Frankie: The woman who inspired my all-time favorite character

When I began writing Under the Tulip Tree in the summer of 2018, I thought I knew where the story was headed. I'd discovered the slave narratives several years earlier while researching slavery in Texas for my plantation novels, so I was very familiar with the word-for-word first-person stories told to employees of the Federal Writers' Project by former slaves in 1936. My goal in writing Under the Tulip Tree was to capture the raw realness of the narratives by creating a character that would bring them to life for readers in the same way they'd come to life for me. The problem was, as I began writing Frankie's story, something was wrong. She was flat. A cardboard cutout of a woman who'd endured one of the most shameful practices known to man. I could have kept writing and hoped for the best, but ultimately I knew something major needed to change. I just didn't know what. 

Getting the character of Frankie right was vital. Not just for the sake of the story, but for the sake of the history behind the story. For the real people whom my characters would represent. The former slaves who shared their stories with strangers back in 1936 deserved my very best in 2018. To accomplish that, I needed to dig deeper. Deeper into Frankie, and deeper into myself.  

I returned to the narratives. While I prefer to read them in their unedited state, with the storytellers' own pronunciation and wording, the little research book I'd purchased about slavery in Tennessee is edited for clarity.  I picked it up, as I'd done dozens of times, and thumbed through the pages, wondering what I was missing in Frankie's story. Because it would be impossible for me to understand what life was like for a person kept in bondage, I relied heavily on the narratives themselves to guide me. 

After searching the pages without success,  I closed it, frustrated. I couldn't keep working on my book until I figured this out.

That's when my eyes fell on the woman gracing the cover of the research book. Of course I'd seen her picture many times before, but this was the first time I truly looked at it. What I saw was an elderly Black woman sitting on the porch of a simple dwelling, deep in thought. There are other details to notice--her braids, her ring, the hole in her blouse--but it was her hand in her lap that captured my attention. 

In the photo, it doesn't seem quite right. The knuckles look too big and there may be a finger or two missing.

"What happened to her hand?" I gasped.

That question---and the answer I eventually imagined---completely changed Under the Tulip Tree and Frankie's story. I won't give any spoilers, but for those of you who have read the book, you know what I mean. Frankie's story poured out from that picture. I did some investigating and discovered that the woman pictured was a sharecropper in Mississippi.  Her name, however, was unfortunately not recorded. 

(Note: I eventually found a second photograph taken from a different angle and it does appear that all her fingers are intact.) 

Cotton sharecropper. Library of Congress.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017770271/

For me, this precious woman has become Frankie. I hope one day I can hug her and tell her about Frankie and how her picture and her life changed me. 

I hope you'll choose to read Under the Tulip Tree and get to know Frankie and Rena. Click the link on the sidebar of the cover for purchase information or you can find the book wherever books are sold.

You can also read why I believe forgiveness is important, even in fiction, HERE.

Every blessing,

Michelle 

Why I Wrote UNDER THE TULIP TREE

Hello!

I continue to be immeasurably grateful so many new readers are discovering my historical novel

  UNDER THE TULIP TREE! 

Thank you! We're closing in on 20,000 ratings on Goodreads, and the book has been an Amazon #1 Bestseller in different categories off and on for several months now! 

Whoop!

While I fully understand there are readers who did not like the book--and that's okay!--many of you are curious as to why I chose to write about slavery. 

To answer that question, as well as many others, I made a video for a book club a few years ago that explains it all. I talk about discovering the Federal Writers Project Slave Narratives, the development of Frankie's character, and how my own background plays a role in my desire to celebrate diversity through my novels. 

Click the link and take a listen! 

WARNING: If you haven't read the novel yet, be aware that there are a few spoiler-ish comments, although I don't give away details of the story itself. 

If you haven't read the novel yet, here's some purchase information!

Blessings,

Michelle

Link to video: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.shocklee/videos/513184534313672

It's Release Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 

UNDER THE TULIP TREE!! 

