How a six minute TikTok love story became a South African novel

Twenty-first-century media and traditional publishing have forged an unlikely romance between mediums.

There’s TikTok, the epitome of instant social media entertainment, and then there’s the aroma of freshly printed pages of a book. And South African storyteller Puseletso Tsotetsi created the two unlikely bedmates, seeded in a love story. It was her debut novel.

It all began with a cellphone on her car dashboard and a six-minute fictional love story that millions of viewers fell in love with.

It was a series on TikTok called Thato wa Ngwanyana, and it’s crossed over into the novel Good Things Keep Happening to Me.

Tsotetsi said that the marriage between mediums was never on her cards, but rather driven by an insatiable audience who are also pushing for traditional media, television, to pick up the narrative and produce a long-form version.

How did Thato wa Ngwanyana begin on TikTok, and when did you realise you were onto something big?

I put my phone on the dashboard in my car and started talking about a delusion I had been thinking about for over a year. It was a love story that I narrated in a little over six minutes.

Those who watched it made it clear that that’s not where the story ends. They wanted to know what else happened and how the story continues to unfold.

I realised the storytelling had become much bigger when people in the comments section kept asking for two things: a novel and a Netflix series.

What made you turn the TikTok series into a novel, and how difficult was it to make that leap?

The prompt came from the audience. In my entire life, I had never seen myself as a novel writer. Whenever someone suggested I turn the TikTok story into a novel, I was adamant I couldn’t do it.

A book I was reading at that time pushed me to believe in myself. The book was* Crazy Faith *by Mike Todd.

Technically, the transition required a lot out of me. I had to learn how to craft a sentence that leads to another and build up to a chapter and then a whole body of work.

I had the story already laid out. I didn’t have to think about what happens next. I just had to figure out how to put it in writing in a way that would still have the intended impact on a reader.

Author Puseletso Tsotesti and the cover of ‘Good Things Keep Happening To Me’. Pictures: Supplied

Is TikTok creating a new generation of readers and writers, and changing the way books get published?

Yes, social media has definitely created a new generation of readers. I have received feedback from people who said they never cared to read fiction but gave my book a chance and are now excited to explore more South African fiction writers.

As for social media being an alternative route into traditional publishing? 100%. It is an engine that can move you forward faster than how things used to be done.

A perfect example is cookbook authors. Their recipes were in our kitchens before their cookbooks were. Through that, publishers approached them, or they had the confidence backed by audience data to pitch themselves.

What has the success meant to you personally, and what’s next for your storytelling?

It meant I still have it. Lol. I’ve always been a storyteller. I’m a filmmaker by profession and have been telling stories since I was in primary school.

When this story blew up, I knew God was just screaming at me: “Believe in yourself again! Tell the stories! Don’t wait for a job in the industry! Use what you have!”

Next is a film and television adaptation. That was always the plan. Even as I was contemplating writing the novel, I considered writing a script draft first, but I knew proving myself to the industry would be harder.

As a result, I took advantage of writing, self-publishing, and serving my work to the people who were already waiting for it.

A film or series adaptation still remains a goal, and something tells me good things will keep happening to me.