#but I just end up feeling so warm when letitia wright does anything??? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ba-mi-soro-orisha · 4 years

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Tomi Adeyemi wants to wrap her readers in a “dangerous but warm” blanket. Her young adult novels—the hit epic Children of Blood and Bone and its highly anticipated new sequel, Children of Virtue and Vengeance—combine escapist fantasy with clear-eyed confrontations of race and power. “I was thinking: you’re creating a Snuggie,” the Nigerian-American author tells TIME. “It’s a violent Snuggie, but create the Snuggie.”

Adeyemi’s first book, which came out in 2018 and has spent 90 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, transports readers to the kingdom of Orïsha, where teenager Zélie Adebola is determined to bring magic back to her oppressed people. In the novel inspired by West Africa, Adeyemi’s protagonist teams up with a rogue princess to help fight the monarchy, which mercilessly wiped out magic years before in order to gain more power. In the sequel, Zélie discovers that the progress that she made in the first book has complicated ramifications, leading the kingdom toward a brutal civil war. Both novels are bruising accounts of unthinkable violence and persecution, evocative of bigger, real-world conversations about suffering and survival.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the second book in Adeyemi’s fantasy trilogy, which was part of a reported seven-figure deal that the Harvard graduate signed in 2017. The film rights for Children of Blood and Bone were acquired by Fox 2000 before the book’s release and over the summer This is Us writer Kay Oyegun signed on to write the script. Adeyemi spoke to TIME about how the past three years have changed her life, her dream cast for the movie and what she hopes her young readers come to understand about the world through her books.

TIME: In your author’s note at the end of Children of Blood and Bone, you explicitly explain how the plot connects to police brutality in America. What do you hope your readers learn about racism and power from your writing?

The whole thing started out as me wanting to explore the emotional PTSD of feeling like maybe I’m not Trayvon Martin, maybe I’m not Sandra Bland, but there’s nothing that separates me from being Sandra Bland. I felt like that wasn’t being talked about, even within black communities. So, I had to write about it as self-therapy. Because I was having anxiety attacks every time I was getting into my car and that’s every day. It was sort of making people realize that this stuff—constantly being exposed to people like me being shot, being assaulted, being harassed, being put at gunpoint—is trauma.

So, that’s book one. I wanted people to empathize. Many of these issues come from dehumanization and a lot of dehumanization is a direct result of no-to-poor representation. If your only exposure to a person of color is as the villain in this or that, then psychologically that is activated when you are doing something with a person of color. I had a friend say, “What if Harry Potter had been black?” If the Boy Who Lived was black, then does Trayvon Martin get shot? Because that’s someone you empathize with. Fought for. Cried for. Someone you feel like you’ve gone into battle with. And that extends to the person you see and say, “Oh, that guy looks like Harry.” Humans are that simple.

For book two, I created my dominoes and I’ve just got to throw them and see where they land. It was more organic to the story, but what I was exploring, again, are things that real people have gone through—that they are going through today, that they will go through all the time. My books are about pain, but hopefully foster empathy.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance begins with an unexpected twist. Though Zélie has restored magic to the oppressed people of Orïsha, the monarchy and military now have magical powers, too. Why was it important to you to show people who abuse their power gaining even more?

It’s in two parts: one is a life lesson and one is a lesson about society. The life lesson is we always have goals—which are important because they add a purpose to our lives—but when you achieve a goal, it’s never quite what you expect. It’s also a commentary on the nature of power in general. The older I get, the more I learn about the world and its institutions. There are entire systems built on oppression and class. There are things you will probably never get enough wealth and power to topple. But what I believe you can do is move the needle. If you look in the book, you can get magic back—but the problem wasn’t really magic. It was the institution. Because even when you had magic, you were oppressed. Now, you have magic again and guess what? You’re still oppressed. It’s about learning that these are institutions that are very hard to completely overthrow—but that doesn’t mean you can’t make great change.

How do you find that fantasy and magic can help us understand our reality?

