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EP356: Nkrumah Mensah - Anne Of Survivor · Respark Your Life

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Speaker 1: This book was meant to be one book and in a sense become two books and now it is seven books. A one
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Speaker 1: off was not really a one off. That's all because my daughter and her friends and I appreciate it
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Speaker 2: so much. Hello, this is Raymond Aaron, New York Times top 10 bestselling author bringing you
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Speaker 2: Respark Your Life podcast, the world's premier podcast to ignite the fire to allow you to live
0:24
Speaker 2: life on your own terms. Every single Thursday, I bring you a
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Speaker 2: multi millionaire world famous celebrity to teach you about the
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Speaker 2: most fascinating ways in order to live a far better life. Every
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Speaker 2: single Thursday, you just need to subscribe by hitting the
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Speaker 2: subscribe button. I'll see you every Thursday to re spark your
0:49
Speaker 2: life.
0:50
Speaker 2: Yes, this is Raymond Aaron again.
0:53
Speaker 2: And you know this, Dick, even though I have lots and lots of
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Speaker 2: world famous friends, and even though I have interviewed them
0:59
Speaker 2: on this podcast, the real delight is bringing you stealth
1:06
Speaker 2: wisdom that you would never find out about on your own. Now,
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Speaker 2: these people that I find are known in their own sphere of
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Speaker 2: influence. But if you ain't in their sphere, then you ain't
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Speaker 2: never heard of them and you couldn't get their wisdom,
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Speaker 2: but I find these secret geniuses and bring them to you.
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Speaker 2: And today I have such.
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Speaker 2: Today I have Nkrumah Mensah,
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Speaker 2: mother of two, lover of Star Trek and Shakespeare.
1:41
Speaker 2: She loves a neem, she's a neem enthusiast
1:45
Speaker 2: and a ballroom dancer, and she's now a novelist.
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Speaker 2: Born into a long line of storytellers
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Speaker 2: with the desire to share her tales with the world,
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Speaker 2: Nkrumah is the first in her family
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Speaker 2: to bring her characters to the written page.
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Speaker 2: In a mystical place called Greensboro,
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Speaker 2: in the zany land of North Carolina,
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Speaker 2: she works in commercial construction by day
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Speaker 2: and toils on her writing passion at night.
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Speaker 2: Wow. I would normally say you are a Renaissance man,
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Speaker 2: but you're a woman.
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Speaker 2: You're a Renaissance woman.
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Speaker 2: I have never heard that term before.
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Speaker 2: I've never heard --
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Speaker 2: >> I love it.
2:28
Speaker 2: >> -- a Renaissance person even.
2:31
Speaker 2: But so you are.
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Speaker 2: So you are, and you toil in construction during the day,
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Speaker 2: and you write at night.
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Speaker 2: And your first book, is it your first book that you have out now?
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Speaker 1: And my first book.
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Speaker 2: And of survivor and of survivor.
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Speaker 2: So tell us, did you, when like do you have brothers and sisters?
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Speaker 1: I do.
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Speaker 1: I have three siblings, an elder brother and two younger sisters.
3:01
Speaker 2: All right.
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Speaker 2: Now, when you were young and you're just playing with your siblings
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Speaker 2: and other kids down the street.
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Speaker 2: Did you think you were destined for greatness?
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Speaker 2: Did you think you would be the first person in your family
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Speaker 2: to ever write a book?
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Speaker 2: Or did you think you were average?
3:20
Speaker 2: Tell us the background.
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Speaker 2: Where did this current necroma come from?
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Speaker 1: - Well, I will tell you that reading and writing
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Speaker 1: was not anywhere on my page of thinking.
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Speaker 1: It was, I was, I am dyslexic.
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Speaker 1: So it took me a long time to read,
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Speaker 1: let alone even consider writing anything.
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Speaker 1: I did love stories.
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Speaker 1: Like I said, on both sides of my family, we have storytellers.
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Speaker 1: My great aunt on my mother's side, and then all
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Speaker 1: of my dad's siblings tell great stories, including my father.
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Speaker 1: So storytelling wasn't ever a difficulty,
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Speaker 1: and I did tell a few fibs when I was growing up to get my siblings
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Speaker 1: in trouble because they were all kind of bigger than me.
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Speaker 1: But storytelling was never an issue,
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Speaker 1: but writing was and reading was.
