Thread by @KKombani

Thanks @dailynation for helping me unpack this.

The making of #OfPawnsAndPlayers: A thread - behind the scenes look at the book that won the Wahome Mutahi Prize for Literature.

Not a laughing matter: How Kombani waded into humour - Daily Nation nation.co.ke/lifestyle/week…

I grew up reading 'Whispers' by Wahome Mutahi.

That is why, when I was asked to write a novella to be submitted for the award named after the great satirist, I was stuck. Where was I to start?

I knew that for the story to live up to expectations, it had to, first of all, be humourous.

Which was tough for me seeing that I am the one who wrote about tribal violence in 'Villains' and extra judicial killings in 'Den of Inequities'.

I found the solution in Wahome himself

When I reviewed Wahome Mutahi's work, I saw that there were 3 pillars that made it great:

1. Simplicity
2. Characterisation
3. The Message

Let me explain further.

1. Simplicity:

I read 'Whispers' from the time I knew how to read. It is not often that I had to refer to a dictionary. Wahome's work was simple - easy language, short sentences, straight forward plot...

'Pawns' was written deliberately simple.

I didn't go for twisted plots, complicated characters or heavy description. I wanted to write a story that could be read in one sitting.

My good friend and critic @theMagunga called me before publishing his review - he was concerned about the simplicity.

theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Of-pa…

2. Characterisation

Wahome did not build complex characters. His characters were the ordinary people you would meet in any local town. And they stuck to you:

Appep, Thatcher, Pajero, The Investment, Rhoda...

Ordinary people, but enough to drive the message home.

3. Message

In the midst of the humour, Wahome always ensured that his message hit home. And it is only when you stopped laughing that you realised that in each adventure WM was teaching us a lot. I there there were heavy thematic concerns.

It reminds me of a quote from Nikolai Gogol's 'The Government Inspector': "What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourself!"

Another outstanding thing was the way Whispers used language and phrases that most people could relate to.

If WM was alive, he'd probably use phrases that are floating in the internet: Utajua hujui, Bora uhai, etc. He'd probably throw in wamlambez.

He is truly missed.

These three pillars are what helped me build 'Pawns'. Simple language. Characters that seemed ordinary. Message delivered in an easy way.

There had to be references to inside jokes (if you lived outside KE and was not online, you probably wouldn't understand #OfPawnsAndPlayers)

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
- Oscar Wilde

Not to say it was easy writing #OfPawnsAndPlayers. I actually got stuck midway.

It took a lunch date and insult from my mentor to get me back to writing.

(I have mentioned this incident before, please bear with me if you've read it)

I wrote 'Pawns' in 2017, around elections time.

I had all the conditions any writer would crave - I was on leave for 2 weeks, I had the house to myself. Yet for a week I had written less than 500 words.

I simply could not write.

I sought a lunch meeting with my mentor, over which I explained my predicament.

Why do you think you are not able to write?

"I think I've lost the hunger," I said.

He asked me to explain.

Well, when I started out writing, all I wanted was to see my book on a bookshop display

The extent of my dreams was just to see my book, not even at TBC, but any other bookshop (I never even dreamt TBC could stock it).

The books' success beyond expectations had a shocking effect on me. The thought - what if it was all a fluke? - really blocks me

To have people study my book at University was not even a dream.

Back when I was writing 'Villains' I didn't have a computer. I depended on friends who had a cyber cafe in Langata. When I could afford it, I went with them to type my manuscript.

When I went back to campus I no longer had access to a computer. It was (then @KenyattaUni's Vice Chancellor) Prof. Eshiwani who saved me. Here is the story.

nation.co.ke/lifestyle/week…

Those times when I didn't have any resources I was very productive and 'handwrote' the manuscript in record time.

But here, with 4 laptops + a PC at my disposal, no worries about where the rent would come from, and I could only manage 500 words in 2 weeks?

I'd lost my hunger...

My mentor looked at me and simply said, "You are a charlatan." Then he went back to eating.

(I secretly Googled the meaning of the word, because I could not believe it).

Then after some silence, I asked him why he thought I was an imposter.

"How many awards have you won for writing?" He asked.

"Zero." (in 2017 I didn't have any awards for writing)

"And how many of your books are sold outside of Kenya?"

I said very few.

"So what hunger is this that you say you have lost? Are you even half of where you should be?"

"You may have achieved more than you expected, but that success should just be the foundation to greater achievement..."

It was time to broaden my horizons.

I went back home to write. And the novella was ready a few weeks later.

(Moral of the story, get a mentor)

That is the making of 'Of Pawns and Players'.

I immensely thankful to Oxford University Press for believing in me and most importantly, prodding me on.

Special mention @bmknugi who never lets me rest. @muchunguh who pushed me to my limits. Editorial team @Rita @fewaeni

Special mention to the people who read the manuscript and suggested changes. I can't mention all of them here because this thread will be too long.

Fun fact: Pawns was initially titled Offalman.

One of the things edited out following the title change was a pun added by Ntinyari Mbogori .

"So they robbed the Offalman? That's awful, man."

As always, I am thankful to my readers, who made 'Of Pawns and Players' arguably the best selling Kenyan book this side of the year (depending on who you ask 😂).

In 'Pawns' I had the biggest number of new readers (people who had had no previous experience with my work).

In Kenya, if you sell 1,000 copies (per year) of a book that is not a school text, it is considered a bestseller. We did a few thousand in the first few days.

Thanks to all who tweeted, reviewed Pawns on Goodreads, blogs & other spaces.

Now I am focusing on the next big project

In the meantime (shameless plug) I have another novel in the kitchen (actually my 3rd novel - Pawns is my 4th novel), and two stories to anthologies. One is my contribution to Nairobi Noir (see thread here).

https://twitter.com/KKombani/status/1172759335195332608?s=19

Thank you guys for everything.

Of course you can ask me a question or two about #OfPawnsAndPlayers.

I'll do a version of this thread on my LinkedIn profile.

ke.linkedin.com/in/kombani

@threadreaderapp unroll please