Tiffany D. Jackson on Romance and Resilience in YA Literature

[00:00:00] Welcome to the MahoganyBooks Podcast Network, your gateway to the world of African American literature. We're proud to present a collection of podcasts dedicated to exploring the depth and richness of African American literature.

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[00:00:37] subscribe to the MahoganyBooks Podcast Network on your favorite platform and let African American literature ignite your passion. Hello, hello, testing one two three can everybody hear me okay? Amazing! We have a great audience here. Hi everyone. My name is Brianna Little John.

[00:00:56] I'm operations manager of our Anacostia store of Mahogany Books. Thank you guys so much for coming out here today to celebrate with us. Thank you for supporting us and also thank you for supporting the library and their partnership that we have with them as well.

[00:01:10] I'm going to hand it off to Kitty so we can go ahead and get started because she's going to intro our amazing moderator. Hi, hi, welcome. My name is Kitty May and I am a store associate with Mahogany Books.

[00:01:22] I'm mostly at Anacostia, but I love being here supporting with these events so happy to be here today. And happy to be introducing our moderator. So we have Nama na forna who is the New York Times bestselling author of the Geodoo One series.

[00:01:40] She's been published in over 24 different countries and also works in film and television. She loves telling stories with fierce female leads and now lives in London where she spends all of her time trying to stay warm. Help us welcome Nama na forna.

[00:02:02] And now, of course, the woman of the hour, Miss Tiffany D Jackson. Miss Tiffany Jackson is the New York Times bestselling award-winning author of Why Enavals Monday's Not Coming Allegedly. Let me hear a rhyme.

[00:02:16] Grown White Smoke Santa in the city, the way of blood and co-author of Blackout and White Out A Novel. A correctest Scott King slash John Steptoe New Talent Award winner and the NAACP Image Award winning nominee. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Phil from the Howard University.

[00:02:37] H-U. Okay, okay. It has over a decade in TV and film experience. The Brooklyn native is currently splitting her time between the Burl she loves and the South, mostly most likely multitasking, can we get a warm welcome from Miss Tiffany D Jackson? Hello? Hi. I have this rug.

[00:03:10] This is good taste that you guys have here. Sorry. Hi. Hello. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm pretty good. I am so excited to be in conversation with you.

[00:03:20] All right, so I have to say I read the book this morning and I when I tell y'all I devoured this book. I was there like, oh. It was so good. I could gush completely but the first thing that I want to ask you is like,

[00:03:36] how did this book come about? Oh gosh. So. So a little like side note. So usually books like this, these are called like IP projects and typically Marvel or DC Comics will like approach an author and ask if they're interested in writing this IP

[00:03:55] and I actually got approached to write a bunch of different other comic book characters and all I kept saying is I don't want this. I only want Storm because that's the only person that I like love.

[00:04:06] And to the point that my agent stopped like sending emails about it but then finally there was one email in the subject lines that it's storm and I just kind of like fell out like screen and crying throw it up to like feelings.

[00:04:18] But so that's basically how it happened and yeah, it was such an amazing like I'm very honored to do this like overall. So and I don't feel worthy but yeah. Okay, but why storm?

[00:04:32] Um, God, because like I grew up watching a lot of cartoons and reading a lot of comic books and Storm was always the one that like I was drawn to immediately because it was a flying black super woman super woman would fabulous hair.

[00:04:47] Of course, yes, this is all I wanted like this all I was obsessed with. And the fact that like I would like run to TV to like watch like X man and also like I

[00:04:58] am buy a lot of comic books because I didn't have money but I would like stand in the shop and like read about her. Um, yeah, I just have always loved her and she always stood out to me as like the one

[00:05:10] her and like a couple of others but she was like my main bay. I completely understand because I don't really know many superheroes but I know Storm. Like that's my everything. Exactly. All right. So I have a question.

[00:05:26] Um, one of like you are speaking about her hair and how fabulous it is. I'm like in one of the very first scenes in the book, I'm only going to speak about this see like I'm trying not to go further. Yeah, that's a spoil.

[00:05:38] Well, like in one of the very first scenes in the book we see that Storm is being sort of teased for her hair and this becomes like a larger theme about sort of accepting yourself and who you are.

[00:05:50] Can you talk a little bit more about like why this theme was important to you or how did it come about? Okay. So obviously Storm was created by white people and one of the things that I feel like we

[00:06:06] missed out upon is I'm talking about a black woman's hair. Like our hair, our crown is very important to us and it really kind of identifies like we identify a lot with it.

[00:06:16] And so I wanted to really give it a lot more attention that ever got before but well, the other things that this is a young adult story and this is like her finding herself.

[00:06:27] And so she is a teen years and well, what are the things that kind of ends up happening is that she feels a little uncomfortable in her skin. She is very much the unicorn in all the spaces.

[00:06:44] She was not maybe known as the Storm was actually born with white hair and she was born with blue eyes. Some people think that was like a cause for immune mutation. But no, that was actually like she was born with all this stuff.