I wrote stories without magic as a kid, and then I read my first Harry Potter book and I never went back. If you could do anything in a book—and this is not a knock on contemporary writers, it’s just for me, personally—I don’t want to write about that awkward first kiss. Let’s go! Am I shooting lightning out of my forehead when I blink? You can do anything. I just always loved magic, fantasy and adventure. Growing up, I appreciated the psychological power of fantasy, but I didn’t go into it as this powerful tool to effect change and make people think. I’m like, “I like big lions!” Sometimes, it’s deep. Sometimes, it’s “lions are cool.”

Why do you write for young people?

I don’t change my writing style or plot. The only part of my work that I change because I am labeled as a young adult author is making sure that everything in my book is a clear example of something good or something bad. Let me eliminate the gray area. Writing for younger audiences doesn’t mean it has to be all good or all clean. It does a huge disservice to pretend that childhood means that you get a pass on trauma. A lot of trauma, I think, happens in childhood and then gets carried into adulthood. Then, that trauma creates trauma. So, you’ve got to both address it and heal it—early.

But I have to be really clear about what’s good and what’s bad. For a scene where things get romantic, I take alcohol out of the equation because I’m not trying to give an example of a gray zone of consent. This is supposed to be a positive example of two consenting people making a choice. Those are the kinds of decisions that I’ll change because it’s YA, but my readers are 8 to 80. So much YA crosses over; they are really exciting stories on the surface, and then underneath the best ones have such incredible things to say about the world. YA readers are also the most passionate readers. Look, I’ve talked about Harry Potter 18 times today. If you love something when you are young, that’s a part of you forever. Those stories are always in that warm, fuzzy part of your heart that the world tries to freeze over. To get to be that for so many young readers, to get to see their passion and enthusiasm and creativity, it’s the best.

Do you know how the trilogy will end?

I knew the ending before I even hit book one. I’ve been excited to write book three.

Are you in the process of writing it?

Hell no. It’s been three years, back to back. Even before I got my book deal, I wrote the first draft of Children of Blood and Bone in a month, then I wrote the second draft in a month and I did it that fast because I wanted to get into a writing competition. I kept thinking there was going to be a break in the process, but it only accelerated from that impossible speed to publication and book two went even further. So, I’m healing right now. I’m learning to sleep. I’m learning to wake up.

How have the last three years changed you?

I was a baby adult when I got into this. Now, I feel like a 60-year-old woman. I’m less self-conscious. I’m like, this what I need and I’m not asking your permission, I’m just letting you know. It’s a different energy. It’s a different swagger. But I like this version of myself. She wasn’t always there—she was forged through incredible pain and suffering, but she’s here. And she’s ready to go.

In 2017, it was announced that Children of Blood and Bone will be adapted for film. What has that process been like for you?

It’s been really cool because it’s with Disney/Fox and Lucas Films. It’s been three years and even though the team has shifted and grown, just to have so many people at the top of their game so passionate and excited and enthusiastic about bringing my world [to the screen], it’s ridiculous. I made that world up in my head, in my room, super sweaty, my hair looked like crazy, I was in my pajamas. I’m like, this is going to be that? It’s really wild.

Do you have a dream cast in mind?

I used to have a dream cast and then Black Panther came out. I was so in love with Letitia Wright and Winston Duke. How cool is it going to be to put more incredible black actors and actresses on the scene? To make roles this epic, this powerful—like Jennifer Lawrence, obviously she had Winter’s Bone, but we got her from The Hunger Games. It’s very cool that I mic-dropped this as my calling card and now this is going to be so many other people’s calling cards. The only person—and I’m comfortable doing this because he was on my Pinterest Board from the jump and I’ve mentioned this enough that at this point if it doesn’t happen, you do what you can—for King Saran in Book One, I had pictures of Idris Elba. And every time I was writing a scene with him, I pictured Idris Elba to really get my head into how scary it was to be near him.

#tomi adeyemi #cobab #covav #interview #cvv #cbb #children of blood and bone #children of virtue and vengeance #orisha trilogy #police violence #long post

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cheeseandpoofies · 5 years

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Entré - pt. 1

summary : Rachel, the daughter of super famous superhero actor, has a crush on the uprising pop star, Shawn Mendes, but too awkward to be around him.

word count : 2,6k

warning : none

Met Gala is one of the most spectacular fashion event in Hollywood. There is no doubt on that. So when her dad, Robert Downey Jr. announces she gets to be invited to be there, she can't help but squeals in happiness. She fastly moves her legs following her dad as she start questioning things.

