NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Both of your stories are haunted by absence \u2013 whether through abandonment in \u201cThe Ghost of His Disappearance\u201d or through death in \u201cA Journey to Her Final Home.\u201d What draws you to explore the lingering power of absence, and how do you see it shaping the lives of your characters?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 There is a void yearning to be filled in everyone\u2019s life. There\u2019s an absence in our existence \u2013 absence of peace, absence of hope, absence of freedom, absence of justice, absence of health, absence of money, absence of a lover, absence of a father figure, etc. Absence is powerful. It occupies a position so commanding in our lives that we constantly seek to fill it. Considering the aforementioned, I would say it comes naturally for me to explore the power of absence in my writing. Let me admit that I don\u2019t think about themes when I begin drafting a work. I\u2019m much more concerned about the structure of the work. But then it isn\u2019t a coincidence that the theme appears in the two works, which I wrote three years apart. Perhaps, absence is my main thematic preoccupation, which I hadn\u2019t reckoned with all the while. I can now assert that absence is a thematic fingerprint you\u2019d notice across my fictions. Thank you for helping me to recognize it (LOL).<\/p>\n
For my characters, absence isn\u2019t just a gap or void. It is a force \u2013 quiet but compelling. It haunts them and influences their emotions, silences, choices, yearnings, actions, and turmoil. For Abbey, absence is her inheritance. For Edward, absence echoes persistently in his life, having suffered mortality of two wives. Their lives are shaped by what they have lost and are defined by how they navigate life without it. Thus, absence reveals their traits.<\/p>\n
For the three men in Marvy\u2019s life, absence through her death serves as their silent judge. They find themselves in its courtroom as they journey to Badagry to bury her. My characters don\u2019t move on with their absence. They move with it. I call it \u201cAbsence as Presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
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NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Abbey and Marvy, though very different, are both women whose voices are muted or mediated by others \u2013 Abbey by her silence around trauma, Marvy by the men who narrate her life after death. How intentional was this exploration of women\u2019s agency and silence, and what did you hope readers would take from it?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 I\u2019ve always been fascinated by the concept of \u201cagency.\u201d People should be allowed to live their lives as long as they don\u2019t constitute nuisance or menace to the society. I live in a heteronormative society where it\u2019s popular to design and give people a template of the life they should live. We grow up with \u201cburdens of expectation.\u201d The burden is much more on women. The society has defined their existence \u2013 how they should live, what they should wear, when they should speak, when they should get married, when they shouldn\u2019t be outside their homes. Consequently, I was (am) intentional about the exploration of women\u2019s agency in my works. I write about women who to a large extent still have a hold on their lives. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s absurd to have them see their agency challenged or voice muted along the way. It\u2019s part of the conflict in the narrative. In fact, the society keeps challenging their agency and attempting to mute their voice.<\/p>\n
Marvy lost her agency and voice in her first marriage. She was very young and na\u00efve when she got married to Sanya, her first husband, who maltreated her. Her second marriage was different. The agency she lost in her first marriage, she regained in her second. In fact, she proposed to Edward, her second husband. Her economic power gave her the upper hand in the second marriage. She died a woman of substance, a woman in control of her life, and a woman whom the men around her depended on for survival.<\/p>\n
As for Abbey \u2013 I think to some extent, she retained the power of her choice despite her trauma. The decision to honor or stand down a date was still within her. She didn\u2019t give in to external pressure. She seemed to relish her trauma. Perhaps because it didn\u2019t affect other areas of her life. She might eventually decide to give love a chance.<\/p>\n
I hope readers, especially those in heteronormative societies, will acknowledge women\u2019s agency. Women\u2019s rights \u2013 economic, sexual, reproductive \u2013 shouldn\u2019t be trampled upon. They should be allowed to design and wear the template of their own lives. Agency trumps traditionalism.<\/p>\n