[00:06:55] So she's always sort of stood out and one of the things that she's never wanted to do was stand out. She really wanted to just shrink and kind of like not be a burden at some point.

[00:07:04] So that was like a big part of why I wanted to start with that, especially like in the teen story space. And so to a little bit more about where she comes from her lineage, we do know that she comes from like this amazing lineage.

[00:07:23] But what I actually wanted to talk about was the research behind the link, like how did you research this character and like all the other characters because I know like a lot of them were marvel but like some of them maybe you made up how did that? Yeah.

[00:07:38] Right. So in order to, so a lot of times when some authors write these type of IP projects they typically get like some type of outline and a lot of like research material like maybe even delivered to their house.

[00:07:51] They said to me, they were like come up with what you want. Here is an app and here's access to every single Marvel comic ever in the universe. And so I had to like dig through the archives of Marvel to find out like her,

[00:08:04] you know, background or backstory. And some of it I knew and some of it was like very scattered throughout like the years that she's been around. And I realized that wouldn't the things because if you don't know that this story really takes place in Cairo.

[00:08:21] So a little background about Storm Storm was actually born in Harlem. Her parents actually moved to Cairo and there was a devastating accident and she ends up becoming part of like a gang of street gangs.

[00:08:34] So she's basically a pickpocker, most of her like life up from like ages of like six on nine on. And so in order to kind of get like understanding of what her life would have been like I decided to take a trip to Cairo.

[00:08:49] So I went to Egypt back in 2022 and I went to Egypt. I mean, I went to Cairo and then went down to Luxor and really kind of like followed her journey throughout the book. And some people pass like, oh, could you have just done this like via Google?

[00:09:05] And I'm just not built like that. I'm very much a method author. I like to step in my character shoes and there were some stuff that like I definitely would not have gotten like via Google, like especially like within the streets of Cairo

[00:09:18] themselves because you've been there too. And it's some of its like madness that you would never seen. It's very like glazed over like all you see is like the touristy stuff which basically is like the pyramids. But you don't see the street traffic. There are no street lights.

[00:09:34] There's like 10 times more people than New York City just packed into this one street. Is it this one's like small city? There are buildings are just like I can't even describe what those built like massive rambling.

[00:09:50] You know, there was like there's places there that they refuse to take me because I was like Oh, I'm doing research and they're like no, like refuse. That can't do it. There are buildings are just missing complete sides yet people are living in them.

[00:10:02] And so we don't get to really see a lot of that and in Google. And so I needed to see what kind of environment storm was living in and also like what was raising her as well too.

[00:10:14] Also, I just wanted to eat all the food to like food was amazing. So but that was like one of the things that I really loved about the book was how much that you situated yourself in the world.

[00:10:24] So like one detail that really stuck out to me was when storm is able to always tell like what temperature it is right and so she says 23 degree like when she's asked what temperature it is, she says 23 degrees in like Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.

[00:10:41] And he's like oh, she did she with she did her research. Like I was like okay, you know, yeah, there was definitely some things like and I actually got calls out on this.

[00:10:51] Recently on one of my like Instagram posts like you know one of the I knew was going to happen that one of the nerds were going to attack me about like not really knowing the story or whatever and I had to like you know, check in very softly.

[00:11:04] But it was. But there were still like the story or her origin story takes place like back in like 1959 but Marvel specifically asked me to do an updated version like that took place today.

[00:11:17] So there was a lot of little changes I had to make along the way and also like once again this was written by white man. So there was some stuff I had to really pivot.

[00:11:26] So for instance, in the origin story storm leaves Cairo walks through the Sahara and gets the Kenya and I'm like that's not how geography works. Like there's there's are many countries in between. It was like so.

[00:11:43] So there were just some things that I had to course corrects within the story which I've done before in other books. So I understood but yeah it was really I really did love the research part and yes and I also I had been to Kenya before too.

[00:11:59] So and that was actually vacation. I love Kenya so I got a chance to kind of slip in all the information and research that did there as well too. Because I loved how you were specific about the food and all the yes yes.

[00:12:15] But so the other thing that I found really interesting about this book is the amount of found family because it's not just one because she starts off with like mochi and the boys and then of course there's a very familiar prints.

[00:12:28] Yes, so can you tell us more about like the people that she meets along the way with the family? So I needed to make sure that storm was rooted in her very beginnings in a found family

[00:12:41] because ultimately you know that she does find herself in a found family through the X-Men. So it needed to be somewhat of a familiar setting for her. In the beginning she's like you know with like a rowdy bunch of boys who are all like

[00:12:54] pickpocketers throughout the city and that is her found family and she loves them. And then when she eventually leaves, she runs into our favorite to Chala who from Wakanda. And not maybe people know this but like to Chala and storm.

[00:13:10] Well in the comic books they do eventually get married in the comic books but in their early days they actually were like their first everything, their first kiss first stuff. So. So. And that was like I wanted.

