Tag: writing advice

‘This Is Us’ Writer Kay Oyegun Has A Powerful Message For Black Women Writers

Posted on by shaloved30

queensugardaily:

ESSENCE: Your first TV writing credit was Queen Sugar. What was it like being in that writers room? I imagine it was particularly diverse, just given Ava DuVernay’s philosophy on inclusivity.

Kay Oyegun: It was unbelievable. The team that Ava put together was just so incredibly supportive, and smart, and capable, and very much a family.

[Ava] takes a chance on people, and then also wants to cultivate, and also wants to sort of nurture, and mentor, and watch people grow.

For me, as a Nigerian immigrant who grew up in Nigeria and America, I think for me so much — and I talk about this quite openly — so much of my experience with Black culture and the issues of Black America has been academically, in an odd way.

@QueenSugarOWN I love these brilliant women. So proud to be a part of this insanely phenomenal show! @AVAETC @Oprah pic.twitter.com/7D7CnKeBGK 
Kay Oyegun (@KayOyegun) February 14, 2016

So for me being in the Queen Sugar space, it allowed me to work through a lot of those dual identities as I was experiencing the world. Like, my brother was in prison for a long time here in the state of Florida, and I come from a very independent matriarchal household, and have had a very interesting relationship with my father. So much of my growing up both in Nigeria and in America were things I could bring to the table.

I no longer felt this sense of otherness that I had felt for so many years. You know like, ‘Oh I’m not American enough, I’m Nigerian,’ but it’s like, no these are just sort of human stories that are connecting people together. That was something that I personally took away from that experience.

‘This Is Us’ Writer Kay Oyegun Has A Powerful Message For Black Women Writers

how do you work through your moments of being stunted mentally from writing? what do you use to organize yourself?

Posted on by shaloved30

Oh goodness anon this is a hard question to answer for me because I’ve been going through it for a while until this week and that was because I knowingly let myself get distracted by my edit work so the first thing I’d say is:

Stop all known distractions. I had to make myself not open PS so I could write and I posted about it so I (and my followers lol) could hold me accountable if I posted any gifs up before the fics I was working on got done and posted first. It worked.

Read (Whether it be your own work, old or the wip, or just an old fic you like) for me I notice sometimes when I stop to read something else, especially if I’m stressing about being stuck, it sometimes helps to just get my mind off of it.

Music. If it doesn’t take you out of what you’re working on sometimes a song can inspire your muse to open up. I have lists I keep for mine and sometimes I just go random whatever on my spotify but that’s only if it seems to help inspire something. Sometimes I need the silence. Which leads to my last point.

If you can and it’s safe to, go sit outside. It helps me sometimes with ideas and stuck spots. I got the last bit of my earlier fic I posted today while sitting on my porch.