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Speaker 1: So it was in junior high school
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Speaker 1: that I read my first book, Cover to Cover.
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Speaker 1: And from there, I realized there's a whole world waiting
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Speaker 1: for me.
4:28
Speaker 1: And from that point forward,
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Speaker 1: I read anything my mom would bring to my room.
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Speaker 1: I would read anything.
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Speaker 1: And from there, I decided one day,
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Speaker 1: so it was actually after college, I was hanging
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Speaker 1: out with a friend, and she had an arranged marriage.
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Speaker 1: And I asked her, you know, what would happen
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Speaker 1: if you just decided not to get married?
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Speaker 1: What if you decided to just jump out the window and shimmy
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Speaker 1: down the columns and leave?
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Speaker 1: And she thought I was crazy.
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Speaker 1: But then later I decided to write a story of a girl who does this.
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Speaker 1: Now, granted in our time and age, that's not difficult.
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Speaker 1: A woman can get a job.
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Speaker 1: She can buy her own house.
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Speaker 1: There's so many things that we can do.
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Speaker 1: So it wasn't as interesting from an American current standpoint.
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Speaker 1: So I took a character and put her in the late 1500s, early 1600s
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Speaker 1: to see how that would pan out.
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Speaker 2: - Uh-huh, very interesting.
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Speaker 2: So you're a storyteller by voice, but not by pen.
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Speaker 2: But no, no, but then you changed and now you are.
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Speaker 2: Wow. - Yes.
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Speaker 2: - So "Anne of Survivor" is the coming of age
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Speaker 2: of a woman who thought she was, let's say,
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Speaker 2: imprisoned to do what the culture required her to do,
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Speaker 2: and then she broke free, is that it?
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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, that's it.
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Speaker 1: That's it.
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Speaker 1: Now, poor Anne, she doesn't realize
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Speaker 1: that she's a lower royal and this arrangement
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Speaker 1: that her parents have found for her
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Speaker 1: would raise not just herself,
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Speaker 1: but her entire family up the ladder of royalty.
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Speaker 1: And so she understands why her parents were doing it,
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Speaker 1: but she doesn't want any part of it.
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Speaker 1: And when she runs off, she doesn't realize at the time
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Speaker 1: that she then broiled herself into a larger issue
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Speaker 1: that involves the entire kingdom.
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Speaker 1: So it's kind of action adventure swashbuckling
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Speaker 1: at the same time.
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Speaker 1: (laughs)
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Speaker 1: And she gets into a fair amount of trouble along the way.
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Speaker 2: - I can imagine, but this is the trouble
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Speaker 2: that she would have never experienced
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Speaker 2: if she did what she was told,
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Speaker 2: If she accepted the rules of her society,
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Speaker 2: if she accepted the higher royalty position
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Speaker 2: that the marriage gave her,
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Speaker 2: then she would have had a somewhat dull
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Speaker 2: and frustrating and empty life.
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Speaker 2: But now she has all these miracles and adventures.
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Speaker 2: - Exactly, exactly.
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Speaker 2: - It's as if I read the book.
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Speaker 2: (laughing)
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Speaker 2: Okay, I get it, I get it.
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Speaker 2: The coming of age and the throwing off of the shackles
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Speaker 2: of Anne of Survivor.
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Speaker 2: - Wow.
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Speaker 2: - Yes.
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Speaker 2: - Wow, that's fascinating.
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Speaker 2: Now, tell me a miracle that's happened to you
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Speaker 2: because of the book.
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Speaker 1: - A miracle that's happened to me because of the book,
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Speaker 1: I believe that it's opened greater doors for me
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Speaker 1: because this book was meant to be,
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Speaker 1: and was one book,
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Speaker 1: and in a sense become two books,
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Speaker 1: and now it is seven books.
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Speaker 1: So I'm in the process of writing a seven book series.
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Speaker 1: And that is because my eldest daughter,
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Speaker 1: who is an avid reader, shared Anne
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Speaker 1: with her Battle of the Books team,
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Speaker 1: which in North Carolina, it's a group of kids
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Speaker 1: who read a long list of books,
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Speaker 1: and then they have Jeopardy, like,
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Speaker 1: matches with other schools.
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Speaker 2: - Wow.
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Speaker 1: - So she shared it with her group,
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Speaker 1: and then one day I came home from work,
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Speaker 1: And I had a group of young women in my kitchen
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Speaker 1: demanding that I tell them the rest of the story.