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NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Your stories balance psychological intimacy with social detail \u2013 Abbey\u2019s immigrant solitude in the UK, and Edward and AY\u2019s grief against the backdrop of Nigeria\u2019s economic struggles. How important is it for you to situate personal stories within broader cultural or social contexts?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 Our environment influences our lives; it impacts on our mindset, attitude, belief, and interactions. We tend to make decisions or take actions based on how certain socio-economic and cultural factors affect us. As we know, fiction replicates life. The characters in our stories reflect people we come across every day. These characters also make decisions based on how the environment a writer puts them in has conditioned them. In addition, when we talk about setting in fiction, it goes beyond the physical. It encompasses social, economic, and cultural settings. Therefore, for authenticity, it\u2019s important to situate stories not only within the physical setting but also cultural and social settings. It helps readers, especially the ones who are familiar with the social and cultural settings, to connect deeply with the story. Likewise, it gives readers from other parts of the world opportunity to learn about the mindset, attitude, and idiosyncrasies that pervade other societies.<\/p>\n
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NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Neither story offers a neat resolution: Abbey retreats into fantasy rather than finding love, and Edward, Sanya, and AY leave Marvy\u2019s funeral more divided than united. Why was it important for you to resist closure or redemption in these narratives?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 First, let me ask a few questions. Is there a closure in life? Can we ever get answers to all our questions? Can we ever access all our heart desires? When a need is met, it creates further needs. When you get an answer to a question, it raises another question. We can\u2019t achieve closure or redemption in all areas of our lives. We\u2019ll not get solutions to all our problems \u2013 physical or emotional. We can only learn to navigate life with these challenges.<\/p>\n
Second, I could be in love with my narrative \u2013 its structure, setting, pacing, and imagery \u2013 but I don\u2019t fall in love with my characters. When you fall in love with your characters, you might become sentimental about them. Once that happens, you\u2019ll fall into the temptation of solving their problems. I don\u2019t write to solve all the problems I have created for my characters. It isn\u2019t my responsibility (LOL). Mind you, God doesn\u2019t provide answers to all our questions. That\u2019s for those of us who believe in His existence. Even with the solidity of our prayers and faith in Him, He doesn\u2019t solve all our problems.<\/p>\n
Moreover, I resist closure in order for readers to decide or imagine what might happen afterward. For example, they might ponder, \u201cWould Abbey ever find love? Would she seek therapy?\u201d \u201cWould the men in Marvy\u2019s life be sober and introspective enough to admit that they all took advantage of her and that despite their wrongs, she loved them? Would they seek each other\u2019s forgiveness? How would they manage her estate?\u201d<\/p>\n
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NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Both stories use strong symbols \u2013 the ravens, autumn leaves, and \u201cBen\u201d in Abbey\u2019s story; the casket, hearse, and funeral rites in Marvy\u2019s. Could you talk about how you approach symbolism in your writing, and what role imagery plays in carrying emotional weight?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 Oh, Ben! Abbey\u2019s secret pleasure. I\u2019d even forgotten about him. I\u2019ve always been drawn to stories with good imagery and symbolism. It, therefore, behooves me to enrich my stories with beautiful symbol and imagery. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I say imagery or a symbol is more powerful in conveying information about a character\u2019s emotion than a thousand words. A smell, sound or color, for instance, could trigger grief in a character. I\u2019ve used symbols to show a character\u2019s past without verging into info dump. Each time the symbol appears in the story, readers understand that the character\u2019s past has come back to haunt him. Symbolism is also a good means of foreshadowing in a story. I\u2019ve used symbols to convey subtexts in my stories. I\u2019m a lover of subtexts in dialogue and in the main narrative.<\/p>\n
In my first draft, I don\u2019t strive for symbolism and imagery. But if it comes randomly, I add it to the WIP. When I\u2019m rewriting or editing, I begin to look for places where I could use symbols and imagery to add depth to the story. Images and symbols connote different things to different people. For example, a red color may mean something different to a medical doctor and an engineer. Therefore, I ensure that the symbol and imagery I use suit the character\u2019s psyche at a given point.<\/p>\n
