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<\/a><\/p>\nI have been watching this author on Facebook for quite some time now. I always resonate with her status updates. It is where I learned how she thinks, the beauty of her heart, the love of her family and readers, whom she endearingly refers to as her Luvs. Recently, I\u00a0discovered she is Tupac Shukar’s sister. Tupac happens to be one of my favorite rappers. I can see talent runs her blood, however, her work stands on its own merit. With every stroke of her pen, she pours her soul out on to every page, and you feel every word. It is an honor and privilege to introduce to you, the beautiful, Takerra Allen.<\/p>\n
1) Please tell us a little bit about yourself? Who is Takerra? Where did you grow up? How was your childhood?<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019m a simple woman. I am, at this stage of my life, about my family FIRST, myself second \u2013 doing what truly makes me happy and writing is one of them, finding the beauty in the world while I\u2019m here, and pleasing God which I think all mentioned is a part of that. I was born in Jersey City, NJ, moved to New Brunswick, NJ at the age of 10, and I stayed in that area since. My childhood was beautiful because it was filled with love. I had some tough times, things I don\u2019t discuss but I don\u2019t let that overshadow the love my mother and father poured out on me. Even when living in Jersey City, witnessing crime and all types of things, sometimes too close for comfort even, I still felt loved. Through everything, all I can remember is the good.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0What was your earliest recollection of writing?<\/p>\n
When I was eight or so I began taking creative writing classes for fun \u2013 a teacher recommended me. I did a few summer writing programs. I reflect now and just remember the comfort of a teacher even at ten or eleven years old saying class, we\u2019re going to do this while Takerra and a few other students, you guys can go to these computers and type whatever you want. It was like a treat. When they would give out journals and say write in them for the school year, I would be so excited. I always got A\u2019s on writing projects with interesting notes \u2013 some good, some critical lol. Outstanding writing, but you can\u2019t start a sentence with \u201cand\u201d or \u201cbut\u201d. Or, Takerra, this is running on too long. The same things I was told then I find myself doing now and I realize, it\u2019s my writing style. I wrote poems, and plays, and in a diary, and songs since I could begin writing. I didn\u2019t go out and play much, didn\u2019t have many friends, I just stayed in my room with imaginary characters and writing them in some way. I was weird. Who knew I was being groomed.<\/p>\n
3)\u00a0Did anyone encourage you to write or did it come naturally for you?<\/p>\n
It definitely came natural but when I was about seventeen, I started writing my first book, Thicker than Water<\/a><\/em>. It sat unfinished for a very long time. A few years later my boyfriend who is now my husband, said you should finish this book. And I did.<\/p>\n 4) What was the first piece you have ever written? Was it published or non-published?<\/p>\n Thicker than Water<\/em> was my first novel and it was self-published originally in 2008 and then with a new cover and editing lol in 2009.<\/p>\n 5)\u00a0What is the one thing that means the most to you?<\/p>\n My daughter. I can\u2019t imagine anything coming before her. She\u2019s a whole life that I am in charge of and I\u2019m responsible for molding her for the world and giving her all of the love so she doesn\u2019t do crazy things looking for it elsewhere. There\u2019s nothing bigger than that.<\/p>\n 6)\u00a0When you first decided to write a book were you afraid or insecure? If so, how did you overcome it?<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t scared at all actually and it\u2019s crazy because now I yearn for the lack of pressure. The first is easy to me because there\u2019s no pretense of who you are supposed to be. No expectations. You just write what you want and it\u2019s so liberating. Now, I have more pressure. Because more people are watching; my Luvs. I want to please them. I want to live up to the last work.<\/p>\n 7)\u00a0How does the inspiration or ideas for your books come to you? How do you formulate your realistic characters?