Nashae Jones: Writing What My Younger Self Wanted to Read
Nashae Jones is a freelance writer and an educator. Her fiction and nonfiction pieces have appeared in publications such as HuffPost, McSweeney’s, Yahoo Voices, and October Hill Magazine, among others. She lives in Virginia with her husband, two kids, two cats, and one dog. She is passionate about diversity initiatives, especially in children’s literature. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Nashae Jones
Terrance Jones
In this post, Nashae discusses what inspired her new middle-grade rom-com, Courtesy of Cupid, her hope for readers, and more!
Name: Nashae Jones
Literary agent: Chloe Seager
Book title: Courtesy of Cupid
Publisher: Simon and Schuster (Aladdin)
Release date: January 2, 2024
Genre/category: Middle-grade rom-com
Elevator pitch: In this middle-grade rom-com sprinkled with a dash of magic a girl uses her newfound ability to make people fall in love to sabotage her rival.
Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
What prompted you to write this book?
When I was in middle school, I was a pretty avid reader, but there was a sizeable gap between the books I loved in elementary school—The Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, and Matilda—and the books that I would come to love as an adult. At 12, I wasn’t ready for Stephen King, but I also felt like I grew out of my Madeleine L’Engle phase.
As a result, my love for reading waned in middle school. As I got older, both the young adult and middle-grade markets exploded, but there were still limited books for this liminal space between late middle grade and early young adult. And there’s even fewer of these books with BIPOC characters at the helm of the story. So, I set out to write a book that my younger self would’ve wanted to read.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I came up with the original idea for Courtesy of Cupid in January 2022. So, it will be exactly two years from the time I got the idea to the time it is officially published. Although the manuscript itself has changed more times than I can count, the actual original idea and the heart of the book remained the same.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Honestly, the whole publishing process has been a major learning experience for me. Publishing is drastically different than any idealized, romanticized version I had in my head. And for me, that makes the end result of getting to hold my book in my hands all the more satisfying.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Courtesy of Cupid was my second middle-grade book. My first book, which I had worked on for over a year, died on submission. One thing that surprised me about writing this book was how quickly I was able to write it. I was still mourning the loss of my original book, but for some reason I had a clearer picture of how to write Courtesy of Cupid. I think it was always meant to be my debut, even if I didn’t know it at the time.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope the readers will find joy inside the pages of my book. The world can be a dark place, and I want my readers to be able to escape into the pages of my book where they can laugh, swoon, and witness the power of Black girl magic.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Find a community that supports you. Writing, and subsequently publishing, is such a particular journey that it’s hard to communicate your experience to people outside of the writing community. Find a group of people to both commiserate and celebrate with. I will be forever grateful for my 2024 Debut Group for being this support system for me.
With a growing catalog of instructional writing videos available instantly, we have writing instruction on everything from improving your craft to getting published and finding an audience. New videos are added every month!