Finding Ideas with Beneath a Meth Moon

Yesterday I wrote about the writing process. Now I’m thinking about what we can learn from Jacqueline Woodson about nurturing an idea. 

Woodson said she knew she wanted to write about meth and Katrina, yet she didn’t know how the story would evolve. She did some research.  She found places where meth recovery happens and learned of a town in Mississippi. 

Woodson says she “was fascinated by this part of the world because it had been devastated by Katrina. I had heard a lot about New Orleans and the African American population that had been devastated, but I hadn’t known about this very white town where people had lost everything.” 

Here’s something Woodson says that is telling for us writers: “I started writing, writing, and rewriting and building a story around this place. What if there was a girl who lived in this town? What if she lost her mom and grandma? What if she had to move to a new place, and what would the hope be? How would she move through it? And that became the story of Beneath a Meth Moon. 

Take a look at this blogger’s thoughts about Beneath a Meth Moon.