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Speaker 1: And they wanted to know about different characters
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Speaker 1: and what Anne's doing now
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Speaker 1: and whatever happened to this character from the beginning.
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Speaker 1: And interestingly enough, before speaking to them,
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Speaker 1: there was one character
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Speaker 1: that I really wanted to know more about.
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Speaker 1: And she was one of the ones that they asked about.
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Speaker 1: So from there it became, okay, well, I've got this one story,
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Speaker 1: now it's two stories, now it's four stories.
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Speaker 1: And since I've written the second girl's story,
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Speaker 1: there's another lady that needs her story written.
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Speaker 1: And so I think from that, I've discovered
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Speaker 1: that a one-off was not really a one-off.
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Speaker 1: And that's all because of my daughter and her friends.
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Speaker 1: And I appreciate it so much.
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Speaker 2: - Well, I'm glad you're giving such noble credit
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Speaker 2: to your daughter, but what I've noticed more generally
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Speaker 2: is that the characters are part
9:25
Speaker 2: of the authorship of the book.
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Speaker 2: Like you can claim you're the author
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Speaker 2: 'cause you're a human, you have a name,
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Speaker 2: it says copyright by your name and a certain year.
9:37
Speaker 2: However, what I've learned about novelists
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Speaker 2: is that the characters actually talk back to the author
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Speaker 2: and they give their own opinions.
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Speaker 2: And even though you thought that the character
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Speaker 2: would reply yes, the character actually replied no
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Speaker 2: and you have to say no, what does that mean?
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
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Speaker 2: And so the undeveloped character in your first book
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Speaker 2: actually is yelling out to you, develop me,
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Speaker 2: Develop me.
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Speaker 2: I want my own book.
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Speaker 1: - And you are so right about that
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Speaker 1: because when I started writing Anne,
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Speaker 1: I expected her to go one direction
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Speaker 1: and she chose another direction.
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Speaker 1: - Yes.
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Speaker 1: - And in doing so, she introduced this other character
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Speaker 1: and this other character was like,
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Speaker 1: hey, sorry, excuse me,
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Speaker 1: I have a story that you need to write.
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Speaker 1: And from her story, there's another lady
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Speaker 1: who's like, hello, I'm over here.
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Speaker 1: So they don't, they tell me their stories
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Speaker 1: and I write them down
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Speaker 1: and they don't always do what I expect them to do.
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Speaker 1: And if they did, it would probably be much more boring.
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Speaker 2: - Let me tell you something that I'm a publisher
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Speaker 2: and I published thousands of books for my clients.
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Speaker 2: And in the realm of nonfiction books, like how-to books,
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Speaker 2: this doesn't happen.
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Speaker 2: When an author sits down to write a 10 chapter book,
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Speaker 2: He figures out what each chapter is about.
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Speaker 2: He figures out some bullet points in each one,
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Speaker 2: and he writes it, and nobody's talking back to him.
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Speaker 2: There's no character that says,
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Speaker 2: "Hey, teach them this instead of that."
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Speaker 2: So it's only in the fascinating world of fiction
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Speaker 2: that the characters actually play a role
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Speaker 2: in the production of the book.
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Speaker 2: It's fascinating.
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Speaker 2: It's really, really fascinating.
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Speaker 1: - Yes, and I don't see it as, like you said,
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Speaker 1: as me really telling their stories.
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Speaker 1: It's like a conversation.
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Speaker 1: And at the end of each book, it's --
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Speaker 1: I feel sad because now I'm saying goodbye to a friend.
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Speaker 1: Like, we've had this conversation
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Speaker 1: over so many months, and we're working out issues,
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Speaker 1: and we're developing things,
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Speaker 1: and then suddenly their story's done, and they're --
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Speaker 1: they've moved off into the sunset,
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Speaker 1: and they've left me behind.
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Speaker 1: And so I have to pick up where someone else is beginning.
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Speaker 2: >> That's why the Harry Potter books, for example,
12:02
Speaker 2: there's lots of others like Lord of the Rings,
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Speaker 2: are so long because the author doesn't want to leave
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Speaker 2: that universe and the readers,
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Speaker 2: once they learn that universe, love it
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Speaker 2: and they want to stay in it.
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Speaker 2: - Exactly.
12:18
Speaker 2: - But nonfiction readers,
12:21
Speaker 2: they want to get the information,
12:23
Speaker 2: get away as fast as possible.
