Author Interview with Piper Huguley

I got to know Piper Huguley back in 2012 when we became critique partners, but it wasn’t until the Moonlight and Magnolias Conference last week that I got the pleasure of meeting this outstanding writer in person. Here she is at the M&M book signing.  

 

And here we are.

I invited Piper to visit stitchesthrutime and tell us about her writing journey from concept to best-selling author to signing a three book contract with Samhain Publishing.

 

What inspired you to start writing in the sub-genre of Inspirational African American history?

Well, I’ve been doing market research for most of my adult life, and I could see that these books were missing. I read widely in the inspirational historical markets and always knew that there were other people in other places and times who were Christian, but I never saw their stories for sale. I kept waiting for someone to provide those stories. It didn’t occur to me until a few years ago (duh!) that given my unique background, I might be the one to do it. So I gave it a try!

You have the talent of going into the soul of your characters, making them relatable, likeable, and memorable. How do you create such deep characters?

 

Thank you, Elaine! I like to read a lot about people’s psychology. I think that gives me a jump on things. I like to go back into their personal history and think about their upbringing, siblings, parents, what forces shaped them to be where they are when the story begins. These aspects, the basic Nature vs. Nurture qualities are what can cause them to fall in love or make them feel inhibited about love, if they have come from bad experiences. In a romance, they are looking for that other person to complete what they missed.

You deal with some dark issues in your books, but your writing is sprinkled with humor. How does humor play into your stories?

A prevailing attitude about African American history is that it must have been a downer to have been a Black person. Terrible things happened, but we must remember, African Americans were survivors. And survivors have to be strong and have a well-balanced approach in all things. The balance includes the times when people fell in love, enjoyed one another and laughed with one another. By taking joy in one another, they survived.

 

Besides writing, you’re a college professor at Spelman College. How do you manage two professions and still have time for your family?

 

Part of the day job has been building up my historical knowledge as a backdrop to teach the American Literature of the 19^th and 20^th century. It’s what I do. And when I’m not in the classroom, I can write. Over the years, my writing has been off and on. The most recent off time was while my son was young. I waited until he was nine to get back to the writing I had started when I was pregnant with him. When I came back to my writing, I was a different person and couldn’t write the contemporary stuff I had been working on.

 

Do you have ideas brewing for another series after the "Home to Milford College" and "Migrations of the Heart"?

I do. Several. There are several time periods in African American history where stories have not been told. This is why I am trying so hard to encourage others to join in. There are a lot of stories that need to be told.

What do you want readers to take away from your books?

We are all God’s children and are equally precious in His sight. African Americans lived, loved and survived to form an integral part of the American story and have lessons to teach and stories to tell.

 

Well said, Piper. Here’s the blurb for Piper’s upcoming release, The Mayor's Mission.

 

Milford, GA 1868: Milford College is in trouble.

Mayor Virgil Smithson has been away to the constitutional convention in the newly established state capitol in Atlanta for almost five months. He’s late in getting back home. Worried about her husband, Amanda Smithson manages the crowded and growing school by herself. She’s hired an old school chum from Oberlin to help her teach the older students. However, he’s a tad too affectionate with Amanda for Virgil’s liking.

And more problems: The Milford daughters-in-law arrive in town, determined to wrest what they see as their rightful inheritance from the Smithsons.

Just when it all seems impossible to resolve, the Smithsons must endure another crisis that threatens to tear them—and the dream of their school—apart.

When life becomes difficult, it will take all of God’s love and mercy for the Smithsons to come together and fight. It will be the mission of the major and his wife to do what it takes to nurture the new and coltish educational tradition that they began together. And to keep their love alive.

 

Piper G Huguley is the author of the “Home to Milford College” series which follows the building of a college from its founding in 1866. The Preacher’s Promise is book one in the series. On release, the prequel novella to the “Home to Milford College” series, The Lawyer’s Luck reached #1 on Amazon Bestseller status on the African American Christian Fiction charts. Huguley is also the author of “Migrations of the Heart,” a five-book series of inspirational historical romances set in the early 20^th century featuring African American characters. Book one in the series, A Virtuous Ruby won the Golden Rose contest in Historical Romance in 2013 and was a Golden Heart finalist in 2014. Book four in the series, A Champion’s Heart, was a Golden Heart finalist in 2013. The first three books in the series will be published in 2015 by Samhain Publishing.

She blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son.

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Milford, Ga. 1866: Amanda Stewart promised her dying father to use her education to uplift their race and teach newly freed slaves. When she arrives in Milford, Georgia, blacksmith and town leader, Virgil Smithson, tells her female teachers aren’t welcome there. But Virgil made his own promise—he told his dying wife that their daughter would learn to read and write. In Amanda, Virgil meets a woman whose will is as strong as the iron he fashions. These combatants must put aside their personal feelings to learn God has His own plan that comes from the promises they made to their loved ones.