Think you got what it takes to write a novel? How about a novel that gets picked up by one of the hottest directors around (Ava DuVernay) on one of the most influential television networks – Oprah Winfrey’s OWN TV?

Well, if you can commit to your work for over a decade, weather rejections from strangers and acquaintances (the latter won’t even bother to acknowledge you with a no), and stay receptive to the “magic” of writing like Natalie Baszile did, then yes, you can! Queen Sugar is Baszile’s first novel and in Episode 7 of Behind the Prose she talks about its origin and how she approached revising the work which weaves a third-person close narrative grounded in time and place.

Natalie drops some knowledge in this interview, and she almost drop kicked me when I asked her if she edited her characters to make them “likable.”

Listen below or download  on iTUNES.