"I will be there because of you, or because of me?"

Her dad turns around with a frown on his face, "Why is it because of me? It's definitely on your side, yourself make it to the Gala."

She nods, definitely with sparks in her eyes, but with rather calmer way than the first time she reacts. Her dad gives her the invitation and she takes it very carefully. To be frank, she never expect that she will be invited. She herself is an uprising actress, still in her early careerㅡthe fourth year, to be exact and just finished her eight movie that will be released next year.

Earlier this year, she was starring in the romance movie, The Next Time We Met with Timotheé Chalamet. Which becomes a total hit, the movie that sets her on her throne after Seized by Desire the 2017 hit drama-romance movie.

So when Robert announces that she'll go to Met Gala this year, she shouldn't be that surprised. She still is, nevertheless.

"Are you going?" She asks after reading the invitation for like twenty times already.

"Me? I'm not, some of my friends will go, though. You can meet them there later."

"Who?"

Robert Downey Jr. glances at her with a smile. "There are more than one name but hers will be your favorite, honey."

The daughter and father duo is looking at each other waiting for him to continue. "It's Letitia Wright."

She gasps, "No Way!"

"I know, i know. Now go find your mom and ask her to help you find the designer you'll be working with."

Working in the same field as her dad was never easy. She started a bit late than the other celeb's children who continues their parent's legacy in the industry, but she never regret her decision. She started as a supporting role in her first movie, didnt have more than twenty minutes of appearance in total of 105 minutes movie.

But then she got another role, another role, and it kept bigger, more remarkable and more desirable each movies. The older she gets and the more movie she's starring in, the more hate she receives as many people thought she got the privilege of being RDJ's only daughter.

While she believes she got her first role thanks to her dad's connection, she doesnt agree with the saying "she can't act but she's there thanks to her superhero dad." She worked hard to be where she is right now, and she knows she can actually do her job right. So every time she heards or read the hate, she's hurt.

She's been very concerned about it and sometimes it gets her, no matter how much she tries not to think about it. With her going to Galaㅡalone, let's bold that oneㅡher mind wanders everywhere since this morning.

She and her crews booked some rooms in a hotel that very close to Metropolitan Museum of Art, considering they live in Malibu and there's no way they will go straight to the place from Malibu. Danielle, her stylist and also a close friend of her, sees how she keeps starring at the cells without blinking.

"Rachel," Dan calls her.

"Rachel Downey, you better not zoning out."

Rachel blinks her eyes several times and tilts her head, seeing a wary face of Danielle. "Oh, sorry."

"We'll start touching your face five minutes from now," Danielle announces. She was about to ask Rachel but knows people are around and Dan doesn’t want to make Rachel feels uncomfortable for asking things.

Rachel nods, "Well, tell me if I can sleep for a bit when they do my hair later."

"Didn’t get enough sleeping?"

Rachel shrugs, "Four hours."

Danielle's shaking her head in disbelief. "You kidding me. How can you not sleep in your big mansion and fluffy bed?"

"Oh trust me, when you're stressing out even the fluffiest bed cant help you to sleep."

"Don't take pills again." Dan replies with lower tone as she keeps her hand busy on a pouch. Rachel watches her closely and understand what she means, so she just casually nods.

The next time Dan starts announcing the make up artist can do their work now also the hair stylist that is responsible for Rachel's look this noon. Time goes pretty fast and her look's done for today.

She's wearing a haute couture dress from Elie Saab's 2017 Fall/Winter collection with straps on each side of her shoulder, it’s tight on the chest giving a sexy look. The color of her dress matches her pale skin perfectly.

She was given a lot of options that made her take some time to decide. But in the end, Rachel has decided she doesn’t want to steal that much spotlight so she just go with the dark color.

A half of an hour later, she's inside the van with Danielle, Seth, her driver, and Brad, her manager going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"You okay?" now that there are only four of them, Danielle tried to bring up the conversation about Rachel's well-being.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"If you need anything, Brad will meet you inside, right, Brad?"

"Yeah, as long as you don’t get lost."

Rachel chuckles a bit, "I won't."

"So, are you going to meet Letitia right away after you arrive?"

