Tumbling - Softcover

Diane McKinney-Whetstone:

When I started writing Tumbling, I had not given much thought to the time and place for the
setting of the story. Actually, I didn't even know what the story would be. I was only sure of
this: that I was approaching a significant birthday, that I'd always nursed a passion for writing
fiction, that I was using more energy forestalling my dream of writing a novel than it would
take just to sit down and start.

So I started. I got up at 5:00 every morning and spent two magical hours before it was time to
wake my teenage twins and dash off to my day job. I was unprepared for the unleashing that
happened--like a bottle of champagne uncorked, descriptions spilled all over the page. I soon
realized I was writing about my mother's time--South Philadelphia, 1940s-'50s. I'd grown up
with her stories about her clean, safe, close-knit neighborhood complete with her descriptions
of the stepscrubbing ritual. It seemed like such a vibrant era-the clubs, the music, the
excitement of the end of the war. And even though the era had a tremendous downside of
forced segregation for African-Americans, it was also a time of community connectedness. I
was also raised in the city, in a close-knit neighborhood, so I was able to draw on my
experiences as well.

Once I pinned down the setting, the characters took over--literally. They did unexpected things
on the page, they pulled the story one way, then another. I was losing control of the novel it
seemed. For example, I didn't--absolutely did not--want Herbie to run around with Ethel. I
liked Herbie too much for that, but the attraction between the two was on the page; it was
as if they were saying, "You, author, have no sayso here, just let us be true to our characters."
So I did. I began to trust the process of writing. It became okay for the novel to twist and
turn in directions I had not planned. I even began to welcome those times because the
unplanned actions were emerging as the strongest parts of the story.

For two years between 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning, I put the rest of my life on hold, my job
as a public affairs officer, my children, my husband, my volunteer commitments; I immersed
myself in the world of Tumbling instead. I followed the characters; I learned so much, about
writing for sure, but also about the big human themes--love and hate, good and evil, and
compassion, human nature, myself. What a powerful act of self-discovery writing this book
has been.




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