New Face - Savannah Frierson

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A RISING STAR - SAVANNAH FRIERSON

by La-Tessa Montgomery

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Name:	Savannah J. Frierson
Date of Birth:	22nd May
Occupation:	Writer/Proofreader/Editor
City of Residence:	Somerville, MA
Some Favorite Authors:	Mildred D. Taylor, Beverly Jenkins, James Baldwin, Harper Lee, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Brenda Jackson, Sandra Kitt, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou
Some Favorite Books:	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, Beloved

About you and your journey:

1. Tell us a little about your background and how long you have been writing. I went to Harvard and graduated in 2005 with a double concentration in African and African-American Studies and English, with a focus on Interracial and African-American literature. I didn’t start writing until I was twelve, when my uncle sent me to Duke Young Writers’ Camp. I didn’t want to go, but when it was time to leave, I couldn’t wait for next summer. I went for six years—every year I was eligible—but I was writing primarily poetry. I didn’t start original prose writing until my junior year in college when I took a short story course; and I didn’t start my first novel until the summer of my senior year, when I started writing my novella/thesis RECONSTRUCTING JADA CHANNING.

2. During your author session at the Romance Slam Jam, you were telling us about the uniqueness of your senior thesis and some people’s reaction to it; do you mind sharing a bit of that story with our viewers today? It is very rare for a student to do a creative thesis, and I’d been met with some resistance because I’d been told I could not do a thesis, even though I was a joint concentrator, because my GPA wasn’t high enough; whereas from freshman year I’d been led to believe the GPA requirement didn’t matter because of my joint concentrator status. So I had to switch my primary from English to African and African-American Studies so I could write the thesis in order to graduate. I had Jamaica Kincaid as my thesis advisor, and she pretty much let me do my thing while giving me advice—she was very much a guider and not a leader. And in the end, I made a magna-plus—one step away from summa, and both graders had given that score to me. I didn’t expect such a high grade, but I was certainly glad and relieved for it!

3. What convinced you to get started on your first book? Were there any major challenges that almost prevented you from going ahead with it? Well, technically RECONSTRUCTING JADA CHANNING is the first novel I started; but I was getting cold feet for it, which is how I started BEING PLUMVILLE. There is this contest every year in November called National Novel Writing Month where you write 50K words by the end of the month. So I was doing that (BEING PLUMVILLE) and my thesis. Nevertheless, my thesis advisor told me to stay the course with RECONSTRUCTING—she could see the forest for the trees where I couldn’t, and had faith in it where I didn’t. But, I also didn’t want to completely abandon BEING PLUMVILLE, either. So I set it aside and finished RECONSTRUCTING, but when the thesis was over, I worked on BEING PLUMVILLE.

4. You are a self-published author, what led you to make this decision? Has this road been easier or harder than you originally assumed?

I’d gotten rejections for BEING PLUMVILLE, and while I knew I probably wouldn’t get accepted by the first place where I submitted, the tenor for the rejections left me baffled. And then my friend told me a lot of people won’t understand the book because of when it’s set and what the story’s about; and that the people who do understand won’t have the courage to publish it, especially since I’m an untried author. So I decided to self-publish it so the powers that be could see readers would take to the story and appreciate it.

The road has been as difficult as I thought it would be. Many websites and magazines won’t consider PoD books for reviews or spotlight, so that cuts out a whole hunk of the market for me. And that, coupled with the fact I am very shy, I’ve had to break out of many comfort zones in order for this book to get a wider audience. I knew I had an uphill battle because I chose a PoD publisher, but somehow people still stumble across my little book and buy it, and I thank them for it!

5. In your opinion, what is the biggest difference, as you see it, between being self-published and being by an established publishing house? Access to the market is the biggest difference. While even established authors at many houses still have to do the bulk of their publicity, it is easier for those authors to get their book into bookstores. Because PoD don’t carry inventory, and I certainly can’t, they are less inclined to carry my books. And even if a bookstore does, it’s not with the same range as established publishing house authors can do it.

6. Do you have any hobbies or special interests that you enjoy participating in during your down time? Writing has been my hobby before I decided to pursue it seriously. Reading is also huge for me, and I also sing, but I haven’t been doing as much of that as I should.

All about BEING PLUMVILLE:

1. From what I gathered at the Romance Slam Jam, BEING PLUMVILLE has been very well received and congratulations are in order for your Emma nomination for Best Debut Author. How has this experience been for you? I literally gasped at the e-mail when it said I’d been nominated. I was shocked because I really had no idea that many people had read it, and then liked it enough to nominate it. Everyone else on the list is with established houses, and then there’s my PoD book. I was excited and more humbled. I didn’t think I’d win the award, but that would’ve been the icing on the cake if I had. The fact that my name shared a list with the biggest names in Black romance . . . that I was the only interracial romance in my category, I was honored.

