Posts by Yasmin Angoe
More terrifying than the Headless Horseman chasing down poor Ichabod Crane or chancier than taking a dip in Jason Vorhees’s Camp Crystal Lake is the thought of having to make friends when being a writer and the act of writing is supposed to be a solitary life. But we must make friends even if it initially seems like the last thing we want to do.
Being an active member of the writing community is integral to our writing success and well-being. When I began my querying in 2020, if it wasn’t for other writers I befriended online, wasn’t for a writing group I’d joined, if I hadn’t taken a chance on myself and reached out instead of remaining behind my computer screen, thinking I couldn’t possibly when I absolutely could, I wouldn’t be where I am now…four books published, currently in writing hell on deadline, and writing to you, my Writing Community.
I’ll walk you through my personal experience in establishing my writing community. These are the resources I researched and joined in preparing myself (and remain a part of) as I queried, got an agent, won a grant, and scored a two-book deal. Take what you will. Consider stepping outside of your comfort zone. Be an active listener initially, then become an active community member, giving back to those communities as well as receiving. That, my friends, is key. Take a gander at my journey to finding other people crazy enough to want to be writers.
Social Media
I was social media inept when I first took the leap and signed up for now X, forever Twitter back in 2017. But I was writing a book and knew there were many things I needed to learn about the publishing industry when I was finally ready to query. I began investing time and research into cultivating meaningful relationships to learn, network, and pay it forward. I knew I’d have to come out of my introverted shell and make friends to understand how the querying process and publishing industry worked.
I started following and communicating with other writers in the query trenches through Twitter. I followed my favorite published authors who I admired, their agents, and whomever else I thought was exciting and that I could provide a different perspective on publishing and the author’s life. At that time, Twitter was my only social media method, so I relied on it heavily, not to post but to lurk, learn, and research.
With these small pockets of trusted writers, I shared in worries and publishing ignorance. From that, we clumped into mini groups of writers at various stages of publishing. Some of us paired up as critique partners as we valiantly tried to guess what agents and houses wanted from our poor souls and polish our manuscripts for the many pitch events happening. Ahh, the good ‘ole days. It was a great time, a meaningful time of growing and learning with others. Now, that community has grown and is more established. We have hashtags like #WritingCommunity and #BookBoost, making it much easier to find our people. And it’s not just Twitter anymore. We now have Instagram, TikTok (someone, please teach me this), Threads, Discord, Facebook, Slack, and BlueSky. Try them out and stay where […]
Read MoreDo you have a writing sweet spot? The part of your writing that you just love to craft and bring to life to the reader. The place where you feel most at home and brings you joy when you’re deeply mired in it? Not too long ago, I wasn’t sure what my sweet spot was. I thought the overall joy of writing was enough for me, that there wasn’t one aspect of it in particular that I enjoyed more than everything else. But then people started asking me to present at workshops and conferences. There was one topic that kept creeping up in my mind. I thought back to a bunch of emails and social media comments I’ve received since Her Name Is Knight came out, passionately remarking about the characters in my book, especially the villains. Those visceral reactions to my characters, coupled with the presentation topic that nibbled at the corners of my mind coalesced together to one solid conclusion. My thing must be writing characters, but especially the bad ones.
I asked myself what it was about the villains, and characters in general, that brought me such glee and made readers reach out to tell me how they connected to them—or wanted them to die in a painful and horrible death. I went on to put my Power Point together, and I presented it with such gusto that by the time I was done speaking for an hour, I knew definitively that my sweet spot, what I loved the best about writing, was crafting the so-called villains.
I’m not evil. Let me put it out there for my religious family members. I’m not living vicariously through these villains or trying to kill people I don’t like through my characters. I like justice and get riled up when innocents are mistreated and abused. So, I’m not an undercover villain. But damned if I don’t love writing about one, making a character who gets down deep…to the reader’s very soul.
If I think back to, I see I’ve always been curious about character. What makes a person do horrible things. What motivates them. They can’t be all bad all the time. They are just like the heroes they fight (or should be): complex, fearful, wounded. Something has turned them this way and I have always aimed to figure out what. And because I believe that no matter the type of story, fiction or not, the characters on the page are what make the story invigorating. They bring the plot to life. If there aren’t interesting and engaging characters to manipulate reader emotion and drive the story in ways that make sense, then the story won’t land for your readers.
When I’m reading a book, the first thing I’m looking for is to be grounded in the character. When I’m writing, I have to connect with them in some way, even the minor ones. It takes me a while to fully realize a character and what makes them tick. Not every character who does wrong is a villain, and not every good guy is a hero. The labels of “good” or “bad” can switch around quite frequently.
Everyone has a story. Even the bad ones. Everyone has a reason for doing what […]
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When I turned in the final proofs for the last book of my Nena Knight series, IT ENDS WITH KNIGHT, the deep sense of foreboding I’d been feeling while writing it became a paralyzing fear and self-doubt. My mind betrayed me, suddenly devoid of the multitude of ideas, snatches of dialogue, and hellos from new voices that incessantly flittered throughout. Gone was the stability of the series I’d been writing for the last four years. Gone was the security of having characters I knew inside and out, whom I’d cultivated and nourished like I do Delphine, my rubber tree plant that flourishes in my house.