12:26
Speaker 2: - Exactly.
12:27
Speaker 2: - Very good.
12:28
Speaker 2: Okay, very interesting.
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Speaker 2: What is the biggest lesson that you learned that you haven't yet mentioned in this interview from writing a fiction?
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Speaker 1: Uh, just how hard it is to get into the industry.
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Speaker 1: I, I thought, you know, I'd write a few query letters and I'd find a, an agent to break through because you have a good story.
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Speaker 1: There are so many good stories that don't get out there
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Speaker 1: because the industry is difficult and people give up.
13:02
Speaker 1: And speaking to some authors who've done that makes me very sad.
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Speaker 1: And it just -- it really has helped me keep going because even as hard
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Speaker 1: as the industry is, I'm determined.
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Speaker 1: Like, I just want -- my books are for young women.
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Speaker 1: I want them to feel empowered.
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Speaker 1: And just to have 10 girls read my book, or 20, or 30,
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Speaker 1: that's enough for me.
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Speaker 1: If one person comes up to me and says, this story was great,
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Speaker 1: I learned this, then I've done my job.
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Speaker 1: But you have to get it out there to find that one person.
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Speaker 2: So did you find an agent?
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Speaker 2: And obviously, you found a publisher.
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Speaker 2: How did you do it?
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Speaker 1: I felt actually it was, I want to say it was kismet because
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Speaker 1: I knew someone from high school who had met someone
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Speaker 1: at a big event that he had been to and
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Speaker 1: he had told this person that he knew writers but my friend
14:06
Speaker 1: didn't know that I wrote. Like we grew up, we grew up across the street from one
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Speaker 1: another and he didn't know that I wrote. So once
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Speaker 1: Once he found out, he put us together and it turned out that the co-founder of this
14:22
Speaker 1: publishing company and I just hit it off.
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Speaker 1: He read my book, he loved it, and the rest is history.
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Speaker 2: Wow.
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Speaker 2: Indeed, a wonderful history.
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Speaker 2: Now, I'm going to ask you a question that you have no ability to answer.
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Speaker 2: Are you ready?
14:38
Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 1: I'm ready.
14:39
Speaker 2: It's off the wall.
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Speaker 2: It's out of left field.
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Speaker 2: It's crazy.
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Speaker 2: But you have to do it.
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Speaker 2: Are you ready?
14:46
Speaker 1: Okay.
14:47
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm ready.
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Speaker 2: Would you rather be a fortune cookie or a birthday cake?
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Speaker 1: A fortune cookie or a birthday cake?
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 1: This is a crazy question.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to say I love eating cake.
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Speaker 1: I love eating cake.
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Speaker 1: So I'm going to say a fortune cookie.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to say a fortune cookie.
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Speaker 1: You have to have a reason.
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Speaker 2: Why did you choose fortune cookie?
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Speaker 1: Well because there's a fortune inside.
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Speaker 1: I want to speak to people.
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Speaker 1: Cake doesn't really speak to people.
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Speaker 1: It gets eaten and it's delicious.
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Speaker 1: It's for a moment.
15:31
Speaker 1: But if you get a really good fortune inside a cookie, you might keep that around for a
15:35
Speaker 1: while.
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Speaker 1: You might tape it to your desk or carry it in your pocket.
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Speaker 1: I want to be around for people.
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Speaker 1: I want to be with them for a while.
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Speaker 2: - Oh, so the message inside the fortune cookie
15:49
Speaker 2: lasts a long time, but a cake,
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Speaker 2: a cake only lasts about half an hour and that's it.
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Speaker 2: It's out of here.
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Speaker 1: - Exactly.
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Speaker 2: - No one has ever given me that answer.
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Speaker 2: That's a really interesting answer.
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Speaker 2: So it means to me, or I'm guessing because of that answer
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Speaker 2: that you have a small number of friends
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Speaker 2: that you have kept for a very long time?
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Speaker 1: - I do.
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Speaker 1: I do have a circle of friends that I've kept for a long time.
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Speaker 1: In fact, my best friend and I, in about three years,
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Speaker 1: will have been friends for 40 years.
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Speaker 2: - Wow.
16:28
Speaker 1: - It's a long time.
16:29
Speaker 1: And I have, I'm still friends
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Speaker 1: with a group of my college friends.
