Author Tiffany McDaniel talks to us about her latest novel On The Savage Side and the unsolved murder case of the Chillicothe Six which inspired the story.
Tiffany McDaniel is an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and woods of the land she knows. Tiffany is a poet, a novelist and a visual artist. Her debut novel The Summer that Melted Everything won the Guardian's Not the Booker award. Her next book, Betty, was an international bestseller.
Tiffany's latest novel, On the Savage Side was published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 2nd March. You can find On the Savage Side and all of Tiffany's books on our catalogue.
I’ve been writing since I was able to hold the crayon. There was a pull toward the page and getting out the things in my imagination. As a kid, I would make homemade books using notebook paper. I would make the covers for these books out of cardboard boxes, and bind it all with my mother’s crochet yarn. I’d publish the books under a publishing house named after my cats at the time, Sunshine, Sammy and Fancy Paw Stories Publishing House.
The first book I wrote was Betty, inspired by my mother Betty’s life, growing up with her Cherokee father and coming of age in a turbulent time in American in the 1950s-1970s. That was the first book I wanted to see published, but it was a struggle to get a foot in the publishing door with. I was told by some agents to change Betty to a male lead because they sell better, told to remove certain instances of women’s issues from the book because it might make readers uncomfortable. Things like that. But I never gave up. I stayed true to the core of that story, and why I wanted to write it. To amplify the voice of my mother and the other women in my family.
Perseverance is the key to getting published. It’s what I always say to writers when they reach out to speak of their rejections. I tell them to stay determined and never give up.
What kept me going, was my dream of being a published writer. I had found an envelope in an old box. The envelope was sealed and inside it was a small note I’d written as a child. I had written on it that one day I hoped to be a writer and write books that people want to read. We have to stay true to our dreams and fight for them.
Thank you very much for the kind words. It was a beautiful journey to write, even with the hard-hitting subject matter. For the book, I interviewed living family members, including my mother Betty, Mamaw Alka, my aunts Fraya & Flossie, and my uncles. To get to explore generations of my own family, and discover my Cherokee heritage and ancestors back to the beginning, was something that I will always treasure. I discovered my family, but I also discovered myself.
It’s inspired by the unsolved murder case out of Chillicothe, Ohio, known as the Chillicothe Six. A few years ago, women started to go missing in that town. Some were discovered dead, while others are still missing today. I wanted to explore who these women were as mothers, sisters, and daughters. To amplify their voices. The characters in the book are 100% fiction.
I didn’t want to trespass on the truths of the real-life victims. Those should be told by the family and friends who knew them best. What I wanted to do was to capture the spirit of who these women might have been, and represent the violence that the voiceless experience throughout their lives.
As I was researching the case, I was looking at the photographs of the women. I recognized one. She was a girl I had gone to school with. I remembered her, but could never have guessed that I would one day be looking into a crime that she would be a victim of. There were plenty of threads pulling me toward writing this story. I had grown up in communities impacted by drug abuse. I knew what it was like to have drug traffickers as neighbors and play with kids like Arc and Daffy, the twin sisters in the novel. I’ve also known women like the real life victims in generations of my own family. I’ve had aunts, uncles, and cousins who have dealt with addition.
While exploring these characters, I wanted each to feel unique and complete. There’s a character known as OSU Mary in the book. She wears the same sweatshirt from college, the last artefact of her education before she dropped out. She's a philosopher, someone who tries to find her soul with magnets and hope. Violet is a mother in the book. She’s trying to be better for her daughter, while protecting these women on the street. There’s Thursday who cuts holes in her clothes, representing all the pieces of herself that she’s losing to her addiction. She believes stars can be found, even in the gutter. So she uses everything as a telescope from her own hands, to empty toilet paper rolls, her eyes always on the sky.
Then there’s Mamaw Milkweed whose hands are as old as time and who teaches Arc and Daffy about the savage side of life. She arms these two girls with a sword and shield the best way an old woman knows how. Through her wisdom.
It goes back to having grown up with kids like them. Kids who were coming from households where both of their parents were addicted to drugs. Parents who were absent, or abusive when present. And abusive across the spectrum. Kids who lacked the basic necessities like food, shelter, and safety. I wanted to show Arc and Daffy as kids in the book to show how their early life shaped them as young women and how the cycle of generational addiction is so hard to break.
I have over twenty adult novels already written. Several poetry compilations, as well as fantasy books, including Middle Grade fantasy. Autumn 2024, the first book of my middle grade fantasy series titled The Wand Carriers will be released by Simon & Schuster BFYR. It was so much fun to write and it’s a feel good, funny, lighthearted read for all ages. As for my next adult book, I’m currently editing three and will look forward to deciding which story I want to amplify next after On the Savage Side.
I read very little fiction, and focus primarily on non-fiction. My favorite subject being history, anthropology, and science, especially the archeological and environmental sciences. One subject matter that is always on my to read pile are books about dinosaurs. No matter how many I read, I always learn something new.
I’d like to take this a step further and say one piece of music and art should be nature herself. I love walking in the woods. I think it’s something everyone can benefit from. There is music in the birdsong. There is art in the entire palette of leaves and flowers. I love nature and animals.
I love crocheting. I crochet each night in bed before going to sleep. My rescue cats, Grand & Fielding, love everything crochet, so as soon as I finish one afghan for them, I have to immediately start a new one.
