- 7 weeks ago
The hottest writer out today, Kennedy Ryan, is joined by the newest star on the Black romance/drama block, Malcolm D. Lee and his coauthor Jayne Allen, to talk about writing romance and Black love stories that thrive on screen, on the page, and beyond.
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00:00As we pulled it together, I know these folks don't need an introduction, but they deserve one.
00:05So one I just want to say it's been a privilege to be in front of you guys.
00:09I am Chelsea Johns, an executive editor at Storehouse Voices.
00:12I've had the pleasure to work with all three of them over the last few years.
00:16And I'm the publisher of The Best Man.
00:19So let's start with Malcolm D. Lee.
00:21Of course, he is the writer, director, producer of The Best Man.
00:26Yes, give it up for Malcolm.
00:27Yes, yes, yes.
00:31And then we have Jane Allen, who is the co-author of The Best Man, bestseller of Black Girls
00:37Once I Exhausted, and so many more.
00:39And then, of course, Kennedy Ryan, New York Times, USA Today bestseller.
00:46Yes, you are clearly known.
00:48One of the most decorated romance novelists in this era.
00:54So thank you, thank you.
00:56Let's just hop right into it.
00:58But I want to make sure we're with family first.
01:01How many of you love the Skyland series?
01:04All right, all right.
01:06How many of you love The Best Man?
01:09Black Girls Must Die Exhausted with Jane.
01:13A lot of love in the room.
01:15Hey, cousin.
01:15I want to jump right into it with you, Malcolm.
01:20You know, we've gotten two movies, The Best Man in 1999, The Best Man Holiday, Final Chapters.
01:27What made you move from film and TV into a book?
01:31And what have you enjoyed the most about this format?
01:33Well, I've always kind of loved the written word.
01:38I fantasized about being an author, being a novelist.
01:42And I thought the fans wanted more.
01:45I thought there was nothing else to do.
01:47It was very difficult to mount a television show and movies to get all those great actors back together.
01:51So I thought, okay, here's an opportunity to use some characters that have already been established, that already have backstory, and, you know, expand on their storytelling, you know, in a way that we haven't experienced before.
02:04So this book, I think, is even a deeper dive into the characters than you might think you know Harper, Robin, and Jordan.
02:12But this book will tell you even more.
02:17Turn your mic on.
02:18And all the drama started with the book.
02:24All the drama did start with the book.
02:25Called Unfinished Business, in fact.
02:28But this is not that book.
02:31Kennedy, we've gotten so many incredible books from you, but let's focus on the Skyland series.
02:36Before I Let Go, This Could Be Us, Now Can't Get Enough.
02:40First, when you began writing, what is the final book in the series?
02:44Did you know where you wanted to take these characters?
02:46Yeah, I mean, do you mean like when I started writing Can't Get Enough, where Hendrix and Maverick or Everybody?
02:52Hendrix and Maverick, and then, of course, The Sisterhood.
02:55Yeah.
02:55Specifically for Hendrix and Maverick, I mean, if you have read Before I Let Go, or even This Could Be Us, I dropped seeds, you know, about Hendrix even then.
03:07So I knew, and I don't want to do spoilers, but I knew that she was caring for an aging parent.
03:12I knew she was a plus-size black woman.
03:14I knew she was an entrepreneur.
03:16I knew she was community-minded.
03:18And I knew that I wanted black women to see themselves on the page in a glorious way.
03:22So I knew that about her, and that I was going to give her a man who was worthy of her.
03:29Yes, for that.
03:30I feel like this series is like, don't settle, sis.
03:33Like, that's the hashtag.
03:34All right, Jane, you know, you've been a best-selling author with four books already under your belt.
03:40Malcolm often mentions how beneficial it was to have a female, a woman perspective when writing this first novel in the series.
03:47How did you guys come to work together?
03:48What has this process been like?
03:51We had a lot of initial conversations, and it was about life.
03:55I started out in corporate America.
03:57I was an attorney.
03:58I was an executive in the music industry.
04:00I run companies, started businesses.
04:03And so to be able to come to these characters with so much rich history, especially the women characters,
04:09and particularly with Jordan, who took the corporate America plunge but didn't get back what was the promise.
04:17You know, we all go and we give ourselves over to our careers.
04:19We're supposed to get this life back.
