Dr. Dul Johnson is a writer whose second collection of stories entitled: Why Women Won’t make It to Heaven, is stirring controversy. He is also an award-winning film scriptwriter and director. He now lectures at the Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State. He shares his views on creative writing, Nollywood and more with Evelyn Osagie.Your work, Why Women Won’t Make It to Heaven is still the butt of debates.
(Laughs) Actually, I was helping women in that story. I wanted, for those of them who want to go to heaven, to see how they could try to shape their lives and mend their ways. The book is a collection of short stories. But not all of them were about women; it’s just the title story.
How did you come about the title?
Because it is the first story in the collection, and in the absence of a title, that was the best thing that I could come up with. Let me confess. I did not choose the title, one of my students did and I felt it was a good idea since it is a lead story and it worked.
Has there been any backlash from the womenfolk?
Yes. They have actually sat me down at a reading in Abuja. I remember the hall was filled with women. They wanted to tear me to pieces. But they were not able because a good number of them had read the story and I think I was able to defend myself as well. And may be, because, I was able to help them see themselves as they hope to make heaven.
What if there is no heaven?
I’m not saying they won’t make it to heaven. I’m only saying if they did what the story talked about, they wouldn’t make heaven. But if they found a way to avoid those things that chuckle women, then they would be able to make it to heaven. Have you read the story?
It’s just about women, the kind of time they spend doing all their unnecessary things; like putting on lipstick; they spend like an hour trying to comb a second head, for instance. All of those I think constitute waste of time. And I just imagined that if there was going to be a bell ringing for people to rush to heaven, then, perhaps 95 per cent of them won’t get there because by the time they finish all of that stuff and start off, the gate would have been closed.
With the title, one could deduce you are a Christian...
I am but I don’t think that informed my choice. If you talk about going to heaven, the Muslim also talks about going to heaven. I think even the traditionalist believes there is a place where people go when they leave this world.
Should we also expect one on men?
Yes. Like women, men also have problems that can prevent them from going to heaven. And if I do find time to do the story in future… you see, it would be set in one of the places you won’t expect good guys to be. And I’d have three or four men living in a world – I mean it’d all be in their head (the kind of happenings in that place) – and by the time they wake up from their day-dream, time has completely gone and they would not be able to achieve whatever they would have wanted to. So, that’s the frame of the story, but it refused to write itself, and there is nothing I can do about it. I keep promising women that some day, they would see the flipside of Why women Won’t Make It to Heaven.
What is new; in your next book are you going to be attacking women?
This is a very didactic story, a very difficult story to talk about. It’s actually amazing that in all the problems, the crisis, the killings, the horrors that people experience, something can come out of it. I read a story by one of my former students – an excellent story set in a Nigerian city where crises have taken place. The story is reliving the life of a young boy who witnessed all of that. I’m also working on a story that takes its life from the Plateau crisis; things I have observed from my own locality and from Jos and other places. There was a need to do a story that would help people understand the kind of problems we create for ourselves. The story is not going out well as the things I saw because I’m trying to fictionalise the realities and it’s a bit difficult. Being fiction, it makes it the more difficult.
How far have you gone with it?
I have gone 10 chapters.
Are you close to completing it?
The whole thing is about 15 chapters. I have revised 10 chapters. In terms of volume, I will say I have achieved quite a bit, but the problem is whether in terms of achieving what I wanted to get in how far I have gone. Sometimes I think that I have achieved a great deal, sometimes I feel defeated; I think I have wasted my time, but I think we all felt the same way so I don’t think it’s peculiar to me.
It sounds a great idea.
That’s part of the problem, because stories are not great ideas; stories are living things that could go either way.
It is believed that many Nigerians have a poor reading culture. What are the chances that your message will get to those it is meant for?
I made a mistake by using the word, didactic. I withdraw it. You see, every story teaches something, every story says something to the reader and if 10 readers are able to see that there is a problem the way we treat certain groups of people or individuals, I would have made my point. Every writer will be glad if there will be 10 million readers. Unfortunately, it is not the case with Nigeria, but then let me also not put the blame on the readers. Suppose the story is not as interesting as people will like to read, will I blame them? If it turns out to be an interesting story, I think there will be readers for it, whether they are Nigerians, Ugandans or Americans.
As a film maker, how would you compare the storylines featured in Nollywood with creative writing?
Maybe we shouldn’t dare to talk about that. I saw one or two films that were really good. I was very proud of the films, like the one done by an ex-student at film institute. It was a beautiful story and very well shot. I was very proud. The jury was quite impressed and that made me feel that at some point we will be able to tell good stories in our films. A lot of them don’t tell stories; but take ideas which have not really been given form; and shoot them as films. There are great stories coming out of Nigeria. And we have asked why filmmakers don’t use these existing stories to make films. And I have discussed those issues with my fellow filmmakers; but that has not come to be. The excuse has always been there is no copyright to turn a story into film, but I don’t believe that. I know Tunde Kelani is pretty well turning existing stories into films. And everybody acknowledges the fact that his films are different. So, our filmmakers can begin to look at stories that have already been published, the storyline would improve. As writers, we know how it takes to craft a story. So the stories that go to the films are not stories. And if they move from ideas to stories, they have failed to get to the level of film scripts. But there is hope. I have seen hope in other festivals such as AMAA.
But in spite of all these, Nollywood has global acknowledgment…
…That is the problem! It is very well acknowledged in the world. But we have been put in our own class. And it is okay, but like a friend of mine once said we were sitting down here like professors of medicine waiting for good equipment to be set up, meanwhile, the quacks have already set up small clinics and they are making all the money and killing people. But if there are interesting stories to tell, are we able to turn them to films? That is the point I’m making. You see, you watch a Nigerian film and you can stay in the toilet and follow the film. You can be in the kitchen cooking and follow the film. You don’t need to apply your brain. I think that good films require that you meet them halfway; like a good story. If you read a good story, you have to take yourself into it before you can appreciate it. It is not like it is served to you as wine. That is the problem I see in it. We were told that we were the third largest film producing nation; how many awards have we won internationally with those films produced?
As a lecturer cum writer, what is your take on residency and its effect on creative writing?
All writers think that this is even belated. Because this is an idea that had been practiced and enjoyed all over the world for a very long time but then it can never be too late in Nigeria. We have always needed it and I think it’s a wonderful idea. We have always thought that ANA should have had something like this. Every time we go for convention, we argued about the writers’ village. This is the idea. We need a place where writers can go to. I think it’s really good an idea that we have the Ebedi Residency.
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