A friend asked me how I pull together information for historical fiction novels. I get this question a lot, so after emailing her my reply, I realized this would make a good blog post.

It can be tough fictionalizing history because when you’re writing a true story about real people, you have to balance the facts you have with your imagination. I do my best to stay true to the facts. Occasionally, I’ve had to take a little creative license to make a story work, but I do that as little as possible so that the facts will remain intact. When writing about my relatives, I also wage an inner war over making my characters human while not disparaging them. It took me a long time to realize that you can’t just show people’s positive sides and expect a story to work. In the process I’ve made peace with the fact that my ancestors are okay with that.

An Uncertain Justice was the hardest book I’ve ever written yet because it was such a tragic story and the murder happens early. It was tricky to keep the suspense going so the reader would want to keep on reading. Besides that, it was like solving an 88-year-old mystery because it wasn’t as cut-and-dried as one might think. There’s some question as to whether the man they hanged should really have been hanged for the crime.

I love researching history … especially family history so that was fun. Here are a few places I used for research:

• I pulled old census records.
• Found Atlanta Constitution and New York Times articles on Ancestry.com.
• I interviewed 90-year-olds who were alive at the time and had some dim recollections … even though they were only children at the time.
• Interviewed the son of one of the deputies who assisted with the hanging.
• Spent a day at the Walker County Courthouse watching jury selection in the very place where the murder trial took place.
• Got hold of some Chattanooga and Walker County newspaper clippings, but the Atlanta Constitution articles were extremely thorough.
• My friend’s husband is an attorney in Walker County, and he got me a copy of the state appeals trial transcript!
• A distant relative compiled a book on the Lookout Mountain Morton’s that had character descriptions of my great-grandparents and all their children! That was a treasure-trove of info.
• Several years ago, before my grandmother’s sister died, I asked her about her family, life growing up, old family stories and transcribed what she said. That interview has been priceless in writing several of my books – most especially this one.
• I talked to my older cousin, my parents, and other relatives about my grandparents and what they were like when they were younger.

One interesting breakthrough was when I came into possession of an autobiography written by a coal miner who worked in the same mine as my GG-grandfather in the 1920’s. My grandfather gave the book to my mom in the 1970’s. She never read it, but kept it. When I started writing the story, she handed it to me. She wasn’t even sure if it covered the murder. I read the whole thing and it was great for setting research and for understanding how coal miners lived/worked. The man lived in another state during the murder though. I was bummed about that, but kept reading. When I got to the last few pages, as an afterthought the author basically wrote, “oh, and by the way, when I was home visiting I witnessed this murder…” His story was strikingly different than the newspaper accounts. He felt they did not use his testimony because he was a Mason, and they didn’t trust Masons.

I think the hardest part of it all was coming to grips with the fact that my grandfather had to be the central character. You’d think that would be easy, but when my grandfather died in the 90’s I cried more than I’ve cried when anyone died. Not because I was so heartbroken to lose him, but because I realized I didn’t know him. He was a quiet man, didn’t say much. I don’t remember having any lengthy conversations with him – even though he was around a lot. He came to our house frequently, and he and my father were close. But I didn’t really KNOW him. Some people you just don’t get close to, and I felt like I’d missed this window of opportunity that had been there all along. He was a goldmine of family history information, but I’d been too young and stupid to take advantage of it. Fortunately, my mother did listen to him and was able to convey some things, but nothing about this murder. He never spoke of it.

Knowing that this novel had to center on him was tough because the “Papaw” I knew was quiet, hard-working . . . honestly he seemed like such a bland character that I thought the story would bore people to tears. But as I wrote and researched, I came to see my grandfather in a new light. I came to love him and respect him for the path he’d chosen. I started to see his quiet strength was something to admire… and, I began to see how in some ways I am like him.

The best thing that comes from writing an ancestor’s story is that there’s a bond that forms that cannot be broken. I can’t even begin to put it into words. I’ve felt my family near me when I write their stories, and I love them all the more – even the ones I never knew personally. For me, it is truly a spiritual experience.