04:22And when that doesn't happen, what's on the other side of that?
04:25So I was really excited to explore that on behalf of similarly situated women
04:29and then also Robin's journey of choosing herself in kind of a radical way as a black woman.
04:35Those were very exciting things to tackle and to try to bring in some of my life experiences to the page.
04:43So we had great conversations about growth in writing this book.
04:49So there's a lot of real-world growth in the characters.
04:52So there's a lot about this book, both of them, that there's this can't-put-it-down quality.
04:59I've got to turn the page really quickly and know what's going on.
05:02Just when you think you know it's a surprise, can you tell us a bit more of what's going on with Hannah Mav
05:07and maybe even Robin and her new love interest?
05:10How do you at all approach creating the arc of these characters?
05:14I'll let anyone start.
05:15Did you want to start, Kennedy?
05:16Okay, the arc of these characters?
05:19Well, I think I'm specifically writing something that's very much romance, you know?
05:24And so I am dealing with the character growth of two characters at once,
05:28but I'm also dealing with the growth of their relationship.
05:31And so they bonded around things like both having, you know, parents or relatives who had experienced Alzheimer's.
05:37But then there's just this chemistry between them that's kind of like immediate.
05:41And I think the challenge of a romance writer is to keep you, like, engaged and on the edge of your seat.
05:49And there are a couple of scenes where it's like, I don't know who's read this book,
05:51but there's like a coat room scene.
05:56So when you do, you're like in public, you know?
05:59But it's like, I can't wait, you know?
06:01So there's always threading through this urgency that's not just physical,
06:05but it's also emotional, the intimacy of it.
06:08And we're getting more of Jordan and Robin than we've gotten, really for Robin and Ghana.
06:13What did you guys go into when thinking about her character, removing him from Harper?
06:18Like, she comes into herself in a new way that we've never seen before.
06:21Yeah, I mean, I think there are a lot of, you know, people, fans who are very upset with Robin and the choice she made.
06:28And but like Jane said, you know, it was a radical choosing of herself.
06:32And we haven't seen that, and I don't think people are used to it.
06:35And, you know, what we wanted to do was really explore that.
06:39I wanted to defend Robin and make sure that I was protecting her.
06:43And so we could get, yeah, in fact, Jane was like, was one of those women that was like, Robin, I don't know.
06:50And I'm like, wait a minute, let us discuss, let us explore.
06:54By the end now, she's team Robin.
06:57But so, you know, you know, I think she's both team Robin and team Jordan.
07:00She's not, Robin is no longer the villain.
07:03And, you know, it was like, let her be healed.
07:06We talk a lot about healing in the process of this book and healing of black people, black women in particular,
07:12and just making sure that Robin is in on a healing journey in this book.
07:18You know, choosing herself, getting what she wanted in a relationship that wasn't always reciprocal.
07:26She's now saying, okay, you know what, I want what's mine, and I deserve to be desired.
07:33I deserve to be my own person.
07:36And so that's one of the things we wanted to explore with her.
07:39And, you know, she's on a journey, and she's going to have a little bit of a love interest in the book as well.
07:43And this is, to me, in real life, our healing time, particularly as black women, we are owed that, and we don't have enough conversations around it.
07:52So being able to bring that into fiction and to model that, where you have a story, it's engaging, it's entertaining, but you can take lessons from this.
08:01You can let this person show you what it looks like to choose yourself if you've never done it before.
08:06And you can see what's on the other side of that.
08:08So that was really important as part of these characters' journeys to model this different ways of healing, different ways of choosing yourself,
08:17because that was my wish for us, all of us, that we have these examples and that we find the courage to do more and more of that healing
08:26in the face of no matter what people tell us we should be doing.
08:28While we're here talking about healing, Robin is in, well, Jordan's in therapy for the first time.
08:35She's kind of taking off this superwoman, black woman cape that's like, I need to heal, I need to take care of myself.
08:41What is she longing for in this book?
08:43What can you kind of tell them without giving anything away?
08:45I think Jordan, you know, again, she also chose herself, because she was getting sick in Best Man Final Chapters,
08:54and she said, you know what, this is not for me.
08:56I don't have to do this anymore.
08:57I don't have to wear the cape.
09:00I don't have to be this, you know, strong black woman.
