Ask the Author: Sherry Jones
Answered Questions (13)
Sherry Jones
I saw all the stories and clips, and in spite of some bad information most of it was very good! She deserves this honor and would have been THRILLED.
Sherry Jones
Thank you for asking, Patricia, and for reading JOSEPHINE BAKER'S LAST DANCE. I researched and wrote--often concurrently--for more than four years. I read many books but also her letters, and visited many of the places where she lived and worked in St. Louis, Paris, and the French Dordogne, where her castle is now a museum.
I agree that Ms. Baker's early life is challenging to read about, but also fascinating as she joins the TOBA black-vaudeville circuit and hobnobs with great performers of the early 1900s such as Clara Smith and Bessie Smith. Learning about her difficult childhood makes one respect her many accomplishments that much more, do you agree?
I agree that Ms. Baker's early life is challenging to read about, but also fascinating as she joins the TOBA black-vaudeville circuit and hobnobs with great performers of the early 1900s such as Clara Smith and Bessie Smith. Learning about her difficult childhood makes one respect her many accomplishments that much more, do you agree?
Sherry Jones
Thank you very, very much! :)
Sherry Jones
JOSEPHINE BAKER'S LAST DANCE debuts Dec. 4, and I'm gearing up to start a social media campaign featuring the many photos I have from her life and times as well as ones I took in St. Louis, where she lived as a child; Paris; and the Dordogne, where she owned a castle. I have so much knowledge about this amazing performer, spy, and civil rights activist that I want to share!
As for my next project, I have two in mind: an autofiction novel about growing up in the Bible Belt, and a biographical novel about a kick-ass woman from the 1960s. PLUS I'm thinking to aim for grad school in fall 2020 so I can start my PhD!
As for my next project, I have two in mind: an autofiction novel about growing up in the Bible Belt, and a biographical novel about a kick-ass woman from the 1960s. PLUS I'm thinking to aim for grad school in fall 2020 so I can start my PhD!
Sherry Jones
Hi John, this is a great question! Josephine Baker became fluent in French--in fact, it was said that she spoke better French than English. And indeed, when she came to the U.S. in 1935 to perform with the Ziegfeld Follies--the first black performer to headline with them--she felt so embarrassed by her poor, pidgin English that she only spoke French, evoking scorn from some people. "Honey," Fannie Flagg, her co-star, chided, "why don't you speak the way yo' mouf was born?"
Her English grammar was not very good in her young adulthood, probably at least in part because she skipped school most days as a child to hang out with the black vaudeville performers at the Booker T. Washington Theater in St. Louis, where she grew up, and dropped out of school altogether at age 13 to become a performer, herself.
Later in life, she did study with an English coach, improving her vocabulary, grammar, and diction. She also studied Spanish and German. Her romantic partner and business manager Pepito Abatino used to lock her in her room until she'd finished her lessons, which also included piano--but she seems to have had a gift for learning languages.
Thank you for the question! You can read all about Josephine's amazing life, funny stories and all, in JOSEPHINE BAKER'S LAST DANCE, debuting Dec. 4.
Sherry
Her English grammar was not very good in her young adulthood, probably at least in part because she skipped school most days as a child to hang out with the black vaudeville performers at the Booker T. Washington Theater in St. Louis, where she grew up, and dropped out of school altogether at age 13 to become a performer, herself.
Later in life, she did study with an English coach, improving her vocabulary, grammar, and diction. She also studied Spanish and German. Her romantic partner and business manager Pepito Abatino used to lock her in her room until she'd finished her lessons, which also included piano--but she seems to have had a gift for learning languages.
Thank you for the question! You can read all about Josephine's amazing life, funny stories and all, in JOSEPHINE BAKER'S LAST DANCE, debuting Dec. 4.
Sherry
Sherry Jones
Hi Stephanie! I've been remiss in answering my questions, so immersed in my WIP which is, in six months, going to be a published book. :) Finishing, I felt empty at first, but now am starting to unwind and enjoy the "down" time. Let me say, though, that 2016 was a great year--I went to New York and did a jazz tour of Harlem as part of my research into Josephine Baker, and it was one of the best nights I've had in that city. I highly recommend Big Apple Tours for this, and no, they aren't paying me. ;)
Sherry Jones
Urenna, thank you for asking about my book-in-progress! My Josephine Baker book is biographical fiction, an imagining of her remarkable life based on the many books I've read about her, the Jazz Age in America and Paris, the art and music of that time, the Harlem Renaissance, Berlin in the 20s, the French Resistance during World War II, the early Civil Rights movement, and more. I even went to Paris and to her amazing, storybook castle in Dordogne, France, to visit the places where she lived and worked--which made for more than one spine-tingling experience.
My novel explores her transformation from a young performer hungry for love to a courageous spy and civil-rights activist, a woman changed when she found something outside herself -- and greater than herself -- to live for.
My novel explores her transformation from a young performer hungry for love to a courageous spy and civil-rights activist, a woman changed when she found something outside herself -- and greater than herself -- to live for.
Sherry Jones
Ernest Hemingway famously said, "The first draft is always shit." Everything you write, you're going to have to rewrite, anyway -- so why not just glory in its badness? Why not set out deliberately to write something really, really terrible? You're going to re-write, anyway, right?