[00:13:29] I wanted to make sure I left those type of easter eggs because later on no one realizes how much they've actually influenced each other. So later on you me. You meet to Chala in her in his later years and he sort of funny at times and he's

[00:13:43] also very bold with his power. He chooses to be a different type of king that was directly related to how his relationship would storm and storm ends up actually really embracing her power and learn how to really fight and that's directly correlated to to Chala.

[00:13:59] So they've always sort of kind of been in each other's orbits their entire lives. But no one really knows that because no one really has given storm her just do's like I always said like have to tell people like yo she's like one of the most powerful mutants

[00:14:14] ever. But because she's a black woman she doesn't get the shine that she actually deserves. And so this is definitely you know marvelous making it up. Sort of. All right. So on that note like this is almost this is a two part question. So let's see. All right.

[00:14:30] I'm a try to figure all right. So one of the things that I found really interesting is that their romance it's a very very wholesome romance. But it also has shades of mentorship like as you said in that both of them influence

[00:14:47] each other in this way like she's very street smart but also like she also like has like this sort of social justice bent to her because she understands what it is to come from poverty right he does not because he's a prince.

[00:15:01] Yeah, but the love as I saw it was very It was very beautiful and that both of them helped each other become better people. So could you talk more about like just sort of the granular part of their own?

[00:15:19] I'll hit us next part of the question later, but okay more about their role. Yes, because I think that I think we need to have more healthy examples of that type of love specifically in why novels like the idea that because I get that from kids like

[00:15:36] I love seeing like you know, like because I do a lot of school visits. I like you know travel over the country and I love seeing like the couples like you could tell either the girl brought the boy over because he wants to be like a writer or

[00:15:49] the boy will bring the girl like oh this is a your her favorite author but he doesn't want to Like say because she's like too nervous and stuff like that. I love seeing love that really supports

[00:15:59] each other in very early stages and sometimes it's very quiet. It's like the quiet part like you know We see all the social media like you know What's there's some of like the social media things like you know hard launches and soft launches

[00:16:13] No, we need to see more like of this and know that this is like a healthy way of like even Not even in love relationships beat you know in all relationships. I really love that they both of them

[00:16:27] wanted what was best for each other even sometimes at the expense of themselves. Yeah, exactly Like it's rare to see that. Yes, and so healthy forms of relationships and healthy forms of love Is like the best way to kind it's the best way to learn from each other

[00:16:41] It's the best way to learn from any person. So I think I definitely want to like that be a good example And not like toxic love Okay, so that brings me to the second part of the question in terms of mentorship She has another mentor figure

[00:16:55] Who is am I pronouncing her name I a net? I think it's a net or I a net You know what what's so funny is this is a marble character. It is yeah

[00:17:05] It just felt like knowing that a net actually is the person who trains storm to really use her powers in the comic books and I have like said like you know

[00:17:17] Hey, can someone from Marvel pronounced her name and no one and like so finally someone did because there is a audio book for this as well too But that is one of the things that like has happened is that you know

[00:17:28] I've had to this book was not like I wasn't alone while writing this book This book there's definitely a lot of cooks in the kitchen when it came to writing storm And not just because storm is very beloved character, but also to Chalas in here

[00:17:41] You have a several of their X men that sort like show their still themselves so it had to be sharp It had to be correct. That's why I'm like you know I'm very comfortable in knowing that I

[00:17:52] Did my very best with this book and I got it right because they gave me the sign-off on it because otherwise They were very much like in the comments like no to Chalas when say that. I'm like, oh, okay It's like okay

[00:18:07] But you know like that's one of the things I really enjoyed was how Grounded it was right this is Marvel. This is superheroes But everybody feels perfectly organic. This is the world in which they inhabit yeah Oh wow. Yeah, it's they feel real

[00:18:24] Yes, because I think that's important right because some of us like super heroes are our our mentors and so they have to feel real They have to feel solid. They have to be relatable in a lot of ways all right So to move on

[00:18:38] There is a villain in this piece and actually this is like for me This is the creepiest Marvel Like it don't like scares like the crap out of me the shadow king

[00:18:49] Can we talk more about that like wait question was that a mandate like did you have to use him as a villain or was it Or did you you know what so Storm doesn't have a lot of nemesis says I think I'm saying this word right

[00:19:04] Nemesis yes, it's the plural yeah of that. Yes. I'm a writer but But the shadow king was her main in most of the comic books and it was a big part of her origin story

[00:19:18] So I had to put him in there, but what was interesting is that he wasn't super flushed out in the comics the way I thought like I thought

[00:19:26] You know one of the things is I thought like I would be able to just open the comic books and like The story would just be there and then later on

[00:19:32] I found that like no like there was something there were some holes and so there was a lot of me like going through the comic books But then also going to TikTok going to YouTube going to Reddit pages to really read the story from like the super experts

[00:19:48] Because I am not necessarily one So there were some stuff specifically about the shadow king that I really didn't know so I had to really Plump up his character more because of that But he's he's very creepy in the sense of him being able to take on