"...for He already had in mind what He was going to do." John 6:6

Today is Under the Tulip Tree's birthday! Whoohoo!! I'm so excited to share this story of unlikely friendship, reconciliation, and forgiveness with readers. I began writing it in the summer of 2018, signed the contract in August 2019, and here we are in September 2020. It's not exactly like the birth of a child, but close. We authors have hopes and dreams for our "book babies." Not just that they will succeed out in the big world, but that they'll serve a purpose that goes beyond sales numbers and reviews. The verse I've quoted above from John 6:6 is the verse I've chosen for this book. Jesus was getting ready to feed the 5,000, but all he had to work with was five small barley loaves and two small fish. Under the Tulip Tree is my loaves and fish. A small offering in the hands of Jesus can do amazing things! 

I'd love for you to celebrate with me. I'll give away a FREE signed copy of Under the Tulip Tree to one of you! Just leave a comment on this post and I'll put your name in a special drawing I'm holding exclusively for readers of my blog. For an extra chance at winning a copy of the book and some other Nashville-themed goodies, all you need to do is become a subscriber to the blog (which currently acts as my newsletter). I promise you won't be inundated with emails--only a few here and there. I'll be giving away several copies of the book over the next months, but only folks signed up to receive the blog via email will be entered as a way of saying THANK YOU for your continued support and encouragement. To subscribe, enter your email in the top right-hand corner of the blog home page. It's easy to unsubscribe at any time...but I hope we'll stay connected here.

Under the Tulip Tree is available online and in bookstores. Visit my website for store options or you can visit my Amazon page. 

Thanks for celebrating with me!

Every blessing,

~Michelle

Slave Bills of Sale and Other Research

I'm deep into the edits of Book 2 in The Women of Rose Hill historical fiction series. The sequel to The Planter's Daughter, this book is set on the same Texas cotton plantation and takes place five years after the first book. If you know your Texas history, you'll recognize the date of June 18, 1865. That was the day Union Army troops landed in Galveston, bringing with them the Emancipation Proclamation that freed over 250,000 slaves still in bondage despite the end of the Civil War. As you can imagine, many changes will take place on Rose Hill plantation, so stay tuned to find out when the release date will be! If you haven't read The Planter's Daughter, click HERE to order your copy! History, romance, drama, slavery! It has it all and more, and is getting lots of 5-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads! I think you'll enjoy it! 😄

Since Book 2 won't be out for a while, I thought I'd share some of the research I've done with you to whet your appetite. It was truly a fascinating time in our nation's history!

One item that comes into play in the story is a Bill of Sale. A Bill of Sale was a document given to the purchaser of a slave to prove ownership. When we buy a car these days, we receive a title that shows the car belongs to us. That is what a Bill of Sale did regarding a slave. They were often handwritten, but some slave traders and brokers actually had forms printed and simply filled in the blanks. It is unreal to me that the document pictured below represented the sale of a human being. That human being was named George and he was 23 years old.

In Texas, the largest slave market was located in Galveston. Smaller ones existed in San Antonio and Houston, but because Galveston is a port city, it made sense that slave traders would set up business there. Thousands upon thousands of slaves were bought and sold there. I won't go into the horrific details of what a slave might have endured during these transactions, but suffice it to say animals often fared better.

I've posted about this little book before, but it deserves to be mentioned again because I could not have written about slavery in Texas without it. I Was Born in Slavery provides true narratives of former Texas slaves. In 1936, our government sent out-of-work writers south to interview former slaves so we would have record of their stories. Most were in their 80s, 90s, and 100s, so it was important to hear in their own words what life was like as a slave before we lost the chance. Some of them shared stories about the day "Freedom" came to Texas, and I've incorporated many of their words and reactions into my book. Staying true to the slaves' actual lives and experiences is extremely important to me as an author of historical fiction.

A new character who arrives at Rose Hill in Book 2 is Corporal William Banks. Corporal Banks lands in Galveston with the Union Troops, eager to help set Texas slaves free. As a black Federal soldier, he would have been especially satisfied to see slaves walk off plantations and farms. The young man pictured below looks just like how I imagine Corporal Banks would have looked when he rides into Rose Hill plantation with Colonel Levi Maish, our new hero. I think readers of The Planter's Daughter will be pleased with his story.

