Inspiration
I read an article in a magazine years ago. It was about a teenager, a debutante from high society, who had become pregnant. Her mother forced her to give the child up for adoption. “Forced her” were the words that stuck with me. As a mother, myself, I couldn’t fathom it. To carry a child for nine months, to want the child, then to let it go because she’d been forbidden to keep it.
I often thought about that woman. I thought about the child. I thought about how the story would play out differently in each of the women’s minds. It was something I had to write in order to further explore–to fully wrap my head around.
Early on, I knew I wanted the story to be twisty. I wanted the reader to not know the outcome (and I won’t spoil it here) until the climax. I also had read and admired The Hours, written by Michael Cunningham, a novel about three women including Virginia Woolf, at the time of writing Mrs. Dalloway, and two others whose stories were of a parallel nature. I sought the challenge to create three main characters and POVs whose stories were seemingly separate but would intertwine at some point. But, I didn’t quite have the how and that wouldn’t come for some time.
Research
Each of my stories has some connection to the past that requires research. As a student by nature, I love this phase of the project. For this novel, I researched three major topics.
I knew nothing about debutante society, but I am fascinated by it. Atlanta, Georgia is the hub of the debutante ball in the 1960s and of high society in that region. Etiquette is so ingrained in the young women’s mindset that I had to include Callie’s everpresent training which was literally to raise women who would make suitable partners for an elite society of men.
As a woman whose pregnancies came easy, I needed to become educated about women for whom it’s necessary to seek alternate methods of conception. I looked into the adoption and surrogacy processes in addition to reasons why women can’t carry a child to term. This also led me down a path of discovery about illegal adoption and homes for girls who were considered deviant or wayward as pregnant teens during the 60s-70s. It was an eye-opening exploration.
I’d also only ever been to Georgia once and didn’t stay long enough to recreate any part of my experience, so I researched the setting too. After exploring Zillow, Google Earth, and travel websites, it ultimately led me to the homepages of a few small towns near Savannah, Georgia. I chose Savannah as the focal point of the story because it seemed to suit the personalities of my characters. Each of them would come from commuting-distanced locations. I honed in on the late 1960s-early 70s, creating fictitious towns as their residences.
Process
Thinking time for a novel comes in waves for me. It isn’t as easy as putting it all down on paper into a timeline of sorts or outline, though I did have a loose version of both. I poured out the beginning of the story during a November NaNoWriMo project and got 50k words down the first year and 60K more the next. I was simultaneously querying my first novel, so my work on this one was intermittent at best. Once I secured a publishing contract for the All That is Sacred, I dedicated long hours over the summer to getting this manuscript into shape.
Early versions focused more heavily on Callie’s experience at Covenant House and Harper’s role wasn’t nearly as well-developed. For any revision, I create notecards with the plot points of each chapter; I use these to physically arrange and rearrange until I get them in the right place. It’s like a puzzle, really, to figure out what fits best where. I also used something called a backwards outline which really shows how one plot point is the result of others that come before it.
The Bees
As with all of my novels, I try to find a central motif. For this, once I described the antagonist as a “Queen bee” that set my imagination in motion. I researched the nature of bees and found snippets that I could connect to each of my characters. Callie was afraid of bees which is a metaphor for her relationship with her mother, the original queen bee. Harper is the most neutral about them, which is a metaphor for herself in a mother role. And, Raina, the earth mama, raises bees. She’s the most passionate and compassionate about them. One of my critique partners deemed her an “earth mama” and I loved the term which led me to lean into that persona of her while I revised the novel.
My brother is a beekeeper and as such has provided our family with some delicious honey. I took the opportunity to interview him about raising bees and the honey-making process. His knowledge is infinite, and I appreciated how willing he was to help me test out various scenarios I wanted to incorporate in my story to ensure accuracy.
Obstacles
I worked with four critique partners at different stages of writing and revision. Their feedback helped me restructure the story–probably my most difficult task with this project. There is a point of intersection that I wanted to come as a surprise for the reader, so the reveal had to be carefully plotted, as were the nuggets of foreshadowing that led up to it.
One of the conversations that arose with one of my CPs was her reaction to Jon, Callie’s lover who is also a junior administrator at the school she attends as a student. I was writing this during the Harvey Weinstein scandal which made me recognize the sensitivity I had to pay to this relationship. I didn’t want Jon to come off as a predatory character, but he is in a position of authority when he and Callie begin their relationship. He is five years her senior. I became careful to include a difference in the perception of their relationship across the two time periods that play out. Some beta readers rooted for Jon’s return while others did not. I hope I did Jon’s character and their relationship justice.
I had a similar issue with the topic of abortion surrounding the overturning of Roe V. Wade. While it isn’t a primary issue in the novel, it is raised during the earlier time period, when abortions weren’t legal. I included a reminder of how barbaric and unsafe illegal abortions were prior to Roe V. Wade–a little nod to my belief that women (not governments) need to be in charge of their own bodies; in fact my main character has a line to that very effect.
All in a Name
Naming my characters comes very early in the process. Typically, I start with an inspiration–sometimes it’s a photograph or a name I love or one that seems to suit the character. For Callie, I have long been a fan of Calista Flockhart from Ally McBeal. Her name fit my main character perfectly because Calista sounds so formal and her nickname Callie I find to be endearing. Raina was inspired by the character on the series Nashville. I love that it has a southern appeal. I had to search for a name for Harper, so I went to my go-to baby name finder on the internet and searched for southern names. Not only do I like the sound of Harper, but she does tend to harp on her past throughout the story which cinched it for me. While I was writing this, my husband was in his watching-Two and a Half Men before-bed-phase. Evelyn was inspired by Holland Taylor’s character of the same name. It was fitting how formal her sons were with her and she seemed to have the cold/detached mother personality I was going for. While I used her as inspiration for her personality, I visually imagined a cross between her and Annette Bening for Evelyn Sebastian.
Just a Few Titles
The finishing touch for this novel didn’t come until just prior to submitting it for consideration of publication: the title. I grappled with this one throughout the project. The first title was Lost and Found, but I soon realized a recent book was published with the same title. One of my CPs suggested calling it Covenant House. I sat with this suggestion for a bit, but ultimately it seemed too horror-esque. I’m not sure how I came up with Of Lies and Honey. I was brainstorming with different combinations of words, as I tend to do, and was immediately drawn to the way the combination sounded. I ran it past a few of my friends who loved it too.
The Bechdel Test
Purposefully, this is a female-centric story. My work passing the Bechdel test is something I’m always mindful of when writing. The criteria is as follows:
1) does the story focus on female characters?
2) do the female characters speak directly to one another?
3) do the characters converse without the topic of a man entering the conversation?
Why is this important to me? I seek to represent real women in my work and do what I can to show them as independent, resilient, strong, intelligent, insightful, capable and compassionate beings.
I wished I had saved the original article that I read, so I could send Of Lies and Honey to the woman who inspired this story. I would love to know her thoughts. I’m also eager to know yours.
Comments