[00:20:09] Take on so much. I don't want to like you know I'm trying not to spoil it because he is a character is not as not very well known either I mean he's well known in some versions of the comics I saw him like I watched this TV show

[00:20:22] I forgot what it was called, but it's like But he's like a main villain in it and I know how we plaz it anyway. Yeah, yeah That's where I first encountered him and when I started reading it

[00:20:33] I was like oh wait is this why I think it is? I was like oh But and it was one of my first times like because you know if you read any of my other work like this is a very much a departure for me

[00:20:47] Usually I write thrillers and horror and this is a fantasy So writing a villain that with superpowers and stuff like that I'm not typically I don't typically like yeah, this is new

[00:20:59] So it was a bit challenging and that was a part of like I look at fancy writers like you and like so many others and say like

[00:21:08] Oh, this is why it's like oh you guys are like oh this was difficult now I understand why you have like world building like notebooks and an amazing job. Thank you

[00:21:19] All right, but so on the question of powers like a lot of this book is about storms awakening because in the beginning Of course is not aware that she is storm in fact all through the book her name is Ororo

[00:21:32] Yes, right, so we use her for real name for real name all through the book and so can you talk about like that process of like how do you inferl a character discovering their powers and perhaps even being afraid of them?

[00:21:48] I tried to like dive more into the idea of Kind of like a theme of this book was like the idea that you were meant to be part of something way bigger That your destiny is something that will never leave you alone was the quote from mama Oprah

[00:22:05] You must be obedient to the call of your dream because your dream will never let you have peace So what no matter what you do in this life like your dream will always nag at you

[00:22:16] You'll never just feel comfortable just being like the average person and that is a lot of what storm Had went through so even when though she was an amazing Pick pocketer like she was like, you know top of her class

[00:22:29] She can get anything she can break into any building and stuff like that. She still felt like There was something more out there and she had to even despite all the odds

[00:22:39] She had to be obedient to that call and that's something that I feel like a lot of teens and hell a lot of adults Also have to be you know, they're aware of

[00:22:51] And I think that that's something that I wanted to touch upon and especially be like an inspiring story Hopefully because I was very inspired by storm story in itself

[00:23:00] She was very comfortable where she was in Cairo she didn't have to leave and there's so many kids who are very comfortable in their home towns They didn't have to go to college

[00:23:10] And so I feel like we all sort of like have that destiny and the comfort as a trap The comfort is 100% a trap But you don't know what to trap until you leave that trap until you actually like not the trap

[00:23:22] But be trapped like if you know like you never really know that until later on and so you just have to be brave enough to take that chance You know it's funny to me a part of her journey almost feels like when like

[00:23:38] Like a player goes to the NBA Yeah, all of a sudden they're changing in ways that like their friends maybe cannot they can't Or a lot of people with relief Yeah, it definitely happens a lot and Oftentimes you lose friends along the way as well too

[00:23:54] You lose family members that you thought were really like down for you and you know it turns out like maybe that's not the case And you still have to be brave enough to go out on your own and know yourself as much as humanly possible

[00:24:05] And that's very much with storm had to do like she knew that she had a bigger purpose Overall and you know we eventually see that that's something that she does because she ends up being like the hero

[00:24:17] That always had to say to the M. Day for X-Men all the time I feel like that's like a part of her journey And it's important to start like you know where those roots started for her like

[00:24:29] Where are the things that like kind of like came into play for her like how did that like inspire her later on? So hopefully like especially people who love X-Men will see a lot of those A Easter eggs

[00:24:43] Speaking of X-Men so very early in the beginning of the book. We see a very familiar X-Men Yes, right who's one of my favorites But so I wanted to ask who's your favorite X-Men out you can't say storm outside of storm

[00:24:59] Favorite next that you want to share no, no, I know I So rope will always be my second favorite the fact that she's like I mean first of all, I love like a sassy southern white woman like that's just like you know

[00:25:12] Bay and then like I loved her hair She also like was super strong. She just pick up a car with her hands And stuff like that she has like amazing powers and stuff like so both and they have like a really cool friendship as well too

[00:25:25] So I really love those two and then after her Probably my third favorite is actually in the book and it's very end of the book So you see him later I know who that is y'all have to read and then

[00:25:44] I'm trying to think of anyone else that I'm like well, of course. Yeah, we all know Wolverine and I know like so in the comic books like storm has like several relationships But and she does have a relationship with T'Challa

[00:25:57] They do get married it's a huge wedding in the marble universe They end up actually eating divorce and that's why I'm sort of like heater because I was like this dumb as well So you just went and

[00:26:08] Now this is not a spoiler anymore. Like this is a spoiler for me Yeah But I also like storm and Wolverine together. It was a little swirl. I liked it. It was cool But yeah, so those are some of my favorites

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[00:27:25] Another question is in the beginning storm goes through this sort of catastrophic event That light changes the course of her life and from there on we see her Exhibiting signs of trauma not even signs like she's the whole you know And so like how did you

