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Worth Fighting 4
by Jarold Imes
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NOIRE MAGAZINE GETS PERSONAL WITH
JAROLD IMES
NM: Tell us about Worth Fighting 4.
JI: Worth Fighting 4 is about a group of sixth graders who fight a local gang for control of their middle school. The main character, Martin Little is an entrepreneur like his father and at the age of twelve, he decides he wants to own his own business and make his own money. He uses the money he makes to finance the uprising against the gang who run the school like a concentration camp.
NM: How much of this book is your life?
JI: Hmm… for now, this book will be as close to what my life was like as a 12 year old boy as you are going to get. Of course, I touch on bits and pieces of my life in other books, but this story is very personal to me. I would say about half of the book has some truth to it.
NM: This book was originally self-published as an adult book, why re-publish the book for teens?
JI: As a street/urban/hip-hop fiction writer, we’re always criticized for our writing abilities. People always open their mouths to say we can’t write books of substance, books that don’t “stray against the norm.” I chose Worth Fighting 4 as a platform to prove the critics wrong. I wanted to write a street/urban/hip-hop fiction tale that utilized very little cursing or excessive violence but still have an edge that would attract that audience.
When the book was published in 2006, I got so many reviews about how it would be a great young adult title and a lot of parents wrote me to tell me that this was a street book they wouldn’t mind their child reading. So when I found other books I had written would also appeal to teens, I figured why not launch my teen series with a book that folks know is going to be that heat.
NM: Tell us about your Hold On Be Strong Series. What are those books about?
JI: My Hold On Be Strong Teen Series was inspired by the fact that some high school teachers across the country have told me that they loved my Hold On Be Strong novel and use it in their classrooms. That was a surprise for me because Hold On Be Strong is an adult tale and I don’t hold back in that book. They wanted to read more books with positive African American males who were dealing with social issues. I wanted to write more books about what young African American males face because I really feel we are misrepresented in the media and to some extent, the elders of this community have turned their backs on us. I want to be used to voice our opinions, our struggles, our concerns.
NM: How many books are in your Hold On Be Strong Series?
JI: At least twelve. At this time, six books are completed, two are near completion and four are at the half way point. Lord willing, I’ll write more because there are so many issues that need to be addressed in our community, but I want to have fun too so I’ll get to that eventually.
NM: In your media kit, you make reference to the book you wrote and published when you were seventeen, can you tell us about that book.
JI: I originally published my first book as A Walk in My Shoes as an e-book in 1999 after passing around five copies in 3-ring binders to my classmates. Everyone in my classes and at some of the other schools I’d run into would tell me how hot they thought my book was and would ask when would the book be in stores. So I put the book on my website so that my classmates wouldn’t have to wait on the book to be passed around. I saved some money and sent the book to every agent, publisher I could and could not get a deal. After that, I found out about print on demand publishing and got started with them. Two years later, I changed the name of the book as Never Too Much. By this time, I was a college student so I made do with what resources were available to me at the time.
NM: After all these years self publishing, have you considered looking for a major publisher?
JI: I go through periods when at one minute I want a deal and the next minute I don’t. I’m so used to people trying to jerk me around, pretending like they want to include me in their plans until in some ways, I’d be surprised if the deal landed in my lap one day. I’ve had deals before that just never panned out to what I thought they were supposed to be. I’m not ruling out a major publisher because my original intentions were to find a major publisher for my teen series so I could focus on publishing adult books but some things happened that cost me the deal I originally had for the series so I had to go solo again. If the situation occurs where I can have a major publisher publishing my work, then I’d do it but until then, it’s just me, Jesus and whoever wants to be on my team.
NM: In addition to writing books, you published Unique’s Ending by Victor L. Martin… where is the book?
JI: Folks don’t believe me when I tell them the book does exist! At first, I was doing the book and things were going good. However, I ran into some shady people and a lot of people worked to pit Victor against me because they wanted to make they money off of him whichever way possible. People started lying on me, writing him letters and accusing me of things I didn’t do and after while, enough became enough. So I got to a point to where I had to walk away from it all and focus on me and my career. I can’t help him too much now cause there are a lot of people in the correctional facility trying to play games about whether or not he can even write or publish books and what have you. So until all the unnecessary mess is over with, Unique’s Ending won’t be back in print.
NM: If there is anything you would have done differently with your literary career, what would it be?
JI: I wish that when I was a younger author, I had a team and family around me that REALLY believed in me and saw the potential I had to grow as a writer. I wish I had older authors as mentors, not just critics and folks who wanted to snub me because I was younger. I wish a lot of other things too but I don’t dwell on that so much. Now, I see a group of seventeen to nineteen year old writers coming up with publishing contracts and I reach out to them and try to work with the ones I can so that their careers can turn out better than mine. There’s no need in them making the same mistakes I’ve already made.
NM: Tell us how your fans can get in contact with you.
JI: Several ways. My websites are HoldOnBeStrong.com & OurTeenVoices.com, where I interview other African American young adult authors. I also have MySpace.com/jaroldimes that I update on a monthly basis. My email is jaroldimes@yahoo.com
Copyright 2006 - 2008 Abednego's Free, LLC & Jarold Imes