Ehigbor Okosun: Write the Stories You’re Most Afraid Of
Ehigbor Okosun, or just Ehi, is an Austin-based author who writes speculative fiction, mystery thrillers, and contemporary novels for adult and YA audiences. Raised across four continents, she hopes to do justice to the myths and traditions she grew up steeped in, and honor her large, multiracial, and multiethnic family.
She is a graduate of the University of Texas with degrees in Plan II Honors, Neurolinguistics, and English, as well as Chemistry and Pre-Medical studies and is a Cynthia Leitich Smith Mentorship Award finalist. When she’s not reading, you can catch her bullet journaling, gaming, baking, and spending time with her loved ones. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Ehigbor Okosun
In this post, Okosun shares what inspired her debut fantasy novel, what surprised her the most about the acquisitions process, and more.
Name: Ehigbor Okosun
Literary agent: Kiana Nguyen (DMLA)
Book title: Forged by Blood
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release date: August 8, 2023
Genre/category: Adult Fantasy
Elevator pitch for the book: An orphaned girl from the Kingdom of Ife must use her forbidden blood magic to kidnap the boy responsible for her mother’s death and keep him alive long enough to bargain for her people’s freedom.
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What prompted you to write this book?
I’ve always loved fantasy and I’m descended from people who pass down stories as inheritances. I didn’t feel like the traditional fantasy landscape growing up loved me, or kids who looked like me / shared the same complex heritages. We were often the jokes in books, or barely outlined caricatures. So, I thought I’d write a book that embraced us.
That, and once I decided to become a writer, I needed a manuscript to convince my parents it was okay for me to forgo continuing a career in medicine. If you’re reading this, Mum and Da, this book is, of course, your achievement. And yes, you will get to take pictures with it first before I even dream of doing so myself. I love you.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I initially wrote what would become the seed of this book years ago. I had a short break from school and wanted to write a fantastical story that would help distract me from the pressures of being a high achieving first generation student.
I left that manuscript untouched for years, then, in 2016, using that manuscript as inspiration, wrote what would be the first draft of Forged by Blood. I refined it in 2019 after I got a better sense of who I was as a person and defeated my impostor syndrome enough to work on it.
It sold in 2020, and from then on, I’ve been fortunate to work with an amazing editorial team that has helped me be confident in my storytelling. I can’t wait for readers to encounter it and fall in love with characters.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Oh yes! I was entirely new to the editorial acquisitions process and didn’t know that editorial teams had to read books before acquiring them!
My agent, Kiki, is phenomenal though, and always does her best to answer my questions as well as help me consider what is best long-term. She walked me through the entire acquisitions process. Later, when I needed help sorting through my edit letter and talking through ideas, she was there as well!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
How willful the characters are. Seriously, they have minds of their own.
One character in particular, Colin, didn’t feel right until I took a second look at him. I had him penned one way, with plenty of bravado, but there was a vulnerability to him that refused to be written out.
After chatting with my editor, David, I went back and uncovered more of that vulnerability, crafting him into the reckless yet steadfast and loveable character he is today.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers will enjoy this as a celebration of African myth and diversity. The African continent is so diverse, but so much of its history was lost to colonization, and so many of its triumphs are overshadowed by the ills that plague post-colonial states. I also hope that readers who grew up never seeing themselves as anything but caricatures can find themselves, whole and lovely, in this book.
Lastly, as this is a postcolonial fantasy, our main character makes a lot of hard decisions driven by a survival mindset. It’s been interesting writing fantasy from a perspective that is not far removed from war and its very real implications. So often, battles and conquests are romanticized and glorified as positives in the name of advancement, but in Forged by Blood, readers get to see the emotional and mental costs of war, conquest, and erasure. Hope becomes an unbelievably precious resource when you are raised to expect chaos, and I hope readers will walk with Dḕmi as she struggles to find, hold onto, and maybe even abandon that hope.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Don’t put yourself in a box. Write the stories you’re most afraid of. The words you try to keep from the light of day might just be someone else’s saving grace.
While there’s no shortage of writing advice, it’s often scattered around—a piece of advice here, words of wisdom there. And in the moments when you most need writing advice, what you find might not resonate with you or speak to the issue you’re dealing with. In A Year of Writing Advice, the editors of Writer’s Digest have gathered thoughts, musings, and yes, advice from 365 authors in dozens of genres to help you on your writing journey.