Research Makes for Great Stories ~ by Author Stacy Hawks

After graduating from Brevard College in 2008, Stacy Hawks  returned to her hometown to teach and work on completing her MEd. Some years before, in 2005, her grandmother had passed leaving Stacy her scrapbook filled with notes, newspaper clippings, and photos. 

It wasn’t until Stacy opened the scrapbook that the story from Terry Martin of the Winston-Salem Journal dated 1981 caught her attention. At that moment, the historian in her knew how important this story was. Not only had the case of Elva Brannock, whom everyone described as a 17-year-old brunette beauty, gone cold for over 70 years by this time, but the stories of those who had worked tirelessly to solve it had also gone untold.

There were a lot of late nights, weekends, and spare moments during lunch breaks to tackle the research. None of which would have been possible without the amazing individuals who work for the local Newspaper, The Alleghany News (formerly The Alleghany Times), and the Register of Deeds Office. 

Stacy's editor, Lynn Worth, who passed a couple of years ago, was also instrumental. Without her insight and edits, Stacy wouldn't have been able to take the next step in publishing the book. However, despite it being finished and the edits mostly complete, Dividing Ridge remained on her hard drive for 8 more years.

Stacy wrote to publishing houses, printed off and mailed her manuscript to countless presses, and with no success finally decided to take a step back and do some research into self-publishing. She says this was perhaps the best decision she made when it came to her writing. Thankfully, her local community is also home to Star Route Books and Imaging Specialists, Inc.

Owner Jeff Halsey, who works alongside his daughter Claire Halsey Brooks, has been involved in her local community’s historical society for years. Their efforts to preserve, educate, and provide a sense of pride in Alleghany heritage drew Stacy to ask if they would publish her debut novel, Dividing Ridge: The Unsolved Murder of Elva Brannock.

Imaging Specialists, Inc. and Star Route Books offered guidance in everything from mark-up pricing to the cost of marketing and author copies. Jeff Halsey also used his own image from Devils Garden, an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stacy's book title was inspired by that photo. In case you’re wondering, yes the book’s title is significant, it is the name of the local school Elva attended.

A portion of the proceeds from her book is going to the efforts of the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society museum located on our beautifully and recently revitalized Main Street. 

It was through the Historical society that Stacy was able to host her first book signing in September 2019. It was also the first place she met her main character's granddaughter, Brenda Irwin Frizzell. Brenda’s grandfather, Sheriff Walter Irwin, tirelessly searched for Elva’s murderer longing to bring the perpetrator of such a crime to justice. The ability to have these moments was well worth all those tireless nights researching and the pain of being turned away from publishing houses.

Her advice to anyone looking to publish would be to write about something you love, find a great editor, and really do your research on traditional versus self-publishing before you commit. It pays to have a great support system, too. If you cannot find it in family or friends, look for a writing group. There are online groups available now that were not available before. Publishing is certainly something Stacy never thought she would do, but now that it has happened she cannot wait to do it again.

Author Stacy Hawks

Stacy Hawks is a resident of Alleghany County, North Carolina located in the Blue Ridge mountains. After graduating from Alleghany High School as an NC Scholar, Stacy received her Associate of Arts Degree from Wilkes Community College, NC, a Bachelor of Arts in History Cum Laude from Brevard College, NC, and a Masters of Education degree from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.

Stacy is the author of a research paper completed during her time at Brevard College titled "The Success of the New Deal in Cherry Lane Township." The research helped to focus her interest on the Blue Ridge Parkway and how the project shaped Alleghany County.

She is also an Author in Residence for Appalachian Memory Keepers and her articles have been featured on the site discussing the history of places, events, and people of the rural mountain community she is proud to call home. 

Currently, Stacy is the author of three books, two being poetry. She is working on her third and final poetry book, and second novel, which is also a historical-fiction/true crime story that happened in her community.

When Stacy isn't working or writing, she is reading one of her favorite authors:  Jan Morris, Horace Kephart, Harley Jolley, Margaret Brown, Steve Berry, Vince Flynn (Kyle Mills). You can reach out to Stacy at the links below.

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Choosing Historical Fiction ~ by Author DK Marley

I am sure my story is not unique among writers. We all have that little itch that begins in childhood (at least that is when mine started) of telling stories, creating imaginary worlds, falling down rabbit holes, and the like. Alice and I were kindred spirits, skipping through the woods behind my grandparent's house, lost in a world of our own.

My childhood imaginings later developed into writing around middle school. The book that truly got me thinking about writing something of my own was Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson, as well as an insatiable appetite for all the books of Victoria Holt.

During my first year of High School, I started my very first novel. I think about that story now and cringe, but also smile to see how far I have come on my writing journey Oh, how I have learned and continue to learn, which is how it should be for a writer in any genre. For me, a writer needs to be a voracious reader, which I am to my own detriment sometimes because I have to remind myself that I need to get back to own stories.

The choice to become a historical fiction author felt so comfortable when I finally started finding my voice in the late 1980s. I wrote a novel back then of a young girl growing up in Kashmir during the British occupation, right before the Indian Mutiny, who was half Indian and half British. When I started doing the research for the novel, I knew then where I needed to be. Researching historical people and events found a home in my heart and in my novels.

That manuscript still sits on my shelf waiting for awakening. Perhaps, one day.

In 1997 is really when I started finding my voice as a writer for that

year was my very first visit to the UK. I dove into the history, toured every historical place I always heard about and dreamed about, especially anything having to do with William Shakespeare.

