Kemi Ashing-Giwa: On Finding Solace in Writing Science Fiction
Kemi Ashing-Giwa was born and raised in Southern California, where she grew up on a steady diet of sci-fi and fantasy. She has an undergraduate degree in integrative biology and astrophysics from Harvard University and is currently a PhD student in the Earth & Planetary Sciences department at Stanford University.
She is also the author of the forthcoming novella This World Is Not Yours. Follow her on Twitter.
Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Ivy Tran
In this post, Kemi shares why writers should write what they want, what makes art art, and more.
Name: Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Literary agent: Tricia Skinner, Fuse Literary
Book title: The Splinter in the Sky
Publisher: Saga Press (Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster)
Release date: July 11, 2023
Genre/category: Science Fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: In the aftermath of a failed war of conquest, a tea specialist-turned-spy embarks on a quest to rescue her kidnapped sibling. But doing so, she soon discovers, might require taking down an empire.
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What prompted you to write this book?
During quarantine, I spent most of my free time after class reading the news and doom-scrolling through social media. Bad idea. I needed a healthy way to process my thoughts, and writing has always been a great source of solace to me.
At the same time, I’d been wanting to write a character with a unique job in a far-future setting for a while. So that’s how I ended up with a tea assassin protagonist.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I wrote Splinter in about four months. After I signed with my agent Tricia Skinner, it took about a year of polishing and submitting to traditional publishers before Saga Press reached out with an offer.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Publishing moves both very quickly and very slowly. I knew that going in, but I didn’t anticipate the extent to which it’s true. There’s typically a two-year gap between signing and publication, and while that may seem like a long time, it’s absolutely not.
There’s so much to do during that period, from revisions to deciding on a cover to interviews like this one! I’m always learning something new about how the industry works.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I set out to write a cathartic revenge plot, but I ended up with a novel about family, friendship, and hope. Life is always so much more than pain and struggle and heartbreak, and as the story unfolded, elements of humor, joy, and hard-won trust began to surface. I think that makes Splinter a much richer book than what I’d first envisioned.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Whatever they want! What I love about writing—or really, any creative form, is the role of interpretation. To me, the reaction to a piece is a large part of what makes art art, even if the only person evaluating the work is the creator themself. That’s just my opinion, and it’s certainly up for debate, but whatever readers draw from Splinter, I hope that it’s meaningful to them.
Nevertheless, I realize that answer’s sort of cheating, so: an appreciation for tea and an idea of why one should care about who owns artifacts from other cultures (and how those artifacts ended up in certain hands to begin with).
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Write what you want. No, really.
I think it can be very tempting to watch a trend take the bookish world by storm and then try to catch the wave of enthusiasm for it—at least, it was for me when I began drafting my second novel. But literary trends are so very unpredictable, and readers are very, very good at telling when an author’s heart just isn’t in it.
So write the story only you can tell, and who knows, maybe you’ll even spark the next trend.
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.