"Well, it depends. I think i'll just greet anyone that i know, around me, later. I've told Letitia and she said she comes with someone."

Dan stares at her, "She got a date?"

"Kind of."

"I have some names that you might want to greet later, Rach."

Rachel notices the change of her friend's tone so she looks to Dan, "Who?"

"Ansel."

"He's coming?"

"Yeah, I got it from someone."

Rachel and Ansel was once worked in a small budget movie four years ago and she remembers him, being too nice but she's too stupid to know that he's flirting. They are fine now, though. He's like an old friend to her.

"There will be Gigi, and Bella as well on the list. Maybe you want to greet them later."

Rachel knows that Dan tried to change the topic so she just nods. "Maybe."

"And, you know who else coming," Danielle changes her voice again and this time Rachel almost rolls her eyes.

"You didn't tell me, Dan. Of course I don’t know."

"You sure?"

"Of course."

"It's Mendes."

Oh. Shawn. Shawn Mendes

The moment she gets out of the car, she receives a lot of flashlights and people calling her name from every corner, making her immediately lost her control of breathing for seconds. Rachel manages to breathe properly and starts to walk through the red carpet with a tint of smile on her lips' corner.

Rachel manages to get inside, however, and finds a lot more people with cameras and lights coming for her. She keeps walking, sometimes stops for posing here and there, and then she sees Winona, E! Reporter waving her hand and coming closer.

Obviously, she's getting interviewed.

She puts her best smile as she is greeted with "Rachel! It's good to see you here."

"Nice to see you too, Winona."

Winona smiles widely and slightly switches from Rachel to the camera in front of them, "You look stunning! You take Heavenly Bodies quite literally, don’t you?"

Rachel laughs along with Winona, "I hope my look matches the theme well."

"It does, really. So dont worryㅡso, mind to tell us what are you up to after the success of your recent movie?"

"Ah, I'm still attending some interviews and tv shows. And, thank you by the way, I appreciate everyone who showed loves and support for my work."

"We'll do that for sure if it's you. And how's working with Josh Hutcherson?"

"It's fantastic! He's an amazing actor and he taught me a lot of things," Rachel chuckles. "I was awkward for doing some scenes in the movie but he's very gentle and supportive so I can loosen up."

"The make out scenes, isn’t it?"

Both of them laugh at the topic, and Rachel feels her cheeks are getting warm, surely will look a bit red on camera. "Yeah. Yeah."

"Is your dad okay with that?"

"Uh? Huh, he was fine," in fact, he wasn’t, at first. He took the script and do some screening before giving permission to her. "He's really a supportive parent, I'm glad."

"That's really great, I wish he was here with us," Winona looks a bit sad and Rachel lets out an "aww" to her.

"He wished he was here too, he said hi for everyone!"

"Okay, thank you so much for your time, send my hi back to your dad!" Winona sends her goodbye, Rachel follows her with nods and bid goodbye too, she turns around to take the stairs.

And there, she sees him. Her cheeks that was gotten warmer earlier, is getting hot as she watches him walking in and go straight to the stairs. Shawn Mendes, the uprising pop star that recently released a self titled album, a greek god straight from his face.

Rachel tries to not look and walk to the stairs, taking a few steps then stops to take a pose. She walks higher and stops again, moves around. The corner of her sight notices how Mendes sees to her direction for few seconds but she just pretend she doesn’t see.

She's getting there, almost, only to be greeted with a voice of a man. She turns a bit and see Ansel walking to her direction. Rachel smiles, "Ansel!"

"Rachel!" They meet and his hand almost goes to her wrist before realizing cameras still around them so he awkwardly takes his hand back.

"Very nice to see you, you look stunning."

"Thank you, you're not bad yourself."

"I'm always good, Rachel."

The remark makes Rachel chuckles and they keep walking inside. She's shifting her dress so she can keep walking without embarrassing herself, as she asks, "You're alone?"

"Yeah, you don’t get a date, do you?"

"My dad supposed to be, but he didn’t get the invitation."

Ansel looks surprised, "Him? How come?"

"I guess I'm getting more fame than him?" and that sends Ansel to a rather big laugh. He sees her laughing along, as well as trying to make herself not messing up the steps.

"Need a help?" Ansel offers his hand.