All those years ago, when I was that little girl creating worlds in my mind, my grandmother, an English Literature teacher, sparked my interest in literature and Shakespeare at the burgeoning age of eleven. She gave me her college textbooks and I finished reading both from cover to cover within a few months. My mind blossomed with the words of the Bard, Milton, Marlowe, Jonson, Sidney, and on and on... So when I visited the places in 1997, I knew a story was begging to be told. I just needed to find the right one.

During the trip, I visited the Globe Theatre in Southwark, and it was here that something spoke to me. A pair of eyes looked back at me from a display in the museum at the Globe, almost begging for me to tell his story. I started researching the relationship between Kit Marlowe and William Shakespeare, about the authorship question, and the rest is history.

Since that faithful day, and after years of writing, and editing, and

rewriting, and crying, and almost giving up; then going to an amazing writer's retreat and finding some incredible mentors, my first novel saw the light of day.

I published "Blood and Ink" (the first edition was only ten copies for my family and friends in 2010). The reaction was not what I hoped for and as a newbie writer, my heart broke. I gave up writing for five whole years. For five years, the itch never left me, but I never scratched. And then, tragedy struck our family. In February of 2015, a drunk driver took the lives of my daughter and son-in-law. In a flash, everything changed.

During my attempt to find a way to cope with the unbearable grief, I started a journal to my daughter, telling her things I wanted her to know as if we were still having conversations on the phone. A grief counselor told me that I needed to use this outlet as a way to heal. Writing burst back into my life at the moment I truly needed it. The release of writing the actions of my characters, the arc of the story, and the way the story ends gave control back to my life in a most unexpected way. Even the decision to self-publish empowered me.

Too many things were out of my control - the loss of my precious children, the day-to-day waking up with the emptiness and depression, the dealing with a callous unrepentant wrongdoer in the court case against the driver - so writing is healing me.

I will never be the same, of course. I am forever in that club now, a club I never wanted to be a part of, but it is what it is. Writing gives me a voice and writing about historical people and the past gives me the chance to connect with the past. Through the generations and centuries, we touch those now gone, we hear their voices, when we write historical fiction. Who knows, perhaps one day I will write a story for my daughter; but for now, to continue the legacy my grandmother gave me is enough. One day at a time, one word at a time, we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past (my favorite line from F. Scott Fitzgerald).

D. K. Marley is a historical fiction author specializing in Shakespearean themes. The "Shakespearean Madeline Miller", if you will. She is a true Stratfordian (despite the topic of her novel "Blood and Ink"), a Marlowe fan, a member of the Marlowe Society, the Shakespeare Fellowship and a signer of the Declaration of Intent for the Shakespeare Authorship Debate. Her new series titled "The Fractured Shakespeare Series" adapts each legendary play into a historical fiction novel. She has traveled to England three times for intensive research and debate workshops and is a graduate of the intense training workshop "The Writer's Retreat Workshop" founded by Gary Provost and hosted by Jason Sitzes. She lives in Georgia with her husband and a Scottish Terrier named Molly. You can get in touch with her via the links below.

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Seeing Double ~ by Lori Roberts

     You know what they say, “Everyone has a double somewhere!”  Well, I believe they are right.  I see people everywhere I go that looks like someone else.  My first memory of seeing a doppelganger was in my youth.  My dad was a doppelganger of his uncle, Knoful.  I remember seeing him at family reunions and thinking how much they resembled each other, but my dad wasn’t gray yet, so the resemblance wasn’t striking.
     Fast forward to my early twenties.  My father would stop on his way home from work at the local grocery store near my house.  His uncle also lived nearby.  As I made my way into the store, I saw who I thought to be my dad.  I even called out, “Dad!” to which Uncle Knoful turned.  Since he was the father of twelve children, he assumed I was one of his.  We both got a good laugh out of it, and I went on to tell Dad the next time I saw him.
     This happened one other time, but with my best friend. She saw Uncle Knoful dining with his wife at a local restaurant.  My best friend didn’t know him but told her husband that my dad was sitting across from them, only he wasn’t with my mom.  You can image! She called me later to tell me she saw my dad. I already knew before she finished. My parents were on a trip to Australia, so I knew who she’d seen.
     I’m sure you have similar stories or experiences. I have been doing research for a new novel I’m writing, set in the 1910-1912 Edwardian era. I was leafing through countless images and came across the story of a lady who’d survived not only the Titanic sinking, but two other disasters at sea as well. 
   

 Google Violet Jessup. She is quite the story. When I posted her picture on my history site, I started getting comments about there being a resemblance to me and some asked if this was a picture of me in character.  Of course, I didn’t see the resemblance, but out of the comments the post received, many saw something I didn’t. I share Violet’s photo aboard the Titanic, and myself as a historical character.

     I can think of several occasions throughout my life when someone approached me, thinking I was someone else. It happens to us all, I’m sure. I became interested in the idea of doppelgangers and did a bit of research after seeing an image of Nicholas Cage and his Civil War doppelganger. So, I will share a few of the ones I found. There are many! See if you agree, everyone has a twin.

Jennifer Lawrence and Zubaida Tharwat

Nicholae Grigorescu and Orlando Bloom

Ginger Rogers and Christina Aguilera

Jack Black and Paul Revere

Zora Neale Hurston and Queen Latifah

Conan O'Brien and Marshall Harvey Twitchell

unknown gentleman on the left

Maggie Gyllanhaal and Rose Wilder Lane

WWII General Douglas MacArthur and Bruce Willis

     After looking at my examples, do you agree? 

     I’ve enjoyed taking a side bar while researching. I think I’m easily distracted, which is probably why I get research for other books on my gallivanting around in history.

     I hope to have a future paranormal book (book 3 in my Lowcountry series) about something similar, only with our ancestors. I’ll keep you posted!