I had the pleasure to sit down with Victoria Christopher Murray to discuss her new novel Stand Your Ground and get some advice for aspiring writers. She is the co-founder for Brown Girl Publishing and NAACP recipient. Her latest novel is to educate and entertain.
Tell me about your newest novel Stand Your Ground?
Well that is a mouth full almost. You know I have always wanted to write very important books. I know I write entertaining books, but I wanted to write a book that impact people in a positive way. I think I finally done it. Stand Your Ground, is a novel about a young man who is 17 years old and he is in his car with his white girlfriend. A man comes out of his house and confronts them and then the young man ends up on the ground dead.
What I did to tell the story was tell it from two perspectives. I told it from the point of view of the mother of the victim Janice Johnson (she is married) who has to go through this horrible time. I also put in the perspective of the wife of the shooter. She is a white woman who just happened to be the same age and they both have one son. I wanted to do a different perspective, we see and we know how those people feel when this happens to us. I wanted to see what was going on, on the other side. How do they put their heads down at night? That’s why I wrote that story and that is what Stand Your Ground is all about.
How did you choose the title Stand Your Ground?
It interesting with me, I can write a 400 page book and cannot come up with a title. But this time it was my publisher when I submitted my proposal for the book. I discussed it with my editor at Simon & Schuster. I said, I don’t have a title for it yet. Usually, I just writer my book and let the title come to me. The publisher was the one who said; let’s call it Stand Your Ground. I went wow, you want to go there. She said yes, I want to go there. She choose it and I think it’s one of the best titles because it is exactly what this book is about. I am hoping to entertain and educate. I think there is so little that we know about the Stand Your Ground Law.
I am hoping to get down to where it is because somebody said to me, well Stand Your Ground is only in Florida. When I did the book and it was sent to reviewers ahead of time one reviewer said, “oh my God Victoria messed up she put this book in Pennsylvania.” Then he went to Google and he was shocked. I am hoping that those kinds of things educate people. There were so many people calling for the boycott of Florida when their own state has the same law. What were they going to do boycott where they live? I am hoping that people will understand that Stand Your Ground is a law not a defense. It’s a part of the self-defense and just to see the working of it. I am hoping that we will stand our ground and do something about this horrible license to kill.
So, would you say that the actions that have happened against our Black young men inspired you to writer Stand Your Ground?
Yes, and it’s interesting because I never would have thought to do something like this. I don’t want to take advantage of anybody’s tragedy. People call me like the CNN of Facebook. People come to my Facebook page especially when there is breaking news because I will report on everything that is going on. It was in February of 2014, we were coming up on the 2nd anniversary of Trayvon Martin. We were watching the Michael Dunn results; he is the man who murdered Jordan Davis. So everybody on my Facebook and Twitter timeline was so disgusted because if you remember in the first trial it was a mistrial for whether or not he had committed murder. They found him guilty of attempted murder.
Everybody was like are you kidding me. The one person is dead and you can’t get a verdict. People were very upset with the jury. I didn’t understand how people could be upset with Americans fulfilling their American duty. It is not their fault. I had actually read the transcript from the Trayvon Martin trial. I knew exactly what happened because the judge’s instructions to the jury almost sounds like she’s a defense attorney and she has to. What she says is, if at any point you feel that this defendant could have felt his life was in danger, than you must find him not guilty.
Because Stand Your Ground does not make adults behave like adults. You do not have to retreat. That’s what kids do and adults are not supposed to do that. Stand Your Ground is a lethal law that allow us to act like children and take people lives.
What message do you want readers to walk away with after reading Stand Your Ground?
Well, I hope new readers will say wow this woman can write. Let me go back and read her other books which I am blessed to say, that people normally do. Once they enjoy one of my novels, they do go back. It’s so interesting Letrise, that I never sit down and write a book with a message ever. I always say that, whatever message a person gets that’s what God wanted them to get at that moment.
With this one, what I really hope people will walk away with is that this is such a dangerous law. We are sitting back and doing nothing. We go from situation to situation and case to case. While this is happening, States are not only not repealing the laws. But states are trying to add. For example, Arkansas is not a Stand Your Ground Law state and they are trying to bring that law to their state. The problem is, it’s a law by State. It’s kind of hard to organize nationally when it has to be taken down state by state. I am hoping to get people fired up. I said, I want to be a one woman wrecking crew totally against this law. We need to repeal this law state by state.
Given the fact you are a best-selling author and co-founder of Brown Girl Publishing. You have the expertise of being on both sides in this industry as an author and publisher. We compiled a few questions from our audience.
What Advice can you give to an aspiring writers with many ideas for a story they want to write?
Tell one story at a time, especially if you are new. Because if you try to do more then you will never get anything accomplished. First thing, work on one story at a time. The biggest thing I tell aspiring writers is there are two things that writers do and the first is writers read. I do a lot of editing because it gives me the chance to teach people. When I am editing, I can always tell a person who does not read. Reading teaches you, reading will inspires you to become better, reading challenges you, and reading shows you the things you should not be doing. If you are a writer, you have to be constantly reading so that you can be constantly growing. Writers have to read period. Then Writers write. I don’t believe you can call yourself a writer if you are not doing something toward that goal every day.
You self-published your first book, Should a new author self-publish their first book and build their audience on social media then search for a boutique publishing company?
I think it depends on the person. It’s different for everyone. There is no right or wrong answer. It depends on whether or not you have the money to self-publish. Because a lot of people will put their book up on a shelf and expect it to sell. You need the marketing money behind it. It’s not like the big publishers spend much money on you these days. It really just depends on you. I always to tell people to look at all the things it takes to self-published and what you have to do. Look at what it takes to go with a major publisher which is first getting an agent. Then deciding what is was right for you. The reason I self-published was I have my MBA and my husband has his MBA. Mine was in marketing and his was in Finance. We thought we were smarter than everyone. I self-published my first book in 1997 and that was different day. There were no electronic books and it was really hard. I am glad I self-published because having been self-published is what keeps me in the games these days. I work with my publisher as a partner.
You offer coach sessions for writers, can you give us a summary overview ?
Absolutely, I love coaching because it gives me a chance to teach. There are two things that I do a 4 week online writers workshops, but I don’t think I will have time to do another one this year. Then I do individual private coaching sessions. The person can do it any way they want over the phone, facetime, or skype. I always say to the person, you set the agenda because different people need different things. I have them in two hour sessions or five hour session. For example, the last two I finished were editing and coaching. One week I read through their chapter and did the editing then went through the chapter with them so they can go back and re- write. One person took her book down from Amazon and she sent me a Facebook message saying, ” this is going to be so much better.” The other person got her first five chapters and now she is published. The coaching is whatever the person needs whether it’s editing, ideals on marketing, how to get started, or a lesson on character development.
Thank you for siting down with Sistah’s Place Entertainment to discuss your latest novel Stand Your Ground which is available on June 30, 2015. It’s a powerful story that will open your eyes and educate you on a law that is truly lethal. Victoria Christopher Murray is one of my favorite authors and you will love her book. Besides being an author and co-founder of Brown Girl Publishing, she offers coaching sessions to the aspiring writers and authors. You always hear friends or relatives say, I am going to write a book someday. Victoria said, “ I had to take that first step to be where I am with 25 novels later. I always tell new writers, you have to write through the fear. Fear is a part of the creative process.”
Follow Victoria on Twitter, Facebook, and visit her website and sign up for her newsletters and coaching sessions.
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Photo credits: VCM-Rochelle Scott Design and Photography