Describing the Master of descriptions; Phil Ibsen
By Juliet Mwangi
Meet Phil Ibsen, or as he likes to refer to himself, ‘Master of Descriptions’. A creative Writer and freelancer who describes his writing journey as a great, but nonlinear process featuring both growth as well as moments of doubts.
It took some time, but I finally recognized him from his written works in a column of The Standard Newspaper, which he titles, (yes you guessed it,) Master of Descriptions. A series of creative short stories that are so entertaining, they leave you wanting more.
He is a graduate of the recently concluded Write Your Passion Course offered by Writers Guild Kenya, which is why we just had to have a cordial chat with this intriguing individual, and he had a lot of insights to share with us.
- Kindly elaborate what exactly does Master of Descriptions mean?
Phil: Master of Descriptions means being in the scene of the moment, and writing it explicitly as it is, leaving nothing untouched. It’s a style of my writing, which is not only limited to me, given that every writer can be descriptive.
- Do you have a book already published or are you currently working on one and if so, what would convince us to buy and read your book?
Phil: I’m currently working on one. As for convincing, I would say the authenticity of my story. I just have a feeling no one would need convincing to buy my book, they’ll just buy it out of curiosity maybe, and when they’ve read it, they’ll know what made them buy it.
- If you were to choose an author to co-author with, who would it be and what would the book be about?
Phil: Aaam I’ve never really thought of this, but Charles Chanchori comes to mind. The book definitely might be about crime in the slums of Nairobi, and how it’s deeply embedded in the political scene. A fictional story of course.
- If you had a chance to address an audience of 2000 aspiring writers in Kenya, what would be the highlight of the speech?
Phil: I’ll tell them the truth.
That writing is the most depressing, and toughest profession, but highly rewarding and therapeutic. That it’s not for the faint hearted nor for the ones who glorify writers as gods, but for those who view themselves as slaves to the stories and characters that they create. Because they do not rest until they are free, and that kind of freedom is only attained when you got the words right, and you write them with absolute honesty. And people hate the truth sometimes, so you have to be ready to deal with that.
2 thoughts on “Describing the Master of descriptions; Phil Ibsen”
This is my mentor,my all time safe space anytime I have pressing or rhetorical questions. He is so good with his words.That part of doubt I’ll replace it with another word,just that it’s not coming right now.But I can say,if you are having a bad day,and you need to escape from reality and need some mental picture to be drawn to you with words look no where else,.You are in the right place.Phill Ibsen Has all that and more.
Wow?