Behind The Words With Elom Akoto

Today, we are welcoming author Elom Akoto to the blog. First, tell our readers a bit about yourself. Where you’re from, where you live? Is writing your full-time job?

I’m from Togo, a small country in West Africa, but I now live in Omaha, Nebraska where I teach French full-time at a high school and ESL part-time at a community college. I also like to write.

How long have you been writing? 

I’ve committed to writing seriously since 2017, but I’ve written sporadically throughout my teenage years. The third novel I’m working on is the first story I started writing in college back home in Togo.

What does your typical writing day look like?

When I set a deadline to finish a manuscript, I schedule my day so that I have some time to write. I usually write at night when everyone is in bed. When I’m falling behind schedule, I wake up early to write. I write whenever possible when I don’t have a deadline to finish a manuscript.

Tell us about your latest release? Where the idea came from?

I wanted to write a story that explores different immigrants’ viewpoints and experiences of the American Dream. After living in the United States for nearly twenty years, I realized that prospective immigrants are profoundly unaware of many things until they have relocated to the US. But regardless of the many struggles they face, there’s still hope and endless opportunity for everyone in this country.

I would say that I encountered many surprises during this novel’s publication process that made me a more understanding, patient, and compromising person, especially as a writer. Getting published can be as challenging as writing a book, if not more complicated. I’m now better prepared to anticipate certain things when publishing my future works. I’ve learned that getting rejected doesn’t necessarily mean that your writing is worthless and you’re wasting time. Perseverance is critical, and once your work falls into the right hands, the plane for your success gets ready to take off. Being open-minded and willing to let go of things you’ve grown fond of, like the original title you gave to your work, is also essential.

Could you share one detail from your current release with readers that they might not find in the book? 

In the book, I mentioned a character, Peter, who trained Kamao for his gas station job. Peter was later killed in the novel. What readers don’t know is that I created this character to pay tribute to my friend Damothar Patak (Pete), a refugee from Nepal, who trained me when I took a gas station job in Atlanta, GA, and who was killed on the job.

Who has been the most difficult character for you to write? Why?

The most challenging character to write was Peter because, unlike the other characters who were all fictional, he wasn’t. And every time I wrote a scene about him, I was filled with emotion.

If you could be one of your characters for a day which character would it be? 

If I could be a character for a day, I would like it to be Ayefumi. Ayefumi is the person who has been there for Kamao from the first day they met. He helped him with his college paperwork, finding a job, and navigating the American system as a newcomer. Ayefumi is the symbol of solidarity amongst immigrants. To him, everyone has his first day in a new country, and we all need to be there for one another. He becomes not only the protagonist’s best friend but also an older brother figure to whom he can go with any request. I enjoy being there for others who need to learn to get by in a new environment.

If you could spend the day with your character, what would you do? What would that day look like?

If I could spend a day with a character, I would love that character to be the protagonist, Kamao. Because he is an idealist like me and knowledgeable, I feel like we can have interesting conversations, going around DC and talking about issues that affect our world and our hopes for Africa.

What’s your take on research and how do you do it?

Research plays a critical role in fiction writing because every writer’s nightmare provides inaccurate information that can be proven wrong. Since writing can influence people’s lives one way or another, the writer needs to make sure any factual information they provide is accurate. So, I put a lot of effort and devote considerable time to researching facts I want to include in my work. With advanced technology today, it is much easier to include correct information by looking at reliable sources. I use online search engines and double-check essential information from various reliable sources before adding that to my work.

What’s the most fun thing about being an author?

The fun thing about being an author for me is that you share a part of yourself with the world. Whether you write fantasy that involves a mythical world that no one would ever visit, with fantastical creatures that no one would ever see, these are part of you, dreams you had as a kid, things you unconsciously believe or hope existed. Putting things on paper and in words are things that you want people to feel with you. As a writer, you become a creator of worlds, places you might never go to, and people you might never see or get close to, but you can control them in your book. You have the feeling of holding some power nobody can ever take away from you. I usually don’t mind putting the story aside to devote the necessary time needed for my research. But it goes fast when I put my head to it.

Do you write multiple books at once, or one at a time?

I’ve tried it before, with my first and second novels, although I’m still revising the second one. Once I have a clear idea about every story, like how it starts and ends, writing more than one at a time is easy. I’m working on my third story, and the fourth one that has already settled in my mind has been bugging me to start writing it, so I may begin to write both stories soon.

What’s your favorite writing tool? — software, app, notebook, etc.

I use Microsoft Word, and OneDrive is an advanced technology that saves work easily. Word is convenient, and I like it. I write an outline in a notebook with my erasable pen when the plot is lined up. Then, I type the outline in the Word document and start the story underneath it.

Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write?

Most of the novels I read before immigrating to the US were in French, even English literature books, like Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea and Steinbeck’s The Pearl. So, the authors who have influenced me most are francophone literature writers, such as Mongo Beti, a Cameroonian writer from the post-colonial African literature, and some French writers, such as Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, and Guy Des Cards.

Do you have a secret talent readers would be surprised by? 

I’ve developed a curriculum for adult ESL instruction and have written two ESL workbooks.

Your favorite go to drink or food when the world goes crazy!

Water keeps me going. And it’s safer for me than any other drink.

What is your writing kryptonite?

Writing stories in English, being an English learner, is quite challenging.

What do you hope for the most as a writer?

I would like my story to be adapted into a movie.

Thank you Elom for speaking with us today. I have to agree about authors having quite a bit of themselves in their words. 

Readers, here’s a quick look at Elom’s latest release Blindspot in America

Blindspot in America gives a provocative depiction of some of the realities immigrants face in the United States—racism and discrimination—but also their hopes and faith in a country that promises freedom and opportunity to all.

Kamao is the son of a prominent Ghanaian academic and incumbent minister of health and is devoted to all that America symbolizes. After immigrating to the United States in pursuit of higher education and the American Dream, he becomes unwittingly entangled with American politics when he meets Lindsey McAdams, the daughter of an influential, anti-immigration senator. As the couple’s feelings grow, so too does the senator’s animosity toward Kamao. Despite support from fellow immigrants Lazo, Ayefumi, and Dania—who follow American Dreams of their own—Kamao soon finds himself drawn into intrigues hidden from the American public that make him question himself and his adopted country. When Kamao is implicated in a murder, Lindsey’s loyalties are tested, Dania must decide if she is willing to risk her own future and security for the sake of justice, and Kamao discovers how far he’ll go to fulfill his American Dream.

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