When I sit down to write, I’m not just telling a story. I’m stepping into a world built on facts, wounds, whispers, and echoes that still shape who we are today.

As a writer of African American historical fiction — especially centered around the pre- and post-Civil War era — I carry a responsibility: to honor the truth of history without turning it into a documentary. But I also carry a gift: the freedom to weave in emotional depth, relationships, suspense, and redemption, all through the lens of imagined but deeply human characters.

📚 The Research Comes First

Before I write a single scene, I immerse myself in historical research. From firsthand slave narratives to 1850s maps of the Deep South, from legislation like the Fugitive Slave Act to letters between abolitionists — I’m looking for texture: What did the air smell like? What would an enslaved person hear outside their cabin window at midnight?

My novels, like Antebellum Struggles, Venus’ Story, or The Adventures of Sunny Washington, are built on these lived details. It’s not just about being “accurate” — it’s about respecting the voices of the past.

🧩 Truth Is the Foundation — Fiction Is the Bridge

Historical truth gives me the framework — fiction gives me the freedom to feel.

Characters like Amana, a house servant whose life unravels in a mansion she never chose to live in, or Tabari, a field slave hunted after escape, are not pulled from textbooks — but they are built on real emotional truths that history doesn’t always record.

There’s room for:

• Suspense — because escaping slavery was suspenseful.
• Lust and betrayal — because humans in all eras have made messy, haunting choices.
• Redemption and love — because even in cruelty, compassion survived.

🗣️ Giving Voice to the Silenced

One of my goals is to give voice to the silenced, unseen, and unnamed. The enslaved women who were torn from their children. The men who were forced to fight for masters they never chose. The spies, like Rachael in A Spy’s Eyes, whose loyalties and survival were never black-and-white.

I fictionalize their stories — but never their pain. I dramatize their journeys — but never their importance.

🧪 Finding the Emotional Truth

At the end of the day, I ask myself:
Would someone who lived through this time feel seen by what I’ve written?
If the answer is yes, then the balance is right.

💬 Final Thoughts

Writing historical fiction — especially about slavery — is never easy. But it’s necessary. I don’t sugarcoat the brutality, but I also don’t leave readers without hope.

Because that’s what history is: harsh truths mixed with the stubborn spark of humanity.

Thank you for reading — and for honoring these stories with me.