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Speaker 1: We still meet up and travel together.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, I think people--
16:39
Speaker 2: - You are all fortune cookies.
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Speaker 1: - Yes.
16:44
Speaker 2: (laughs)
16:45
Speaker 2: - Friends who are fortune cookies.
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Speaker 2: Wow, if I had them all on the show,
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Speaker 2: they'd all say fortune cookie, fortune cookie.
16:52
Speaker 2: (laughs)
16:54
Speaker 2: Wow.
16:54
Speaker 1: - I don't know, I think my best friend would say cake.
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Speaker 1: (laughs)
16:59
Speaker 1: She loves sweets.
17:03
Speaker 2: - So why is Anne of Survivor
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Speaker 2: a standout book amongst all the other books that attempt
17:12
Speaker 2: to empower young women.
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Speaker 2: Why is yours different?
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Speaker 2: Or how is it different?
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Speaker 1: >> I think that within the story, it's not just Anne.
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Speaker 1: There are so many people who change because of her,
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Speaker 1: and including her parents.
17:32
Speaker 1: And I think that her -- I think that it shows the domino effect
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Speaker 1: of how one person can change all these other lives.
17:42
Speaker 1: And not only that, but it's,
17:47
Speaker 1: she started out wanting to run away from home.
17:50
Speaker 1: And then she realizes, and I think a lot of us do this,
17:54
Speaker 1: I've lived a lot of places.
17:56
Speaker 1: So once you leave a place,
17:58
Speaker 1: and even if you are ready to get out of that place,
18:02
Speaker 1: when you return, you feel like you're home.
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Speaker 1: And I think that Anne goes through this process,
18:12
Speaker 1: you see her grow, and then you see her realize
18:15
Speaker 1: that some of the things that she was running away from,
18:17
Speaker 1: she actually misses.
18:20
Speaker 1: (laughing)
18:21
Speaker 1: And I think it's not just running away,
18:26
Speaker 1: it's also as far as coming into your own
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Speaker 1: and realizing who you really are.
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Speaker 2: - So you've added an element of reality
18:34
Speaker 2: that it isn't all just wonderful to run away
18:37
Speaker 2: and it's not all bad to run away.
18:39
Speaker 2: Do you know, I remember hearing an interview
18:43
Speaker 2: about someone who wrote novels, can't remember who it was.
18:47
Speaker 2: And he said that, "Notice in every movie
18:51
Speaker 2: "and in every novel, the good guy has three characteristics,
18:58
Speaker 2: "two good characteristics and one bad.
19:01
Speaker 2: And the bad guy has two bad characteristics and one good.
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Speaker 2: So the bad guy might hate kids and sell drugs,
19:10
Speaker 2: but he loves his dog, something like that.
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Speaker 2: And he says, that's how you make a deep character.
19:19
Speaker 2: You can't make the good guy all good
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Speaker 2: or he becomes a cartoon character.
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Speaker 2: And you seem to have done that with your book.
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Speaker 2: She runs away from home because home is so bad and so stifling
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Speaker 2: everybody wants me to do what my culture has been doing for
19:35
Speaker 2: thousands of years, and then she misses it. So you give it a a
19:42
Speaker 2: fight. You give it a conflict, instead of just being all nice
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Speaker 2: when she finally runs away. Very good. I'm very intrigued. For
19:51
Speaker 2: your first book, it seems masterful. And yes, I have a
19:57
Speaker 2: commandment. This is the way I'm going to end our interview. I'm
20:01
Speaker 2: I demand my dear subscribers to buy Anne of Survivor.
20:09
Speaker 2: Anne is spelled with an E, A-N-N-E.
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Speaker 2: Anne of Survivor by Nekrumah Mensah.
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Speaker 2: And you might say, but I'm not a young girl.
20:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, if you are a young girl, then buy it.
20:26
Speaker 2: If you're an old lady, you're an old man,
20:29
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know who you could give that book to as a gift.
20:35
Speaker 2: 'Cause this is the ripple effect
20:37
Speaker 2: that she was talking about.
20:39
Speaker 2: You can help her keep that ripple growing.
20:44
Speaker 2: Thank you, and thanks for a wonderful interview, Necroma.
20:48
Speaker 1: - Thank you so much, Raymond.
20:49
Speaker 1: This has been wonderful.
20:54
Speaker 2: - Wow, I sure hope you enjoyed that fascinating episode.
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