Summary

Nia Simone McLeod, a writer and content creator, is channeling her anxiety about Virginia's political climate into writing her debut novel, aiming to offer a diverse narrative set in Richmond and using the process as a form of distraction and resistance.

Abstract

Amid concerns over her state's future due to controversial political decisions, Nia Simone McLeod has turned to writing as both a coping mechanism and a means of creative expression. She initially began her novel during Camp NaNoWriMo in 2020, writing 50,000 words, and has recently decided to rework this draft for publication. McLeod plans to serially release the novel for free on platforms like Medium and Substack, seeking to gain exposure and share her story with a broad audience. Her work is driven by a desire to counteract the negative portrayal of her state and to provide a narrative that reflects the diversity of Richmond, Virginia. The novel serves as a personal escape from the political turmoil and a platform to explore themes of joy and humanity, particularly in the face of policies she views as detrimental to the community.

Opinions

McLeod is critical of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's executive orders, particularly those affecting public school mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory, viewing them as harmful and regressive.
She expresses frustration with the repetitive nature of writing about racism and the toll it takes on her mentally.
McLeod believes that there is a lack of diverse stories set in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia, and aims to address this gap with her writing.
The author is concerned about the maintenance of white supremacy and the denial of Black humanity by those in power.
She is committed to the craft of writing, evidenced by her use of resources like "Save the Cat! Writes a Novel" and Well-Storied's blog archive to refine her story and characters.
McLeod acknowledges the challenges of publishing a book for the first time and is cautious about setting a release date, emphasizing the importance of quality over speed.
She views the act of writing and sharing her work as a form of public trying, which she finds both scary and necessary in the current socio-political climate.

I’m Anxious About the Future of My State So I’m Writing a Book To Distract My Brain

After a shift in leadership, my home state is in shambles. What am I doing while it’s on fire? Writing my debut novel.

I first started working on my debut novel during Camp NaNoWriMo of July 2020. I hammered away at it for a month straight. I wrote almost 50,000 words, knocking my goal of writing 40,000 words out of the park. Afterward, I locked it in my Google Drive, never to be seen again — until a few months ago.

With the beginning of 2022 and the alluring prospect of a new beginning looming over me, I started thinking over the idea of releasing a novel serially (one chapter a week). My first instinct was to release the book for paid Substack subscribers only. I’ve since come to my senses, because, you know, I actually want people to read it.

I’m planning to release the novel serially on Medium and Substack simultaneously for free. If I can find another platform to publish it on, I may throw it on there too. I’m trying to give this book exposure, honey.

But, before worrying about glamorous things like exposure, I realized I had to write the dang thing.

I decided to rework a draft already in my possession. I ended up choosing my Camp NaNoWriMo 2020 draft, in all its glittery rom-com glory, to rework. I was looking for a resurgence of joy amidst a world that becomes more depressing by the day.

I might have to move out of Virginia soon

My governor, Glenn Youngkin, has released a slew of executive orders that make absolutely, positively no sense. One is trying to get rid of the public school mask mandate. A large chunk of the Virginia school system is upset, and rightfully so.

I honestly can’t imagine how someone can be so nonchalantly evil, especially as we deal with the Omicron (Omarion?) spike.

It boggles my mind because politicians, especially conservative ones, love using the idea of keeping kids “safe” as a reason to block progressive ideas from making traction in our legislature.

Getting rid of a school mask mandate is putting kids at risk of sickness and increasing the chance of said kids spreading the disease to high-risk loved ones. It’s giving hypocrisy.

Youngkin’s also using one of his executive orders to try and get rid of critical race theory in schools. Homeboy even has a tip line for people to report teachers/schools who go against his executive order. That is a Boondocks skit waiting to happen.

I’ve tried to write articles about this multiple times. But, writing about racism exhausts my brain. It gets repetitive.

At the end of the day, the moral of the story is that there are many people, especially people in power, who will live and die to maintain white supremacy. They’ll also live and die to deny the humanity of Black folk.

So, what am I going to do?

Write a Black-ass novel set in Richmond, Virginia itself. There aren’t enough diverse stories set in my hometown. And, it seems like every time my city/state makes national news it’s because of some white supremacist-ass nonsense, like this. It’s not cute and it makes us all look bad.

And, along with all those seemingly altrustic reasons for writing a book, ya girl just needs a distraction. Let’s get back to it — shall we?

Throughout December, I revamped the story’s plot and characters.

Here are a few resources that helped me organize the elements of my story:

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel — Jessica Brody (My general knowledge of this beat sheet helped me create a realistic, yet eventful plot. But, I really cracked this bad boy open to flesh out my character backstories. Her section on creating a hero helped me out. Here’s a free mini-resource, from the official Save the Cat website, about creating a dope hero.)
ServiceScape’s “8 Ways a Scene List Can Make Writing Your Novel Easier” (This quality article heavily influenced how I formatted my scene list.)
Well-Storied’s Blog Archive (Well-Storied is probably one of my favorite websites on writing–period. Shout out to the author, Kristen Kieffer, for creating a quality website with so many great, free resources. I used the Characterization section a ton, especially character roles. But, I ain’t gonna hold you, all of her articles are fan-freakin’-tastic)

With a redesigned story and characters, I started writing the first draft on January 1st of this year. Last week, I finished the draft. It’s bare-bones and boring as hell, but I finished it. Woo!

But, now, I’m in the weeds of developmental editing. That’s a big word for Elmo.

This basically means that I’m trying to rework the plot and make it less, you know, boring as hell?

When will I publish this book?

The question that you, my sweet, sweet reader, may have lingering on your mind is: “Nia, when are you going to publish it?”

Chile, your guess is as good as mine. I’ve never published a book before so I don’t know how my timeline’ll look. But, what I do know, is that I’m working on it (nearly) every day to get it where it needs to be: good.

I can’t rush the process if I want it to be good. I’ve just got to put the time in.

My ideal goal would be to release it at the end of spring/beginning of summer. But, will that actually happen? That’s anyone’s guess. I’m going to try though.

Cheers to trying, and especially trying in public, because that in particular, is scary as hell. Especially here. Especially now.

Originally published in oh, write issue #28

Nia Simone McLeod writes, creates digital content, and watches a ton of Flavor of Love reruns. Check out her newsletter for her scorching hot takes on writing and pop culture.

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