[00:27:45] Research that and how did you build that into the story? So I feel like yes if you read any of my other books you know then I'm pretty good with trauma a lot of ways and This was different because it was an emotional trauma it inspired

[00:28:03] An anxiety that is hard to put on paper like if anyone has any type of like anxiety Sometimes it's really hard to write the find the words to describe what it's like and I needed to take that time to really describe it

[00:28:18] Because it really does like paint the picture of why she was afraid to do some of the things that you know

[00:28:23] She later on ends up doing so and it was a big part of her journey and it was something that I didn't know because it really wasn't featured much in the cartoon as much as it was featured in the comic books So

[00:28:38] So I guess I hope they answer the question that was kind of where I was going with that All right until then my other question is in the book who's your favorite my favorite character in the book I will see his eye net

[00:28:51] Yes, like I still like I'm like are we pronounced? I mean we're gonna call and then I in that she's in there My favorite character, but who is your favorite character in the book outside of storm?

[00:29:04] I love to travel in the book because I love their like banter. I love their very enemy celebs trope Because that's like my absolute faith I really loved I also really loved Moshe that was one of her best friends in the beginning of the novel

[00:29:28] I loved who he sort of represented and what I guess it represents what She sort of knew to be true about herself and in in general as a character

[00:29:44] And also like I was trying to paint pictures of boys and teens in general in Cairo so that was like another big reason why I wanted to like Write this like character that was also like really cute as well too, so yeah, so Moshe was also my favorite

[00:29:59] He was also one of my favorites as well All right, and then I had a question like and I don't know is it this sort of Canon for storm that like in the book it seems that she has an affinity with

[00:30:12] Animals is that is that Canon for storm? Yes So one of the things that So it's hard to describe her powers, right so storm is you know mega level mutant so she has you know Some of them was a biggest Powerful mutants in the entire universe

[00:30:31] And she can control the weather which makes her a bit more closer to like mother earth in that sense and mother earth animals are very attracted and very drawn and guided by weather

[00:30:46] And so that's one of the reasons why they are often very interested in storm because storm is basically the embodiment of weather And they know this and so animals are oftentimes

[00:30:57] Attracted to storm in a lot of ways and it was sprinkled throughout the like comic books that's not very like super like out there But it was one of my favorites because I have a dog and you know I'd like just like to talk about animals and stuff

[00:31:11] And then another question is So storm has like this lineage that comes from like You know this special place. I don't want to give too much about that But I do want to ask about like the background of that with storm. Is it in any way like

[00:31:27] Based on like the rain queens of South Africa? Is there anything there? I couldn't tell from my research from what like I feel like Because I don't know who actually like came up with or gave that kind of information to you know the creator storm

[00:31:45] I'm not sure and I was trying to pivot a little bit and try to like you know make it sort of separate Because I wasn't sure and I also always want to be

[00:31:57] Respectful to other people's cultures. That's another reason why I took these research trips because I didn't want to like write about things that I had never actually seen touch Taste in myself In order to respect as much as you really possible so that's another reason why But

[00:32:13] One of the things that and that this does come up a lot is that there's often an argument online of whether storm is even a mutant at all Because she comes from this long line of goddesses and it's a question of well

[00:32:26] If she's a goddess then she's not immune But then there's argument like well actually goddesses are mutants if they're on this earth

[00:32:34] So it's been a lot of like that kind of back and forth and so I tried to answer as best as I humanly can at least in my opinion And then marble approved it so I feel like that is the answer

[00:32:46] And it's in the book. Yes, all right and What was your favorite thing about writing this book like what was the fate your favorite part of the process? When it was done girl I'm writing this book was like

[00:33:03] Was a lot for me you know like I said I was I was stepping out of my comfort zone There were oftentimes where I was a middle writing it and even like because fantasy most fancy books are pretty lengthy

[00:33:15] Generally speaking some of them could look like bibles like straight up and when I first wrote my first draft It was maybe 50,000 words in my editor was like yeah, we got to like 70,000. I was like oh

[00:33:28] God and it was a lot of description that like I'm not used to like going overboard with some of the descriptions of everything that's actually happening There was also that moment of realizing like I don't know how to describe

[00:33:41] Like fighting like movements in that regard. That's really like an art form that like I'm looking at fantasy Or writers and saying like man you really painted a whole picture which are words and so that's why I mean like yeah

[00:33:54] It was it was a bit of a struggle for me In the middle of a lot of other things happening in my life and you know, but I'm I'm glad that I did it

[00:34:03] I feel really like grateful to even get an opportunity because I one point I was like y'all could take this back Sorry, it's all right. I won't I won't be hurt so yeah, it was great. How long did you think you'd write it? It took over a year

[00:34:19] Yeah, it was like you know Especially since there were so many eyes on it a lot of people like reviewing it So Marvel people and random house people so there was a lot of people going over it over and over again

[00:34:31] So it took a little longer than most of my other books took to write and approval processes Also like making sure that people went back to the archive and like double check my own work. So yeah, it was it was a process And so like what was