09:02And then, like, it's taken her a little while to figure out, okay, yeah, strong black women do need therapy.
09:07It was something that she scoffed at before, but now she's, like, embracing it, but not fully.
09:12She's getting there, right?
09:14She's like, yeah, I am strong enough.
09:16And there's some things in there about her past, about what she really desired, what she really wants,
09:22and that she's really not coming to terms with, even in therapy.
09:24She can't admit it even to herself, really.
09:27But there is the pull of the grind, which is always known, and also the pull of one Mr. Harper Stewart.
09:35So we'll see where things go.
09:39Go ahead.
09:39Well, I think that for seeing these characters take these steps to heal themselves, and in particular, Jordan, who, you know, she started out as my favorite character, I have to admit.
09:53When I was in 1999, I don't know if people remember going, seeing Jordan with her pixie cut on the screen.
10:00You know, that model of independence, it was something that was unique and different for us, and someone we could look up to.
10:08So to see her now being able to take this other course that's so unconventional, she walked away at the peak of her career, and to see what that looks like in therapy.
10:19You go into the therapy sessions with her.
10:21And if people love Jordan Armstrong, are there a bunch of Jordan Armstrong fans?
10:25Who loves Jordan Armstrong fans?
10:27All right, all right.
10:29So you go with her into therapy.
10:31You really get to know her.
10:32You get to know some facts that we didn't know about her backstory, and you get to know about how she grew up and where she's from.
10:40So there's so much in this book that you just will not, you're with them, and you go into their world.
10:45So I'm excited for all of you who haven't had a chance to read yet to just spend this time with these people.
10:51Yeah.
10:52Speaking about getting to know them and healing, there's a bit of sexual healing in these books.
10:58Yes.
10:58A decent amount of it, if I do say so.
11:01So some of these scenes in your books when I was editing quite literally made me blush, to say the least.
11:05And I was like, hey, y'all, we might have to pull this back a little bit.
11:09And Kennedy, I may or may not have given my husband a few pages.
11:13Like, hey, boo, try, you know, you know.
11:16But really, why is it so important to show black folk loving on each other in and out of their life complications?
11:22We see a lot of it with love triangles.
11:24We see it with Mav and Hen.
11:26Like, why is it so important to see that kind of intimacy?
11:29It's not just about the sex we know, but it's about really getting loved on and seen.
11:32Right, I talk a lot about black women being loved outrageously for the glorious creatures that we are.
11:40You know, I think just women in general, we are constantly navigating a patriarchal culture that demeans our pleasure
11:47and that makes us feel ashamed for seeking our own pleasure and for centering our pleasure.
11:52I think there's a defiance, there's a resistance in centering our pleasure.
11:56And then I think as far as specifically black love, I always say black love is resistance.
12:01You know, it is, our joy is an act of resistance.
12:05Writing black love is an act of resistance because we are flying in the face of everything that tells us
12:10we don't deserve happily ever afters, that we don't get the outcomes that maybe other people do.
12:14And so when we as writers center our pleasure, prioritize our joy, even as we are navigating structures that are erected against us,
12:24that is a radical act of resistance.
12:29That's a word.
12:30Yes, clap for that.
12:31That's a bar, that's a bar.
12:32Malcolm and Jay.
12:34You go.
12:35Do you want me to start?
12:35Yeah, you start.
12:36Well, I think from the very beginning, I really did want to write well-rounded, whole people
12:43and show their interior lives and their personality.
12:46And part of that is how do you express yourself sexually?
12:50How do you take pleasure?
12:52How do you find pleasure?
12:53How do you deliver pleasure?
12:54So that, to me, is a part of character development, to know that part of these characters
13:00and to really develop that intimacy.
13:01And in this book, you know, we have, it gets spicy.
13:06And these people are, you know, in middle age plus, and they're having sex.
13:12So we should know how they approach that.
13:15It's part of their lives, part of their personalities.
13:18And, you know, we do it in a really elevated way, I think, but it also gets hot, which it should.
13:26I agree.
13:28Ditto.
13:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:30No, no, it was like, you know, again, it was my opportunity, you know, as a filmmaker,
13:35you get, I've done some, you know, lovemaking scenes on screen,
13:40but nothing compares to what is in this book.
13:45I'm just going to say it.
13:47I mean, like, it is a much deeper dive than I've had.
