“Being
sentenced to ten years in the California State Prison at the age of fourteen
was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”
Imagine my surprise
upon hearing this coming from twenty-five year old debut author, Terry L.
Wroten. At the age of ten, Wroten who
was a resident of South Central, Los Angeles joined the infamous 4trey gangster
crips street gang. At the age of
thirteen, Wroten was shot six times by rival gang members. At the age of
fourteen, Wroten was taken into custody and charged with three murders, robbery
and assault. Inevitably he was exonerated of the three murder charges but was
sentenced to the California Department of Corrections for a period of ten years
for the other charges. At age twenty-five, Wroten is the most anticipated
street literature author coming from the West Coast.
At the time of his
incarceration, Mr. Wroten was illiterate.
He would have to have cell mates read him letters from his mother and
also write his letters to her. He was
unable to even address an envelope. He spent the first two years of his
incarceration in a juvenile detention center where he began to learn how to
read and write. A few months short of
turning sixteen, Wroten was transferred to Tehachapi State prison. Here, the older inmates would help Wroten
with his reading and writing. Sometimes the guards would even give him a
hand. An older cellmate taught him how
to use a dictionary at which time he learned how to look up words he couldn’t
understand and inevitably expanded his vocabulary. Wroten reports that his
comprehension skills seemed to almost immediately become enhanced upon learning
how to utilize the dictionary. After
being stabbed while engaged in prison riot at the age of eighteen, where
inmates and correctional officers were injured. Wroten was placed in the Segregated
Housing Unit (SHU) for term five years for battery on a peace officer. It was at this time he read the book entitled
“Gangsta” by K’wan and thought that he could write a similar tale. This is when
he started to write.
In 2007 at the age of
22, Wroten was released to a half way house in order to become un-institutionalized
and learn how to find his way back into society. He had a counselor which he
reported to daily. After several meetings the counselor told Wroten that if he
could not find gainful employment soon, he would be revoked and sent back to
the penitentiary. When the counselor questioned
Wroten about what he was able to do or what kind of skills he had, his reply
was, “I don’t know how to do shit but
read and write.”
Wroten’s counselor then
asked to review some of his writing.
Upon completing eight years of his ten year bid, he had approximately
seven manuscripts completed. While being
placed back in custody on a parole violation, Mr. Wroten had the opportunity to
finish his scripts for a total of twelve completed novels upon his release. His
counselor was extremely impressed by the content of Wroten’s stories and felt
as if his writing was comparable to other urban street lit. authors.
Wrotens counselor
decided to try and help him find a publisher.
After being incarcerated at the time of the internet boom, Wroten was
completely unfamiliar with how to use a computer or the internet. The first
thing the counselor taught Wroten was about the social networking site, My Space. It was there that they reached out to the
inspiration behind Wroten’s writing, author K’wan. K’wan recognized the
talented young man’s writing skills and for two years the two corresponded
while preparing for the release of “Natural Born Killaz”.
Now that Wroten has
signed a book deal under K’wan’s publishing house Black Dawn Inc. he is hoping to open some doors for others on the
West Coast. As of now, the East Coast has a strong-hold on the urban
fiction-street lit. genre. Wroten also aspires to show kids in urban
communities that may be going down the path that he once did, that illegal
hustling, selling drugs and gangbanging isn’t the only way. He currently does free motivational speaking
at high schools and community centers in the Los Angeles area. Also, Wroten has penned an anthology; out now,
with authors K’wan, Jrod Nider, JM Benjamin and Randy Ski-Thompson titled “The
Massacre”. His debut novel by Black Dawn Inc. entitled “Natural Born Killaz” is
also available now.
Mr. Wroten is also hoping
to break into the film industry. He is
currently in the process of writing screen plays and continuing to work on
manuscripts. He also wants naysayers of
urban fiction to know that had it not been for the gritty street tales urban
fiction portrays, that he most likely would have remained illiterate and a
lifelong menace to society. Wroten went
on to point out that most characters in urban street lit do tend to redeem
themselves at the end of the novel. “This is something we can relate to, not
Judy Blume, Stephen King or JK Rowlings. This is what life is. I’m just bringing it to the frontline,”
he stated humbly.
As the author of this
article, I do have to say that Mr. Wroten humility was a pleasant
surprise. Having a little bit of
background information before speaking to Mr. Wroten, I assumed I would be
talking to a rough and gruff thug; however, Mr. Wroten was kind, soft and well
spoken whose passion and desire to write, not for fame and fortune but to find
a way out and to inspire others was made evident throughout the entire
interview. His gratitude and thankfulness to author K’wan for giving him an
opportunity to fulfill his goals is inexpressible. His desire to be a role
model and help others is also like nothing I have ever seen before.
If you would like to
contact Terry L Wroten, you can reach out to him at authortlw@yahoo.com
or Facebook
Niccole Simmons
21st Street Urban Editing &
Publishing, LLC
niccole@21streeturbanediting.com
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