Topics include the challenges of selling a book with a different race from the author, starting a story in the right place, and crafting intentional timelines. The interview with Maura Cheeks covers her debut novel, writing dual timelines, and using news stories for exposition.
The podcast emphasizes the importance of accurately representing a character's age in their interiority.
Starting a story in the right place is crucial for engaging readers from the beginning.
Infusing realistic elements in speculative fiction novels adds depth and authenticity to the narrative.
Leaving the novel's timeline unspecified allows for a timeless exploration of complex themes.
Deep dives
Reparations Bill for Black Families
The novel explores a scenario where the country passes its first reparations bill for Black families, following the Rebel family across four generations as they trace their lineage to qualify for the funds while managing their struggling family business.
Ambition, Wealth, and Inheritance
Acts of Forgiveness delves into themes of ambition, wealth, and inheritance as the Rebel family navigates the complexities of accessing reparations and grappling with the legacy of their ancestors.
First Female President Setting
The book unfolds in a context where the nation is led by its first female president, although the timeframe remains intentionally unspecified to avoid direct associations with current political figures.
Family Business Struggles
In addition to the reparations journey, the Rebel family contends with challenges within their family business, highlighting the multifaceted dynamics of ambition and heritage.
Deliberate Setting Choices
By leaving the exact date unspecified, the author ensures that readers can immerse themselves in the narrative without fixed temporal constraints, fostering a timeless quality to the exploration of reparations, wealth, and familial legacy.
Author Moira Cheeks'
Award-winning author Moira Cheeks infuses Acts of Forgiveness with intricate layers of exploration into social justice, family narratives, and the nuanced intersections of ambition, heritage, and reparations.
The Journey to Publication Process
The author discusses the lengthy process from writing the original Atlantic article to landing an agent and eventually selling the book. Starting with nonfiction pieces in 2017, the author transitioned into writing a speculative fiction novel titled 'Acts of Forgiveness.' The journey involved querying multiple agents, making changes to find the right representation, and undergoing months of edits before finally selling the book in November 2021.
Incorporating Realistic Elements in Fiction
The podcast delves into the author's approach to incorporating realistic elements in a speculative fiction narrative about reparations. By conducting interviews with experts like Professor Darity on reparations policies, the author ensured accuracy and depth in the storyline. Exploring genealogy in Mississippi and engaging with historical institutions for research added authenticity to the characters' journeys. Despite taking poetic license in some aspects, the author aimed to responsibly depict the impact of a politically sensitive topic like reparations in a compelling narrative.
In today's Books with Hooks segment, Bianca, Carly and CeCe discuss the importance of specifying between awards for published and unpublished manuscripts; the difficulty with trying to sell a book whose main character’s race and culture differs from the author’s lived experience; the need for a main character’s interiority to accurately reflect their age; including specifics in your plot paragraph; being explicit with your stakes; including information that shows the relationship dynamics between your protagonist and others; and the need to start your story in the right place.
After which, Bianca interviews writer and essayist, Maura Cheeks. They discuss Maura's debut novel, Acts of Forgiveness; intentionality with the novel's timeline; Maura's journey to publication; the reasons for the delay in publishing Acts of Forgiveness; the extent to which Maura's submission pitch aligns with the published book; the research process; writing a dual timeline as a debut novel; and incorporating news stories and speeches as exposition.
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