Urban Reviews: Tell our
readers about Life Knows No Bounds: "1 Who Luvs U More."
Andrea Clinton: Well, Life Knows No
Bounds is a Chronicle of stories, the first is, 1 Who Loves
You More and others will follow over the next decade or
so. Each of the stories are about how life takes all sorts of
twist and turns, flipping and tossing people around and
usually without notice. The Chronicle is written in the
Realism and Naturalism tradition, which reveal not just what
the characters do but why they do it (and the Naturalism genre
insists these behaviors are because of the self preservation
drive and sexual drives/desires we all have.
1 Who Luvs U More is about Alisa a money grubbing
gold digger and Omar, who as a product of his environment is a
Muslim trying to find his way back to Islam and the peaceful
life he once knew. When Alisa remembers her great grandmothers
saying, "Always get a man who loves you more than you love
him," she decides to make Omar her man, or rather, her victim.
But he’s not quite the one you want to mess with.
Urban Reviews: How did
you come up with the idea for this book?
Andrea Clinton: Growing up I’ve seen so
many friends and even some family members use men for money,
and I’ve seen just as many women get a kick out of playing
mind games with men. Today, for some women and even young
girls, using men for money is a way of life or treated like a
9 to 5 job, and these women master the skill of usury. But
see, I grew up knowing these were dangerous games. I had
brothers, cousins, uncles and neighbors who showed and proved
this point. But with so many young girls wearing the money
grubbing gold digger title like a tiara, I decided to give
these issues life in a novel with hopes that the women who
read it will see the danger because, "Feelings are precious."
Sean Blakemore (of the films "Motives I & II", and "Woman
Thou Art Loosed") asked me in 2007 what the finished book was
about. When I told him he asked about the male characters.
Because the male characters had no real voice, I knew what I
had to do for the male readers. So, I created the character
Omar and his role took on a life of its own. Considering I’m
Muslim and Omar is a Muslim name, I thought it would be a good
opportunity to use Omar to give some history about African
American, Muslim-America.
Urban Reviews: When did
you know you wanted to be a writer?
Andrea Clinton: I think I knew I wanted
to be a writer when my grandmother, a teacher who specialized
in Early Childhood Education, gave me books to read to her at
around six years old. After each story I read, I began to sit
and tell her stories. So one day she gave me a pencil and
paper and said, "Here, sit down right here and write your
story." I did, and a few years later when I was reading a play
for homework, she introduced me to writing plays. Experiencing
those different ways to tell stories, I knew at that point I
was going to be a writer.
Urban Reviews: Looking
back, is there anything you would have done differently in
regards to this novel?
Andrea Clinton: I dunno, maybe I would’ve
made the picture on the cover much bigger, which is how it was
initially, instead of a peak at the character’s woe and
environment. Some ask me about the shade of light that goes
across her face, but that was on purpose and wouldn’t have
changed (the woman who posed on the book cover looks a lot
like Lisa Raye, they could be twins. The beam of light that
radiates across her face symbolizes the darkness in her heart
overshadowing the good light she pushes behind her, thus the
yellow beam behind her. So you see, I wouldn’t have changed
much; and many actually got the concept right away and gave
great reviews about it.
Urban Reviews: What are
your ultimate goals as a writer?
Andrea Clinton: My plan is to do a lot
with my writing. I have a few screenplays I’m holding out
until I get a few books published. A few of them I wrote with
Queen Latifah in mind, our families know one another. I would
like to do a few screenplays for Latifah, Sean Blakemore and
Treach and a few others such as: Jada Pinkett-Smith who I
fully support; Will Smith in his Sci-Fi adventures; and
Laurence Fishburne, Robert Dinero and Al Pacino, all of whom I
admire, and many more. Also, I would like to bring some of my
books to life in screenplays and stage plays.
Urban Reviews: What's the
best literary advice you've gotten from another author so far?
Andrea Clinton: "Keep writing until you
find your voice, and realize some people spend a life time
never finding theirs."
Urban Reviews: Do you
have any upcoming projects that we can look forward to?
Andrea Clinton: Yes, Clinton Family
Ain’t No Robinsons, which is a biography I’m working on
for my uncle George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic. Also, a
few more novels from the Life Knows No Bounds chronicle: A
Blessing & A Curse; Where Do We Go From Here; 1
Man is Smoke & The Other is Fire; Notes & Messages,
and a few non-fiction books: Death of my Other Half; and, Why
Men Aren’t All Alike & How to Deal With Them. I innovated on a
few of these books so things aren’t so typical-usual.
Urban Reviews: Do you
have any favorite authors or books?
Andrea Clinton: Sure, J. California
Cooper, she’s outstanding. I started out writing stories like
the ones she writes, with the same aim to enlighten others
about previous goings on in the south and things they forget
about. I also love Terry McMillan, Alice Walker, Michael
Baisden and Eric Jerome Dickey. Other Books in African
Literature.: Mother To Mother, Mema, and
Devil On The Cross.
Urban Reviews: What do
you like to do outside of writing?
Andrea Clinton: I like making different
films, movies, studying film theory and soon Martial Arts.
Urban Reviews: Is there
anything else you would like to share about yourself or your
novel?
Andrea Clinton: I would like to say to
the money grubbing gold diggers, especially those aspiring to
wear this title like a tiara, to please take note of the gold
diggers in this book. They used men for money or played mind
games with men and look at where it got them. The examples in
the book were the bare minimum of what really happens when
people find they’re being played for their hard earned money
or that their feelings are being toyed with. I plan to further
the goal of enlightening you of the consequences and
repercussions of a money grubbing gold digger in a novel
titled, "Tracy," one of the characters in this novel. Due to
our insufficient-dependent women out there who like to gamble
with their life using and toying with men, this book is
necessary.
To those who want to know the history of Islam here in
America, I offer you another view in this novel. Although the
characters and details are fictitious, the tragedies, issues,
hardships and interruption of the Muslims of that time period
are factual. What was developed to give a sense of direction
and self worth was strategically ripped apart and many many
Muslims went astray. |
