Women bleeding gold, outcast warriors shifting power, and a fierce sixteen-year-old heroine: this is the world that screenwriter and novelist Namina Forna has created in her Young Adult (YA) fantasy trilogy The Gilded Ones. Namina Forna was born in Sierra Leone and moved to the US when she was a child. Her memories of stories in Sierra Leone have richly influenced how she creates epic fantasy worlds, and we are proud to call her one of our own! Poda-Poda Stories reached out to Namina, and she shared some amazing gems with us. Dive into her journey as a writer, the need for representation, and how writers can navigate the publishing industry.
Poda Poda: Please tell us a bit about yourself: your work as a screenwriter and a novelist etc. Was writing something you always wanted to do and were you encouraged to pursue it?
Namina: I’m a fantasy author and screenwriter in Los Angeles, working on books and movies and TV shows. Honestly, I was always meant to be a writer. Even though I only officially decided on it when I was in my late teens, I showed all the signs. I was one of those kids who always had their nose in a book, and I basically lived at the library growing up. I also watched way more TV than was advisable, so there’s also that.
My family, of course, wasn’t very happy with it. They had all these grand ideas that I was going to be a lawyer, maybe do international diplomacy, but it wasn’t for me. I’m quiet and shy by nature, so I don’t have the temperament for it. I hope I’ve made up for their disappointment somewhat.
Poda Poda: You are from Sierra Leone, and moved to the US when you were a child. What was that transition like for you and how has it informed your journey as a writer?
Namina: It was a very rough transition. I moved to Lawrenceville, Ga, in the fall, and of course, I hated it. I wondered why the grass was always so yellow, and why it was always so cold. Fitting in at school was difficult. People have this image of what “Africa” is like, so when I told the kids at school that I grew up in a nice house and not a hut, and that I had lots of clothes instead of walking around naked (like they repeatedly asked me), my teachers told my mom that I was a habitual liar, and that I needed to be checked for mental issues.
It’s definitely informed my journey as writer. My biggest writing goal as of the moment is to change the opinion people have of Africa—not just foreigners, but natives ourselves. I think that one of the most horrendous things colonization did was rob us of our imagination, and by extension, pride in ourselves. Even though we have a glorious history and a beautiful culture, we can’t see it because it’s been overwritten by colonial powers. So we have to overwrite them back, one story at a time.
I write so that Sierra Leoneans, so that Africans and other black and brown people can see themselves as heroes and fight against the mental oppression that is the result of all our years of colonization, etc. That way, the next time some white teacher calls an African kid a liar to their face for saying they didn’t walk around naked and have lions in their back yard, they can point to my book or movie and tell that teacher to go shove it where the sun don’t shine.
Poda Poda: We are so excited about your book The Gilded Ones. The main character Deka, resurrects every time she's killed (if I'm correct?), and that is very symbolic. What aspects of your background as a Sierra Leonean woman, either influenced or informed writing it? Additional fun question, would you describe it as a Feminist book?
Namina: Yes, Deka resurrects when you kill her, and she bleeds gold as well, which is also symbolic. The gold is meant to talk about how women’s bodies are seen as objects, either for sexuality or labor. So often, we’re reduced to the terms of our usefulness in these aspects. This definitely came from my anger growing up as a girl in Sierra Leone.
I think when you grow up as a woman in Sierra Leone, or in any other patriarchal society (which is basically everywhere), you grow up angry and confused. Because your body and your person are not respected or valued, especially in comparison to men. And if it’s not the little things like the automatic expectation that you cook and clean and serve everyone, it’s the assault, the rapes, the trauma that follows.
I grew up during the civil war, and I’m so lucky that I never really experienced much of it. But so many of my cousins were taken, disappeared to the bush to become sex slaves, etc. You hear the stories, you see the trauma. All I can do is bear witness.