[00:34:45] How different was it from your process like what's your normal process like and then This one like what was the big I mean other than the word length And the magical powers I can write a book in six weeks and What yes And this one was not it

[00:35:08] This one was much longer Well, there's also like it's usually just me and my one editor working versus Me and like five other people with their hands on this book

[00:35:21] And there's also the fact that like this isn't me like this isn't my character like I didn't come up with storm So it felt like work it was like an outer body experience in the sense because I was in someone else's body

[00:35:34] Writing for them or write then versus like my characters are very much in my head all the time talking and so that was something that Was a bit strange for me and so I struggled a little bit like I felt a slightly disconnected

[00:35:48] From storm was one of the read it all that it don't read that way at all. It was one of these why I did try to like do as much research and traveling and stuff as humanly possible Yes, all right and so

[00:36:02] Can I get a time check? I think we oh are we ready for audience questions? Yeah, all right So I think It started to go over to audience questions and I see a hand up in the air so like let's get started

[00:36:22] Hi good afternoon. Thank you so much for your time. This is so amazing and so exciting for the kids and we can't wait to like My more books to share um my question is you did mention something about the South African

[00:36:34] rain goddesses, but I'm also curious to know did you in any way find connections to the eurobub Pantheons of the goddess Oya who's known for storms. I just was curious Oya? Oh yeah, yeah, okay, so I'll pass Okay, so funny story

[00:36:54] Back in 2000 I want to say 13. I went to Cuba on a dance visa And I had my centenary and and Oya was actually supposedly my goddess which made a lot of sense So Oya is like kind of like the goddess of like

[00:37:12] I'm good to say goddess of change like got very much a hurricane goddess anytime Oya comes into your life it just sort of like everything changes and so oftentimes I would go to like different jobs. I would start in a network that would like be totally fine

[00:37:29] Then I get there and all of a sudden like half the staff get like let go and I was like Oya can you cheat can you chill Can you chill? So I didn't practice that because I

[00:37:41] Like I said, I do try to like be conscious of people's culture and be respectful But that was a good example because there's a lot if you see the goddess of Oya She is very brown skin beautiful woman with dark. I mean with a beautiful gray

[00:38:00] shiny gray hair and I wonder also if Marvel that was like an inspiration from Marvel because you know Oya's been around long before any other comic book any book that you could think of that a woman has a white hair in it

[00:38:16] Oya's been around for much longer than that so you know I don't know But that's it. That's a good one. Thank you Yes No Apparently I don't um my name is Tracy, and I thank you so much for being here. Thank you for moderating

[00:38:41] I'm excited for this because I actually brought my teenagers and the name of our program is Capely because every child is a superhero. Oh, so that's and we're big Marvel fans So with the creation of a book like that's I agree

[00:38:55] Storm doesn't get a lot of shine in a lot of light. Is there any possibility that a movie storyline follows a book like this in the future? I have no clue

[00:39:07] I know they are what so some of the things that are happening right now. So if you haven't watched X Man 97 on Disney definitely watch that They didn't have phenomenal job of that and this is the first time and I don't know if anyone's watched the first episode

[00:39:21] But in the first episode One of the sentinels he's big robot people actually says like omega level mutant detected and they're talking about Storm And that's literally the first time they've ever acknowledged in the cartoon period that Storm was this powerful being and so

[00:39:38] I was like I gas because I didn't know I didn't get early access to this or anything like that But I gas in my home because it was the first time they actually are really acknowledging this black woman

[00:39:48] It's very emotional for like you know the combat you know for the true storm fans So I know that that's happening, but I don't know if there's like a movie and I'm so nervous about the casting after like the Halli Berry Everything So I hope so that's

[00:40:12] Hello, hi, so the question that I had was just asking about like how did it feel like connecting the dots from the characters

[00:40:20] They're like previously developed by the like other authors instead of Marvel like how did I feel like connecting the like again the dots between like Storm Not the other X-Men and like

[00:40:32] Just characters it was stressful like I definitely tried to read other authors like work other authors IP Or the graphic novels and stuff like that because I wanted to kind of get an idea of like because I wanted some cohesiveness

[00:40:45] But sometimes it's impossible to do so like some of the jokes that's a challenge tells in my book Is something that like he wouldn't necessarily say in another book

[00:40:56] But he's sort of in the younger side in this book so I was trying to be like oh, let's keep it that way but I tried to sort of Keep to the descriptions that everyone else had So like even Nick Stone wrote the sure Middle grade novels and

[00:41:15] You know some of the characters are seen in those books and I wanted to sort of connect that like I wanted to make sure I like gave respect to everyone else's like you know descriptions of these characters because they're so you know Absolutely said so beloved

[00:41:27] So yeah, I was a lot of reading everyone else's work and be like okay. I won't now. I'm gonna write okay Hi, my name's char I'm actually the social media coordinator at loyalty and the book seller

[00:41:42] Something your books are really special on our shelves and I wanted to know For the book selling for like the summer what is something that you want to leave us with so when parents are like coming in and they're asking