Being at RSJ was amazing. I had a Reader’s Session with Beverly Jenkins and Nathasha Brooks-Harris and we were the first out the gate. I was too busy being awed that I was sitting next to Miss Beverly, and then listening to Miss Nathasha and her success, for me to even think I would have something to contribute. I was more than willing to listen and learn from them—I’m a reader too! They were proven authors; I self-published. And I was also a little afraid of how I’d be received because I write interracial romance, and a lot of the people at the conference hadn’t read it or didn’t read it. But I got nothing but wonderful feedback, and I learned so much. I made so many contacts, and some of these authors were complimenting me about my writing! You could’ve knocked me over with a feather! To put faces to the names on all those books I have was a phenomenal experience. They were where I am, and to see them helps me know it is possible for me.

2. BEING PLUMVILLE features an interracial couple; what prompted you to write their story? Did you receive any specific inspiration for it? I’ve always searched for interracial romances, because they’ve always been so taboo, especially in the South. I’ve always been curious why in one breath people can say “Love knows no color” and in the next breath say “You better stay away from X!”. It smacks of hypocrisy, and you know interracial relationships have happened from the beginning, but interracial romances or marriages are still a tiny percentage of the population—especially among black women and white men.

I’ve also always wondered why they [interracial relationships] were always set up as a zero-sum situation: if you liked someone outside your race that automatically meant you wouldn’t like/date someone within your race or that there was self-hatred involved, especially when black women are involved. That never made sense to me; and while those things could play a part, that is not a prerequisite for two people getting involved in an interracial relationship. I’ve always wanted to see how different authors deal with it, and between my own observations, my own attraction to white men (though not at the exclusion to black men), and the fact black women are statistically the least likely to be in an interracial relationship, I wanted to explore those things and more through writing.

Reviewer Questions- A few questions from the reviewer of BEING PLUMVILLE

1. I noticed that there was a "quick" reference, although not by name, to the Loving case, where the courts ruled that an interracial couple had the right to marry and live wherever they chose. Did the idea for BEING PLUMVILLE come from that story or is it more of a personal experience? To be honest, I had no idea that the story was going to be in 1968 until I started writing it. I knew I wanted something in the past, but not too far in the past that people can’t relate tangibly to it; so I said, “I’ll make it 1968,” not even consciously realizing all of the things that were going on that year. Even though I wasn’t around in 1968, many of the parents of my peers’ generation were, so we have been raised by people who were raised/coming of age during that era. The Loving case just happened to be a fantastic coincidence.

2. Do you feel that this country has made progress in our views of interracial marriages or have we simply grown more tolerant?

I think it’s a combination of both, with more emphasis on tolerance than true acceptance on a mass-societal scale. It’s part of the reason why I write interracial romances—people still get side-eyes; people still get comments; people still get double-looks. I remember I was a freshman in high school and there was a senior slideshow at the end of the year. This is 1998. When a slide of an interracial couple with a black girl and a white boy came up, a few people actually booed very vocally, and this couple had been solid from the beginning of the year to the end of it—which is a feat for any couple in high school regardless of racial makeup. That struck me that we, post-“I Have a Dream” can still react that way. So imagine how folks would react if it were 30 years earlier and integration was still pretty much in its infancy?

All about the Fans:

1. What’s next for you? Do you have any upcoming releases or projects you are working on?

At the end of last year, I self-published AJ’S SERENDIPITY with Lulu Press. This story features characters from Aliyah Burke’s MEGALODON TEAM SERIES. It’s about a Greek restaurateur who falls in love with a Black-American tourist—sort of a modern fairy-tale, in fact.

I also have a short story coming out called THE COACH’S COUNSELOR through e-publisher Red Rose Publishing for its Labor of Love Series. This is the first African-American couple I’ve written as the hero and heroine—he’s an assistant coach who doesn’t date women with children, and she’s an older university counselor who is divorced and has a thirteen-year-old son. They are actually secondary characters to a larger novel that I’m working on that I’m calling VIETNAM STORY right now (I’m sure that title will probably change!), but I wanted to give them their moment in the sun.

Other than that, I’m still submitting works, including RECONSTRUCTING, to agents and publishers and hoping something will catch on, and I’m still writing.

2. Do you have any reader events coming up?

I will be speaking at the Harlem Book Fair Roxbury Luncheon on June 7 from 12 PM–2 PM in Boston. I will also be speaking at Ridge View High School in Columbia, SC on September 17 at 10 AM. They can check out my Web site http://www.sjfbooks.com for more information.

3. How can your readers stay in touch with you?

Readers can get in touch with me by e-mailing me at sfrierson@sjfbooks.com or by snail mail at 519 Somerville Avenue, #167 Somerville, MA 02143. I try to respond as quickly as I can, and I would love to hear people’s thoughts!

4. What advice or encouragement do you have for aspiring authors?

I say to write the story that is inside of you. Someone wants to read it, even if it will take you a while to find that person who does. And while even I get frustrated and down with the rejections, I can’t stop trying. All it takes is one yes—but make sure it’s the right yes.

Savannah, thanks so much for this interview and giving the public a chance to learn a little more about you. So you have anything you would like to say in parting? When I first started writing, it was poetry to deal with the death of my mother when I was nine, and it was very private and personal to me. Writing is still that way, even if the characters don’t bear my name or life experiences. And the fact I’m actively pursuing this is one of the scariest choices I’ve ever made, and also one of the easiest. It’s not something many college graduates pursue right out the gate; but I’d entered college knowing I wanted to write, and now I am.