So, am I a feminist? Yes, definitely. I know a lot of people see the word and their eyes immediately glaze over. To them, feminism means women coming for men’s rights, which is obviously not the truth. “When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression,” as the saying goes. For me, feminism means having an equal chance. Am I ever going to be an NBA player? No, but neither is the vast majority of the male population. We’d still all like an equal chance to shoot that shot, though.
Poda Poda; I love Fantasy! I am a huge fan, and what I like about what you've done is representation, the ability for a Sierra Leonean to pick it up the book and go " hey, I know the word alaki, etc ". Were those things intentional? Did you want it to also be a story about representation?
Namina: Yes, very much so. My work is always inspired Sierra Leone and the youth of the nation, because they’re where the future lies. Whenever I write, I always extend this invitation to them: this work is for you. Know that I’m here, creating things for you, and even though it’s going onto the world stage, it came from Sierra Leone first. As for the word, alaki, it’s an in-joke for our country. We all know alaki means useless. So I took the word, and I took it one step further. I hope that if The Gilded Ones becomes an international thing, Sierra Leoneans will stop and laugh, because now we have the entire world saying alaki. The thought always brings me joy.
Poda Poda: There are young Sierra Leoneans writing at home and in the diaspora , and many of them want to get published internationally . We interviewed the author Nadia Maddy recently and she shared that Sierra Leonean writers have to go past the gatekeepers of publishing and find ways to get their work out there. What advice would you give to writers, especially writers in Sierra Leone, about the publishing industry, managing rejection, and just forging ahead, given that Sierra Leone is a difficult landscape for creatives ?
Namina: The first thing I will say is work on the craft: learn from the masters, read everything you can get your hands on, find incisive critique partners that will help you take your work to the next level. Also, make sure you have the correct word count. Don’t write 100,000 words if you’re working on a middle grade comedy, for example.
Once you have that down, get on Twitter. Twitter is where authors and agents hang out, and you can join a global community once you’re plugged in.
To get your work to the gatekeepers, there’s three main avenues: literary magazines, querying, and twitter competitions. Agents read literary magazines, and if you publish your short stories there, you could get that special email. There’s also querying, which is when you write a cold email to an agent, asking them to represent you.
Some advice on querying: Make sure that the agent you’re emailing likes the kind of work you do. For example, if you’re writing gothic horror, don’t send it to someone who likes middle grade fantasy, they’ll never talk to you again. You can use resources like the official manuscript wishlist, https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com, where you basically just plug in what genre you’re writing, and can see all the agents that accept what you write. You can also go to websites like Query Shark and pitch wars to find out more.
Speaking of Pitch Wars, twitter pitch competitions are amazing for helping black writers get their work to agents. I got my big break through #DVPit. That and Pitch Wars and #PitMad get a ton of black authors agented, so check them out. Also, you make a lot of friends doing those competitions, and those friends eventually become authors.
Poda Poda: What's your writing process like?
Namina: Typically, I get my ideas from dreams. Once I wake up, I immediately write the idea down, then I talk it over with friends, agents, etc., to make sure it’s original and marketable. Not every idea is, and you have to know which ones to toss away and which ones to keep. When I came up with The Gilded Ones, for instance, it wasn’t marketable, but I knew it was an original idea, so I kept it, and waited until the time was right.
Once I’ve ensured an idea is good, I begin my research, which takes about a year. I do this passively, while I’m working on other projects. At the end of the research process, I finesse my story and write down an outline. From there, I go to pages. I try to write ten pages every morning before breakfast. If everything is good, and my schedule is okay, I usually finish a book or a new work every three, four months or so.
Poda Poda: Finally, any last word for Poda-Poda Stories and your Sierra Leonean fanbase ( we boku! )
Namina: Fambul-dem, I’d just love to see you guys when I come back to Sierra Leone. If COVID gets better, I’ll definitely be at Ma Dengn this year. And if not, I’ll return to Sierra Leone at the earliest opportunity. Until then, stay safe, everyone.
Visit Namina Forna’s website at naminaforna.com.