Interview with Author Diane Marie Brown

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Black Candle Women was one of my most anticipated releases for 2023 and I joined the Hear Our Voices book tour to interview author Diane Marie Brown about her debut that has everyone buzzing including filmmaker Ava DuVernay. 

What was the inspiration for Black Candle Women?

I wrote and revised this book over many years so a few circumstances and experiences influenced it. A curiosity about having sisters and grandparents, wanting to know more about my own family history, spending time in New Orleans as a pre-teen visiting family, therapy – all of these inspired the book as it first developed and later evolved. Interestingly enough, it started out as a five-page scene in response to a class writing prompt.

 

Are you or anyone in your family a practitioner of voodoo or was it something you learned more about when writing this book?

I knew very little about Voodoo or hoodoo before writing this book, more just what I’d seen in movies or television shows. So I did a lot of research. There are a couple of books I read by a woman named Denise Alvarado that were extremely informative, and I found a few articles about Marie Laveau that helped me envision the life of a conjurer. I also referenced Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men. 

When did you start your writing journey?

I’ve been making up stories since elementary school, but I didn’t take writing seriously until my early 20s. I read Waiting to Exhale and Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillan, which pushed me to try writing a novel for the first time. I didn’t finish drafting a book, however, until my early 30s, my first one landing me an agent, but not a book deal. After a couple of years on submission, I decided I wanted to work on my craft and so started a graduate writing program.

 

What does your writing process look like? And what’s your favorite part of the process?

The only consistent thing about my process is that I somehow get words down on a regular basis. I both outline and “pants” it. I write in notebooks and my laptop and my phone’s notes app. I write scenes chronologically and I also jump around and go back and fill in gaps at times. I write early in the morning, late at night, and in the middle of the day (sometimes while in work meetings). Coffee helps me get going but I’ve also been known to let a glass of wine keep me company. I will say that while I can be all over the place, I’m at my best when I get myself up at 5:00 a.m. and force myself to get 1,000 words down before I start my day. Hopefully, I can get back to that pattern soon. My favorite part of the process is revision. For me, that’s when all of the best ideas spark and pieces come together.

 

What has the most exciting part of the debut process been for you so far?

I have really loved developing relationships with other writers. Looking back, it’s incredible to me that I worked through so much of this experience in isolation because I couldn’t fathom doing so now. When I did most of the initial writing of Black Candle Women, there weren’t podcasts about writing, no social media or online communities. It wasn’t easy to connect with other writers, particularly those with experience with whom I could ask questions. At least these sorts of resources weren’t very accessible or well-known back then. Now, I know plenty of writers who are supportive in so many ways, and can hear from an even larger circle of writers that I may never meet but can follow or listen to online. Today, I have a talented and helpful community, and it’s growing. 

What are some of your favorite books and what types of fiction do you enjoy reading?

Give me all the books that either make me laugh or cry, and if they do both, even better. Genre-wise, I do enjoy an epic literary saga. One of my all-time favorites is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and I have a similar love for Honoree Fanone Jeffers’ The Love Songs of W. E. B. Dubois. I love books about strong, savvy women, such as Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson, The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I often enjoy books that take me back to the 80s and 90s (whether written then or what is ridiculously now labeled historical fiction), including two favorites of mine, Bling by Erica Kennedy and 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter. My absolute favorite book is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

 

Do you have any hobbies outside of reading you enjoy? Or any hidden talents?

I’m the annoying person who takes pictures of food when dining out, but that’s because I have a blog, dianderthal.com, where I talk about travel, running, and, most often, restaurants. I haven’t posted in a very long time but in its heyday, I would give restaurant recommendations a few times a month. I still belong to a restaurant club called Ladies Who Dine Long Beach (I’m the self-appointed president), where I take photos and jot down notes about our dishes, but I’ve neglected to share on the blog the last couple of years. I miss being the person who always gave advice to friends or family members wanting to find just the right dining spot for a specific occasion. Maybe I’ll start posting again because doing so made me very happy. 

As far as talents, I’m fairly decent at word puzzles and games. 

 

Are you working on another book currently? What can we expect from you next?

I am in various stages of writing about four books, including a rom-com and a YA novel. I need to figure out which one to give my full attention or none of them will ever get done. The one that I will likely focus on will have me researching cocktails and bartending, and may take readers to the south once again.