With family history that rich, I can see why you found such easy inspiration to write a historical-fiction novel! But I also understand you have written other books with entirely different subjects. How much different was your researching for your other books than for Runaway Swimmer?
The Tower Quail, my second novel, is based loosely on other family issues. A close family member was a lonely and depressed teen who climbed this microwave tower near our home on many occasions, seeking solitude. In fact, my own brother also climbed it once, just to see what it was like. The time/dimensional travel aspect evolved from the loneliness and need to succeed that so many teens feel.
Dear Mrs. Johnson is another story altogether (no pun). The idea started in the bathroom (as most ideas do) as I read the back of an air freshener can. After all the ingredients and caution messages, there was a number and an address where you could contact Helen Johnson with questions and concerns. The idea turned immediately into a home-bound, overweight person who finds solace in writing this stranger and explains how he became like he is. It's a book about so many things we have all experienced (loneliness, fear, self-hate, etc.) and how those things shape us. It's also about how we can reject that and become another person.
Can you give a brief synopsis of your first book, Runaway Swimmer, and perhaps give a taste of what your other books are about?
Runaway Swimmer begins with John Skipper and his adventure to find Sally Hinote, the Cherokee girl who becomes his wife. After several life-changing events, they choose to start over in Alabama. They have 3 boys. The youngest (George Washington Skipper) is taken by a tribe of Cherokee at the beginning of the great Indian relocation. From that point on, the book tracks GW and his oldest brother Samuel. Samuel blames himself for GW's apparent death and lives to protect all of his loved ones. When his son enlists in the Confederate Army, Samuel follows him to protect him. Unbeknownst to Samuel, GW (now named Runaway Swimmer) is the head Sergeant where Samuel and his son are sent to train. The rest of the story deals with the encounters they all have with each other and choices Runaway has to make about his birth family and Cherokee family.
When writing, do you plan your story in chapter format or do you just write continually, and divide into chapters later in the writing process?
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