When college student Imani Jones says she’s gonna quit the cheer team, best friend Aaliyah Thomas stops thinking – she just kisses her. While the girls build their relationship, they mix Imani’s love of photography and Aaliyah’s love of fashion (and Imani) into a business on social media that helps them bond in ways they wouldn’t have thought of.
But when things they tried to ignore come back to bite them, they have to support each other if they want to make it through.
We spoke to Bryanna Bond, author of Imani and Aaliyah’s Fashion Bible, about writing in different genres, mental health rep, and her future writing plans. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Imani and Aaliyah’s Fashion Bible is a new adult book about a queer cheerleader romance. That is a pretty different genre than your other works, such as the action adventure Queen of Thieves series. With that in mind, what drew you to write Imani and Aaliyah’s Fashion Bible?
The reason I wanted to write Imani and Aaliyah’s Fashion Bible is that I grew up as a cheerleader in love with the Bring It On Movies – I still have my DVD set of them. I have also always loved performing, so naturally, Baby Bryanna wanted to be in one of those movies when she was old enough.
But as I grew up, even my wildest dreams just didn’t have faith in that being a possibility. So I wrote my own and poured my passion for/experience with mental health into it.
Your main character, Imani, is autistic with situational mutism, PTSD, and depression. What would you say are the challenges and rewards in writing such a character?
Imani’s character and the story took the shape the way it did because I found out I was autistic in the middle of drafting. The story became a real moment to understand myself and, in particular, my mutism, as that had always been one of my most distressing traits.
I had two major challenges in writing this character. Number one was, as someone who had gone through similar issues to what I was writing, some of the happier moments for her felt so unreal compared to my own experience. It was quite triggering. There’s a scene where Imani makes friends with a random group of girls and they are beyond accommodating and that feels so impossible to believe. There are people that go out of their way to help and protect Imani and, man, I wish I hadn’t had to save myself as a child. Those things could often be enough to make me need to take a break from the book for a bit.
The second big challenge I had was the typical issue marginalized authors face – at what point do I get to stop teaching the issue and go back to telling the story. With how much bias and misinformation there is about most health conditions and disabilities, there just had to be a point where I said, “I am not here to fight people’s preconceived notion of what these conditions and situations look like.”
Who are some writers that inspire you? Books that influenced you?
I don’t think I typically get inspiration from books. I know how it feels when I am moved and inspired by music and I don’t get that feeling from reading. Books I read feel like an entirely different realm of existence from what I write (though I could also just be greatly misunderstanding the entire concept of the question).
Some authors I absolutely adore are T. A. Hernandez of The Curse of Shavhalla series, Aimee Donnellan of The Catastrophe Incoming series, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé of Ace of Spades, Saara El-Arifi of The Ending Fire trilogy, Brian Young of Healer of the Water Monster, and Jackie Khalilieh of Something More.
Do you think you will write a similar NA romance in the future, or are other genres and age groups calling you?
Alongside more books for The Queen of Thieves, I am working a YA romance short story and satirical romance, both of which feature disabled couples. Beyond those, I actually want to start getting into writing fantasy both YA and NA, one of which will be a series because I am a long winded human.
Do you have advice for people that want to write similar stories to Imani and Aaliyah’s Fashion Bible?
My best advice to someone that wants to write a story like Imani and Aaliyah is actually a quote that has been carrying me through this year: “Pay attention to where your art is taking you next,” by Layla Saad. This book was written because I followed my desire to explore the idea behind one of my childhood obsessions, my desire to express my struggles with situational mutism and how that impacted me, and my desire to write yet another cocky girl that plays rough. I would have hit wall after wall if I tried to force myself to stick to my first ideas or my first plans instead of allowing my work to be fluid, evolving as I go.
