Guest post written by author Aleema Omotoni
Aleema Omotoni is a British-Nigerian author. She writes novels that centre Black teens coming of age, falling in love, and navigating all kinds of contemporary and fantasy worlds. She loves musical theatre, astrophysics and rainy Autumn days. Everyone’s Thinking It is her debut novel
When I began working on the outline for Everyone’s Thinking It, I knew that I wanted Iyanu and Kitan’s journey back to each other to be at the heart of the narrative. They each have their own ways of navigating through Wodebury Hall, and I found that the best way for me to approach a journey like theirs was by delving into a variety of themes and exploring them through their individual arcs and that of the other characters. This required a lot of moving parts but that was the exciting part! Five of those themes are community, identity, found family/friendship, love and sisterhood.
Here are some great pieces of media that explore these themes…
Community: Pride by Ibi Zoboi
It’s hard to put into words how much I loved this book. I’m a huge Pride and Prejudice fan and this is such a gorgeous retelling. It just felt so familiar, leaning so beautifully into the importance of community- especially Black community- in all its shades. It’s hard to put Black girlhood into words, but Ibi Zoboi articulated it wonderfully with the exploration of community in this novel: the celebration of your individuality and that of everyone else around you and how that makes you one. This book will make you feel so seen.
Identity: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
The graphic novels are so stunning and seeing them brought to life in the TV show was heart-stopping (I’ll see myself out). But in all seriousness, the exploration of identity in Heartstopper is gorgeous. The story is impactful for many reasons but one of my favourite aspects is how it shows the importance of holding space for someone. No matter who you are or how you identify, everyone knows what it’s like to not know who you are yet or to know who you are but don’t think you can be yourself. Understanding that sometimes you don’t need to have it all figured out, that you can simply hold that truth for someone, make space for them to breathe so they can feel safe and seen.
Found Family/Friendship: Our Flag Means Death
As “The Great Birate TikTok Takeover of 2020” taught us, everyone loves queer pirates. If you’re one of the few people out there who still hasn’t watched Our Flag Means Death, I urge you to drop everything and do it now. The warm heart of this show is the found family of pirates at its centre. They bicker, they laugh, they cry, they protect, and most importantly, they understand each other. Family in blood or not are the people that see you, meet you where you are and hold you there.
What are you still doing here? Go and watch the queer pirates!
Love: This Is Us
If you look up the word “cathartic” in the dictionary, you’ll see a picture of This Is Us. This show will make you cry but it will be the warmest hug of a cry you’ve ever had. Love in all its forms absolutely spills out of this programme. Familial love, platonic love, romantic love, love for your passions, love across generations, time and space. I heard somewhere once that life is about how people change each other. I always felt like I understood that idea, how people leave their mark on each other or don’t, how they change the course of their future or leave them waiting in the liminal past. I feel like This Is Us embodies that concept in its beautiful exploration of love.
Sisterhood: Lilo and Stitch
The beauty of Lilo and Stich is the relationship between Lilo and Nani. Yes, it’s called Lilo and Stitch (the Stitch stuffie sat next to me as I type this is evidence enough of my love for Stitch), but Lilo and Nani’s relationship is the anchor. Nani loves her sister, Nani is raising her sister, Nani lets her sister be herself unapologetically. Lilio loves her sister, Lilo learned loved from her sister, Lilo will do anything to protect her sister. I feel like the entire story falls apart without this relationship, and it’s so beautifully executed.
