Interview: Frances Hunter, Part 1

Frances Hunter is the author of To the Ends of the Earth (Blind Rabbit Press, Sept. 2006), a novel about Lewis and Clark, the adventurous duo sent out by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 to explore the Northwest Territory. But surprise—in reality, Frances Hunter is the pseudonym of two sisters, Liz and Mary Clare, who joined forces to write this exciting and compelling story set in 1809 about the latter days of two great American heroes.

Ladies, tell us a little about yourselves, including a brief overview of how and when you began to write.

Mary: Liz and I grew up in Austin, Texas, and both went to school here at the University of Texas. My day job is being a senior systems analyst at the University of Texas, writing software for university students and staff. Hook ’em Horns!

As far as writing goes, I was a small business columnist for the Austin Business Journal in the early nineties and have always enjoyed writing both fiction and non-fiction. My article “A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Incident on the Nueces” was published in the May 1998 issue of Civil War Magazine. In 2000, a poem I wrote was selected as a winner in the Austin American-Statesman’s Yeats of Austin poetry contest. I guess I dabble a little in everything.

Liz: I knew I wanted to do something related to writing, so I went into technical writing in the software industry and did that for years. But my first love was American history, and I kept my hand in writing about various topics for hobby publications and eventually, web sites. About six years ago I got a job creating web exhibits on historical topics for the Texas State Library and Archives.

I have enjoyed creative writing ever since I was a small child. I remember putting together little books and magazines. Often this was something that Mary and I did together, so in a sense we’ve been co-authoring a long time! But in high school, I had an unfortunate experience. I showed some of my fiction to a writing teacher at the school and he advised me to stick with non-fiction, such as writing for the school paper. Dumb kid that I was, I was crushed and took it to heart—even though other teachers had encouraged me! Go figure. I didn’t write any fiction again until I was past 30. Then I discovered fan fiction on the Internet and I couldn’t resist. I got back into writing fiction and got a really good response to my stories. It was really gratifying to entertain people and to create an emotional response in the readers.

I know your readers are sure glad you got back to fiction. I’m curious—how do the two of you manage the process of co-authoring?

Liz: A lot of people want to know about that! We came up with the characters and plot together.

We love to tell each other stories and act them out, and many a key scene was developed at that early stage. We divided up the research, and that generated many more ideas. Because this book involves several characters making separate journeys, figuring out all the transportation logistics was a bear! We had calendars and maps everywhere.

Mary: As the story began to take shape, we produced a comprehensive master outline, which described in detail what was going to happen in each chapter. It helped us discover all the holes between scenes and forced us to think of how they might be bridged. Then we each picked a chapter and started to write. I believe I took the first chapter, which was hard, because we really didn’t “know” the characters yet—as is typical with the beginning of a book, we ended up re-writing it a couple of times. But our story was started, and Liz was excited about the result, which inspired me even more.

When Liz finished a chapter, she’d hand it over to me to read, comment, and edit, and vice versa. That way, any differences in our style were smoothed out in the editing process. It helps that our writing styles are very compatible, and that we’ve been best buddies all our lives. Most readers would never know the book has more than one author.

What led you to write To the Ends of the Earth? Which of you came up with the idea? And why start where you did—after Lewis and Clark’s famous journey?

Mary: We got obsessed—not too strong a word—with the story of Lewis and Clark in 2003. We were enthralled by the IMAX movie The Great Journey West, and shortly after that, we started planning a trip to Montana and Idaho, some of the most spectacular sites on the trail. In preparation for the trip, we began reading the Lewis and Clark journals. It’s quite something to get to know these men in their own words.

But as you know, the ending of the story is unsatisfying and tragic. Lewis died only three years after the journey, in despair and alone. One of the most poignant aspects about the last days of Lewis’s life is that in his darkest moments, he kept insisting that Clark would come to set things right. But of course Clark never did. He was delayed by his own affairs and learned of Lewis’s death in Kentucky, on his way to help Lewis argue his case in Washington.

As a novelist, you’re always looking to improve upon reality. So we thought, wouldn’t it make a better story—a great mystery, and a great story about the two men’s friendship—if Clark had realized the depth of Lewis’s trouble, and if he had come after him on the Natchez Trace? And what if the trouble was even more sinister than Clark realized? The urge to tell the story was irresistible.

