Ask the Author: L.K. Simonds
Answered Questions (4)
L.K. Simonds
My second novel, Stork Bite, is expected to release November 30, 2020. Stork Bite is Southern historical fiction. I'm thrilled to share these characters and their stories with readers. Here's a little bit about the book:
From the novel: “Everything must be reconciled eventually.”
Caddo Parish, 1913. On an October morning, a Klansman confronts seventeen-year-old David Walker at a hidden oxbow lake where he has gone to hunt. David accidentally kills the man and hides the crime. His determination to protect his family from reprisal drives him far from home and into manhood.
Shreveport, 1927. Cargie (rhymes with Margie) Barre and Mae Compton are two vastly different young women, but both are defying convention to reach for their dreams. The men in Cargie’s and Mae’s lives help and hinder them in more ways than one. After years in hiding, David Walker finally resurfaces, and we discover the past is never as far from the present as it seems.
From the novel: “Everything must be reconciled eventually.”
Caddo Parish, 1913. On an October morning, a Klansman confronts seventeen-year-old David Walker at a hidden oxbow lake where he has gone to hunt. David accidentally kills the man and hides the crime. His determination to protect his family from reprisal drives him far from home and into manhood.
Shreveport, 1927. Cargie (rhymes with Margie) Barre and Mae Compton are two vastly different young women, but both are defying convention to reach for their dreams. The men in Cargie’s and Mae’s lives help and hinder them in more ways than one. After years in hiding, David Walker finally resurfaces, and we discover the past is never as far from the present as it seems.
L.K. Simonds
Hi Shani! Thank you for the question. There isn't much similarity between Cami's personality and mine, I'm afraid. I wrote her braver and way more reckless than I am, and I admire those qualities in her. I believe Cami is more self-absorbed than I am (at least I hope she is!)
I will tell you something we shared, though. There's a scene in the first chapter when Cami sees her reflection in a vacant kiosk and has this moment, a moment she's had many times before, when she wonders why she's on the planet because she feels so disconnected from everyone. I drew that moment from personal experience. I used to feel disconnected like that. Here's the strange thing that happened: After I wrote Cami, I didn't feel that way anymore. It was as if I wrote those feelings out of me and into her, as if she were a scapegoat. I wrote the first manuscript for this novel twenty years ago. I think I needed to write it when I did, even though it wasn't published until now.
Thank you again, Shani!
I will tell you something we shared, though. There's a scene in the first chapter when Cami sees her reflection in a vacant kiosk and has this moment, a moment she's had many times before, when she wonders why she's on the planet because she feels so disconnected from everyone. I drew that moment from personal experience. I used to feel disconnected like that. Here's the strange thing that happened: After I wrote Cami, I didn't feel that way anymore. It was as if I wrote those feelings out of me and into her, as if she were a scapegoat. I wrote the first manuscript for this novel twenty years ago. I think I needed to write it when I did, even though it wasn't published until now.
Thank you again, Shani!
L.K. Simonds
The unexpected opportunities that come with being published. I had a wonderful opportunity to share advance copies of ALL IN with women incarcerated in Texas prisons through a non-profit called Bookmates4inmates. You won't find their reviews of the book on social media, but their feedback thus far has been amazing. Insightful and thoughtful. Their criticisms are honest, and so is their praise. I posted a few excerpts of reviews on Instagram and Facebook. Links to social media are on my author website at www.lksimonds.com. Here's a link to a brief YouTube video about ALL In and Bookmates4inmates: https://youtu.be/NJ63dBwUBH0
L.K. Simonds
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