13:52Literally and figuratively.
13:53Literally and figuratively.
13:54It's been a much deeper dive.
13:55And I think, you know, it was, it was, it was a great expression, you know, just as, as a writer to put that out there.
14:02And Jane Mote wrote the most of the nastiest scenes.
14:04Wait a minute.
14:05Wait a minute.
14:06She did.
14:07She wrote most of the nastiest stuff.
14:08She went, what about if we did this?
14:09I went, well, hold on now.
14:11Wait a minute.
14:12Okay.
14:13Let's try it.
14:13My dad read the book and he said, he loved it.
14:18He, he's not a fiction reader.
14:19He tore through the book in like three days and then he was mad.
14:23He'd finish it too soon.
14:24But he is, he said, you know, I love this book, but who wrote those, those scenes?
14:29I was like, what are you talking about dad?
14:29He's like, you know, those, those sex scenes.
14:32I was like, oh, oh, Malcolm wrote all of them.
14:37All, everything.
14:39Yeah.
14:39Just to set the record straight, it was a collaboration.
14:43She'd do a pass.
14:44I'd do a pass.
14:45And then she'd make a nastier pass.
14:49Guilty.
14:50You'll be entertained.
14:51In many ways.
14:52So we've talked a bit about the women in these books.
14:55We have not talked about Harper.
14:57We see the whole crew in The Best Man while we focused on three.
15:00Everyone's here.
15:02We've all read the book.
15:03I want to ask all of you.
15:05Do you feel like Harper has matured in this novel?
15:08I remember when we were doing the editing, I was like, I still want to smack him.
15:12And he's like, really?
15:14I think he's grown.
15:15But I'm curious.
15:16We've all read it.
15:17I'll start.
15:17I'll start.
15:18Listen, I do.
15:19Yes, I do think Harper has.
15:20He's had a tremendous growing journey.
15:23He's very successful.
15:24He's always wanted the brass ring.
15:27He always wanted, you know, critical accolades.
15:32He wants the money, you know, and he's achieved that now.
15:36But it came at the price of his marriage and somewhat of his family.
15:42And in this book, we explore that he's actually not fitting into his friend group in the same way.
15:47So he has to learn how to grow in this book.
15:50It's a big emotional journey.
15:52And I see there's plenty of sisters here who are here.
15:55And I want to let the brothers know that the few brothers that are here, this book is for y'all, too.
16:00Especially if you're...
16:01I wrote the original Best Man for men.
16:03And I do believe that Harper has grown.
16:05And listen, as we know, it takes guys longer to mature than it does women.
16:10Okay?
16:11But he's going to get there.
16:12He's going to get there where he needs to go.
16:14You know?
16:15And don't do that, sis.
16:17Put the thumbs down.
16:18I saw that.
16:19No, no, no.
16:21Give him a chance.
16:22You know?
16:22People...
16:23He gets better.
16:23You've got to give people grace.
16:24And I think he has...
16:29He's showing growth.
16:32And he's a lot of fun to write because he tries so hard but gets it so wrong.
16:37He's so awkward.
16:38He's somebody that you just want to just like, come on.
16:42But he is really trying to get there.
16:45And I think getting to know that character and seeing that in him.
16:49But he gets it wrong.
16:51And then for us, I think it's great to read because you get to see these authentic conflicts
16:56and how the conversations need to go to either resolve them or make it more complicated or
17:02what exactly happens.
17:03But I feel like I learned a lot about communication and real-life relationships from writing this.
17:09And even in the debates that we had about it, you know, there's a lot of things that you
17:17can lean from reading that I think will help your own relationships and your own growth.
17:22I know it helped me.
17:23So I'm rooting for him.
17:25Yeah, no, look.
17:26Men don't know women as well.
17:28And women don't know men as well.
17:30You think you know.
17:31But you don't know.
17:32Again, we had lots of spirited debates.
17:34And she was like, why isn't he doing this?
17:36And I said, why should he do that?
17:38If you have patience, date Harper.
17:40If you don't, date Maverick.
17:42Well, there you go.
17:43You know, you know, you know.
17:45Maverick is the, this is what I want.
17:47And Harper is the, if I got to do the work, we'll do a little work.
17:51And listen, we all got to work to get our communication, right?
17:54We do.
