Joan Embola’s first book wasn’t supposed to feature Black main characters. But, a chain of events led her to read Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone allowing her the space to see Christian contemporary romance as a space for Black characters too.
In her first book, The One Who Knows Me, Joan addresses mental health and mentions suicide between her two main characters: Teeyana and Jayden. Both of them meet on a college campus and come together through their own stories of mental health. Her second book, The One Who Loves Me, gives the reader a look into the lives of Amara and Raymond–both of which have been on the search for love.
Each book answers a question with the intent of pointing back to God’s sovereignty. And Joan allows the space through her skill of storytelling to draw the reader in and see light in these stories too.
Resolute Magazine: How did you get your start as a writer? Is it something you’ve always wanted to do?
Joan Embola: Yeah. I know a lot of writers tend to be “Oh, I’ve always been writing since I knew how to write” and I’ve never been that kind of person really. When I was a teenager I used to write poetry. I went to boarding school in Cameroon which is West Central Africa, and I used to write a lot of poems there. And that’s the first time in my life where I put pen to paper for something that was outside of studying. And then I moved to the U.K., and I started journaling a lot in 2014. Then I got an idea one day to combine all the poems that I’ve been writing into a book.
In 2017, me and a friend of mine were discussing our life woes and just encouraging each other and she just said “Wow, you’ve gone through a lot. You should write a book.” And I was like, “Nah. (laughing) I’m not called to write a book.” Then I just kept thinking about that, you know, “you should write a book, you should write a book.” I was like “Why can’t I write a book? Why did I dismiss that so easily?”
And, so, that’s how I started dabbling into writing. I tried writing a memoir. That didn’t work out. I started working on the poetry devotional. And, then, somewhere along the way I started working on the fiction story which came to me.
That’s kind of how it started. It’s not always been from when I was young.
You said, the fiction story “came to you.” For this series, how did it “come to you”? What was the process? How did it even dawn on you to write a contemporary Christian romance in a genre that, yes, is predominantly white, but when you look at Christian romance so much of it isn’t contemporary?
I first got the idea to write The One Who Knows Me in September 2017. Earlier that year I was speaking to a friend who was writing a novel then, and at that time I was working on my devotional. And he was talking all about his novel. And I was like “Wow, that’s so interesting. I would never write a book, a novel. Write fiction, that’s just so much work.”
And fast forward a few months later, I remember I got the idea so vividly. I was walking to university, and I just got an idea (laughter). I was like, “What If?”
Because at that time, I had been through quite a few life challenges in my life. I dealt with a lot of rejection, and a lot of disappointment career-wise. And, so, God was teaching me quite a few things about that and just learning to be satisfied. And so, I just got an idea: “Why don’t you write a story about a girl who has experienced so many disappointments?”– disappointments about her idea of God, how she struggled with her faith, and how God reveals His love to her.
And there’s this song called “I have this hope” by Tenth Avenue North, I was listening to that at the time, and there’s a line that says something about “You will reveal your love in both triumph and tragedy.” So, listening to that song and also getting the idea that day just made me go home, take out my laptop, and start writing the story.
So, it was birthed from my personal experience.
To be honest, when I first started writing the book, the main character was white. And I think that’s because growing up I read a lot of books with characters that don’t look like me. Even growing up in Cameroon. A lot of the books that we had were set in the U.S., and that’s why mine’s set in the U.S. as well.
But I read Tomi Adeyemi’s book Children of Blood and Bone, back in 2018. The cover was so beautiful and I purchased it and I read it, and I was just so intrigued at the fact that she had all Black characters, it was set in a fantasy Nigeria. She talked about jollof rice and all these kinds of things. There’s a Black girl on the cover and that alone made me buy the book, and I was like “Why am I writing Caucasian characters?”
And that was when I was like, “Nope. I’m not going to write about Caucasian characters. I’m going to write about characters that look like me.” Because I feel like representation matters just like I was inspired to write my book by reading Tomi Adeyemi’s book, but we need to be represented as well.
I think contemporary for me was because I prefer reading contemporary novels because I prefer reading books that are in our everyday world. You know, going through struggles in this real-life setting. So, I don’t read very much fantasy. So, that’s how it sort of came about.
