I was my class playwright and I wrote plays set in villages with kings and chiefs.My plays were about treason and betrayals. If they were influenced by Macbeth, they were also influenced by Nigerian plays I had seen and Village Headmaster, a television drama series I had watched as a child.

I'm always working on something new and while I'm working, I'm absorbed with my characters, their conflicts,my language and settings. I'm in another place and it is a shock to come out and consider my previous works.

At some point, practicality requires that you reach out to people in the business. You have to take care of business if you value your work.

I always begin [a novel] with outlines, but they change and so do my endings and beginnings.

've had notebooks, but they are nondescript. All I care about is that they fit in my hand. I scribble down ideas. The problem is my best ideas come while I'm driving or showering.

I don't write non-fiction because I get bored. Some of my writing is autobiographical, but not the way readers imagine. I use my memory of settings, events and people. I weave history into my stories, but my narratives are made up.

You don't need attention to write. All you need is passion for your work and an overwhelming desire to tell a story you genuinely care about. Readers can sense your sincerity and it separates you from pretenders.