I had no idea what I should be next. The nothingness took root deep within me and refused to let go. I wondered if I was capable of writing something else. Another series? A standalone? Could it be different than Nena Knight and still meet expectations? Or would this be the moment when everyone decided I didn’t have what it took.
Maybe this would mark the beginning of the end of my writing…
This may sound silly, but I was mourning the end of my series. Think about it. A series can feel like family. It is a thing born from your imagination. The characters, even the antagonists, are your most intimate partners because they speak to you constantly, telling you their story. You have security in knowing this world inside and out. You know the audience you’re writing for. You know what the expectations are for your series and how best to meet them to make almost everyone happy. There are no major surprises for you. Your series is your comfort food and your safe space.
When I wrote ‘The End’ on the final book of Nena Knight, it felt like I’d lost a family member and a rug was swept from under my feet. I was devastated because the world that I had played in for years was gone. I asked myself, “So now what?”, doubting if and how I would create the same kind of magic I had with my last books. Did I even have it in me to do this again, to start something new.
When I hit my lowest point, I had to ask what I wanted. I had to take a step back and take a beat…several beats to be honest. I had to ask my editors for a little more time to turn in work so I could refill my depleted creative well and deal with the grief I was experiencing. I came to a few realizations:
There will always be the pressure that […]
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As I sit at my desk, my wireless keyboard waiting expectantly, my fingers hover ever so lightly on its keys. My extra wide gaming screen shines brightly in my eyes, with the minutes ticking away as the TV in the background emits white noise. I wait for the words to come. And wait. And wait.
They don’t come.
I swivel in my chair facing the TV, thinking, “Oh, General Hospital’s on,” and realize that it’s 2 pm and the day has slid past me. I have to pick up my kid in an hour, talk about the school day, and maybe make dinner. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write before I get sleepy.
I should have started writing at 8 am, typing my way to literary heaven. I should have banged out at least 1600 words to keep up with my Scrivener target count and deadline.
I didn’t.
Instead, I whiled the day away, sitting at this desk. I daydreamed. I lamented. I checked social. I texted. I even paid some bills — and who the hell wants to do that? I begged for words to drop into my head so I could write They Come At Knight. It didn’t happen the next day, or the next, or the next…for months.
The words abandoned me. Creativity that once flowed, betrayed me, leaving me insecure and confused. Second-guessing myself and angry that words seemed so effortless for everyone, I struggled to get down ten. I developed a debilitating fear that I was going to disappoint everyone: my publisher, my agent, my family and friends, the readers.
I don’t include myself in that list of people who I was going to disappoint because writing, to me, was no longer for me. It was for everyone else. That’s why I became too paralyzed to write.
When I wrote Her Name Is Knight, I wrote for me. I wrote to get out this story that had been building within me for years. I wrote while holding down a demanding full-time job and commuting daily, raising kids, and other family duties. When the house was finally quiet because my kids are great like that, I sat on my bed and wrote the night away. Effortlessly. Because I was writing for me. With no expectations. No limitations. No deadline looming over my head. No promoting one book while attempting to write the other. No one was waiting for my first book but me. And that feeling was glorious!
I had to write the second book before the first one was even released. I didn’t know how HNIK would be received. How could I write a sequel when I didn’t know what worked, or not, with the first? I guessed. I wrote the story and prayed everyone would love it too. I know how people can be when the sequel isn’t like the first. I didn’t want to disappoint before I even knew what would be disappointing.
Then the reviews started rolling in. Everyone seemed to love Nena Knight and her story. They said such marvelous things, calling the voice haunting, telling me they cried when they read the end. Good, because so did I! I received emails where readers told me just how much my book meant to them. Stuff I would say […]
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We are thrilled to introduce you to WU’s newest contributor today, author Yasmin Angoe! Yasmin’s debut novel, HER NAME IS KNIGHT, is a powerhouse novel about a woman stolen as a child from a village in Ghana, who goes on to become an elite assassin determined to avenge her family and put an end to a human trafficking ring. Sound fantastic? It is! It received a starred review from Library Journal, became an Amazon ‘best book of the month,’ and earned Yasmin the Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color.
It also came with some pressures, and that’s what Yasmin is going to talk with us about today–how she handled all of that in order to write another day.
Yasmin, who is a former English teacher (middle and high school), is also a developmental editor and sensitivity reader, and a member of SinC, Crime Writers of Color, Southeast Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers.
Learn more about Yasmin on her website, and follow her on Twitter.
When I started on this journey back in the fall of 2021, and my agent told me I got a two-book deal, I had so many expectations about what my author life would be like. All the glitz and the glamour. Seeing my book out there in the world. Signings. The honor and prestige. However, once my toes touched back on solid ground, I was faced with real life. Working full-time along with my freelance editing. Author stuff. Juggling married life and family. Remembering self-care. And I realized that trying to keep all those plates in the air was A LOT! Before I got my deal, I didn’t think about what things would be like when book one was done, and I would have to do it all over again—this thing called writing a book. And as my deadline neared and sheer panic began to settle deep within my bones, I realized I couldn’t do it all. Something would have to give. I needed Help!
It took all this time for me to come to some understandings with myself and some learnings that have helped me manage my expectations and deal with the complexities of life—both personal and author life. I’m sharing with you a snippet of what I’ve learned (am still learning) about being a debut author.
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