Alicia D. Williams: We Are More Capable Than We Know

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award for New Talent; and picture books Jump at the Sun and The Talk, which was also a Coretta Scott King Honor book. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Alicia D. Williams

In this interview, Alicia discusses how a NaNoWriMo challenge in the early months of the pandemic led to her new middle-grade novel-in-verse, Mid-Air, her hope for readers, and more!

Name: Alicia D. Williams
Literary agent: Brenda Bowen at The Book Group
Book title: Mid-Air
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Release date: April 23, 2024
Genre/category: Children’s Fiction/Novel-in-verse
Previous titles: Genesis Begins Again; Shirley Chisolm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress; Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston; The Talk
Elevator pitch: After the loss of their friend Darius, grief and unspoken words make Isaiah and Drew drift apart. To rebuild their friendship and honor Darius, they restart their mission to break Guinness World Records.

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What prompted you to write this book?

To be totally transparent, I did not set out to write this story. I did, however, set out to write a novel—finally. After the positive reception of my debut, Genesis Begins Again, I was struck with fear and doubt. Can I do it again? Was it all a fluke?

Many of my peers had already published their third and fourth books, and I felt so far behind. Once I admitted my insecurities, I decided to charge ahead with my writing. Then the world literally shut down. Still, I thought, Hey, I can sit at home and write. But who knew the grief we would collectively feel? The isolation and loneliness, too? Who knew the social justice inequalities and unrest would cause deep trauma and months of restless nights?

November 2020, during NaNoWriMo, my writing group challenged ourselves, and I committed to writing a draft. I unleashed all the emotions I had been experiencing, everything I had been grappling with, as well as all of my anger and confusion. Needless to say, my first few drafts were raw. Better yet, for me, they were healing.

So, I guess you can say I was prompted to write this book to prove that I was brave and capable, to grow as a creator by releasing the idea of perfection, and to understand myself and the world around me. Whew, that was a lot!

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

From conception to book in hand, Mid-Air took four years. November 2020. NaNoWriMo. Huzzuh! I pecked away on my computer. I didn’t self-edit or reread. I gave myself permission to freely type away. And I did! At the end of the month, I printed my work, and it was a skeleton of a draft. I’m sure, as with all writers, it was what needed to come out.

First, the story came as prose. In 2021, I started the second draft. I posed questions, developed characters, and began to understand what I truly needed to explore. Then, I stopped and listened. I gave it space. The protagonist was closed up in his own issues and grief. So, I switched from the computer and picked up a pencil and notebook. That’s when Isaiah’s sparse words flowed out naturally. The character dictated the verse form.

The story idea did not necessarily change, but the scope of what I wanted to explore expanded. As I’ve shared, when I began the story, my mental state was one of grief and trauma. At the time, I was exploring how Black boys/men like Elijah McCain, Trayvon Marton, Ahmaud Aubrey, etc., were seen as threats instead of just simply being seen. How come certain spaces and people did not stop and see the humanness first before sizing these individuals up as trouble?

The story evolved to: Why do boys have to subscribe to “toughness”? How come boys aren’t allowed the space or grace to be gentle, sensitive, or emotional? Why can’t they defy gender norms without being attacked as “not tough enough”?

From October 2021 through January 2022, my agent and I went back and forth with revisions until that February, when she finally sent it to my editor. My editor immediately wrote back with a gracious note describing how she loved it, but when I received my first editorial notes of 15 pages—yes, 15—that December, it felt like the total opposite! Who hasn’t felt that angst, right? From December 2022, and all the way through the fourth pass pages in November 2023, I worked on Mid-Air.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Yes, the margins! Who knew everything would shift! I Googled margins for poetry and verse novels. I promise you I did. However, after the copy editors moved the text to their margins, everything changed. It took many revisions to get it back to the way I wrote it. Even on my third pass pages, I cried. I mean, I snot-cried. The rhythm was lost, the beats were gone, and at that moment I didn’t know how to capture it back. Yes, I was dramatic, I know.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Yes! We are more capable than we know. I not only speak for myself because this is true for all of us. Writing is hard. Being a creator is hard. Creativity asks a lot from us. We bleed on our keyboards. We leave tear stains on our pages. We leave drops of laughter too. We bear it all. But diving deep and uncovering the layers is the surprise. Not just the layers of the story. But the layers of ourselves.

Another is that I like rock music and not just Panic at the Disco!, which is one of my favorite rock bands (in case anyone knows them), but that scream-out-loud-gotta-get-it-out rock too. Rock is a genre that is easily categorized as “white music” and listening to it as a Black person could grant a “You’re not Black enough” read. But I’m here to tell you, along with many other Black people who shout their love for rock from mountaintops, it’s music for all.

The biggest surprise was that I could write in verse! I love the idea of growing as a creative. But of course, we creatives are sensitive to rejection and imperfection. Once we conquer those wayward emotions, then we can flow in the zone. And the verses in Mid-Air was a wonderful surprise that resulted from that flow.

Oh, one last surprise—writing a male protagonist. I was a bit nervous tapping into this voice. But I leaned on my years as a teacher and siphoned traits from my students. And when I still had questions, I went straight to my friends who have geeky, nerdy boys. Also, I believe I’m a naturally humorous person, but I discovered how funny I can be with a boy’s voice. It was especially important for me to express authentically how Isaiah and Drew would process their emotions.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

The hope I have for my readers is the same I’ve been trying to accomplish for my own self.

Be who you are. There will be times when you dare to be yourselves and times when you don’t. And that’s OK. When you do dare, it may make others uncomfortable. But know that your courage is special. So special that it may empower someone else to muster their own bravery too. So, never let fear of acceptance be the reason to dim your light. Our job is to be our best selves. So go be you!

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

There are stories that you are meant to tell. Sometimes, we talk ourselves out of them because of fear. As a good friend told me, you can’t be brave without fear.

Write the story. It may take years. Someone may have the same exact idea. So, what? Only you can tell the story the way you are to tell it. We all come with different backgrounds, traditions, experiences, regrets, and lessons, which will influence the telling.

So, if the universe grants you the gift of an idea, then honor it. You’ll grow, and you’ll learn more of yourself. And the bigger picture is, someone is waiting to grow and learn through your story too. 

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