Rachel sees him, debating inside whether she should take his hand or not. But he's there, waiting for her with the same pose so she takes her hand and climbs the stairs with his guide.

"Thank you,"

"No worries."

They keep walking to the inside with his hand on hers and she honestly doesn’t mind it. He is a very carefree person, but also very thoughtful. He keeps his distance but still throwing some good jokes to make her laugh.

When they almost arrive, a pat landed on Ansel's shoulder and makes him stop to turn around. There they find Shawn Mendes, looking all smiley to see his friend.

"Shawn!"

"Ansel! How are you man?"

"I'm doing good, you're getting busier these days."

Rachel decides to stay a bit behind Ansel so he gets the space for himself, and she takes the chance to look at Shawn, the man she's been listening to lately. Rachel admits she's a fan of his music, saw him several times in award show but never got the chance to meet this close.

Shawn Mendes is a very attractive person, looking so tall and well-build. The smile he always shows to everyone is so warm, and lovely.

"So you got a date, huh?" Shawn's eyes move swiftly to her, giving a friendly look.

"Trust, me, I wish i did."

They laugh, and Ansel takes her closer to him, "Rachel, this is Shawn Mendes, you must be know him already. And Shawn, this is Rachel Downey."

"Hi. I'm Rachel."

Shawn's eyes are not moving anywhere as he takes her hands to handshake. His lips build a smile as they touch each other, "Hello, Rachel."

Rachel takes her hand first as she tries to maintain her feelings. She looks away a bit as soon as their contact broke, making Shawn taking off his hand as well.

"Where's Hailey?" Ansel asks.

"She's on the table already," Shawn points at a direction and they see Hailey sits with some other people.

"You guys got your table? I think it's okay to come with me and sits there."

Rachel notices his stares again so she replies, "Oh, actually I have to meet my manager first to take my purse. And Ansel.."

"Well, I don't mind sitting there, should I go with you to find your manager first? I'll tell my manager to switch my table as well."

Shawn's eyes sparks with his friend's answer and it gets Rachel's coughing a bit. "Uh, okay, if he doesn’t mind."

"He'll be fine with it," Shawn replies, sounds so certain.

Rachel nods and she tells Ansel not to go with her as she won't take long. They all agree to wait for her on Shawn's table so Rachel finally gets out of the awkward situation.

On her table she sees her manager waiting for her, Rachel walks as soon as possible and as she reaches her table, she lets a loud of sigh.

"You wont believe me, Brad!"

Brad watches her trying to control her breath, "What's going on?"

"I met Ansel, and he was greeted by his friend. And his friend gave an idea for me and Ansel to sit with him on his table. How's that possible?"

Brad creeps up a smile as he knows what happened, "Is it Mendes?"

Rachel gives him a look, "Don't tell anyone."

He laughs with her answer. "You should just go, he's the one who invited you."

"I know, but I’ve heard the committee don’t like who sits randomly without the guide list. So i'll just stay."

"You're being too uptight."

"I don’t care," she replies.

"So you're just staying here?"

"Yeah, it seems like that."

"They'll be waiting for you, Rachel. Sitting with them won't hurt you know? It's better than stuck in here without people you dont know."

"Yeah, I know.. But.."

She thinks being around someone as hot as Shawn wouldn't be best for her, a clumsy and stupid person.

Rachel looks up as Brad gets up from his seat. She notices the room is getting full and of course her manager has to leave and wait outside until the main event finished.

"I'll just text Ansel later."

Brad looks pretty amused, so he just nods and pats her shoulder. "I'm leaving. Tell me your time of leaving later."

"Okay, okay."

So that's what happened, with Brad's leave a small group of people coming to the table so she stood up to greet them one by one. Letitia Wright looks straight to her as she walks closer, definitely more than pleased to see someone she knows here.

"Rachel!"

"OH! Letitia!!"

They share hug to each other for few seconds, and Rachel takes a seat beside her to make Letitia sits there. More people comes, and they both greet them one by one. But clearly having Letitia beside her is more than enough, she's happy her friend is here.

The thought of Ansel and Shawn disappear from her mind for the moment.

#shawnmendes #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes fiction #shawn mendes x reader #shawn mendes x oc #rdj as dad

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