Monday, October 05, 2009

A Few Things I'd Like You To Know About My Novel, A Natural Woman

1) A Natural Woman is NOT the sequel to my first novel, After The Dance. To be honest, I'm not exactly sold on the whole sequel concept. It seems too much like the perfect set-up for writing the same story, over and over and over again, a notion that doesn't set my creative juices on fire. However, I haven't ruled it out altogether. Perhaps, in time, I will revisit both sets of characters. Do think there is a lot more I could do with the characters from A Natural Woman.

2) Unlike After The Dance, my first novel, A Natural Woman is not a romantic comedy. The tone in ANW is much more serious and the style, I'd dare say, a bit more literary.

3) While A Natural Woman features a woman who sports a natural hairstyle, by no means is the author (that would be me) any sort of a "hair Nazi." I whole-heartedly support a woman's right to wear her hair any damn way she pleases.

4) While A Natural Woman features a woman who is very involved in her church, A Natural Woman is anything but Christian Fiction. So don't read it looking for any conversion scenes, "thou shalt not" sermons or folks getting the Holy Ghost.

5) A Natural Woman does contain a couple of love scenes that aren't intended for consumption by minors, the prudish or the faint of heart.

6) The main character in A Natural Woman, Professor Aliesha Eaton, is a figment of my all-too vivid imagination. I am not her, nor did I base her on anyone I currently know or I've ever met.

7) A Natural Woman touches on a number of social issues, colorism and violence against women, among them, but in what I hope is a non-heavy-handed kind of way.

8) A Natural Woman is full of symbols, among them: a 40-day absence; a spider on a ceiling; a campus building named Sojourner Hall and the reoccurring role of the dead. It's up to you to catch them and determine their meaning. Sorry, I'm not a "lead you to the water and make you drink" kind of author.

9) If you'd like to read an excerpt of A Natural Woman, visit my website

10) A Natural Woman is scheduled for release on October 27th, but you can preorder today via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or through your local, neighborhood bookseller.

1 comment:

Ehav Ever said...

Another novel, good to hear. I hear you about sequels. The only time I have seen it work is when it is simple the second half of the original story and not simply an add in. Congrats.