MICHAEL JOACHIM

Michael Joachim is a multi-genre author and screenwriter with several novels and short stories published both in online and offline platforms, a graduate of English and literary studies who serves as editor and PRO for The Literatus. Being a great film lover, Joachim decides to further his career in filmmaking. He can be reached via email: writejoachim@gmail.com

Q: When was the very first time you wrote something you were proud enough to show someone else?

A:        I could remember it wasn’t long time I entered the university before my writing improved. Understanding grammar better and paying close attention to syntax, which I could say are among the major aspects of a good writing, and having access to dozens upon dozens of books in creative writing, literature and English in my school library, I was ready to rewrite the one book I thought the world needed to read. When I was satisfied with the work, I took a printed copy to one of my professors and asked him to help me assess and critique it. From the way he looked at me, I could tell he wasn’t sure such a young man could write a book worthy of a professor’s read, but that wasn’t the case. He took his time to explain how busy he was and encouraged me to check on his assistant who was a lady. The lady took the book gladly and kept it for almost a year without opening the first page. When I asked for the work back, she couldn’t even tell where she kept it. My course mate, who was an aspiring writer, read the novel and asked to adapt it into a screenplay. That’s when I felt I had written something worth reading.

Q: In your writing journey, what are the most important lessons you’ve learnt?

A:        We may not have the advantages and necessary resources to achieve our dreams, but we need to believe in ourselves and work hard to prove those who don’t believe in us wrong. As cars are moved by diesel, and bullets by fire, man is moved by a burning heart’s desire. In this journey, I learnt that one needs to be open-minded if he wants to succeed in life. In most cases, we can’t reach our goals alone. We need to meet people, listen to them talk, attend seminars, and ask questions; because the one who knows is the one who grows. If there’s one thing I have learnt in this journey, it is that there’s always a room for ideas where time and thoughts are concerned. Anyone who has written one or more books would agree with me that at some stage there would be this feeling that one has plotted his story into a deadlock, and giving up would feel like the only option. But in no distant time, thinking opens the way. It surprises me often–the power we have within us.

Q: What are your major influences in writing your thrillers?

A:        The things to influence us write are already there, only if we pay attention to what is going on in the society. I believe anyone who tells a good story of African community will end up producing a handsome thriller, because the day-to-day incidents we experience, the rate of corruption and killing, are far more intriguing than what a thriller writer can put down to paper. Sometimes one real-life event can trigger my imagination. The only thing I do is to find some characters who are eager to fight corruption with weapons as I am with words.

Q: It must have been a daunting experience to write The Theodore Illusion, what are the kind of pressures you had when writing it and how did you deal with it?

A:        It was a daunting experience indeed, because it was my first book to be ever published. I knew if it wasn’t going to be good it might ruin my entire career, so I had to put in all my best, give it more of my time, ask questions, and do a lot of research. I worked on the book over and over again. Sometimes I wished I had never started it in the first place. The topic and characters eventually became highly sophisticated that I needed more knowledge and information to write the novel so well. I never thought it was going to be that tough, and I couldn’t abandon the work because I had gone a long way, as much as was enjoying the storyline. I was also discovering things I didn’t know along the way. I think one beautiful thing about writing is that the book first fascinates the author before anyone else. But there is one thing: if one has been reading good books all his life, it will be hard for him to write a bad one.

Q: How much research did you have to do on the Nigerian military to be able to write it this well?

A:        I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions. I wasn’t ashamed to meet anyone I felt could help me. Well, I may say, when humility precedes adventure, a man can explore the secrets of the gods. One evening I took my ID and went to a prison located close to where I lived. I introduced myself to a group of soldiers I met there who agreed to help me with my questions. When we started the men were about four, but later grew in number. They couldn’t answer most of the questions, but they helped me answer some of the questions I couldn’t get from the internet. When I left the place, I felt like the most accomplished adventurer in the world. It was after the meeting with the soldiers that my manuscript began to have a brighter future. But that wasn’t enough. I could remember during the editing the editor, who had written several successful books in the same genre, pointed out a couple of things that were not in accordance with the military code of conduct. If I were not determined to succeed I would have given up at that stage, because it required a lot of restructuring and replotting. My God! I had to do a deeper research as well as endure the pain of getting rid of some interesting parts of the book. I went about looking for educated military personnel I could be able interview, and I found a couple of them who answered the questions marvelously and even appreciated I was writing such a book.

Q: Do you think the story would motivate the men in service, fighting terrorism on the frontline and if yes, in what way?

A:        The story will motivate anyone who dreams of a great future for the country.  We have had a dystopic past, and the present is not promising due to the rate of corruption, killing, and hardship we experience every day. We wouldn’t want such to continue in the future, so everyone needs to be positive if we don’t want our children to suffer what we are suffering now. We can’t afford to be late about it, because corruption started early. I think the men in service are in a better position to do this, only if they would have the kind of love and commitment Lieutenant Diogu had for his country. It won’t be easy for anyone who is out to make a difference. The person will be bought or lured into a corrupt cartel run by a court of mediocrity out there that dreams of a perpetual control of all the power and economy of this country. The cartel may even be there as a political party, fighting for their own interest. You see what happened in chapter thirteen when Ambassador Ben Morgan meets with Lieutenant Theodore Diogu. I only think the men in service might draw a lot of inspiration from Lieutenant Diogu.

Q:How has being a writer helped your personality growth and where do you see yourself in the coming years with your writing?

A:        Writing helped me build a self-esteem. First, as a writer, I am a reader, and there is no reader who could not make a gesture of surprise in a critical moment. The course of writing The Theodore Illusion introduced me to many dignitaries I never knew I would meet in life. Well, this might sound a bit crazy, but I always think if a writer could imagine and create influential characters such as heads of state and military generals, it wouldn’t seem like a new thing if the writer happens to meet such characters in real life. I developed good communication skills through writing. I love dialogues and read a lot of them. Reading and writing dialogues improved my communication skills.

In the coming years, I would enjoy sitting back and watching my stories as they play on the screen. If words and ideas would make our world a better place, I would be a contributor. Oh, I don’t know how egomaniacal that may sound, but I always work hard in my books to find solutions to the problems of humankind. I see myself in the film industry. Any place stories are being told, edited, critiqued, published, or filmed, that’s where you will find me.

Q: What advice do you have for budding writers who intend to explore the thriller genre?

A:Write. Just write. Start with something happening and keep things happening. Read your favourite authors, or if you have an author you wish you could write like read all his books again and again and again until you learn what makes him a good writer, and the way he handles complicated scenes in his books. Don’t ever be tired of rewriting your work, because every good writer does so. Know that the difference between a good and bad writer is, a good writer might spend the whole day writing just a page and spend the next rewriting it, but a bad writer writes the whole book in one day and spends the next looking for a publisher.

Q: What is your next book and when should we expect it?

A: My next book is titled The Brotherhood Conspiracy. A former French mercenary, arriving to her hometown, runs into a terrorist conspiracy bent on a national conquest, financed and sponsored by a league of bigots in the government who have marked her father, a professor of English, for elimination because he is in possession of a classified document that will expose their agenda.

What if maybe the world is not saved yet because we don’t believe women are as strong as they claim to be? I think if given a chance, women might be suitable weapons than the world’s bragging supermen we look up to for the world’s salvation. The book shows the ability and subtlety of a well-trained woman. It is an action-thriller novel set in a fictional land in West Africa, and will be out by April.