17:55So speaking of Maverick, a reviewer of the Skyland series wrote, this is grown-up romance for
18:00people who've been through some things.
18:02And we've also been hearing of unfinished business.
18:04This is grown folks love.
18:05And what I love about both of you guys' work is that, you know, you put in your author's
18:09note that, you know, why can't romance novels wrestle with bigger topics?
18:14Topics around race, around economic injustice.
18:17You know, it can't get enough.
18:18Hendricks is going up against a lawsuit to protect funding for black women.
18:22In unfinished business, Robin is hopeful the motherland would offer her something different.
18:27Why did you, you know, what aspects did you really want to highlight?
18:31We know it's about love, but what else did you really want the story to be?
18:34Right.
18:35I mean, I think anybody who reads across my catalog recognizes that I kind of see romance
18:40as a Trojan horse, meaning I could write any genre, you know.
18:45I love romance.
18:46I've been reading it since I was in the eighth grade.
18:48And at the same time, there are things, issues of the day, there are things that are facing
18:53black, brown, marginalized women, queer people that I want to talk about.
18:57And this is the vehicle I use for that.
18:58And I think a lot of times people expect romance to be agnostic on the big issues of the day,
19:04or they talk about romance in dismissive ways.
19:08And for me, romance is the safest genre to talk about big topics because you know there's
19:12a happily ever after.
19:14There's joy at the end.
19:15So, for me, it's like there's not a better place to have difficult conversations than
19:21a landscape where you know everything's going to be okay in the end.
19:24Yeah.
19:24And I think a lot of people see romance as an escape from life.
19:28And I see that, but I also see it as a portal into life.
19:31I think that we can speak about the things that people are going through.
19:35And it's healing, you know, it's encouraging, it's modeling things.
19:39So, yeah, I don't see it just as escapist, I think.
19:44I was going to say something a little bit controversial.
19:46I don't actually see myself as a romance writer.
19:49So, my first love has been black women.
19:53That's my love.
19:54And when I wrote Black Girls Must Die Exhausted, for example, I was writing out of my love for
19:58black women.
19:59And I wanted us to be loved, to love ourselves, to be loved in our friendships, in our relationships,
20:06and also romantically.
20:08And if that wasn't happening, to choose ourselves with just radical acceptance of ourselves and
20:16each other and to find support where it is.
20:20So, when you have a black female character in particular, we have much more complexities
20:26to our life than other people.
20:29You cannot just write about love.
20:30We're not just frolicking through the fields, like, oh, everything is great.
20:34You know, there's so much that we're juggling.
20:36We are amazing creatures.
20:38And if you write us and don't show that, and don't celebrate what we are in spite of, and
20:46show what the in spite of is, you're not telling the full story.
20:49You don't see the full magic.
20:51So, that is, I think, what this is.
20:54I mean, when you have black and romance together, it has to be more complex.
21:00So, that, I'm very proud to stand in romance and be that.
21:04But when you're writing black women, it's automatically more.
21:07It has to be.
21:08Well, I will say, I don't know that I would call myself a romance writer, but I certainly,
21:17I love love, right?
21:18And I love love amongst black folks, whether that's a romance or a bromance, right?
21:25Like, a lot of people have characterized the best man as a bromance.
21:28And I think that that's correct.
21:30You know, like, it is about brothers that are like, you know, four friends or all different,
21:35but they all share this common experience of going to college together and being black
21:39men in, you know, white spaces.
21:42And they're all very different, but they all have a commonality.
21:45And so, like, between that and, like, you know, what we all think about love, about
21:50relationships and growth, that's definitely my wheelhouse.
21:54Particularly when it comes to telling stories about black men.
21:57And that's my wheelhouse, and I'm never going to stop, you know, elevating us in that way.
22:03I'm going to get, like, one or two more questions in.
22:05But audience members, if you can start thinking about your questions, I'm going to take a few
22:09from the audience as well.
22:10So we kind of highlighted endings, and everyone from reviewers to friends kind of gasped at
22:15the ending of The Best Man, Unfinished Business.
22:18You guys stressed me out a little bit working on it.
22:21I was excited and frustrated with a lot of them.
22:24But did you know where you were taking the characters, like, midway through?
22:28Like, oh, I know she's going to do this.
22:30He's going to do that.