So there is just a sneak peek at Book 2!  Go HERE to see some of the pictures on Pinterest that give me inspiration as I'm writing. I truly love all the new characters in the book as well as the returning characters from The Planter's Daughter.  I think you'll love them too! Of course, the book's hero and heroine (a daughter of Rose Hill and returning character) will experience all kinds of difficulties, heart-throbbing romance, and important growth within themselves, just as the characters in Book 1 did. Readers will not be disappointed! I'll let you know the release date soon! In the meantime, be sure to get your copy of The Planter's Daughter HERE. Kindle copies are only $2.99!! Enjoy!

Blessings,

~Michelle

"I was born in Slavery. Let me tell you about it."

A lot of people are curious about how I came up with the dialect the slaves speak in The Planter's Daughter. Well, let me tell you a little story. 

As I set out to write The Planter’s Daughter, an antebellum novel set on a Texas cotton plantation in 1859, I took great care in researching the setting, the time period, and the events that unfold throughout the story. Even though I’ve lived in Texas for more than thirty years, there was much I didn’t know about the Lone Star State’s history after the Alamo and prior to the Civil War. For instance, I was surprised to learn how many plantations existed during that time period, with some like Liendo Plantation still standing today. Although cotton wasn’t king in Texas just yet, it was a money-making crop for many planters. And as we all know, slave labor was key.

With that in mind, I was especially concerned with accuracy when it came to telling the slaves’ accounts. Their stories, I felt, needed special attention in order for readers to truly see slavery on a Texas plantation. I didn’t want to simply use generalities about slavery in the south. That’s when I discovered a book titled I Was Born in Slavery: Personal Accounts of Slavery in Texas.

In 1936, with the Great Depression raging, the government established the Federal Writers’ Project, with one notable project being the Slave Narrative Collection. Out-of-work writers were dispatched across the South to interview former slaves, all of whom were by then in their 80s, 90s, and 100s. Over 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs were documented and are now archived in the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Some of the stories have found their way into print, like those in I Was Born in Slavery.

The writers/interviewers took great care to preserve the former slaves’ idiom, feeling it was as important to preserve the subject’s manner of speech as it was to preserve what they said. I used that dialect when writing dialog. Some of the former slaves' speech was especially heavy with the dialect, and others weren't. I chose to find a balance between the two, because the dialect can make for hard reading, as in Uncle Tom's Cabin, the 1852 book that is credited as being one of the catalysts of the Civil War. 

While writing my book, I chose two slaves in particular to speak with a heavier dialect: Moses and Mammy. Their usage of words like "dem" and "dat" is NOT to poke fun at their lack of education or in any way to degrade them as people, but rather to remain true to the language spoken on an 1859 Texas cotton plantation. The other slaves in the book use a less heavy dialect, but still stay within the speech used by the former slaves in I Was Born in Slavery. Like the interviewers, I felt it was important to portray slavery and the slaves as they were, not as we would like them to be. 

The former slaves' testimonies in I Was Born in Slavery changed my book. They changed me as a writer and as a person. Long after The Planter’s Daughter is gathering dust on the shelves, a little orange book with a smiling old gentleman on the cover will, I am certain, continue to draw me to it, almost as though I can hear one of the former slaves say, “I was born in slavery. Let me tell you about it.”

I hope you'll grab a copy of The Planter's Daughter (click here to order). I'm getting great feedback from readers who say they can't put the book down. It's currently holding at 4.9 stars on Amazon and 4.6 stars on Goodreads! Here are a few of the comments readers have posted:

"I loved this story from beginning to end!" ~ Amazon reader

"A riveting read!" ~Goodreads reader

"This could make another great Southern plantation movie." ~Amazon reviewer

"A page-turner-could-hardly-put-it-down kind of book." ~Goodreads reader

Happy reading!


~Michelle