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Worth Fighting 4
by Jarold Imes

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Jarold Imes

 

 "It's Me... " by Jarold Imes

Jarold has been writing since he was thirteen, combining his love for rapping, storytelling and poetry to address issues facing young men and women today. Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen he wrote a collection of short stories that would spawn his first two novels, Never Too Much & The Rhyme, the Story N Me. While attending North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University to pursue a degree in Business Management, he saw an opportunity to put his novels into print. He started a publishing company and released both titles in 2001.

While the young people and the streets loved his works, he faced harsh criticism and what Mary J. Blige termed “hateration” from “literary critics” who called his work, “unrealistic” and “childish.” Realizing that it was his critics, and not he, who was out of touch with today’s society, Jarold pressed on while building a devoted fan base.

In January 2003 he released his breakthrough novel, Hold On Be Strong. Originally titled So Many Tears, the novel initially sold less than twenty copies even though it was received well by critics. After spending some time to regroup and weed out his friends from his enemies, he repackaged the novel a year and a half later and the story took off.

Jarold currently is the editor for OurTeenVoices.com, a literary hang out that promotes writers of Young Adult fiction and a columnist for UrbanBookSource.com. In addition to the “Hold On Be Strong” series, he has written several novels for adults. He lives with his family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

OTV: Where did you get the idea for the Hold On Be Strong Teen Series?

JI: I meet a lot of young black men who tell me the reason why they don’t read fiction is because there are not a lot of books that appeal to them. Even with the emergence of street/urban/hip-hop fiction, a lot of young black men want to read a variety of stories told from the young black male perspective.

Also, I have a book called Hold On Be Strong that is somewhat of a cult classic among adults and the teen series allows me to expand in that.

OTV: What subjects do you touch on with your teen series?

JI: The Hold On Be Strong Teen Series talks about hard hitting issues like teenage fatherhood, relationship with God, bullying, gangs, sexuality, suicide and other issues that young black men face. Most of my books are mature in nature and should be read by mature teens ages 14 and up.

OTV:  What is WORTH FIGHTING 4 about?

JI: Worth Fighting 4 is about a group of sixth graders who fight a local gang for control of their middle school. These sixth graders are led by a young entrepreneur named Martin Little, who wants to own his own business just like his daddy. They also work through their relationships with young Hispanic boys to understand that they are just as much a like as they are different.

OTV: How much of the stories are you and how much is fiction?

JI: It depends on the book: WORTH FIGHITNG 4 is close to what my life was like when I was twelve and I dealt with bullying (U CAN’T BREAK ME), having a friend who was gay (5 MILES TO EMPTY). It’s easy to pull from my life as a teen and even now to begin  writing stories for young men.

OTV: Your first mature teen titles were called NEVER TOO MUCH & THE RHYME, THE STORY N ME? Will we see those books back in print?

JI: Not in the condition that it was in. What I mean by that is that I split NEVER TOO MUCH up into three different books so I could focus on suicide, teenage fatherhood and religion in more detail. As much as I love that book and it holds a special place in my hear, NEVER TOO MUCH will not receive a new print run as an entire book.

As for THE RHYME, THE STORY N ME, most of that book was reprinted as U CAN’T BREAK ME. There is a small part of the book that will be revised for an upcoming teen book that I’m working on.

OTV: What’s next for Jarold?

JI: As far as my teen series is concerned, I’m working on six books right now. I’m trying to focus on two of them so I can submit them to publishers. This next year is going to be busy because I’m “supposed” to release eight books in one calendar year.

Also, I’m trying to promote literature among teens so I try my best with OurTeenVoices.com and interview other Young Adult authors. I also would like to give away a scholarship in the near future.

 

 

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