. Writing is my favourite method of communication. I’d rather write down a message than express it verbally.
WA: DO YOU HAVE A WRITING ROUTINE? A PLACE THAT’S SPECIAL?
AN: When you write for a living, it’s hard to be choosy. Apart from my own writings, I am also a professional editor and ghostwriter. I write at home, in the office, and sometimes on my phone when I’m travelling. I mostly write at night, when the world is quiet and the temperatures are cool. Copious amounts of coffee are consumed when I’m writing at home!
WA: HOW, WHEN AND WHY DID YOU FIRST START WRITING?
AN: When I was around 14, I created my own comic strips inspired by such graphic characters as Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Modesty Blaise, and Batman. I created the characters, drew the cartoons with a pencil or biro, and wrote the text. They were quite popular amongst my classmates. When I was in secondary school, I started writing poetry, mainly inspired by the books such as Adventures in Poetry for African Schools, Song of Lawino, and Poems From East Africa. I was about 15 years old.
WA: WHAT WAS THE FIRST PIECE YOU EVER HAD PUBLISHED?
AN: I believe it was a poem titled The World is Upside Down which was published in the East African Standard in the early 2000’s.
WA: DO YOU ADDRESS PARTICULAR THEMES OR ISSUES IN YOUR WRITING?
AN: I do my research and look for creative ways to bring the message home. I rarely write just for the sake of writing; there’s usually something I’m trying to say or an issue I’m trying to highlight. It’s not merely entertainment. I keep wondering if I’m getting the message across. A recent short story of mine, title A Body Made For Sin, was published online by IHRAF Publishes. It was inspired by a true-life murder mystery of a Nairobi campus girl. In the real-life legal drama, the culprit(s) got away scot free. In my version, just was served. Alice Walker once said, ‘Activism is my rent for living on the planet.’ Ditto that. I pay a lot of rent by addressing real-life injustices through my writings. Live From Garissa, another short story, was published in the UK by One Million Project. Harvest of Blood, one of my favourite tales, was about the Rwanda Genocide and was published in Israel by IFLAC. I am currently working in two more collections of short stories, 10 tales per book. I hope this doesn’t come off as arrogant but my current mission is to say in a short story what other writers say in an entire book.
WA: HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED SENDING YOUR WRITING OUT INTO THE WORLD?
AN: Excited and a bit nervous! Luckily, my first review – for my first novel – was a great one. A few years later, I discovered a global writers’ hub called Authorsden.com. This was way before social media sites like MySpace and Facebook came into existence. On Authorsden, one would post their poems, short stories or book excerpts and receive comments from peers all over the world. The vast majority of comments were positive and very exciting to read!
WA: WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS FROM?
AN: A very wide range of places – nature, people, incidents, news items, other books, music, film, television series and so on. Some probably come from what Carl Gustav Jung called ‘the collective unconscious’; a mental repository that all humans share the same way we share our ancestral DNA. Maybe some people are better at tapping into this vast ethereal sea than others. Don’t get spooked. I am a very grounded guy. I don’t believe in crap like money rituals and miraculous healing. But I don’t close my mind to whatever knowledge might be out there. I like to explore ideas.
WA: HOW DID YOU GET YOUR PUBLISHER?
AN: I started with self-publishing. As I grew in the industry, I started submitting various writings to publishers calling for entries in various genres. Now I have an agent who resides in New York so in future I will submit manuscripts through him.
WA: TELL US WHAT KIND OF RESPONSES YOU GET FROM AUDIENCES\ READERS.
AN: I receive generally positive feedback from critics and generally enthusiastic praise from fans. In fact, just this morning, a reader posted a copy of herself holding a copy of When the Whirlwind Passes and describing me as ‘the greatest author of all times.’ Some years ago, an aspiring writer posted on Facebook that he read my non-fiction document, ‘Changing Kenya’s Literary Landscape’ ‘pole pole (slowly slowly) like The Bible’ because he ‘didn’t want it to end’. It was the best compliment I had ever received.
WA: HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOU?
AN: I am on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Wattpad and Twitter. A large number of my writings are available on smartphones globally via the Worldreader app which is freely available on Google Play.
WA: TIPS, TRICKS, THINGS TO PASS ON TO DEDICATED WRITE?
AN: Start writing as early as possible. A writing career is marathon, not a sprint. Utilize the Internet and especially social media in order to find writing opportunities. Seek an agent through whom you can submit your manuscripts to publishers.
WA: ANY TYPICAL/COMMON MISTAKES THAT NEW WRITERS TEND TO MAKE?
AN: Self-published writers tend to cut out editors and cover designers in order to reduce costs. Published work should always pass through an editor.
WA: WHICH OF YOUR BOOKS WERE THE MOST ENJOYABLE TO WRITE?
AN: When the Whirlwind Passes was the easiest to write. Everything just clicked. The moon is Made of Green Cheese contains some poems that I am very proud of. My favourite play is Hannah and the Angel. It has a lot of humour and elements of Hip-Hop culture, which I like.
WA: TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST PUBLISHED BOOK? WHAT WAS THE JOURNEY LIKE?
AN: In 1998, I read a Daily Nation newspaper article about an Italian fashion baron who was murdered in cold blood. The trial of his murder suspects exposed the soap-opera-type lifestyles of the rich and famous and the constant machinations that take place behind closed doors. I felt it was a great story and it inspired me to write a similar family saga based in Africa. It’s titled When the Whirlwind Passes. I published it online first, having heard about emerging e-book trends in the West. It became Africa’s first purely digital novel. It is now available as a paperback and has gone through 3 editions, complete with cover changes. The Daily Nation’s Saturday magazine described it as ‘brilliantly written.’
WA: What is the key theme and/or message in the book?
AN: I would rather readers figured that out for themselves.
WA: Where can we find you online?
ABOUT HIS LATEST BOOK:
In 2001, When the Whirlwind Passes became Africa's first purely 'digital novel'. Over the next decade or so, it remained the continent's most-downloaded e-novel. Inspired by a true story, the novel follows the life of a ghetto princess who marries a wealthy fashion baron, and the circumstances that turn their whirlwind romance into the murder case of the decade.
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