What influences do you have that encouraged you to move in the direction of writing contemporary Christian romance?
I do read a lot of contemporary Christian romance. The idea, when it first came to me, for The One Who Knows Me, it didn’t first start out as a romance. I just wanted to write this girl's story, Teeyana, I just wanted to write her story of faith. That’s how it came to me. It didn’t come to me as a romance. But, I love love. And I love reading about love. I read a lot of books that have a love story. Either the subplot or some sort of romance in it because I love reading about love. That’s why I knew any book that II write would incorporate some sort of love story, even if it’s not the main focus.
And that’s how, number 1, I wanted to write about characters that look like me and deal with struggles, you know, in our world. Number 2, I wanted some sort of love story going on there because I love reading about love stories.
You are intentional about writing contemporary Christian romance with non-white characters on the cover. Knowing that the Christian romance genre is predominantly white and predominantly non-contemporary, what struggles have you encountered in promoting and writing your books?
In terms of writing them, I just draw inspiration from my own experiences and also the kind of books that I read. It’s very easy to write what you know because I’m a Black woman in the diaspora, and I write about characters who are Black in the diaspora. And, so, that’s come sort of natural to me. I’ve had to do a bit of research in terms of life in the U.S. because I’ve never been to the U.S.
In terms of promoting and marketing the book, marketing for any author is challenging. I have had to learn how to connect with my ideal reader, and where to find my ideal reader. You know, I’m on quite a few social media platforms: I’m on YouTube, I’m on Instagram, and recently, I’ve been on TikTok. [TikTok is] where I’ve found a lot of my ideal readers. When I say ideal readers, I mean Christians who are looking to read Christian books.
So, Christians who are looking to deepen their relationship with God. People who look like me or are interested in reading about other cultures, Nigerian culture, Cameroonian culture. Also, people who love romance stories, who love love stories. Finding those people, it’s taken me a while, but I’ve actually been able to connect with a lot of my ideal readers on social media.
Because the thing about it is once you find your ideal reader, and once you find those people who are looking for what you’re writing, they will grab it. I have a lot of people on TikTok who comment, “This is what I’ve been waiting for.” “I’ve been waiting for a Christian romance book.” “I’m going to order it now.” And they actually do order it.
I feel like every day looking for strategies and ways to find my ideal reader and connect with them. But it’s always going to continually be a challenge in terms of meeting new people.
Your characters in the books are diverse, not only in age but in their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Do you mind explaining the intention behind that?
This book was inspired–– I got the inspiration in the summer of 2020. I saw, it was a fellow Nigerian author who released a book, and the cover was so beautiful it was about a Nigerian character as well. So exciting! I went to Amazon [because] I wanted to read the sample pages. And, then, I read the first chapters and I was so disappointed by the direction that the author was taking the story. She was kind of painting African men, who were brought up in Nigeria, as stereotypical sort of backward thinking, and yes I know there are some African men that think like that, but not all of them think like that. And just painting them in a certain light.
The main character then met, like, a caucasian man and she had to deal with the consequences of that with her family.
And, so, I was like, “I’m engaged to a Nigerian man who grew up in Nigeria and he’s nothing like what this book describes.” And I was so angry! I was like, “ This is not… you can’t–you’re actually Nigerian–you can’t do this! This is not how all Nigerian men are!”
So, I was like “Fine. I’ll write a book.” How about I write a book about a Nigerian man, who’s grown up in Nigeria, who’s living in the diaspora, who is actually not these things? Obviously, he will have his own flaws. But just to show that not all men are like that. And, my intention for this book was to talk about what are the foundations of the Christian relationship. The Christian friendship. Because this book is a little bit heavy on the romance things compared to the other book. So, umm, I just wanted to be intentional about saying “What is the foundation?” If you’re looking for love, you’re looking to go into a relationship, what are the things that you need to be aware about? And how would it look like if it’s between two Nigerians, different tribes? How is that going to affect them? And, how are their families going to react?
So, yeah, that’s basically what started this idea for me. And I just started writing. And I loved drafting this book. (laughing)
What is your process for building a world in which these characters live and the audience reading it are able to find it relatable?
