Duane Francis

I had the pleasure of being a part of Abiola Abrams Virtual Book Tour. For those who don’t know (the very few who don’t) Let me tell you.

Abiola Abrams is the host of BET’s THE BEST SHORTS on BET-J with 26 million viewers throughout the US and Caribbean. She is a TV host, filmmaker, and published author who gives motivational talks. Simon & Schuster recently published Abiola’s first novel DARE, an intelligent, fun and sexy story about finding true love and self-esteem in the crazy world of entertainment. People told her not to bother writing the book as black people still don’t read and white people don’t buy books. She said balderdash to both bits of “advice” and created her story. She dropped by for a chat with yours truly, Duane Francis.

What motivated you to write DARE?

DARE is about a wimpy sociologist who dares to grab life by the balls and become a rapper. She deals with all kinds of madness on this journey with her best friend Athena. The book is a lot of fun, but there are deeper tones. I’ve been wanting to do a story of women in hip ho for a while, and have explored this in several of my films. Most notably, Knives in My Throat, a doc about a spoken word poet dealing with bipolar disorder. Dare is a romantic comedy however, about a good girl going bad to find herself. Yeah! There are worksheets inside the book and on my site about how to use affirmations and risk-taking exercises to build your personal power.

What advice would you have for budding and upcoming writers?

Writers, I would advise you to figure out way to deal with organized chaos. You are an artist, so you have to be willing to deal with a certain degree of messiness to let your art soar. Take risks. However, you also have to be extremely organized to give us a strong story structure. Read Story by Robert McKee. It’s a writer’s Bible. Subscribe to Writer’s Digest—all of the answers are in there, then have fun!

Tell me about the Virtual Book Tour?

My DARE book tour is called the DARE TO BE BAD REVOLUTION. I write about it extensively at www.DareToGetALife.com. I thought a lot about the quote “Well behaved women rarely make history.” Well behaved people rarely make change. Dr. Martin Luther King, as much as they try to pacify is image now was a revolutionary and an outlaw. B.A.D. stands for beautiful and daring, meaning, ask yourself what you would dare o do if you knew you couldn’t fail and then go for it. A large portion of the tour is virtual, which means I get to drop by and hang out online on cool blogs and sites, like yours.

What’s next on the writing scene for Abiola?

I am already working on my second novel which will be as crazy, sexy and smart as DARE, as well as a non-fiction book. My work is also featured in a few anthologies. Eve Ensler’s A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer; Paula Derrow’s (Self Magazine) Behind the Bedroom Door; and I write about the word slut in Ellen Sussman’s Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex. The advance buzz is that people are really enjoying DARE and the adventures of Maya and her best friend Athena.

My Last question .. Who is Abiola Abrams?

Abiola Abrams is an artist who strives to be positive and optimist in all she does. She is a first generation American, a workaholic who plays as hard as she works, and a consummate New Yorker. I guess that according to my bio I would also have to say that Abiola is a debut novelist—yay!—as well as an indie filmmaker and TV personality who tries to use her work to empower women culturally, emotionally, sexually, and politically. Life is good! My parents came from Guyana and sacrificed a lot to give me a better life, so I don’t take anything for granted. Thanks Duane, this was fun.

www.abiolaabrams.com