NK Chats To… Feyisayo Anjorin

Hi, Feyisayo. It’s a pleasure to welcome you to Novel Kicks today. What’s your route to publication been like?

It’s been quite interesting, starting with the birth of the idea, which got me excited about the whole thing because of my worldview and experience on love from my teenage years, and then editing process, and then getting the appropriate cover. I had a tough time with the designer because I felt he didn’t dig deep in creativity to get the best, but in the end I had to calm down. In the end, looking back, I would say that it was an exciting process.

What’s your typical writing day like?

I usually start with getting my family settled. I make sure I take my daughter to school and drive my wife to work. Then I get something to eat. I would sit on the table and work on my laptop with some music playing in the background. That happens earlier in the day. I hardly write after 3PM, so the next writing session is usually at night when my lovelies must have slept.

Your book is called The Stuff of Love Songs. Can you tell me a bit about it and what inspired the story?

It was inspired by the youthful search for true love. It is the story of a young man who was looking for something lasting, something beyond great sex, and a young woman who has tasted a fairytale-like relationship in the past and tries to give true love another chance. As usual, they face the challenges every good thing faces. It was inspired by the love songs I loved as a teen, and the promises of lovers in the stories in those songs, so as a teen I was always looking for the stuff of love songs.

What would be on a playlist for this book?

“Brighter Than The Sun” by Colbie Caillat

“Without You” by Mariah Carey

“Lucky” by Colbie Caillat featuring Jason Mraz

 “Two is Better Than One” by Boys Like Girls featuring Taylor Swift

 “Wait For Me” by KSA featuring Onyeka Onwenu

 “Slow Jam” by Usher featuring Monica

What’s your favourite word and why?

Love. My favourite because so much in the world would get sorted out with love as the action word.

Which author has had the most impact on you as a writer?

I think it is John Grisham. I’ve read almost all his books.

What’s your writing process like- from idea, to first draft and then to final edit?

Whenever I have a story idea that is fully formed in my mind, I sit down daily to write till it gets all done. For this story I got the idea, then I dwelled on the two main characters and the kind of people they are, then I gave them names. The dialogue comes easily once I’m decided on the sort of persons speaking. I edit chapter by chapter, typically I don’t go to the next chapter until I’m satisfied with the last one. My wife reads too, to help in editing.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced with writing?

The biggest challenge is lack of time. One may feel like working on a project that would take time and need expensive and comprehensive research, but when one thinks about bills that are to be paid, one has to prioritize on projects that get the bills paid.

In your opinion, what are the common traps aspiring authors make?

I think it is the effort to look like another successful author, the quest to be like that famous writer. Some aspiring authors rest all the hopes on traditional publishing houses, and we all know traditional publishing houses cannot possibly take everyone in. Then blindly following trends rather than writing a story from the heart. These are some of the few.

Any other advice for new writers?

Just write. Read, read, and write, write. You may have to write a lot of crap before you get that masterpiece, and you may have to edit a lot of crap out to get the best of your work. But when you write nothing you have nothing and you are not a writer!

About Feyisayo Anjorin:

Feyisayo Anjorin is a filmmaker and a writer. His writings have appeared in Brittle Paper, Litro, Bella Naija, and Kalahari Review.

He is the author of “Kasali’s Africa”, and “The Night My Dead Girlfriend Called”.

Say hi to Feyisayo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FeyisayoAnjorin

About The Stuff of Love Songs:

Tolu’s lover is a treasure in his heart, so the purity of his feelings flows. Bola has lived her life like a sweet dream sometimes in the past, and she is satisfied with her lover, but she fears for the familiar comforts of their relationship; so she throws her lover a seemingly minor challenge.

Love Like Us, a popular romance game show on national TV, could work as a gift or a curse for lovers, due to its potential to unravel intimacy or lack of it.

When Tolu and Bola, following Tolu’s initiative, decide to appear on the show in order to give their relationship a brighter spark, they have to face deep-seated fears and irritating discoveries from the ruins of their past disappointments as they chart a new course for their union.

The Stuff of Love Songs was published on 16th January 2020. Click to view on Amazon UK.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.