Musing on Meji

It’s been almost two years since I published Meji Book One. On that day in May 2008 I reached the end of a long process and the beginning on another, selling and promoting my baby. It’s been an interesting journey full of surprises, opportunities and joy. As I prepare to release Changa’s Safari, I thought I’d write about a few things I’ve learned and enjoyed during this experience.

The Inspiration – Meji was initially to be a Zulu story, but as I did more research on African history I was spurred to write a story that would display the diversity of African history, people and culture. Meji is my celebration of pre-colonial Africa, the home of our ancestors. I also hoped that by writing a fictional story based on this knowledge it would ignite readers curiosity on the source. So far it has.

The Names – I probably have more discussions about the names in Meji than anything else. Despite a glossary that spells each name phonetically, people still have difficulty pronouncing them. Well, I did, too, at first. Practice makes perfect. One more note: each name has a meaning that relates to the characters personality, position or purpose. In most of precolonial Africa naming a child was a serious affair, so I tried to take naming my characters just as seriously.