Editing The G.O.D.Z.

The first read through for 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z. has been finished. Again, the story is extremely intense, but balanced with a very colorful narrative. It is dark. The first act especially. The second act is a breath of fresh air, and feels like a bright new day. Then, of course, we are pulled right back into the intensity of war and struggle.  The second act ends with a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching climax. But the act three opens with hope, like the opening of a seed. The reader will be routing for the main character to get back on his feet and fight back. I do believe the reader will step into the emotion of the main character, and be as determined as he is to right great wrongs (none committed by him).

At first, I was nervous about 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z. A Company of Moors has been successful, and continues to roll into an intense snowball, with new people discovering its story and enjoying it. Code-47 also has seen new life, which I do appreciate. I always believed Code-47 got a bad rap (no pun intended). And people have also scooped up The Ronin Poetz, boosting it to a number two position in African-American poetry on Amazon (for a short while). All this while people are hollering and filling my inbox with questions about the re-release of 12 Stories High. 12 Stories will be a trip for people. I have people that bought the original book waiting to snatch the re-release. Wow. Feels good. And the stories in there will keep people talking. I am really psyched for 12 Stories being back on the market. It reads better now, and a lot of stories have updated commentary **cough**Obama**cough**.

2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z., however, is an emotionally jarring story…it’s also told in poetry, which some may find a turnoff. But, as many told me when reading The Ronin Poetz, they actually forgot they were reading poetry. Truthfully, it’s an Epic Poem, but it’s not ‘poetry’, y’know. It’s on the scale of the epic poetry in ‘classical’ literature. It is a story first and foremost. Don’t get it twisted. But the ability to get people to read a story told in poetry is not my main concern, in the obvious way. The poetry actually intensifies the story. That’s what I’m afraid of. It’s like a bolt of lightning and a boom of thunder. It’s pure emotion, in a way that not even The Ronin Poetz pulled out. Originally the story was called 2 Anger the G.O.D.Z., until Tracey Wingfield of The Chosen Publishing ‘accidentally’ called it 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z. I don’t know if her flubbing of the title was intentional or not, but I did like the word ‘enlighten’ far better than ‘anger’. It was soothing, and appropriate to the overall mission purpose for writing the tale. It was very calming, which aligned with the main character’s name.  It was the difference between Return and Revenge (of the Jedi).

 It’s not a personal story, but there are a lot of biased emotions put inside the story. Not so much in the way that the narrative is judgmental, but more so in the way that I had to pour emotion into the main character and draw from my own experience(s). Now, you do that anyway when writing. But, one thing you can’t do is have every character react the way you would react. A character must react appropriately, according to his or her personality. With this main character, and with the narrative being told in the first person, I shoveled a lot of emotions into what the character goes through in the beginning. Afterward, he becomes his own person, and the story takes off without my emotionally interference (lol).

 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z. is an interesting story. It holds up a mirror to what we as black people have been through, and it’s about fighting our demons. No different than anything else I’ve written. This, though, gets up close and personal with the reader. A Company of Moors was a ‘cool’ story. It dealt with hard decisions, but for the most part, we were dealing with characters that had not been touched by the trauma of slavery, jim crow, segregation, civil rights, mis-education…ect, and the list goes on. So the characters had the ability to be ‘cool’, be within the personality they desired without totally being judged by foreigners or peers. 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z. deals with unfinished business from all areas of black people. It’s a wondrous kaleidoscope. And after having gone through a good read, re-working a lot of the epic poem’s flow, even shaving off some pages to the work, I’m not so concerned.

The true test comes when we get to see the reaction of the G.O.D.Z. when they are enlightened (at least come Jul. or Aug. 2011).

b write black.