<\/p>\n I dream my books. Knock on wood, they keep coming. Every time I\u2019m afraid I will run out of ideas, I have another dream. Dream Gods please keep them coming lol. The characters are real because they don\u2019t start as people. I don\u2019t focus on looks, or what they\u2019re going to do first. I focus on emotions. I feel what they feel \u2013 their fears, desires, and then I create them based on that. Because all of our thoughts and actions come from the things we desire and the things we fear. It\u2019s what makes us, us. So when you give your characters fears and desires, you make them human.<\/p>\n 8)\u00a0What was the hardest book you wrote and why?<\/p>\n Restricted Too<\/a><\/em>. Because it was promised. I said I was going to have a sequel before I even had the entire story. So the pressure to create it was real. I would never do that again. I\u2019ll never say there will be a sequel until it comes to be 100% and I feel it in my bones.<\/p>\n 9)\u00a0How did you learn to perfect your craft?<\/p>\n Oh, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve perfected my craft at all lol. I reread, a lot. I reread as a reader my work and go, do I feel it, can it be better? And I just assault my work until I personally can\u2019t do any better. \u00a0I\u2019m very into detail now. I\u2019m enjoying it. But still, I read Jane Austen or Stephen King or Toni Morrison and I go, why couldn\u2019t you write like this? LOL<\/p>\n 10)\u00a0How many times do you send your work to an editor? How is the editing process for you? Do you learn the most from the editing process?<\/p>\n My work goes through two editing processes. Luckily, they don\u2019t change much from how I write, they really just look for structure, misspellings, tense, grammar things like that. It may not work for everyone, but so far it works for us.<\/p>\n 11)\u00a0What are some of your favorite books and authors? Do you have an all time favorite book?<\/p>\n I love Jane Austen, Gillian Flynn, Dorothy Allison, Toni Morrison, and all-time favorite \u2013 Stephen King. Most people don\u2019t count Wes Craven for writing but he wrote screenplays that were awesome and he\u2019s one of my idols. I don\u2019t have a favorite book really.<\/p>\n 12)\u00a0What do you want your readers to get from your books?<\/p>\n Love. I want them to feel love, experience love \u2013 the good and bad of it.\u00a0 I want them to get lost for a little and then take a message from it in the end. I believe there is a message in each one of my works. Devout<\/a><\/em> \u2013 unconditional love and doing what\u2019s best for you even if it hurts. Heaven\u2019s Hell<\/a><\/em> \u2013 strength, growth, standing on your own. (There\u2019s Power in the…) V<\/em><\/a> \u2013 forgiveness, the importance of family. Restricted<\/a><\/em> \u2013 consequences. The Lonely Pole<\/a><\/em> \u2013 following your dreams even when life throws a bunch of stuff at you, and it never being too late even if you lose your way. Thicker than Water<\/a><\/em> \u2013 friendship, betrayal, trust, getting through hardships and losing people.<\/p>\n 13)\u00a0Do you have a writing routine? Do you write every day?<\/p>\n No, and no lol. I mean, I don\u2019t go out of my way to write everyday but it does end up happening most of the time. I follow my heart and spirit and try to write when I\u2019m feeling inspired. I feel like people heard someone say, you should write a little everyday even if you don\u2019t want to, and now that\u2019s like bible. That sounds terrible to me. I think that\u2019s how mediocrity happens. When you wait until you really feel it then you have a heartfelt story. I would rather put out one heartfelt story once a year than three okay ones. Since when did it become a race? But again, it\u2019s what works for me.<\/p>\n 14)\u00a0When did you decide to start your own publishing company, “Angelic Script Publishing” and why?<\/p>\n We started Angelic Script Publishing when we decided to put out the book in 2009. My business partner Sandra, saw something in my work and invested in printing the books and I appreciate her for that ,and luckily it was successful and she and I were able to make that back and more and we are still going! I thank God for what we\u2019ve accomplished so far and all of the readers who made it possible.<\/p>\n 15)\u00a0Who had the most influence in your life and why?<\/p>\n I\u2019m influenced by so many people for some many reasons. I\u2019m influenced by my mother, God rest her soul \u2013 her strength and just the qualities of being a lady at all times. My father and his consciousness he instilled in me. My husband and his honesty and the ability to appreciate the simple things in life. My daughter and her innocence, the way she sees the beauty in everything. My brother, Tupac, his passion, his talent, the fire that couldn\u2019t be tamed. My sisters, my other brothers,\u00a0 my best friend, Sandra, my readers who are so inspiring and dedicated and loving, I cannot limit it to one person.