Ufuomaee: Spinning Romantic Tales from a ChristianYarn
She grew up watching fairy tales films but now as an accomplished author, Ufuoma Emerhor-Ashogbon, popularly known as Ufuomaee is presenting romance tales through a Christian lens without being a cliché, writes Vanessa Obioha
As a child, Ufuomaee was not an avid reader. Her sister, rather she said, was the bookworm. Even though her mother bought her books from well-known authors such as Emma Blair, the pen name of the late Scottish writer Iain Blair, and Enid Blyton, she didn’t develop a reading culture till her teen years when she started blogging.
“The funny thing is that I started reading books more when I started writing them,” she said in a recent interview.
However, she was drawn to stories captured in films. Her favourites were Disney films. Disney films are known for their fairy tales. Think of ‘Cinderella’, ‘Enchanted’, ‘Tangled’ and ‘The Princess and the Frog’. These are stories that often give a biased interpretation of reality. Romantic tales sometimes follow this route; girl meets boy, overcome challenges and then they live happily ever after. These kinds of stories are prevalent in films, music and books.
When Ufuomaee born Ufuoma Emerhor-Ashogbon discovered her love for telling stories as a teenager, romantic tales were her favourites. She wrote a couple of stories and poetry in that genre, although they were unpublished. But by the time she encountered the Christian faith in 2012 and started blogging, her writing assumed a different hue albeit within the romance genre. Ufuomaee began writing articles that addressed common issues Christian believers face, with particular attention given to romance and relationships. In 2016, she started writing story series on her blog Grace and Truth, and thus began her journey to becoming a selfpublished author of over two dozen works such as ‘The Church Girl’.
But how does one portray romance in a Christian way without being cliché?
“I try to be as real as possible, inspiring, yet addressing issues that people face in their marriages, in society, and their faith. Fairy tales are nice, but people need something real that they can relate to, and I feel my stories are much more inspiring because of their realism,” she explained.
Her latest project is a trilogy: ‘The Naive Wife’. Ufuomaee takes her readers through the journey of Rachel, a young female broadcaster and her marital choice. The first of the series is ‘Rachel’s Choice’, followed by ‘Rachel’s Diary’, and ‘Rachel’s Hope’.
‘The Naive Wife’ is the first trilogy from the author and tackled real-life issues premised on love, faith and marriage.
“The original idea was to write a complete story, but I wanted to submit it for a competition so, because of time, I had to break it into parts. I decided it would need three parts,” she said.
“I relied on an outline to write each part of the trilogy, though I often threw out the outline as my characters began to own their actions; I am sure this is something other writers will understand. The outline gave me a plan but as I began to write, inspiration led me to different places. Some characters did not like my plan, so they said or did things that made the story develop in a different way,” she added.
God, she revealed, was part of her creative process. “I always ask Him to intervene, to direct, to inspire me as I write, and He does so unfailingly.”
In ‘Rachel’s Choice’, Ufuomaee explored the difficulty most singles face when seeking their significant other. She portrays Rachel as a character struggling with her faith and emotions.
“Singles face a lot of uncertainty, pressure, personal confusion and spiritual turbulence. Marriage is presented to them through coloured glasses that makes them anxious for it, without being prepared for it. Many of them don’t know how to hear God and rely on their spiritual leaders for this guidance.
“And then there are sexual desires and that emotional longing to connect with someone romantically. They get into relationships for fun or fear of loneliness, and from there, they can make the mistake of marrying someone they had no business being with in the first place,” she expounded.
Nowadays, Ufuomaee argued, people go into relationships for different reasons and romance is not on the top of the list.
“In the past, while many marriages were arranged to keep the wealth in certain families or build alliances, these days, women and men exercise more choice over who they marry and when. And many are choosing to marry later, especially now that engaging in premarital sex isn’t such a big deal. So, things have definitely changed, and the terrain is muddier and wisdom is needed more than ever.”
She further explained that couples also have their traps.
“Couples face the challenge of not actually being one; not being united in their faith, their vision, their mindset, or their love. One person may have married for love and another for a completely different reason. Even when there are differences between couples, as they say, opposites attract, after all, there are things that they must be united on. The Bible says: ‘Can two walk together lest they agree?’
“One of the most important things is their faith and sincerity to commit to making the marriage work. If you marry someone who is unserious with their faith, while you are passionate, you are going to have problems. And if you marry someone who flirts with temptation and does not see a need to cherish you and protect your marriage, you are also going to have a shipwreck. But if you agree on this matter, you will have the strength and courage to wage the other battles marriage brings with it.”
In writing ‘The Naive Wife’, Ufuomaee encountered different obstacles but the most daunting of all was the message.
“It’s not your usual Christian book. I was breaking the mould by trying to write about an issue people often shy away from. And so, I was nervous about it, I doubted myself often, I doubted if I could make the ending Biblically sound, yet inspiring. But God came through for me and gave me a message, right at the end,” she said.
While her lead character Rachel was challenging, she found Ejike, one of the characters in the trilogy most taxing.
“He behaved out of character in Rachel’s Diary, and he had a conflict of faith in Rachel’s Hope. He is so real, but someone might say he is not a strong Christian because he is so flawed. But like he said in Rachel’s Hope, ‘I am a man who is nothing without the grace of God.’ For this reason, I think many of us can relate to his character.”
Beyond writing, Ufuomaee helps other authors edit and publish their own works through Ufuomaee Business Solutions, an online technological, creative, and administrative service provider, aiding SMEs and creatives. Through this platform, she also offers website design and management services. Ufuomaee is also a humanitarian, supporting those less privileged through her charitable works at Fair Life Africa Foundation, a not-forprofit organisation she co-founded in January 2011.
“Before I came home from studying in the UK, I asked myself what I would do if I did not need money and maybe had a whole lot of it. I dreamt that I would have a special happy place for children who were homeless or otherwise destitute to live, go to school, have access to health care and a happy community. I returned home, a graduate of Social Work, and I wanted to work with a charity, but my father suggested that I could simply start one. So I drafted a proposal for the Care Continuity Challenge Initiative for Street Children, and it became the first initiative of Fair Life Africa, which was named by my father,” she explained.
Although she doesn’t read as much as she loves nowadays — “blame it on motherhood” she said — she has quite a few on her reading list. They include ‘Your Money and You by Kikelomo Kuponiyi; ‘Sex is not the Strategy’ which she edited for Chidinma Onuoha, ‘Purple Bananas’ by Ikemba Johnson, which she proofread; ‘Be-You-Ti-Ful’ by Bodam Taiwo, ‘The Red Lines Trilogy’ by Timi Waters.
‘The Naive Wife’ trilogy will be formally launched this month.