Inspiration for “Docta Bones” hit, as you can imagine, on a cold winter day. Sitting in front of the Mississippi River, I was discussing local legends with my fellow author, Alexander S. Brown. Out of all the legends we had talked about, this one stuck in my mind. The depravity of a man sacrificing his own daughter in a dark ritual held a certain allure for me. I typically write about monsters, but the chance to write about a real life human monster was one I could not pass up. Listening to Mr. Brown explain the legend made the wheels in my head start to turn.
I could almost envision the entire scenario. I saw him in his home, and I saw the girl that met her tragic end at the hands of her father. A friend volunteered to take me to the spot where he'd actually lived. Excitement took hold of me then. I had to know more about this man, this monster. Although the house had long been demolished, the air around the property is still heavy. I absorbed the feeling, and breathed in what I could only imagine was both of them reaching across the decades and the barrier between life and death to tell me the story.
I focused in on the tree in what would've been the backyard. The tree was one of the focal points of the story in my mind. No other words exist beyond it felt important to the story. I've always been a fan of studying history. I was now being given a chance to put my own spin on a historical figure of Vicksburg, MS. I left the site, went home, and immediately began typing the story. However, I couldn't get the “flow” right. It was suggested to me to try typing the entire thing in the dialect of the main character. Once I began that, the story poured out of me.
I wrote like a woman possessed. It was almost as if the story had me in its grip and would not release me until it was told in its entirety. Hour after hour I'd spend staring at my screen. Finally, the story was complete. Years working in law enforcement have taught me that a human being is capable of being every bit as vicious and cruel as any mythical monster that visits us in our nightmares. Perhaps, in writing “Docta Bones”, I simply pulled back the curtain a little to let everyone see the darkness in people. Most people would like to pretend that we are civilized and things like this just don't happen, but they do. This story is a way to open eyes to the horrors that are out there every day.
It was with that in mind that I did not shy away from the violence. Before undertaking this project, I'd said multiple times I would not write about violence against a child. The more I thought about it, I decided to do this project because the victim was a child. I wanted to make it gut-wrenching and horrible for the reader. I wanted people to be saddened and sickened by something like this happening to a child. I wanted that so that people could take a look around and truly see the world we live in.
Thank you Melissa, and what a cool, scary introduction to your writing. Sometimes we really do need to look around and see what's wrong with the world. And sometimes, as you say, it's fiction's clever disguise that takes us out of our comfort zone enough to make us look.
Southern Haunts 3: Magick Beneath the Moonlight: Deep within the South, read about the magickal folk who haunt the woods, the cemeteries, and the cities. Within this grim anthology, eighteen authors will spellbind you with tales of hoodoo, voodoo, and witchcraft.