When I get story ideas, and inspiration, for these two books and the third book I’m writing in this series I, again, think about the people who are going to be reading it. What message am I trying to pass across? What’s the whole theme? I’m a plotter. I go hard on plotting. I never write stories, you know, flying by the seat of my pants because I need to know where the stories going. I need to know what sort of message. So, I sort of craft the character arcs of these characters. Where are they going to be at the beginning of the novel? What are their flaws? What are they going to be struggling with?
Teeyana struggles with a lot of doubts, in The One Who Knows Me, she struggles a lot with her faith in God because she’s had a lot of bad things happen to her and her family. She’s starting to question her beliefs. She has a lot of questions that she’s so scared to ask when everyone around her believes in God and she feels like the odd one out. She’s looking forward to being free, going to college, and doing her own thing. But then she goes through a journey… at the end of the book, she learns something very valuable which ultimately helps her grow in her faith n God.
I hope that doesn’t spoil anything. So, I sort of craft their backstories. I need to understand them for who they are. One thing, I think it’s a question you asked about the point of view, but I like to write in the first person. One of my favorite views to read because I can get inside the character's head. I can craft their voice because it’s framed by their own experiences, by their flaws, [and] the way they see the world–– their narrow view of the world. And how their circumstances around them and their inner conflict shape their decisions and how they relate with other people.
You see how, when she first meets Jayden in college, how she treats him. He’s a Christian and the avoidance mechanism she uses and stuff like that. So, their world basically… it’s very important to know what sort of decisions they’re going to make: how they’re going to respond and act to things. You see parents that are really involved in the character's life and friendships as well. I love writing about good friendships, and friendships that actually build you. Because I feel like some books have really toxic friendships. And I feel like, me personally, I have a lot of good friends over the years so I just wanted to present that.
So, again: friendships, their backstories, internal conflicts, external conflicts, I just sort of plan that out before I even start writing the book. And, then, it sort of changes a little bit as I write it.
As a self-published author, how do you manage between the work of your own press, writing books, editing them (developmental edits, copy edits, line edits, etc.), and doing the marketing of them once published?
Publishing is not for the faint-hearted. It’s very rewarding, but it’s a lot of work. It really is a lot of work. Anyone can write a book. But to actually make the product, because it’s a business at the end of the day. Love Qualified Press is my business, I see it as my business and I’m putting work into it as I would do any other business. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset ever since I was younger. I’ve tried different entrepreneurial things. And I’m glad that I can turn a passion of mine into a business.
It’s not easy. I have a full-time job as a Physician Associate, I think you guys call it assistant in the U.S. So, I’m a medical professional. I practice medicine. I work Monday to Friday, full-time. And writing, you know, I have to do it in the evening or on the weekends. I literally have to plan it out. I’m an introvert, so I rarely go out. That’s how a lot of writers are. Drafting is the majority of work I do on my own. I do the self-edits, but then I find beta readers who are also writer friends or author friends who read it and give me feedback and it’s usually really helpful.
I have my lovely editor, who I found on Instagram, who is also a Christian author. She helps me with developmental edits, line edits, and copy edits, and she’s great. So I really have other people helping me make the book better which is always great.
I love the formatting of things. I make things as simple as possible. I bought formatting software, so I don’t format it myself in Word. I don’t have time for that. Some people pay [someone to format], but I was like I’ll just do the one-time thing for formatting all my books. So, it’s actually really simple, so easy, so I don’t bother about that.
Then the marketing, actually it’s fun. I love making graphics. I love doing interviews. I love making TikTok videos. I love connecting with other readers. It’s challenging. You try some strategies. Some of them work, some of them don’t work. But, you keep going. Those are the decisions you make as a business owner and sometimes things work, and sometimes things don’t. So, I suppose I just do things as the time comes to me. I try. And if days when I don’t feel like writing, I don’t feel like doing anything, I give myself a break. If I had an assistant who would help me with all these things, who would make these things better, but for now it’s just me. So, I try to look after myself. But I try to involve other people, and pay other people, to help me as much as possible.
In your books, you have cute symbols on each chapter. In your first book, there’s a ribbon. In the second book, there’s a coffee cup. Was there a reason behind that?
Yes. I told my cover designer specifically to isolate those images for me.
