My Next Big Thing…

I met Yewande Omotoso when I was lucky enough to participate in Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s ‘Farafina Trust’ workshop. (Yewande shared her experiences of the workshop via ‘Africa is a Country‘) Meeting Yewande was like meeting a kindred spirit, and I instantly knew that I wanted to stay in touch with her forever. Yewande is an extremely talented writer, I was lucky enough to hear her read many short stories we had to write during our workshop, and her ability to get into the head of her character always blew me away. She is the author of ‘Bom Boy’ for which she recently won the ‘English First-time Published Author Award‘ at the 2012 South African Literary Awards (SALA). Yewande shared her next big thing via her blog, and invited me to participate in ‘My Next Big Thing’ which is kinda like a chain mail blog by writers and film makers. The idea is that the writer shares her next big thing to her readers and also introduces her readers to two other writers or filmmakers.

So here’s my next big thing:

What is the working title of your book? 

‘It wasn’t exactly love’ and other short stories

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

The idea for the book came from many places and nowhere in particular. ‘My next big thing’ is going to be a collection of short stories, which will be focused mainly around African women, sex and sexualities. For 4 years I have written and managed the blog ‘Adventures from the bedrooms of African women’, and my experiences of blogging, and a newly discovered love for creative writing has inspired me to put together this book.

What genre does your book fall under? 

‘It wasn’t exactly love’ and other short stories will be a combination of creative non-fiction and creative fiction

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

 Wow, this is now my opportunity to fantasise. A lot of actors and actresses would be required to play the different characters, as this is a collection of short stories. In fact I think the movie rendition would be more of a TV series with several twists and turns from episode to episode.  I would have a number of Ghanaian actors and actresses star including Akofa Edjeanin, Chris Attoh, Ama Abebrese, Akosua Busia and Lydia Forson. I would also love for Ghanaian musicians M3nsa and Wanlov the Kubolor to also star in the TV series. I thought they were great in their musical ‘Coz Ov Moni’ and I would love to see more of them on film. In terms of actors and actresses outside of Ghana who could play supporting roles I would love to have Idris Elba, Thandie Newton, Sophia Okonedo, Forrest Whittaker and Naomie Harris.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Impossible to give a one-sentence synopsis of a collection of short stories yet most of the stories revolve around 30 something year old African women negotiating their sexualites and lives.

When will your book be published?

I have no idea. I will finish working on this book in late 2013 or very early 2014. I would love to have it published in 2014.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

 I am still writing the first draft

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Everything. This book is about African women, sex and sexuality. Everyone is going to want to read it 🙂

I am passing the relay on to Malaka Grant and Nnenna Marcia who will blog about their next big thing on the 17th of January. I am kind of cheating because these two are not new writers for this audience but I am such a huge fan of their work so they are the ones I want to pass the baton on to. Malaka blogs for this website as well as her own amazing ‘Mind of Malaka‘ blog. Nnenna Marcia is a contributing author to this site and an erotica writer. Check out some more of her erotica via her website