22:31Or how did that develop?
22:33I will say that we had a roadmap.
22:35But as things develop, as stories, the story kind of unfolds, and the characters, you know,
22:43do what they do, it definitely went a different direction.
22:48And I think that was a large part to Jane's influence, your influence, saying, like, it's
22:52got to be this, or, you know, we've got to think about doing that.
22:55And by the way, I was like, at first I said, I don't know about that.
22:58But then I was like, okay, you have to challenge your characters.
23:02You have to let them take the lead.
23:06At a certain point, once you've developed the roadmap, they have to take over.
23:10And that's what happened here.
23:11And yeah, we do leave things on a bit of a cliffhanger, if you will.
23:16And what about you, Kennedy?
23:19I am thinking about how you wrap up three women we've spent three books with, Yasmin,
23:24Soledad, and Hendrix.
23:25Did you know how you wanted their stories to end, particularly also for Hendrix and Maverick
23:29in this book?
23:31Yeah, I mean, I did.
23:32I think that the entire series is kind of interrogating what is a happily ever after.
23:36You know, because the first couple, they're divorced already.
23:39You're like, you've got to convince me they should be together.
23:41And spoiler alert, but at the end of the, the second book is so much about dating yourself.
23:46So much about, you know, reclaiming your own power as a woman.
23:50For half the book, she's dating herself.
23:52And they're like, is this really a romance?
23:54And at the end, she's like, I don't think I ever want to get married.
23:56And people are like, but that's what a happily ever after is.
23:59You know, and then Hendrix, of course, is childless by choice.
24:02And so many people associate happily ever after with the marriage and the kids.
24:07You know, and so to have a woman who is so clear that that's not what she wants her happily
24:12ever after to be, that is something that I wanted women who are making that choice.
24:16And more and more women are making that choice.
24:18I wanted them to see it as valid.
24:20And for these women who we've gotten to know over the course of three books, they refer
24:25to each other as platonic soulmates.
24:27You know, we've talked a lot about like various forms of love.
24:29This whole series is about all the forms of love.
24:33Obviously, romantic love, friendship, but also sisterhood, you know.
24:37And so at the end of the story, I wanted them all to be standing together, celebrating
24:42each other's journeys.
24:43And, you know, people keep asking me to write another one.
24:46And I'm like, I'm, I think I'm done, you know, but who knows?
24:51Who knows?
24:52The daughters and the sons are in college.
24:54Oh, yes.
24:54We get that.
24:55They're like, give me a Skipper and Bolt novella.
24:58Give me, it's all those things.
24:59There's a petition.
25:00So, you know, we, I'm like, maybe we'll see it on screen.
25:04That's how we'll get it extended.
25:05I hope.
25:05About that, you know, we know that before I let go, it's in production.
25:10Malcolm is the director.
25:11In development.
25:12In development.
25:12Malcolm will be EP, your EP.
25:15Malcolm is director.
25:16How is that going?
25:17I know you can't say a lot.
25:19Yes.
25:20I can't wait to see it.
25:23Can I ask, like, who would you want to play?
25:27Like, you know, we don't know anything.
25:29We know, we heard nothing.
25:31What stays, what happens in NOLA, stays in NOLA.
25:33Right?
25:33Like, y'all can keep it secret?
25:37No, you can't say much.
25:38But can I know who your dream folk are?
25:42One?
25:43Like, for one?
25:43We don't understand the question.
25:45Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
25:46No, no.
25:47See, okay, this is the, I get asked this question, and I've been telling the team,
25:52literally, I would say ten times a day, at least, in DMs on TikTok.
25:58They're like, where's the show?
25:59When is the show?
26:00The show, the show, the show.
26:01And I'm always like, we're working hard behind the scenes, and as soon as we have more to
26:06tell you, we will.
26:07I will say that it is, it's such an honor, you know, it's such a, and it's such a fragile
26:13thing.
26:14So many things that are option never make it to screen, you know, so I'm just honored
26:20to have such an amazing team, because it is Malcolm and his team, and it's Get Lifted
26:25and John Legend, and it's, you know, Deborah Martin Chase, who is a legend in her own right.
26:29So honestly, just for them to have believed in this story in a way where they say we want
26:35to extend it, and to see where, how we can build it out, to me, that's just such an honor,
26:41and the prospect of it is very exciting.