In the first book, the ribbon–the e-book actually has the colors of the ribbon–it’s a green and yellow ribbon. And that’s actually the ribbon for mental health and suicide prevention awareness.
There’s a story behind it because in the book, both Teeyana and Jayden were given those ribbons when they were checking into college. They had a mental health awareness stand and they both got those ribbons. And they both decided to put it on their backpacks. That’s why on the cover they both have it on their backpacks.
And this book, I published it on suicide prevention day last year, September 10th, because there is mention of suicide–references to suicide–in book 1.
So, that ribbon is significant to both of them. In this book, I really wanted to shine a light on mental health and how that affects us as Christians. How we actually vew mental health because a lot of things are taboo. As Christians, we don’t talk about depression. We don’t talk about anxiety. We don’t talk about suicide. We just feel like, you know, you just need to pray everything away and it’s going to go away. We don’t actually validate these feelings and seek professional help. I was quite intentional about that because that’s mental health and suicide prevention awareness and I wanted to sort of stick that out there. So, that’s why I put it there.
In the second book, I just thought the coffee cup was cute. But there’s also a reason why I chose the coffee cup specifically because there’s a lot of coffee and hot chocolate exchange between Raymond and Amara throughout the book. It’s one of their little cute things that they do throughout the book. And, so, I thought that would be a really good thing to use as the header.
The third book in this series will also have something as well which represents the two characters.
In both books, you share the perspective of each character. What led to that decision? How is it helpful for the reader?
When I wrote the first draft of this book, it actually was only written from Teeyana’s point of view and Jayden was just like the crush. But then, when I gave it to my beta readers, one of them actually commented and said that she thought that Jayden’s story had a lot of potential and she suggested that I actually give him a full character arc. Not just insert him here and there to help Teeyana’s story but actually help him tell his story because she felt like it was really deep.
It was really important to tell. So, I had to go back and frame his story properly so it wasn’t just Jayden, Teeyana’s crush but Jayden who had his own back story. Jayden was also dealing with insecurities and all these things. And, Jayden who also liked Teeyana.
Having different points of view actually really helped me to look into these characters’ heads and to be able to tell their story better. Now I read a lot of books with two points of view because if they’re both the main character I want to know what they’re thinking as well and how they see the other character. And, so, that just continues that trend with the other books in the series.
The top of your books have questions to be answered. For example, “Is God sovereign over triumph and tragedy?” and “Is God sovereign over love stories?” When you select those questions, how do you integrate them with the stories so that the reader understands them and sees them being answered? And how do you go on with the process of choosing the next question for the next story that you will be putting out?
It’s really about the characters, so the question comes from what the characters experience. So the first book, triumph and tragedy, come from both main characters. Specifically, Teeyana. She’d had many highs, but also many lows in her life which then led to all those questions she had been having and the doubts about her faith was because she was struggling to understand how God’s sovereignty fits into the whole thing.
She experienced a lot. And Jayden as well. Dealing with grief and, you know, dealing with depression. And Teeyana dealing with anxiety at some point as well. It was just a matter of how does a loving God fit into all of this and why should I continue believing in him. So, the series is called “Sovereign Love” which again points back to God’s love for us and how that fits into the stories.
“Is God sovereign over love stories?” The second book is heavier on the love part because both characters are searching for love. And being intentional about saying, we can’t sort of separate–if we’re praying to God for things, you can’t pray to God about other things and not commit and depend on God when it comes to looking for a life partner or looking for a husband or wife. That needs to be something that you commit to God as well.
And the third book in the series, which follows–you will know this when you get to the end of the second book because the blurb is at the end of it–but, I will just tell you now. It’s “Is God sovereign over mistakes and failures?” That’s the question for the last book.
It follows Heather. [She’s] one of the characters that we meet in book 1 and we meet her in book 2 as well. She has made a lot of mistakes in her life and getting to a place where she struggles with that, comes to terms with that. How God’s love comes into play. How does God forgive? Different things like that which the third book tackles.
The questions are pointing to the whole theme of the series which is God’s love, and the fact that God’s love is sovereign. I wanted readers to remember that.
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Writer Bio:
Shonette Reed is the founder and editor of Resolute Magazine. The South Central Los Angeles native enjoys cooking, exploring, expansive conversations, and reading a good book when she's not working or planning for work.