Area author discusses his new novel and the character who demanded the story be told

CHIPPEWA FALLS — In discussing his new book with the Leader-Telegram, author James Peters shared insights into the origins of the new story.

“I was halfway through the first chapter of what I thought was going to be my first book,” Peters recalled. ”I was motoring along pretty well and feeling pretty good about it. I was out on our back porch, having a cocktail with my wife.

“And I said, ‘I’ll be right back,’ and I ran into the house, grabbed a piece of paper, set back down, and wrote what I thought was going to be the first line of a very different novel.”

But then there was Pauline. Pauline was an unexpected breakout character in Peters’ first book, “Shrugging.” Despite Peters having an aversion to sequels and wanting each story to be self-standing, Pauline also showed up in Peters’ third book, “Fortune Falls.”

“When I wrote that third book, she made an appearance in it as a smaller supporting character, which I had not planned,” said Peters. “But this is just the kind of character she is — she just forces her way in.

“On that Sunday, on my back porch, Pauline was screaming at me, ‘No, you’re not done with me yet. You have to tell my whole story.’ So what’s where it started. It’s still a standalone novel — you don’t have to read the others. But this is the first time that she is the main character.”

In the recently-released fourth book, “The Dancer and the Swan,” Pauline is volunteering at a hospice and she meets DeeDee, an elderly Creole woman whose life brings up a multitude of questions about her past. Why did DeeDee leave her Creole neighborhood for San Francisco? What is her connection to the Black Panthers? What caused the dysfunction in DeeDee’s relationship with her son, Raymond? As Pauline tries to piece together this hospice patient’s turbulent life, it causes Pauline to examine her own life, tainted by childhood trauma and a battle with alcoholism.

“I knew this time, Pauline was the one who was going to need the guide — the person to help her find strength,” said Peters. “That’s where DeeDee comes in. I figured there were certain things that a character would need to help Pauline through her struggles, and what the story ends up being is these two different women from two very different worlds, and yet, in key points in their lives, they faced similar decisions, but went in different directions.

“And through that, Pauline gains the strength and guidance through her traumas that she’s been living with her whole life.”

The book was released at the beginning of August to some very positive reviews, including a five-star review from Reedsy’s Alice Bennett who said the book “oozes charm and inspired storytelling” and called it “captivating and incredibly moving.” Kirkus gave the novel a starred review, stating the book was a “moving story of friendship, family and recovery” and that the novel “handles weighty themes frankly and with nuance.”

Peters invested considerable time in researching not only the characters but also cultural movements, and businesses that spanned decades and locations, from San Francisco to Chicago and New Orleans. As a white middle-aged man, he wrote two lead characters, one of whom was a Black Creole woman in her seventies, in addition to exploring various other aspects of his leads’ lives and identities.

“What was I thinking? I have no idea, but that was my biggest panic,” said Peters as he talked about the amount of care he took in his two lead characters — and it paid off, with one book club praising his characterization that bucked stereotypes of men doing a less than stellar job in portraying female characters.

“They said, ‘You’re an honorary female member of our club now, because you write women so well,’” he said with a laugh.

But the work that Peters put in was immense — perhaps too much so, which contrasts with his prior three books that he considers much more personal.

“With ‘The Dancer and the Swan,’ one of the biggest challenges was that it was also a historical novel. I had to do the most research that I have ever had to do with a book. But my next one, which I had been working on, will not involve a ridiculous amount of research,” he said. ”Every book needs some research, but I want to get away from having to do too much of it, and get back into writing what I know.”

Peters said he has always been a more character-driven writer, since the term plot-driven suggests a more specific intentional layout of actions and then some sort of resolution, and that seemed antithetical for him.

“I don’t do that, because life doesn’t,” he said. “No one’s life ties up neatly until they die, and sometimes not even then.”

But then, of course, there’s that exception of Pauline, who begged to get her story told, and being the exceptional character that she is, she also got something exceptional for a character in one of Peters’ books: closure. That said, when asked if he would continue her story despite giving the character a more definite ending, he gave an emphatic “no — she’s done!”

“‘The Dancer and the Swan’ is the closest thing I’ve ever done to actually wrapping up a story,” he said. “It is one thing that people have said that they normally don’t say about my books — they say, ‘ I loved your ending. It’s so beautiful.’”

“There, I did it — you guys can leave me alone now,” he said with a laugh.