This week YA Author Jumata Emill took over our Twitter as a part of our weekly Thursday Twitter Takeover. Jumata Emill is the author of The Black Queen (See YEM’s interview of Jumata Emill here.) See highlights from the takeover below.
Also, if you have any questions for me, send them on! I'll answer as many as I can.
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
A little about me: I started writing in the third grade. First writing a skit as a class assignment for my school's JUST SAY NO anti-drug campaign, which my friends and I acted out. From there, I wrote short stories and never stopped, off and on, my entire life. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Many of those stories were influenced by the books I read as a kid, my favorites being the Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Sweet Valley High books #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
THE BLACK QUEEN is the umpteenth YA story I've written over the years, but the first to sell. I wrote a lot of adult horror too, and even had agent who tried to sell a MS I was really proud of, but that was a dead end. 😭 #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Things really took off for me a few years when I was accepted into the 2018 class of #PitchWars. An experience that led to me writing the MS I queried through #DVpit and connected with my agent! That MS didn't sell either, but my next one did! #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
All that to say: my advice to any aspiring writers is to work hard and try not to ever give up on your dreams. You're gonna hear "no" A LOT. But with the right talent, luck and timing, you might hear that one "yes" that it takes! #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
My debut. It's such a complex story that very personal to me for a lot of different reasons. #YAauthorTakeover https://t.co/cE3iNja4K2
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
…that concept, which is soooo Deep South familiar, stayed with me and I thought, "This could make for a great story…if I added a murder!" #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/5M4cBv9igV
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
For the past 15 years, I've worked as a newspaper journalist covering crime and local politics in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. "Off the record" convos I had with black police officers influenced a lot of the issues I tackle in TBQ #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Some eye-opening convos I had with white friends from the South who grew up in families that "weren't progressive in thought" served as another foundation I built the story around for THE BLACK QUEEN #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Debates I was having with myself around diversity initiatives and representation, especially after the nationwide police reform protests that followed George Floyd's murder, drove some of the story as well. #YAauthortakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
THE BLACK QUEEN is told through two POVs. The first being Duchess, who's the best friend of Nova, the school's first black homecoming queen who gets murdered.
Duchess is black, gay and the daughter of the town's lone black police officer. #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/Z2fKUNL76q
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
The second POV is Tinsley. Nova's rival who is rich, entitled and manipulative. She's suspected of killing Nova, and her attempts to clear her name forces her to confront a lot of things about herself and the world she lives in. #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/h9AYS6BlqZ
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
What am I doing when I'm not writing (or reading)?
Watching trashy reality TV.
My fav: Any franchise of the REAL HOUSEWIVES! #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/wfgwLQSkhm
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
My Top 5 favorite REAL HOUSEWIVES (currently):
1. Garcelle #RHOBH
2. Candiace #RHOP (She's having a stellar redemption arc.)
3. Karen #RHOP
4. Kathy Hilton #RHOBH
5. Heather Gay #RHOSLCWhat are y'alls?
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Skin of the sea by @skinofthesea https://t.co/zVAP0VDz8y
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Random: Can we pause for a minute just to express how bummed I am that #NancyDrew is ending?! Still not over that one!
Justice For Nancy! Who's with me?
#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/cZ7uZws7Fd
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Oh, forgot something. Covering crime as a newspaper reporter factored into a lot of my writing for THE BLACK QUEEN. Helped me piece together how two teenagers could beat the cops in solving the crime. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
And who's started the new season of #GossipGirl.
While I'm in charge, this is an Aki/Aubrey/Max stan account. 🙃 I honestly would love to write a book that's GOSSIP GIRL meets NANCY DREW with a touch of GROWNISH.
#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/Dsk62WvZWw
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Given how differently this country's criminal justice system affects Black and brown people, more BIPOC authors should be dominating the genre. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
I most want to write stories where the Black kids are "the smartest ones in the room." Characters who take on the criminal justice system by proving all the ways it disenfranchises us. #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/LygswXxwFN
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
I am currently working on a new project that delivers even more on those goals. Another YA murder mystery, set somewhere in the Deep South. #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/Muhglro9Qa
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
I'm mostly a late-night writer. I'm also a snacker, meaning I'll be chewing on grapes, nuts, fruit and drinking tea or coffee while I write.
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Story ideas come from all types of inspiration for me. Random conversations, real-life events. But many have been from an image that pops in my mind that forces me to figure out what it means or how it happened.
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
I listen to a lot of True Crime podcasts as well. You'd be surprised by how much police departments botch murder investigations. LAW & ORDER has been a lie! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
Welp! Time for me to start wrapping this up.
Again, my debut novel THE BLACK QUEEN is out Jan. 31. U can pre-order here: https://t.co/H31EzI6ti7
It's got enemies to friends, murder, small town secrets and characters confronting race and privilege.
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
And if you'd like to continue following me on Twitter. You can on my page @brownboywriting
Goodnight y'all!
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 2, 2022