26:43All right, get all her DMs action about who y'all want.
26:48Oh, Billy, I have a whole folder that is nothing but Skyland casting, because at least three
26:53a day is just casting, so thank you guys for your excitement.
26:57Okay, and Malcolm, no, we're good.
27:01Can I ask you what's next?
27:02We have book two.
27:03What do we have to look forward to in book two and three?
27:05Well, you know, this first book was from the perspective of Robin, Harper, and Jordan,
27:12and each, you know, chapter was going to be their own POVs, so we're going to expound
27:18upon that, their story, because their story does continue in book two, but we're going
27:22to also open it up to Lance and his new bride, Jasmine, yep, that's right, and we're going
27:29to talk about Murch and Candace and their journey.
27:32Eventually, Quentin and Shelby will join book three.
27:34They're all in present in all the books, but, you know, we're going to deeper dive
27:39into, you know, their POVs, and it's very exciting to do that, but yeah, we expected
27:44to wrap it up in book one with Harper, Robin, and Jordan, but it just didn't happen that
27:50way.
27:50It didn't get wrapped up.
27:52No, no.
27:54You want to say something?
27:55No, no, no.
27:56Okay.
27:57All right, I think we have time for like one or two author questions, or audience questions.
28:02Make them good.
28:03I see you waving.
28:04Really, really excitedly.
28:06I'm going to bring the mic to you.
28:08Just say your name, and then what your question is.
28:11Hello, it's Tanya from Canada.
28:13I'm here with the Black Women Connect Book Club team.
28:17Hello.
28:17So I'm curious, and I mentioned this online to you, Kennedy, really appreciated the next
28:24book two and the elements of autism, and I'm curious about the journey that you would have
28:30gone through in writing and going into that space.
28:33And for Malcolm, I just want to say, are we going to see more film?
28:37I'm loving the fact that you have more in series, but more film in Best Men.
28:42You were asking about autism.
28:47Yeah.
28:47For those who don't know, I'm a mom of an amazing autistic guy.
28:51And when I decided to, I had never incorporated that into fiction.
28:56And I've been, my son was diagnosed 21 years ago, you know?
29:01So I've been on this journey for a really long time.
29:03And I started and ran a foundation for families who have children with autism for 11 years.
29:10So I have been an autism advocate for, and still am, and now I run an auction to raise
29:18money annually for autism.
29:20So I am deep in autism, but I didn't take it for granted that I would know.
29:25My background is journalism.
29:26And so the first thing I do whenever I'm starting a book is start my subject list.
29:31I draw a list of people who I'm going to interview.
29:33I interviewed about 10 families who have children with autism presenting in different ways.
29:38Obviously, I did a lot of research, even though I knew a lot.
29:40And I think the thing that I did that to me was, because I call myself, for me, the first
29:47rule of writing is like, first do no harm, kind of like a doctor.
29:51And so especially when you're writing something that's marginalized, a disabled experience,
29:55especially if it's not yours, being protective of that community is first and not harming it.
30:00So I actually hired an autistic and actually autistic editor.
30:04In addition to, you know, my editor, the publisher, before she got it, I hired someone who has
30:11autism to edit the book and to go through it from top to bottom to make sure I wasn't infantilizing
30:18at all.
30:19And just that there was no harmful representation.
30:21And it's such a spectrum.
30:23I wanted people to see.
30:24That's why there's twins.
30:26One presents, you know, he's nonverbal.
30:28One is verbal.
30:29But they both have their own challenges.
30:31And I wanted people to see the full spectrum of autism.
30:33But I also wanted them to see parents who love their kids unconditionally wherever they
30:38are and are on the journey with them for as long as it takes forever.
30:42You know, so that's what I wanted.
30:43I wanted people to see autistic kids loved in such an unconditional way.
30:48I think that is the last question.
30:50As far as what is happening, you're going to have a very cinematic experience with this
30:57book and two and three.
30:59And that's what we're concentrating on right now.
31:02And so as far as whether or not there's going to be another television show or a movie,
31:06stay tuned.
31:07But all I'll say is this is what's happening first.
31:10Thank you guys so much.
31:14Of course, they will be signing books right on the other side of the panel.
31:16So you guys can get ready to go get your book signed and personalize.
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