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with Toschia
Toschia is an attorney,
political advocate, and entrepreneur whose main purpose in her fiction
writing is to evoke tales of love, laughter and culture. Toschia has
many subplots incorporated in her debut novel You Wrong For That.
As an author, Toschia has written articles for the National Hispanic Bar
Association and is currently completing a non-fiction work of academe
entitled “From Zora To Kanye” which gives a contrast and comparison of the
Harlem Renaissance and Hip-Hop Renaissance movement. She has just
completed the sequel to You Wrong For That entitled See What Had
Happened Was!
Toschia is a graduate of Duke University and Northwestern College of Law,
with undergraduate degrees in English, Political Science and a master’s
degree in Public Administration and Juris Doctorate. Toschia loves
traditional literature but is very excited about the direction of
contemporary black writing. Toschia as well as two other business
partners are scheduled to open the first of five internet café’s with
locations in Phoenix, AZ, Vicksburg, MS, Myrtle Beach, SC, and Central Texas
in 2006-2007.
Toschia is the founder and tour organizer of “The Divine Literary Tour”
www.thedivineliterarytour.com,
the first tour of its kind to showcase writers from all genres of literature
from members of the nine black fraternities and sororities. She is an active
member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. You can email Toschia directly
at toschia@toschia.com.
Urban-Reviews.com: Tell us about your latest
novel You Wrong For That.
Toschia Moffett: You Wrong For That is a
page-turner that is truly out of control. My intentions when writing this
novel were to let it all out. This novel is full of Jerry Springer drama but
on a different socio-economic level. My characters although highly educated
get involved in the same quandary as everyday people. I wanted to keep it
real so that’s why I have the lunacy, language and lucid sex all
incorporated into the book.
UR: In your novel, the main character Rhea
has a Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin background. What research did you have
to do in regards to this?
TM: I based the character’s ethnicity
after my own Afro-Latina background. Most of my family is either from The
Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Panama or Cuba so I tried to base as much
about my own culture into the novel as possible.
UR: What made you want to become a novelist?
TM: Actually this was something that I’d
always wanted to do. I’ve always written non-fiction works on an academe
level either legal briefs in law school or political essays. So I looked at
writing a novel as exploring my creative side.
UR: How difficult was it for you to get your
first book deal?
TM: Actually I was very, very lucky. I
self-published the novel in May of 2003. My mentor and friend, best-selling
author Mary B. Morrison took the self-published version of You Wrong For
That to Book Expo America in Los Angeles at the end of May. I never got any
rejection letters because I never sent anything out. My agent, Mark Gerald
from The Agency Group contacted me and I got a call from Mr. Weber two
months later about a publishing deal. The rest as they say is history. It
took about a year to get all the ends tied up and reprinted but I have been
very happy that I didn’t have to go thorough a lot of difficulties.
UR: Currently you are on a book tour with
other authors. Tell us a little about that and if would you do it again in
the future.
TM: Actually the tour is called The
Divine Literary Tour, (www.thedivineliterarytour.com) and
it is a tour comprised of
authors from the 9 Black Greek organizations that are under the umbrella of
the National Pan-Hellenic Council. We represent a wide array of authors from
all genres. We will be touring throughout the country until August of 2006. I like the idea of
touring with other authors as well as touring individually for my own works.
UR: How do you measure a novel's success?
(i.e. good reviews, good feedback from readers, units sold, etc.)
TM: I think that would depend on what
you rate as a novel’s success. Although bottom line there is the monetary
aspect. Each person measure’s success differently. In addition to units sold
I also look at the feedback from readers who for me are the biggest judges
of a novel’s success.
UR: What projects are you working on for the
future?
TM: I’m completing the sequel to You
Wrong For That entitled See…What Had Happened Was!!! I will have the
first few chapters on my website www.toschia.com in the next few weeks. I
just completed a story in an anthology titled: Second Time Around published
by Literary Wonders and a story in Help, I’ve Turned into My Mother by
best-selling author Reshonda Tate Billingsley. I am working on my third
novel called Diary of a Hot Black Mess and a non-fiction book of academe
comparing and contrasting the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip-Hop Renaissance
called From Zora to Kanye.
UR: Have you noticed any changes or trends
in the literary industry?
TM: Honestly, I am so new to the
industry I really can’t gauge how industry trends ebb and flow. But I will
say this though, there are so many different types of writers out there and
it seems like there are more blacks reading so I’m elated about that.
UR: What are some of your current favorite
novels or authors?
TM: I love Dan Brown and I will read
anything from street fiction to autobiographies.
UR: Are any of the characters in your novel
about real people or events?
TM: Ha, ha! No comment.
UR: Did anyone submit nominations for your
"Simple B$%CH" contest on your website?
TM: Believe it or not I got over 200
applications.
UR: What advice would you give to aspiring
authors?
TM: Be yourself, believe in yourself and
keep it real.
Read more about Toschia from her website:
http://www.Toschia.com
Don't forget to check out the review of You Wrong For
That in the AA Fiction section.