Liz: I really missed Lewis and Clark when we came to the end of the journals. We joked about doing a sequel where they undertook a second expedition to the Southwest. We really weren’t ready to let go of these two men and their remarkable partnership.

The murder mystery became the sequel idea. Eventually the book evolved out of the mystery genre and into a historical novel with larger themes, but that was the genesis.

You did extensive research on Lewis and Clark and on the period. What parts of the story are factually true, and what parts are a product of creative invention?

Liz: The basic premise of the novel is true. Lewis died of gunshot wounds along the Natchez Trace on October 11, 1809. It’s still a controversial topic whether he killed himself or was murdered, and an extensive literature exists detailing various theories of Lewis’s demise, ranging from simple highway robbery to a high-level conspiracy reaching up to Thomas Jefferson himself.

It’s also part of history that Meriwether Lewis’s life became a disaster after the expedition, both personally and professionally. As a reward for his success as an explorer, Jefferson had appointed him governor of the territory of Upper Louisiana, which encompassed most of the Louisiana Purchase. But Lewis was no politician. He made a lot of enemies, and finally he was recalled from St. Louis back to Washington, D.C., to answer questions about possible wrongdoing. He was facing disgrace, dishonor, and bankruptcy, plus he’d managed to get himself hooked on alcohol and drugs and make a complete hash of his love life. Poor Lewis was a mess.

The suspect that we seized on and made the villain of our novel is James Wilkinson. This guy is one of the great unsung traitors and scoundrels in American history. He was the commanding general of the United States army. He was also a spy in the pay of the Spanish. This would be the modern-day equivalent of the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff being in the pay of Iran or North Korea. Wilkinson played both sides for years, and was a pivotal conspirator in all of the intrigues that swirled through early America, including the Burr conspiracy. Some historians have proposed that Lewis somehow got mixed up with Wilkinson and ended up losing his life over it. This was the theory we chose to research and run with for the novel. Wilkinson is a wonderful villain and some readers have told us that he’s their favorite character in the book. He’s outlandish, yet we portrayed him very much as he was in real life.

Mary: And of course, Clark didn’t go after Lewis in real life. Too bad. I wish that he had.

In the novel, he follows Lewis along the Trace, and his wife Julia also becomes involved in the drama. This gave us a chance to have some romance in the story. It also gave us a chance to introduce another conflict that is very much supported by history, the tortured relationship between Clark and his slave York.

What did you want to accomplish by writing this novel?

Mary: Foremost, we wanted to tell the story of their friendship, because that was the most compelling aspect of the Lewis and Clark story to us. It seems amazing that two headstrong frontier army officers could’ve formed such a partnership—sharing command of a dangerous and difficult expedition without serious conflict for two and a half years. And they stayed friends afterwards!

As Liz mentioned, when we finished the journals, we didn’t want to let them go. Lewis and Clark had become an important part of our lives. We wanted to contribute something of our own understanding to their story. It’s our tribute to them.

Liz: As a writer, my primary goal is to entertain. I want our readers to laugh at the funny parts, thrill to the exciting parts, and cry at the sad parts. My other goal is tell a story that’s real. I want readers to see Lewis, Clark, and the other characters as real flesh-and-blood human beings. Take Meriwether Lewis. When you look at what happened to him, you almost can’t believe it. How could a hero end up that way? But it’s much more compelling if you turn that around, and ask yourself how this desperately lonely man accomplished so much while battling such frightening personal demons.

By the way, I’m always puzzled when historical novelists or their readers talk about an educational purpose for the books. I love reading history and biography and turn to them when I want to learn historical facts and context. I read fiction when I want someone to tell me a good story. That said, obviously I’d love it if reading our book inspired people to find out more about the real story or to visit the Natchez Trace or the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Be sure to join us tomorrow for the conclusion of my interview with Liz and Mary Clare, aka Frances Hunter! And don’t forget to post a comment to be entered in the drawing for a free copy of To the Ends of the Earth. To purchase a copy, go to http://frances-hunter.com.