[00:41:55] About this new book like what is something that you wanted to be remembered by Oh, that was stressful I'm sorry Um Other than it's a black woman superhero like that's like the biggest sell right there like you need to support Black woman

[00:42:14] And that is why you should be buying this book not just because I'm a black woman writing it But because it was a black woman superhero and I think that should like carry its weight and gold in a sense

[00:42:23] But also there's so many notes and here are so many messages of just like following your dreams Like I hope that really inspires a lot of kids who are interested either in writing or comic books

[00:42:37] Anything that really interested in that has to do in the Marvel universe. I really hope that that's something that they They take away from when they read this book I hope they answer the question that was definitely some that was pressure. Okay. Hi Yes, oh god

[00:42:54] That's always what we doing All right, hi everyone. This is Jason Reynolds Hi everybody That's it. Hi. Did you came to troll me? This is not the time I had never troll you publicly Okay My question is Most there are so many people Marvel

[00:43:15] The machine right there are so many people who are like Who want to be involved and who want to who do anything to sort of be a part of the Marvel sort of

[00:43:23] Machine you've had a peek behind the curtain and so my question is one would you do it again and two What was most surprising when she see how that world works? Not just storytelling but like the machine of Marvel and how it actually goes

[00:43:42] Okay, so first question what I do this again You know originally at the beginning of the story I said no because I was like this is not my bag like I don't know if I'm a fan of serator

[00:43:51] And I don't know this is like for me and today I feel like I probably could I feel like I I know so much about storm That I probably could write another book and want to see her journey go a little further Now should I is a question

[00:44:12] Because I also believe in giving people not taking someone else to see at a table and I feel like there's so many other Finna see authors are probably would have done and even better job than I did on this book

[00:44:23] So I'm very much about like you know giving people the opportunities that they absolutely deserve So that's number one and number two the Marvel machine is actually like it's quite intense right because so Jason wrote a Miles Morales

[00:44:37] book and I remember like that whole process with you and That's why I was like I probably should talk to you before I signed up for this but I Think it was very intense. I'm actually sort of like I was like wildly impressed by how like

[00:44:55] The edit process went because they were not playing they played no games with me in terms of like the content in terms of Accuracy so I think like I was actually very impressed by how like

[00:45:08] Somewhat corporate they were and I guess maybe that's why I was like because sometimes you think like oh It's like just a bunch of nerds that like some comic book studio and blah, blah, no they are they are truly

[00:45:18] Officially they really are and they very must respect their brand and their fans Simultaneously so I think that like I was actually very impressed with them overall so Yeah, thank you for coming and not trolling me Okay

[00:45:38] Anyway, that's a question not it not a question miss if me but just a huge Huge thank you for bringing storm to light for our younger generation I grew up on comics MCU DC Comics I'm an MCU lover fan yes and storm is absolutely one of my favorites

[00:46:01] Next to Wolverine and my so much so my child is named after Wolverine His real name his real name But just thank you for highlighting such a bad as black woman Who throughout MCU has not gotten her full justice?

[00:46:22] I'm excited. I feel like I'm a kid over here I can't wait to read the book but just thank you I'm here on the humbuckus my kid is here if you didn't want me to be here

[00:46:34] I said I'm coming because she's talking about storm so just thank you so very much I'm so excited to read this book. Thank you so much We're not a culture kid, but yes Another there's one in the front gentleman right here Is it just storm that you like

[00:46:59] Yes, I'm only writing in the universe of storm right now I don't think I can handle writing a book for another comic book character. I don't think I have the I don't think I have the range Um, so there was

[00:47:18] There is another one that I love that just came out It's a moon girl in the devil dinosaur That was another one that I was approached about but I don't have it. I didn't have a capacity to write a real comic book

[00:47:32] And that's just something that like that's a whole different side of the brain to think with and I just didn't have it at that time But I love it who's writing that now Jordan God should forgot her last name, but flaco yeah, I believe so yes, so

[00:47:50] There is a comic book about for a moon girl in devil dinosaur so there's a new Issue and there's also the series now I was watching there was a little girl on my flight my flight from hell the other day

[00:48:01] That was four hours and the girl threw up but she was watching Moon girl in devil dinosaur, so I thought it was I haven't actually got a chance to watch a series yet But it's really dope and moon girls actually

[00:48:13] In the marble universe moon girls actually smarter than iron man So once again, there's a little black girl kind of like outsmarting people and yet doesn't get her shine So there you you should probably watch that Yes, wait hold on They can't hear you babe

[00:48:36] I don't just the afternoon my name is Jermaine a quick question for you for young inspiring authors I know you brought out working with other editors are authors What are some of the challenges that they could expect

[00:48:50] What can we you know other authors are editors outside of it? challenges are just being a writer and period I'm trying to think of like There are there. I mean you please answer this question too

[00:49:10] The challenges of being a writer being a child just being a writer. Yeah, I mean well the first one is sitting still like let's start there In terms of Like in terms of dealing with other authors or dealing with editors We're just getting your book published in general