I think what gets in the way of our creative process is the fear of failure. Sigmund Freud said writer's block comes from having an "ideal" in our minds and fearing that we won't be able to meet it. Don't put pressure on your writing this way! Think, instead, of your first draft as a lump of clay that you're going to sculpt later.
Does this help? Natalie Goldberg calls the critical editor inside our thoughts "monkey mind." Her books "Writing Down the Bones" and "Wild Mind" suggest daily "writing practice" in which you keep your hand moving at all times, not stopping long enough to let the "monkey" in. She also includes writing "prompts," such as suggesting you take a walk and pay careful, deliberate attention to everything around you: the cracks in the sidewalk, the birdsong, the people you meet, etc. Then, you hurry home to your computer or notebook and write everything down as quickly as you can, recalling every detail. I think her books are wonderful antidotes for writer's block, and great muscle-flexxing tools for everyone who writes.
I am sorry to take so long to answer this question! Apparently, I don't have my notifications set correctly here -- and I will change that right away.
If you have more questions, Cintia, please do feel free to ask. At any rate, let me know you're doing against that bully "writer's block"!
Sherry
I think what gets in the way of our creative process is the fear of failure. Sigmund Freud said writer's block comes from having an "ideal" in our minds and fearing that we won't be able to meet it. Don't put pressure on your writing this way! Think, instead, of your first draft as a lump of clay that you're going to sculpt later.
Does this help? Natalie Goldberg calls the critical editor inside our thoughts "monkey mind." Her books "Writing Down the Bones" and "Wild Mind" suggest daily "writing practice" in which you keep your hand moving at all times, not stopping long enough to let the "monkey" in. She also includes writing "prompts," such as suggesting you take a walk and pay careful, deliberate attention to everything around you: the cracks in the sidewalk, the birdsong, the people you meet, etc. Then, you hurry home to your computer or notebook and write everything down as quickly as you can, recalling every detail. I think her books are wonderful antidotes for writer's block, and great muscle-flexxing tools for everyone who writes.
I am sorry to take so long to answer this question! Apparently, I don't have my notifications set correctly here -- and I will change that right away.
If you have more questions, Cintia, please do feel free to ask. At any rate, let me know you're doing against that bully "writer's block"!
Sherry
Sherry Jones
Sara, the emotional lives of your characters is the most important aspect of any novel. Go as deeply as you can into their inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations to reveal their true selves to your readers. This, more than anything else you do, will create a rich experience that allows your readers to connect with your characters, your novel, and you. As far as historical research and how much you should use of it, include those details that add to the story -- sensual detail for the setting, historical accuracy for believability -- but not more than that. John Gardner wrote that reading our books should be like dreaming. You want to immerse your reader in the dream you create and keep them there -- not to bore them by overloading your story with all those wonderful facts you have in your head. Thank you for your question!
Sherry Jones
My favorite authors? Wow -- how much time do you have? Eudora Welty, Cecelia Holland, Ellen Gilchrist, Marilynne Robinson, David Mitchell, Nathan Englander, Ann Patchett, Hilary Mantel, Nicole Krauss, Rick Demarinis, Debra Magpie Earling, Rebecca Kanner, Salman Rushdie, Jane Smiley, Anne Tyler, Amanda Coplin, Kate Atkinson, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Safran Foer, Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende, Alice Hoffman, Pamela Hansford Johnson, and whichever wonderful writer whose book I'll read next. :)
Sherry Jones
My next novel is about the world-famous African-American entertainer Josephine Baker, who went to Paris at age 19 and took the city by storm. She lived such a fascinating life, freewheeling and wild and so full of love, yet she suffered such heartache when life denied her the one thing she wanted most. She went on to become a courageoua war hero, awarded the French medal of honor, and one of the U.S.'s first outspoken desegregationists, even sacrificing her career for the cause!
Sherry Jones
Marguerite, the sister striving to achieve under the unrelenting thumb of her jealous mother-in-law, was the most difficult to write. How to portray her sympathetically? Even historians haven't been kind to her, calling her weak, manipulative, etc., but i saw her as very courageous. My decision to take her down the Nile just after childbirth to negotiate her husband's releaae with the Egyptian queen Shajar-al-Din did the trick, I think, and Beatrice's memory of her blugeoning a crocodile with an oar.
Speaking of Beatrice, she was the most enjoyable to write. As the bratty baby of the family, she took on a snarky tone and developed a ruthlessness that made me laugh. I rubbed my hands with glee whenever it was her turn in the story, eager to unleaah my inner bitch!
Speaking of Beatrice, she was the most enjoyable to write. As the bratty baby of the family, she took on a snarky tone and developed a ruthlessness that made me laugh. I rubbed my hands with glee whenever it was her turn in the story, eager to unleaah my inner bitch!
Sherry Jones
I never have it! As a journalist for more than 30 years, largely writing for newspapers, I never had the luxury of staring at a blank screen and writing ... nothing. That's not to say that writing fiction is always easy -- it isn't. But I somehow forge ahead in spite of the voices telling me that I'm doing it all wrong, remembering Hemingway's famous quote: "The first draft is always shit."
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more