Interview With The Etchings Press (2019)

On writing:

EP: How long have you been writing?

RLL: Since I was nine years old.

EP: What is your writing routine?

RLL: I write late at night. I start around 9 or 10 and write until midnight or one in the morning.

EP: Do you write in any other genre, like nonfiction essays or poems?

RLL: Literary and science fiction.

EP: What’s one piece of advice you would give a prospective writer?

RLL: Take long walks and talk to your characters or talk AS your characters. Be careful though, someone might hear you and think you’re peculiar.

On Savonne, Not Vonny:

EP: What was your inspiration for Savonne, Not Vonny?

RLL: Louisiana and Indianapolis

EP; How long did it take you to write this novella?

RLL: 8 years off and on. How many drafts? So many I didn’t keep count.

EP: Why did you want to include a two-headed copperhead snake in the story?

RLL: I saw a picture of a bifurcated snake when I was young, and I always remembered it. I wanted something that could actually be found in nature but was so fantastical it seems like a mythological creature. A two headed snake would work perfectly.

EP: How did you come up with the name Diamond John?

RLL: Diamond Joe is one of my favorite John Mellencamp songs from one of my favorite albums - Trouble No More. But I didn’t want to name my character Diamond Joe, so I settled on Diamond John.

EP: What about the name Savonne?

RLL: I worked in social services for many years and sometimes I would come across someone with an unusual name or a beautiful name or a wild name. Savaughn was one that I saw only twice in my many years of working with hundreds of people. I changed the spelling but always loved that name.

EP: Did you outline the whole novella before you wrote it, or did it develop over time?  

RLL: I started with the character of Pompey. I wrote his biography and combined his story with a short story I wrote years ago about a little girl growing up in the back of a brothel. I always wanted to write about Kali in America. So I decided to add Kali in the mix. I wavered back and forth on that. I wanted a goddess that was summoned by Pompey to protect Savonne after he had to leave his life. I thought about a Voodoo Lwa, a Celtic Goddess, a Native American Deity, but I always came back to my favorite blue-skinned, many armed, skull wearing, wild eyed Hindu Demon Killer - Kali.

On setting:

EP: Your story begins and ends in Indianapolis, but Savonne spends most of her time in New Orleans or traveling between the two locations. Can you speak to the significance of both of these locations?

RLL: To me New Orleans and Louisiana is the older southern African American culture. More magical and mysterious. When the black migration to the north happened, a lot of that old-time magic was left behind. The African Americans in the north were more prosperous, treated better (not much) and developed a different way of living. Some of the old ways did not travel well and were left behind. I wanted Savonne to bring that lost magic back with her to the north.

EP: Your novel talks a lot about the culture of New Orleans. How much research about the culture did you have to do before or during the writing process?

RLL: Over the years, I have studied and read about New Orleans. I visit every year and love everything about the city and its culture and the surrounding swamps and bayou. I never thought of it as research, just a strong curiosity and a feeling that it was part of my roots.

On magic:

EP: There are many elements of Voodoo magic in Savonne, Not Vonny… what got you interested in this topic?

RLL: I read a book about Marie Laveau when I was a teenager. It started with that.

EP: Why did you decide to include this magic in your novella?

RLL: Because I love American magic and to me there is no other magic more purely American than New Orleans voodoo root work.

EP: What research did you have to do about Voodoo magic to write this novella?

RLL: I had to look up some spells and find the recipe for Goofer dust. I made up the word Alumic and thought I would use that made up substance to amplify the power of Goofer Dust. I later found out the Alumic is a branch of four African languages! I also reviewed what I knew about Papa Legba.

*Read more about Savonne, Note Vonny at Etchings Press: http://etchings.uindy.edu/book-contests/savonne-not-vonny/