<\/p>\n 16)\u00a0You have ten books published, correct? Thicker Than Water<\/em>\u00a0being your first. How long does it take you to finish a book?<\/p>\n V2<\/em> was number 11, yay! But yes, Thicker than Water<\/em> was my first. It really varies, but it can take anywhere from two to nine months lol. But I am always working on a few things at once. So I may stop a project for like six months and then pick back up and finish it in three weeks. And then I send it to Dee-Dee (Sandra) for her stamp of approval.<\/p>\n 17)\u00a0Are you currently working on any new projects?<\/p>\n Yes, I am working on three novels, one is top priority as well as finishing up the Heaven\u2019s Hell<\/em> film. Very excited about that.<\/p>\n 18)\u00a0Is there something else you still dream of achieving?<\/p>\n Film and television. I always loved film \u2013 I took drama in high school and college and adored it. Now I see it wasn\u2019t for the acting, it was for visualizing a story. I want to see my stories played out. That\u2019s a dream.<\/p>\n 19)\u00a0If there was one thing you would want to change about the industry, what would it be?<\/p>\n The lack of creativity and weed out the people doing it for the wrong reasons. It has become so trendy and I am scared for the future of urban fiction. I see great potential for the growth as far as movies, and commercialism, and the way it has expanded is phenomenal; but it seems like it\u2019s expanding with too much crap. Too much repetition, no respect for other writers or the readers for that fact, people are looking to make a quick buck and want to be famous, and writers are not famous lol. You have to love the craft. You have to be born for this.<\/p>\n 20)\u00a0Lastly, what advice would you give new writers?<\/p>\n Write from your heart and make sure it\u2019s in your heart. I\u2019ve had many new writers contact me, and let me just say, to many, I am new as well. But I\u2019m honored anyone would look to me for advice and I tell them the same, write from your heart and follow your own path. Many of them have gone on to write books and although many don\u2019t mention the advice I gave, or that they\u2019ve talked to me at all, (and by the way I try to answer every question lol even through my schedule, and some asked lots of questions lol but it\u2019s cool and I love it). It\u2019s love on my part and I still give that advice first. I don\u2019t know, for reasons people like to keep their interactions with other authors quiet. Tracy Brown answered a question of mine when I first started, K\u2019wan has always kept it real with me, Ashley and Jaquavis have shown love, Wahida Clark has shown love. I acknowledge them and thank them for that. But whether new writers chose to follow my advice or not, I tell them all the same amongst other things, and I hope that they appreciated it. Shout out to my inbox lol. And shout out to my Luvs!<\/p>\n You can follow Takerra Allen on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been watching this author on Facebook for quite some time now. I always resonate with her status updates. It is where I learned how she thinks, the beauty of her heart, the love of her family and readers, whom she endearingly refers to as her Luvs. Recently, I\u00a0discovered she is Tupac Shukar’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[666,90],"tags":[1209,1211,1210,1206,1220,1217,1207,1216,1039,1213,1221,1208,933,1202,1214,1215,1205,1218,1212,1203,859,1219,1204],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3395"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3401,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions\/3401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/headshot-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Takerra Allen is the author of eleven urban-romance titles, including the 2010 African American Literary Award nominated hit novel, Heaven’s Hell<\/em> and the 2015 RT Reviewers Choice Award nominated, Thicker than Water 3<\/em>. In addition to being an author, she is the proud daughter of former Black Panther William Garland and sister to the late, renowned Tupac Shakur. She has been featured in publications such as XXL Magazine and Don Diva Magazine, featured four times in the Top 10 Urban Books Listing. Her Thicker than Water<\/em> series is currently published through Kensington\/Dafina Publishing and an independent film based on the novel Heaven’s Hell<\/em> has been filmed, directed by Takerra and produced by Angelic Script, the independent entertainment company of Takerra and her business partner, Sandra Mobley.<\/p>\n