Society & Culture
Deborah Mantella is a Yankee-Italian transplant to the South and she is the author of a very Southern novel called My Sweet Vidalia. It's full of very Southern characters. Critics have compared it to books like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Deborah has said before that writing fiction gives her a place where she can work out her own personal questions about things in life and the personal song and dance that lives inside her. So how--as a Northern born author--did she discover her Southern voice? What is the author's voice? How do you find the author's tone? I wanted to find out the answers to those questions and more about Deborah's process, so we sat down to discuss how her traits--Northerner, Southerner, writer, and mom--combine to make her a unique individual. She told me about the importance of bringing her personal experiences to storytelling, how she finds a way to live in her character's skin for awhile before relinquishing control and seeing where the story takes you, and we discussed a few tricks we use to get folks to open up at book events. Don't forget to connect with Deborah on Facebook and Instagram! Subscribe to Southern Life Indian Wife where you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and TuneIn. Keep up to date with the podcast and my upcoming book news by following me on Facebook, Instagramand Twitter! And…email me at sherylparbhoo@gmail.com to order a signed copy of my book The Unexpected Daughter. Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.