It all started with the question, “What if she was famous?” I first thought of Kelvin and Aliyah at the beginning of the pandemic. They found themselves in a couple projects before I started A Summer with Aliyah. Their story changed as I learned how to rap. The better I got, the better Kelvin got, and the higher I needed to raise the stakes. The problem was, I never wanted my novel to be about rap. I always wanted to put rap in a novel, but it felt wrong to write about a rapper when I didn’t want to be one myself.
Making Aliyah famous fixed all that. With an actress, I could bring the rap to a professional level without focusing on it. From there, I just had to figure out how famous to make her. If she was too big, the romance wouldn’t be believable. Too small, and it wouldn’t be interesting.
I wrote the first draft as a screenplay back in mid-2022. I called it a dialogue draft. Earlier that year, I finished a smaller screenplay, and I loved the format. I started my current draft in October of the same year. It’s been through a few edits, of course, but for the most part, little has changed.
I’ve put my life into this book. The characters reflect different sides of me, the plot includes elements of my past, and the allegories reveal what I hope for the future. I wanted to write something for everyone, from experienced readers to first timers, from fans of romance to fans of hip-hop.
I still have a lot to do, and I’m not going to lie, it’s incredibly challenging. In some ways, the story’s a memoir. In others, it’s fanfiction. I don’t exactly know what I’ll do when it’s done, but I’m excited to find out. I hope you’ll want to join me for the ride. Thanks for reading.
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