Why I Write
I've always been in search for the answer to the question, "What would it have been like?"
Since I've been a child, I've had a fascination with history. Who were the movers and shakers of the past? What motivated and drove them to do what they did? What events and people influenced them? What was life like while they walked the earth?
Some of these questions can be answered by research and study, the basic tools of any historical fiction writer. Others, however, can only be explored by putting yourselves in the shoes of those who came before you.
And so, this is what I feel compelled to do. It isn't difficult to find fascinating and sometimes controversial people from the past. They haunt our landscapes and our history books. They draw attention to themselves with their actions and their words. And yet, the only way to try to truly understand them, one must find a way to throw oneself back into the past and try to re-live life through the eyes of those around them.
My first book, "Riding with Forrest", explores the military exploits of one of the most controversial men of the Civil War. It in no way condones slavery or the evils perpetrated by it. It is simply an exploration of what it would have been like to have fought with such a man as Nathan Bedford Forrest, hated by his enemies yet nearly worshiped by most of those who fought with him. I had to put myself in the shoes of one of his men, observing that man from the inside, not with the eyes of an adult in the 21st century.
Controversial? Yes. Did I have a choice in publishing it? No. In this age of erasing people, I felt driven to share it. I believe everyone has a story. Everyone has a voice. No one deserves to be erased. History should not be expunged because we disagree with the thoughts and motivations of those who came before us. How else can we understand history if we don't explore all aspects of it?
Since I've been a child, I've had a fascination with history. Who were the movers and shakers of the past? What motivated and drove them to do what they did? What events and people influenced them? What was life like while they walked the earth?
Some of these questions can be answered by research and study, the basic tools of any historical fiction writer. Others, however, can only be explored by putting yourselves in the shoes of those who came before you.
And so, this is what I feel compelled to do. It isn't difficult to find fascinating and sometimes controversial people from the past. They haunt our landscapes and our history books. They draw attention to themselves with their actions and their words. And yet, the only way to try to truly understand them, one must find a way to throw oneself back into the past and try to re-live life through the eyes of those around them.
My first book, "Riding with Forrest", explores the military exploits of one of the most controversial men of the Civil War. It in no way condones slavery or the evils perpetrated by it. It is simply an exploration of what it would have been like to have fought with such a man as Nathan Bedford Forrest, hated by his enemies yet nearly worshiped by most of those who fought with him. I had to put myself in the shoes of one of his men, observing that man from the inside, not with the eyes of an adult in the 21st century.
Controversial? Yes. Did I have a choice in publishing it? No. In this age of erasing people, I felt driven to share it. I believe everyone has a story. Everyone has a voice. No one deserves to be erased. History should not be expunged because we disagree with the thoughts and motivations of those who came before us. How else can we understand history if we don't explore all aspects of it?
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