Writing a New Orleans Story

When people ask, “Where are you from?” I answer, “Mississippi.” After all, my pregnant mother traveled from Denver to Jackson to give birth to me ’cause she wanted me to be from Mississippi. I have now lived in New Orleans for 14 years; nine years part-time, six years as a resident. Even so, I will never feel comfortable writing a New Orleans story.

The hero in When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women is also dealing with being an outsider living in New Orleans. She ran away to the city from her home in Mississippi. Her resulting relationship with the city is an immense part of the story. How does one become part of a place as tightly woven as New Orleans? New Orleans cares where you went to high school and if you lived through Katrina. It wants to know which krewe you belong to and what neighborhood you claim. You can become part of the place, but Etoile’s attempts to fit in are as misguided as her entire approach to life, a lesson she must to learn before the story ends.

At the time I wrote WWWMTTW, I had been a part-time resident in the Bywater for six years. Still, I felt like I was transitioning from being a tourist to living in the city. It’s night and day, y’all. So I explored my own relationship with the city and my insecurities with claiming New Orleans. As with all things in the novel, as I gave that struggle to Etoile, I understood myself better.

If you are Southern, or read a lot of Southern literature, you won’t be surprised by my focus on place. You’ll recognize my need to wrestle with it, understand it, resolve it. I might not consider, When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women a traditional “New Orleans story” but perhaps it is.