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NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Looking at these stories side by side, one about the search for love and the other about the aftermath of death, they seem to speak to each other as companion pieces. Do you see them as part of a larger thematic project in your work \u2013 perhaps an exploration of how we confront loss, whether through abandonment or mortality?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 Loss is a theme that unites all my stories. From \u201cFalling Leaf,\u201d \u201cA Journey to Her Final Home,\u201d \u201cSomething Lagos, Something Troubling,\u201d \u201cThe Ghost of His Disappearance,\u201d to \u201cCecilia Walker,\u201d which I\u2019m currently working on. In the first three stories I mentioned, the characters suffered loss through mortality. In The Ghost of His Disappearance, Abbey suffered loss through abandonment. In Cecilia Walker, the octogenarian character suffered loss through both abandonment and mortality. These stories and five others constitute a short story collection that is yet to find a home. My full-length work is also about exploration of loss, exile, and displacement and how we confront them.<\/p>\n
Nobody is immune to loss. Mortality is a loss that everyone will suffer. I\u2019ve recently suffered one. By the way, there is no fiction that doesn\u2019t touch on loss, though it may not be the main thematic exploration of the author.<\/p>\n
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NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Here in late summer 2025, what is life and writing like for you?<\/p>\n
OLUSOLA AKINWALE \u2013 I\u2019ve recently regained my writing libido, which I lost when my father died four months ago in a fatal accident in Nigeria. He\u2019d visited me in Lagos, and was on his way back to Ibadan when their car somersaulted. His sudden death had taken away my enthusiasm for writing. However, I\u2019m back to slaving with words. As I\u2019ve mentioned earlier, I\u2019m working on a story about an 82-year-old widow, Cecilia Walker, estranged from her daughters and navigating the quiet loneliness of her final years. I might send the piece to Novelty Fiction for publication. I\u2019ve been applying for writing fellowships in Europe. This is me making preparation for 2026. I hope I will earn a place in at least one of the residencies.<\/p>\n
Writing keeps me sane, saves me from depression. I love that writing makes me the Creator. I derive pleasure in forming lives on the pages, setting landscapes and boundaries, determining who gets this and that. Joy fills me when I see my craft developing or seeing a work progressing. Of course, I\u2019ve met discouragements along the way. People have ridiculed me for writing when it isn\u2019t earning me money. In my society, the main indicator of success is making money. They say I\u2019m wasting my time. The messages are often subtle.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, I keep pressing toward the mark. In famine and in surplus, I write. I\u2019m a Christian, but let me be bold to say that writing has taught me many more lessons in patience and perseverance than I\u2019ve learned from all my years of listening to sermons in church. There\u2019s no shortcut to becoming a great fiction writer. You have to improve your command of SPAG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar). You have to understand p.o.v. and perspective. A sentence may be grammatically correct, but technically wrong in fiction. For example, when there\u2019s a sudden shift in the p.o.v. No measure of anointing or prayers will fix that for you. You have to learn the craft and master the art. But then you have to be patient. You have to persevere as you submit your works and receive rejection notes. Every writer is one short story or novel away from their breakthrough.<\/p>\n
Permit me to digress a bit. Novelty Fiction and their editor have been instrumental to the development of my craft. I\u2019ve been blessed by the kindness and prayers of several people, but as far as my writing is concerned, no one else has offered me as much support as Novelty Fiction and Morten Rand have done. Thank you.<\/p>\n
I hope to finish a full-length fiction in 2026. I\u2019m hoping that the next phase of my writing will be more productive and rewarding. I\u2019m still looking forward to bagging that book deal and winning that major award.<\/p>\n
Final words to readers:<\/em> <\/p>\n \u00a9 2025 by Novelty Fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NOVELTY FICTION \u2013 Both of your stories are haunted by absence \u2013 whether through abandonment in \u201cThe Ghost of His Disappearance\u201d or through death in \u201cA Journey to Her Final Home.\u201d What draws you to explore the lingering power of absence, and how do you see it shaping the lives of your characters? OLUSOLA AKINWALE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-transparent-header":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAs authors, we learn and write to satisfy the literary hunger of readers. I implore them to keep buying and reading our works to encourage us. When they read our stories, they should drop reviews on Amazon and other platforms for the works to gain traction for more sales.<\/p>\n