My name is Omotayo Utomi although I’ve authored my novel as Tayo Emmanuel. I like to believe I mean different things to different people – wife, mother, poet, writer, counsellor and analyst. My corporate working experience covers Corporate Communications, Marketing, Events Management, Customer Care and Business Analysis. I’m educated up to Master’s Degree and I have a Writing Certificate from the City University London. My world view is greatly influenced by my Christian faith and in my spare time, I volunteer for non-profit organisations; training, counselling and writing. I currently maintain a relationship column in Mentor Magazine and a blogging platform at www.rel8ing.co.uk
IAN. Please tell us about your latest book
T.E.
My latest book is my debut novel called
A Bouquet of Dilemma. It’s a story about the love lives of two friends, Tobi
and Maggie. But it focuses more on Tobi as the main protagonist - an
undergraduate from a conservative family whose first experience of love is with
Richard, a playboy from a relatively errant family. They both met at Maggie’s
party and Tobi was totally besotted with Richard. Despite being warned by her
friends, she starts dating Richard after her mind-blowing birthday treat. Ironically,
Richard stays faithful and even gets engaged to Tobi before travelling abroad.
The eventuality happened when Tobi gets a mysterious letter advising her to
move on with her life, without Richard. To help her recover, Maggie suggests
having a fling with Oba who had been wooing her for over a year. A week to
Maggie’s wedding and on the eve of Oba proposing to Tobi, Richard shows up asking
for forgiveness. The dilemma for Tobi is to make a choice between ‘charming,
unpredictable Richard who spins her life inside out’ and ‘reliable, gentle Oba
who was supposed to be just a distraction’. It’s an intense battle between her
heart and her mind.
IAN. Is your book published in print, e-book or both?
T.E. A Bouquet of Dilemma is in both print and electronic formats.
IAN. What inspired you to write A Bouquet of Dilemma?
T.E. The
starting point is that I am usually inspired to draw morals and learning points
from life experiences, based on the belief that someone somewhere can always
learn from an event. I’ve been a relationship counsellor and that makes me
privy to a lot of issues about love and life. A Bouquet of Dilemma was inspired
by the true life story of a lady whose first experience of love was with a guy
that eventually jilted her so he could afford a better life abroad. A sneak
into her life portrays different views and perceptions about defining love and
finding happiness.
IAN. Did you use an outline or do you
just wing the first draft?
T.E. Yes, I use an outline, but the outline is a
guide to put together my thoughts and see the end of the book before I start.
But as the story unfolds, the outline is somewhat overtaken and consumed by the
flow.
IAN. How did you come up with the title?
T.E. A
Bouquet of Dilemma came in a flash and I stuck with it. Before then, I had
toyed with other titles and I wasn’t quite satisfied because I wanted a unique
title that would be catchy and stand out from other titles. And that is based
on an experience I once had on Amazon, when I was looking for a book and the
title search brought up over five different books with the same title.
IAN. What do you hope your readers come
away with after reading A Bouquet of Dilemma?
T.E. Incidentally,
African writers usually write to communicate morals or values. I want my
readers to come to an understanding that nothing is cast in stone when it comes
to love and life. People change, circumstances change, motivations change and
history can be re-written by a simple choice to stay or to walk away. Maggie, the
sub-protagonist in A Bouquet of Dilemma had to deal with tribal stereotyping
and I want people to see how fitting individuals into pre-defined boxes doesn’t
work in love situations.
IAN. How much of the book is realistic?
T.E. For me, the purpose of fiction writing,
especially romance is to turn the ‘imaginary’ into the ‘reality’ by creating a
plausible and believable story from scraps, otherwise it becomes a memoir. I
was happy when one of my readers said, “That happened to me. I was like Tobi
some years ago.” To that extent, the book is realistic, but it takes from a lot
of unrelated events which I combined with real and historical events in the
setting.
IAN. Are experiences based on someone you
know, or events in your own life?
T.E. A
Bouquet of Dilemma is based on life experiences of diverse people.
IAN. How is A
Bouquet of Dilemma
different from others in your genre?T.E. A
Bouquet of Dilemma is in the Contemporary Romance Fiction and New Adult genre
and the only way I can say it is different is that it’s original. Every
original work of art has a distinct signature and I believe that no two voices
are alike in the writing world. Yes, it is a story about two regular but
diverse young ladies, but I haven’t read anything like it. And like I would
say, maybe it’s because I haven’t read much. It focuses on the transition of a
girl into womanhood from a Nigerian perspective. The book is also an expose on
politics and the value systems in Nigeria as it affects relationships and
aspirations of young adults. One of the recurring comments I’ve heard from
non-Nigerian readers is that the novel has opened Nigeria to them in a new
interesting light.
IAN. What books have most influenced your
life most?
T.E. Kola Onadipe’s The Adventures of Souza and Akinwunmi Ishola’s Oleku taught me to enjoy African stories as a child. Wole
Soyinka’s Trial of Brother Jero
taught me to love satires, Shakespeare’s Julius
Ceaser taught me to love plays and verses, Harold Robbins’ 79 Park Avenue and Jojo Moye’s Me
Before You have shown me how fiction should be written.
IAN. Name
one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
T.E. Apart
from family, the entity that has supported me most is actually my writing group called the Angel Writing Group.
The group was started after we completed the writing course at City University,
it’s a small support group where we critique one another’s work and share knowledge
on everything related to writing.
IAN. Do you recall how your interest in
writing originated?
T.E. Up
till now, I always feel more comfortable expressing myself writing than
talking. I developed a reading culture early in life. In secondary school one
of my best subjects was literature, from where I started playing with words and
writing poems. I read a numeric course in university, so I forgot writing until
I started working and we started an official lifestyle magazine. Over time, I
started contributing articles here and there in magazines. I've also worked in
Corporate Communications which entails a lot of creative writing. Sometimes in
2010, I decided to compile some of my works and have it published as an
anthology of short stories and poetry. Feedback from that spurred me to
continue writing.
IAN.
What was the hardest part of writing A Bouquet of
Dilemma?
T.E. The hardest part of
writing my book was when I developed a mental block and didn’t have any
inspiration to write. There was a time I set the book apart for almost four
months because the pieces weren’t fitting together.
IAN. Tell us about your next book or a work in progress.
Is it a sequel or a stand-alone?
T.E.
My work in progress is a stand-alone
novel about a couple who are disenchanted in their marriage and struggling with
infertility and infidelity.
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