Conjuring Black Girl Magic With Yodassa Williams

"Zesty" was the word writer Yodassa Williams used to describe the conversation we had with her on our new show, We eXceL Daily, an interactive live webcast. On Tuesday, May 19, 2020, Yodassa debuted her first novel, The Goddess Twins, a young adult fantasy inspired by her life's adventures and teeming with black girl magic. 

"As I was growing up, I loved fantasies. I love Sci-Fi, but I was always, 'Where're the characters of color? Where are the characters who sound and feel like me?'" Yodassa said during our interview. She is a first-generation Jamaican-American whose family has always embodied a rich culture of storytelling. 

"I would say it's Afro-feminist fantasy," Yodassa said. "It's very much a black girl magic adventure." 

The main characters of the novel are identical twins, Aurora and Arden. They live in Cincinnati, Ohio, and are just about to turn 18 when they start discovering their magical powers. At the same time, their mother goes missing in London. When the twins learn of their mother's disappearance, they go and try to find her. 

"And that's really where the book opens up -- into this wild world of Caribbean deities, of contentious family mysteries, of hidden family, members, of mysteries, of mother and daughter relationships," Yodassa said.

Real adventures during a trip to London in 2006 inspired the novel's main storyline. 

Thanks to some Facebook sleuthing, Yodassa's mother, Barbara Williams, had reconnected with British family members who have lived there for generations. A few summers later, Barbara sent Yodassa off to London, where the author spent a pivotal month and a half.

"And at that point, I was still an introverted shell of myself, but that summer, hanging out in London with my new cousins, I exploded," Yodassa said.

"We ended up getting my nose pierced. My cousins jacked my hair. We went out shopping. They dressed me up . . . They were like, 'Oh, that boy is looking at you. Go talk to him. This is what you say. This is how you say it.'

"That was the summer of me discovering my own black feminine power."

The We eXceL Daily online viewers joined in on the conversation via our YouTube Live chatbox. 

A writer from our WeXL community, Kirsten Spalding, asked, "When people read your book, what do you want them to understand or come away with?"

"I want people to take away that it is so your birthright to be big," Yodassa answered. "It is your birthright to be explorative with your heart, to be big with your courage, to be big with your imagination, your creativity, to be expressive with how you feel." 

When asked how she found her courage to write, Yodassa said, "A catalyst and impetus for me was [when I realized] no one is going to write the story that I want[ed] unless I take the opportunity to do it." Yodassa added that she was a bit of a passive consumer growing up.

"And as I wrote this book, it was very much like a love letter to my inner child," she said. 

Before becoming a writer, Yodassa worked in the fashion industry, which she said didn't suit her personality. She went through therapy, which she credits as a driving force in helping her finish the novel.

"Digging into those places inside myself and healing parts of myself made [it clearer] that I have a gift," she said. 

Yodassa talked about the power of stories and marveled at how J.K. Rowling birthed this whole world from the mind and into reality. 

"Look at the power of imagination and just putting something beautiful out there, how much delight it can bring to people," Yodassa said. As an artist, she gets a feeling of excitement and opportunity. She leans into this even when her inner critic flares up -- the imposter syndrome and self-doubt that asks, 'Why do you think you could write a book?'

"But I was like, no, this is beautiful, and I have to get it out."

Yodassa also helps other writers with their creative process and productivity. In 2019, she launched Writers Emerging, a wilderness writing retreat for women of color and non-binary people of color.

As part of her process, Yodassa joined writing clubs where she was able to get valuable feedback that helped her shape her voice. She also created Spotify playlists for each of her main characters.

“I had a playlist for Arden, and I had a playlist for Aurora, and I even had it down to specific songs, like how Aurora feels about her mother -- this song," Yodassa said. "I would then like challenge myself, like go back, go to the song, do a free write, like writing a poem in Arden's voice thinking about her mom, and then come back to this chapter and rewrite it."