In her debut novel, Kiss the Sky, famed journalist Farai Chideya weaves a juicy tale of 30-something has-been indie rocker, turned TV music critic, Sophie Lee, as she struggles to overcome her demons and finally reach superstar status.
About a month ago, I reached out to Farai on Twitter and asked if I could ask her a few questions about her new novel. Because of the uniqueness of Kiss the Sky and its main character, Sophie Lee, I wanted to pick her brain about how the story came to be. Despite my hesitation (I mean, who am I?), Faria responded happily and sat down to answer my questions about her novel, give a little insight into her inspirations, and share a few tips for aspiring writers.
TPW: Farai, you’re known for your journalistic talents. You’ve written for a number of publications, hosted News & Notes on NPR, and have penned several non-fiction books. What made you want to make the switch to fiction?
FC: I always wanted to write fiction, ever since I was a kid. I’m a huge reader — everything from literary fiction by folks including Colson Whitehead and Phillip Roth; speculative fiction by Octavia Butler; short stories. I also wrote short stories in college. I took a couple years of fiction workshops after getting to take a class on the Modern Novel. And at in my senior year, the head of my English department hooked me up to be the student rep at a small dinner with Toni Morrison! It was amazing. And she was so funny and hip. (She still is.)
TPW: Kiss the Sky isn’t like any other novel I’ve read by a contemporary Black writer. The main character, Sophie, is a Harvard-educated, rock star from Baltimore. It’s quirky, complicated, and wrought with musical influences. How did you come up with the idea for the book?
FC: I have been a huge fan of rock ‘n roll, as well as soul, R & B, and hip hop, for years. I started out with the characters (although they changed a bit as I was writing). Then I wanted to set it in worlds I knew well: Baltimore, Harvard, and downtown/hipster New York.
Black people and the black imagination are vast…. we have our trends and fads, but we should push ourselves to expand our world. I felt the world of hip hop and hip hop literature was getting too constraining, so I wanted to do something different.
(Now, of course, you see projects like the Tony Award Winning black rock musical Passing Strange being turned into a movie by Spike Lee. There are the Afro Punk and Urb Alt festivals, and a documentation of black rockers on boldaslove.us. I didn’t plug directly into that community when I was writing the book, but I have now done several events with black rock folks, including a black rock showcase with Rob Fields (boldaslove.us) and Boston Fielder of the band MuthaWit and organizer of the Urb Alt Festival. I actually read part of the book while MuthaWit played at UrbAlt up in Harlem earlier this year.)
TPW: Music plays a key role in Kiss the Sky. The title pays homage to the Jimi Hendrix classic and a song introduces each chapter. Why did you choose to give music such a pivotal role in the novel? What music inspires you when you’re writing?
Music captures our souls, marks our days. It can lengthen time, giving us a sense of spaciousness on long summer days; or shorten painful or boring times…. just think of the work songs that enslaved men and women sung. It can give us a sense of shared identity. Music is human.
TPW: Sophie is an interesting character and unlike anything we’ve come to expect from a 30-something Black woman fronting a novel. She’s a wild child and embodies the phrase, “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll,” but she’s also bound by some very traditional values. How did you come up with Sophie as a character? Did you purposely try to make her stand out from what readers have come to expect from Black protagonists?
FC: Yes, I wanted Sophie to be unique or at least different. I call folks like Sophie (and myself), somewhat jokingly, “non-conforming black folks” because we do not conform to the media’s stereotype about what a black person is. We’re not Cosby and we’re not Zane. But the funny (or provocative) thing is, most black people are non-conforming in some way. We just get pigeonholed AND we often pigeonhole ourselves. Don’t do it!
TPW: The publishing industry is going through some hard times right now. Some people are even saying it’s dead. What advice would you give an up-and-coming writer on how to get their work out there and make it as a writer?
Publishing is not dead but it’s wounded. Right now you may not be able to sell what you wrote. You have a few options, including:
1) stop writing (Again, DON’T DO IT!)
2) take a hard look at your book and see if you can edit or improve it
3) self-publish and self-promote
4) hold on to the book, cultivate relationships in the writing world, and put it on the market again.
I have some tips from my own experience here: How Do I Write A Novel
TPW: Farai, thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat about your novel. It’s truly been a pleasure!
FC: Thank you…and much love and luck to all writers and fans of writing….
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How great is Farai Chideya?
Did you read the novel? Thoughts?
DO you think the publishing industry is dead? (are you a writer?)
What author interviews would you like to read on this site? (Carleen Brice is up next!)
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