Milestones: What a Famous Author Told Me

By Muli wa Kyendo

I wrote my first full-length novel when I was a second year student at the university. The Longman publishers accepted to publish it. They had a great editor, Ellen Kitonga, an American married to a Kenyan. She was a patient and kind lady. She wrote to me very encouraging letters that I have kept to date. Shortly after she started editing the novel, Ellen left the Longman to join UNESCO and another lady, Flora Wako, took over the editorship of the book.

Too Teenage

Unlike Ellen, Flora was blunt, matter-of-fact young woman. She wrote to me letters that were devoid of emotions and full of commands, only moderated by the word “please”. In one she wrote,”Please, see me at the office at 3pm on Thursday.” If it was not a command, Flora included long chunks of the novel, Whispers, which she has deleted because they “were not coherent” or because they were not “flowing with the story,” or even because they were “too teenage.”

With my youthful energy, I would read the comments with tight muscles. I hated anybody changing my work! So I underlined with heavy hand, every sentence of the often long letters and angrily wrote on the side, “Who is writing this book, tell me? Is it me or you?” I would cool down and go to see Flora. Unlike her letters, she was a nice woman – always with a disarming, welcoming smile. She would patiently explain to me why she thought the changes were necessary. And then I would return to the campus, having approved her changes but feeling that I had been taken advantage of.

Ngugi’s Advice

One day, when I was really upset, I found Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kenya’s world renowned novelist, sitting alone in a lecture hall. He seemed to be in some deep thought, but I was too hurt by my editor to be considerate with my lecturer. Ngugi was then head of the literature department and lecturer at the university where he taught with a barrage of great writers including Taban lo Liyong (a charming, quietly arrogant fellow who promised he would write 10 books at once, and did!) and the late Ugandan poet, Okot p’Bitek, then an athletic man in shorts, local handcrafted open shoes and a simple short sleeved shirt to emphasize his dislike of things western). I walked over to Ngugi, sat next to him without his invitation and went ahead to ask him the question that was burning in my head: “Would you let a publisher’s editor change your story?”

I went ahead to tell him what had happened to me and why I was upset. He listened patiently, asking me a question here and there to make sure that he followed my story. Then he told me: “Your story is yours. Don’t let any editor bully you. What I normally do is that I listen. Sometimes what the editor is suggesting is right and it can improve your story. In that case, you should accept the suggestion.

“You should however keep in mind that the story is yours. It’s up to you to accept any changes or to reject them. If you don’t like the changes, don’t accept them.”

I thanked him and left. I am sure he doesn’t remember this help that he gave to a young writer. But his advice has guided my relations with editors whether what’s involved is creative writing or journalism.