Desmond Hall: Find a Writing Community

Desmond Hall (he/him/his) was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and moved to Jamaica, Queens. He has worked as a high school biology and English teacher in East New York, Brooklyn; counseled teenage ex-cons after their release from Rikers Island; and served as Spike Lee’s creative director at Spike DDB.

Desmond has served on the board of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and the Advertising Council and judged the One Show, the American Advertising Awards, and the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival. He’s also been named one of Variety magazine’s Top 50 Creatives to Watch. He’s the author of Your Corner Dark and Better Must Come. Desmond lives outside of Boston with his wife and two daughters. Follow him on Twitter @AuthorDesmond and on Instagram @desmondhallauthor and @litsnapstories.

Desmond Hall

Photo by Tom Kates

In this interview, Desmond discusses the inspiration behind his new young adult novel, Better Must Come, the differences and similarities in publishing this book compared to his first book, and more!

Name: Desmond Hall
Literary agent: Faye Bender
Book title: Better Must Come
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Release date: June 4, 2024
Genre/category: Young adult
Previous titles: Your Corner Dark
Elevator pitch: Barely Missing Everything meets American Street in this fiercely evocative, action-packed young adult thriller that looks at the darker side of light-filled Jamaica and how a tragedy and missing drug money helplessly entangle the lives of two teens who want to change their fate.

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What prompted you to write this book?

My sister and I were “barrel children.” It’s a term that sociologists created for young people in the Caribbean whose parents leave them to go abroad to find jobs with livable wages. In most cases, the parents can make more money in a year working in the so-called “first world” than they can working for 10 years back on the island. And many of the parents send back barrels—containers filled with everything from cooking oil, rice, jeans, hair conditioner, cell phone covers, or other things that are either too expensive to buy on island or simply aren’t available for purchase. It’s also fascinating to note that “barrel children” are often shamed by friends and acquaintances if they complain about not having their parents at home because they get “stuff” that others do not.

So, I thought it could be interesting to keep throwing obstacles at one of these barrel children to see how they’d fare and if their story would make a good thriller.

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

I started writing Better Must Come back in 2020 during the pandemic. With the help of my epic editor, Caitlyn Dlouhy, we didn’t just work on the usual things like prose and character—we hammered out two points of view, three storylines, 20+ set ups and payoffs, and a partridge in a pear tree. Also, each chapter has a time and date, and in several places the story is non-sequential; and one last thing—the focus of the dramatic irony shifts. So, you better believe, with all those moving parts, the making of the story took many turns. But the story is humming now. And It’s a thriller you need to buckle up for.

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

Better Must Come is the second book of a two-book deal. (The first was Your Corner Dark). And after such a deal I thought it was similar situation that some of my friends in the film world encounter, where once you’re in, you get to pitch an idea and the powers that be OK it and you’re off to the races on your next project. But no, you have to write a whole new book that may or may not get picked up. It’s right back to the grind.

(Note: I do have a writer friend who sold a couple books on partial pitches after their debut. So, experiences do vary.)

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

I discovered along the way that I was writing a loose version of Homer’s Odyssey, just one that has a “diasporic” twist. The theme of a warrior who has to find a way home past countless obstacles to get back to a family was already at the heart of Better Must Come. But after I realized the confluences, I started working on seeding events that had more direct correlations with the Odyssey, ie: Cyclops, sirens, prophesies, etc. I think readers will have a lot of fun picking out those “easter eggs.”

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

Better Must Come is a thriller, and I want readers thrilled. Then, I think it would be great if they would take away a strong understanding of the social and cultural Jamaican insights that are imbedded in the book. It’s a beautiful country but much, much more than Reggae, sprinters, and sandy beaches that you see in glossy tourist commercials.

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

Find a writing community. Surround yourself with people who take the craft seriously, folks who can talk craft and story with you. Also, having people who understand what you go through is huge. It’s a lonely business, one where you have to be greedy with your time, often to the dismay of friends who don’t’ get that you have to be alone with your characters and spend more time writing on your computer than is healthy. 

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