[00:49:35] Yeah So I guess the biggest challenge we're writing with the editor because for so for marble I had to work with my editor Trisha and then there's four other marble people like involved with this so like I said there was a lot of cooks in the kitchen

[00:50:01] There were a lot of like there were a lot of opinions a lot of feelings Some of those opinions would clash So then it got to the point where like I had to like Snap a little bit in my very delicate way

[00:50:16] In an email it'd be like I need one answer and then they were like oh okay never mind So yeah, I think it's about like just having a lot of voices

[00:50:24] But knowing that all those voices have like the best intentions because they want the best for these characters So that's probably like the bigger like challenge in general But like yeah, like even just working with like different editors from different houses

[00:50:35] It's like different editing styles different editing, I mean opinions I guess or like even For us like working with an editor and then working with a copy editor You're like Coppating there is gonna have very Strong opinions about things in books so

[00:50:54] Really really enjoy it like what you do? I really enjoy coffee like Like they're a little me You know when they get to a point where they're like tired of you. They're like you've used this word One too many times Yes, I will do better

[00:51:12] I actually sort of enjoy that but I think For me, I wonder if this is for you like I think that the editing relationship is an Relationship that is has to be like very strong on trust like do I trust the opinions of this person?

[00:51:27] Do I trust that they're gonna make the book better and like for me would so many cooks in the kitchen like I don't know about you But I would start feeling like a little a little nervous. Yeah, I mean we were cooking up a storm in there

[00:51:38] Oh my god, that was a pun I didn't mean that. I did not mean that you thought it was a treat face as genius I can't believe I waited to my last day of the tour to say something like that Dammit, do we have another question?

[00:51:57] Picking back on that question about like the difficulties of writing I think you mentioned just sitting still and we know that like on I read this book Ray book hit I'm still in focus about our ability to deep think and world build right what

[00:52:14] What advice can you give young writers because I think even are you they're having even less attention But what tools do you do to just sit down and get these thoughts out of your head on paper? so So one of my books uh grown

[00:52:33] I actually wrote almost like a quarter of that book on my phone And I see like his and here with their phones and I wrote a quarter of that book in my notes app

[00:52:43] There's really no excuse like if you are on the bus if you were in the car if you're not driving If you aren't a plain train automobile like whatever like you have every opportunity to write something to type

[00:52:56] As much as we like text and tweet and do everything like you can do a lot with the Technology that you have it's something about just putting down your thoughts. I have a folder in my notes at there are 32,000 notes in my notes

[00:53:11] App right now. Okay. y'all like I am why I am I mean that's just on call for The stress that I feel yeah, I know I I realized when I was about to do

[00:53:26] Was basically call myself you should see my Gmail box. I know you're getting I need brother not You're done with me. Okay fine Yes, there's a lot in notes, but there's like a folder in my notes app that literally just says ideas

[00:53:40] And then every single thing is like a new idea I have for like some book that I may not see the light of the day, but at least I'm like writing it down

[00:53:48] Sometimes especially if I all of a sudden will think of a prose think of a perfect line I literally just have one app that and The the chapter or the heading will say prose and I will write that prose there

[00:54:01] So and then sometimes that's just a way of like collecting my thoughts sometimes people have a Google Docs There's others are like I don't know what they use on Android. This is not like a hate on Android

[00:54:11] I'm just really don't know like I there are so many ways of actually doing this So and then I also see people who walk around with like notebooks Who literally just have idea notebooks, so there's just so many opportunities

[00:54:27] I seen someone who literally record notes for themselves like do voice recordings and they will like talk out like a book idea to themselves And then like play it back. I think that's wonderful

[00:54:36] I just hate to sound of my own voice. I only believe you voice messages. Okay, like I'm not a voice mail girl So yeah, there's so many opportunities while you're even on the move to still do what you really want to do So no excuses I guess

[00:54:50] I said we have one time for one more question Hi I love this this your book. I haven't Redger book, but I love I love the fact that you wrote it is your character or version of storm Did you get any motivation from

[00:55:10] The movie X menopocca lips version of storm when she was younger the Mohawk and everything that you seen I don't know yeah, they were seeing that no I really didn't honestly I like the Mohawk phase of storm I

[00:55:26] I don't know I don't know how to put this but like yeah, I didn't get a lot of inspiration from storm in movies Because I don't know why I just wasn't super in love with storm and any of the movies

[00:55:38] So I hope that one day that they will do a movie with storm and do it right with the proper casting And the proper like Everything costumes everything. I'm happy to be like a production assistant on that they need my help

[00:55:53] But I hope that one day that we will get the storm on screen that we deserve so Yes So thank you everyone for coming this was this is a great way to end the tour. Thank you so much Thank you guys Discover world or words ignite change

[00:56:18] To an end to blackbooks matter the podcast where we celebrate the profound impact of African American literature Join us as we delve into iconic words and hidden gems Discussing their power to shape minds and transform societies get ready for thought provoking discussions Author interviews and insights that

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