9 minute read
INSIDE VOICES
INSIDE VOICES
Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Donna Everhart
Donna Everhart is the USA Today bestselling author of authentic, vivid Southern fiction, including the Southeastern Library Association Award-winning The Road to Bittersweet, Indie Next Pick and Amazon Book of the Month, The Education of Dixie Dupree, The Forgiving Kind, The Moonshiner’s Daughter, and The Saints of Swallow Hill. Her sixth novel, When the Jessamine Grows, releases January 23, 2024. Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, she now lives with her husband in a small town in the Sandhills region where she is currently working on her next novel. She’s a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, Historical Novel Society, and is the host for the MaryJanesFarm Book Club.
Inside Voices (Robert): When the Jessamine Grows makes its way into the world on January 23, 2024. What can readers expect from this latest Donna Everhart novel?
Donna: Similar to The Saints of Swallow Hill, where I explored the relatively unknown history of turpentine labor camps prevalent throughout the South, this latest novel shares a unique perspective on the Civil War, one of neutrality. I write of Joetta McBride, and her family who are subsistence farmers. Because of their lifestyle, which was common in North Carolina during this time, they believe the war has nothing to do with them. As was the case with many during this time, they’re inadvertently involved after their eldest son, Henry, is influenced by the one family member who’s a staunch Confederate, Joetta’s father-in-law, and Henry’s grandfather, Rudean McBride. What follows is a story not about the Civil War, but about those left behind, women like Joetta McBride who are required to keep the farm running, food and the table, and family together.
Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Share with us how you got started as a novelist?
Donna: I was at an event a few weeks back and a similar question was asked. My first thought was the song by the Beatles, “The Long and Winding Road.” However, The Reader’s Digest condensed version is the technology company where I’d worked for twenty-five years went bankrupt in late 2008, which became the catalyst for me becoming a writer. I’d dabbled with this thing I called a manuscript for almost twenty years, (truth!) picking and poking at it off and on. It was about eighty-five pages long and when I realized I wasn’t going to retire from this corporate job, I decided to see if I could pursue this writing dream I’d had for a while. It took the company three years to sell off their business, and in the meantime, I continued to work with them, went back to school for a degree, (just in case!) and began an earnest attempt at finishing the manuscript. In 2011, I worked with a freelance editor for about a year to polish it. She then helped me begin to submit the work to literary agents, which is how I came to sign with John Talbot March 9th 2012. I’m still with him today. It was truly a moment of serendipity because by then, my “end” date with the company happened three weeks later, March 30, 2012. The book didn’t sell right away – not for three years, but that manuscript became my debut novel, The Education of Dixie Dupree.
Inside Voices (Robert): I am drawn, as most are, to the extraordinary female characters who inhabit your novels—young girls and young women with the odds stacked against them. When I think of a Donna Everhart protagonist, I think of resilience. Joetta McBride is a resilient woman, and a woman of conviction. In what ways do you see your protagonists connected from one book to the next?
Donna: I think what I’ve always been fascinated by is the idea of writing about what has either happened to someone, or could. This is how I envision my protagonists when I come up with a story idea – someone, somewhere has probably experienced what I’m about to turn into a fictional account. I look for the historical events that present a challenge, so they come up against what seem like insurmountable odds. I often say I like nothing better than to put my protagonist/characters in peril and see how they get out of, or work through their dilemma/s.
Inside Voices (Robert): Aside from your own compelling female protagonists, who are some female characters from the works of other writers who have influenced your writing?
Donna: Some of my very favorites are Ellen, in Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, Ruth Anne Boatwright (Bone) in Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Betty in Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, Julie Harmon in Gap Creek by Robert Morgan, and I could go on, but those books were heavy influencers of my writing in my early writing days.
Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Why and how do you conduct research for your books. I recall you created a depression-era recipe for The Saints of Swallow Hill. Is that typical of the kind of approach you take to immerse yourself in another era?
Donna: Research is one of the very first steps I take before I begin writing. I think it’s a critical piece of a writer’s process because it can activate critical thinking about the project, show what’s good and bad, and if the story idea is even feasible. Research begins, usually, with Google. I also use other resources for gathering information, as in various other websites that might share history, or something else that’s useful. I have so many bookmarks right now for the past two books I’ve worked on, it’s mind-boggling.
Food is also important to me in stories. I don’t think you’ll read anything of mine where I’m not describing something the characters are eating. I think using food is an excellent way to sink a reader into a setting, a region, and a timeframe – although – biscuits are timeless. Haha. Also, I love photos! When I’m researching, I tend to look for photographic evidence (so to speak) of the particular time, and area. This is really helpful in achieving authenticity in scenes.
Inside Voices (Robert): There is a darkness that permeates the world you write. What draws you to the murk?
Donna: It’s the influence of what I like to read. For instance, I used to read a LOT of Stephen King. I still read him, but his darkness comes more from horror and I’m not as much into that now. I’m a big fan of Cormac McCarthy, (his earlier works mostly), Donald Ray Pollock, Rick Bragg, Paulette Jiles, and of course the previous authors mentioned, and many more. Not all of these author’s stories are as dark as some, but they do lean into characters who are leading risky lifestyles, or dealing with mental issues or addictions, i.e. they have some flawed part of their overall persona. There’s nothing too twisted for me, but one thing I prefer to not read is about animal abuse. Even while I know it’s fiction, it hurts my heart too much.
Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Speaking of darkness, the publishing industry is challenging to navigate. What advice do you have for any new authors or aspiring ones?
Donna: First, let me share what I’ve heard other authors say to this question, “find a supportive writing group.” I can attest to this – it’s so true! That’s because “we,” as writers, get this journey, we get how hard it is, how lonely, and how impossible it seems. As a new/aspiring writer, there’s nothing better than to be able to commiserate with other writers about the agony of writing. (I sort of say that tongue in cheek, but some days – yes. AGONY.)
As to my own advice to new/aspiring writers – show up! As in try to write every day. I was on Facebook the other day and spotted a comment on a post (not mine – someone else’s) and the person said they never win any books, and they were going to quit entering contests, etc. My exact thought was, well, you’ll definitely never win a book in that case. This goes the same for writing. If you don’t write, you’ll never become a writer. As to the when, how long, and all that? Find what works for you. What works for me might not for you, but regardless, find your writing spot (office, kitchen, bathroom for all I care) and put some words down. The longer you spend with the work, the more the creative juices will flow.
Inside Voices (Robert): This latest novel is your sixth. How have you changed as a writer since the release of your debut novel, The Education of Dixie Dupree?
Donna: Yes, When the Jessamine Grows is my sixth, and vastly different from The Education of Dixie Dupree. From a technique perspective, my debut novel was written from the POV of an eleven-year-old girl, in first person, and is a coming-of-age story about mental and physical abuse. When the Jessamine Grows, (as well as The Saints of Swallow Hill) are departures from the coming-of-age subgenre. They’re both written in third person POV. The Saints of Swallow Hill has two main characters, and chapters are written from each of those character’s perspectives. When the Jessamine Grows, while written only from Joetta McBride’s POV, is, IMO, a more sophisticated story.
Inside Voices (Robert): What is next for Donna Everhart?
Donna: I’m under contract for the seventh book which I’m working on. I haven’t been talking about the subject matter except to my beta readers (Robert is one!) because the background/history was a stunning find. Some of it plays into a past that’s already been told, but the main focus of my project deals with a historical event that has been lost to time – or purposefully buried. I can’t decide which. Hopefully that perks some ears up.
