Putting Strengths to Good Use: An Exclusive Guest Post from Angie Thomas, Co-Author of Whiteout

By Angie Thomas / November 8, 2022 at 4:16 am

Hardcover $19.99

Whiteout

By Dhonielle Clayton , Tiffany D. Jackson Nic Stone , Angie Thomas , Ashley Woodfolk , Nicola Yoon , Tiffany D. Jackson , Nic Stone

In Stock Online

Hardcover $19.99

Snowstorms in Atlanta are rare, but not as rare as the masterful storytelling prowess of authors Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon. This enchanting novel featuring six interconnected stories of young Black love is sure to warm readers’ hearts this holiday season. Keep reading this guest post from Angie Thomas about how it was the best group project ever…even for someone who doesn’t love group projects!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve hated group projects.

Maybe it’s because I am admittedly a control freak. Maybe it’s because of my anxiety. Or maybe it’s something much deeper that only my therapist can help me figure out. Whatever the case may be, I have always had a deep-seated aversion to group projects. As a kid, whenever I was forced to do one in school, I would take on the work myself because I felt that was the only way it would be done right (yep, control freak). And God forbid I was placed in a group with kids I didn’t know well. Cue the anxiety.

So, imagine my surprise when now, as an adult, I’m not only a part of a group project, I absolutely love this group project.

Back in 2020, when the world seemed to be on fire, a good friend of mine proposed a book idea to me. That friend was Dhonielle Clayton, an undeniable force in children’s literature. No, seriously. From her fantastic work as the COO of We Need Diverse Books to her work at her entertainment company Cake Creative, to her own brilliant books, Dhonielle is a force to be reckoned with; one who has truly done so much good for our industry and deserves her flowers. And when Dhonielle Clayton says she has an idea for a book and wants you to be a part of it, you better listen.

That book at the time was Blackout. One day, Dhonielle and her niece binge watched a bunch of young adult romance adaptations, and her niece raised the question, “Why don’t we get to see Black kids have these love stories?” That question gave Dhonielle an idea, but in true Dhonielle fashion, she wanted to make this a great opportunity for other authors as well. So she reached out to me, Nicola Yoon, Ashley Woodfolk, Nic Stone, and Tiffany D. Jackson and asked (really told) us to be a part of this project of love. It would be a novel, not a short story collection, and each of us would write a love story about different characters, but they would all be connected, sort of like a young adult version of Love, Actually.

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. Like I said, I’ve always hated group projects, and in 2020, it seemed impossible to write about something as lovely as … well, love. But what happened was truly magical. In a lot of ways, Blackout was a balm for all six of us. And it was without a doubt the best group project I’ve ever done.

Actually, no it wasn’t. Our new novel, Whiteout, takes that title.

Whiteout is not a sequel to Blackout, but it’s a story told in a similar vein. It’s about a bunch of kids in Atlanta during the snowstorm of the century. There’s lots of love, lots of kissing, lots of joy, and I can truly say writing it was an amazing experience. The beautiful thing about me and my five co-authors is that we all bring something different to the table that we excel at as writers. In Whiteout, we really got a chance to play into those strengths. We also connected the stories a bit more than we did in Blackout.

I think my favorite part of Whiteout is that we took bits and pieces of each of our strengths and inserted them into every story. You see, the goal for this book is for readers to not know who wrote which story. We don’t reveal it in the book at all. But each of us has our own writing style, and we had to make it not-so-obvious, so that meant we really had to collaborate. For instance, when it comes to kissing scenes, Nicola Yoon is queen. As I wrote my story, I sought her help. I’ve been told humor is my jam, and when Nic wrote her story, I helped her with that. Group projects work best when everyone knows their strengths but more importantly, when those strengths are put to good use.

But the best group projects? They are the ones that don’t even feel like work. Whiteout wasn’t work. It was a gift to all of us, and now we just hope that it is a gift to all of you.

Group projects ain’t half bad after all.

Putting Strengths to Good Use: An Exclusive Guest Post from Angie Thomas, Co-Author of Whiteout

Whiteout

Whiteout

Meet all the Authors of Whiteout