My Writing Process: Bringing History to Life Through Fiction. I don't begin a book by simply sitting down and writing. I begin with history. Every book in the whileBlack Chronicles starts with a period, event, or question in African American history that captures my attention. I research the people, places, politics, social conditions, and everyday life of that period. I want to understand not only what happened, but what it might have felt like to live through it. 

Then Iask myself a simple question:

What if?

What if the family never backs down?

What if they had to make a difficult choice?

That's where fiction begins, and imagination takes over