The late author spoke to his publisher about his next novel before his death.
How did the initial idea forThe Son of Mr. Sulemancome to you?
I’m talking over a few years here.
Credit: Joseph Jones; Penguin
First came the idea for the funeral scene.
I have no idea where that… yes I do.
The inspiration for that one scene.
Eric Jerome Dickey at the 5th Anniversary of the African American Literary Award Show in 2009.Jemal Countess/Getty Images
(Insert old-school Batman BAM!)
He was post-college, preppy, and looked just like my year-or-so-younger-cousin, just two shades of melanin darker.
Same bowed legs and everything.
Literally looked like twins.
Talk about a rumble.
And a lot of Southern laughter as we stood over my uncle’s coffin.
Then another unknown son entered.
As the dead are buried, the truth rises and lies are unearthed.
Don’t judge me.
So I wrote that moment from the main character’s POV.
Gave it to Pi 20, 30 years later (damn!
Never throw anything away!)
and allowed it to be its own original moment with new motivation, conflict, and energy.
All characters were still unnamed.
Then I wrote the car accident.
Another organic scene after someone love tapped my hoopty on La Brea as I headed to Kaiser.
Both parts, short scenes that yielded action, were dropped in act two.
Then the big event at UAN which was eventually created as the opening.
East Memphis is its own character, a whole another other, as we say.
Looking westward, Los Angeles is a different world to Pi.
It’s a foreign country.
He feels what Gemma feels in Memphis on some level.
The life of blackness in America.
Why did you make the protagonist Pi’s relationships with his parents such a central element in this novel?
It explains the sum of Pi.
We see edges of the affair between his parents; we see their youthful mistakes through his discoveries.
Through the absence of presence of parents during our lifetimes, there is an impact.
On how we see the world if nothing else.
It’s not a judgment call.
It was what it was seen through Pi’s eyes, graded by him.
Graded harshly and reviewed as the story moves on, same as with his student Komorebi Jackson.
We are all the results of the heated relationships of others.
Then, for some, like Pi, the red pill.
We are the sums of our existences created by those who existed before us.
We are the story created by the combined and fleeting stories, the interactions and decisions of others.
Then we create stories.
Without conflict, the pages don’t turn.
Used the name Gemma because it’s very common across the pond.
She needed to be the opposite of Memphis.
Being from the USA wasn’t enough in my mind.
She was the fish out of water.
She had landed where she had the accent.
Her style stood out.
during the midnight hour and stick to your choices.
Or change them as you move along.
What you get at the end is never what I started with.
But some things don’t change.
Or an unseen barrier when dealing with mixed relationships.
We see it played out in social media every day.
We live everywhere we walk.
We don’t feel safe.
We’ve been telling that for four hundred years to deaf ears.
We all have police stories.
Black men and Black women.
It’s a dark connection.
There is a lot of comedy amid the seriousness too.
Take away the deadliness it rains on society, racism would look like a bad joke.
“Mork calling Orson.
No intelligent life here.
A term or word would have different meanings here and there.
South Memphis or Mars or a school of prepubescent wizards.
That holds true for every genre.
The writer has to believe his or her fiction before they can sell it to others.
Pi navigates a harrowing combination of microaggressions, outright racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
What do you hope readers take away from reading about these experiences from Pi’s first-person point of view?
An average day in the life of many in America is the same as Pi’s imagined life.
And remember, his experiences are common, only graded differently based on zip codes.
We are all from different trees planted in the same earth.
How does it feel to see so many people sharing their love for your work?
Does it ever get overwhelming?
Rather have my box flooded than empty.
Means someone is listening.
The opposite would be bad for ego and business.
Study different genres and techniques.
It doesn’t have to be stellar, just write.
I have some musings from when I first started that I should’ve burned back then.
But I stayed with it.
Joined writers' groups.
Enrolled in a writing program at UCLA.
Took master classes after I was published.
Writers will write regardless.
Writers will grow in the craft.
Get the skill first.
Don’t be an imitator or a duplicator.
Too late to sing like Whitney Houston; she got there first.
Don’t let others get in the way of your growth or success.Use time wisely.
Another thing, a big thing, if it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
You’re still an amazing person.
A lot of people.
Just like everyone can’t sing, er’body can’t write on SJK level.
You have all your life to write your first book.
The second is due in a few months.
Square peg, round hole.
Enough of the bull.
This isn’t an idiot’s occupation.
Don’t come here to rest.
There are no rest stops.
Again, do the initial work.
Seek education, edification, and inspiration, not fame.
Determination and discipline get you from point A to B.
Don’t come here for the lottery.
And there needs to be an obsession.
A cant-not-not-write thing in your heart and soul.
The Son of Mr. Sulemanisavailable for pre-order now.
