Author Profile: Samantha Specks
The Spun Yarn works with and provides beta readers and manuscript critiques for all kinds of authors. Our Author Profile series highlights some of the successful authors we’ve worked with, getting insight into their process so other writers can learn from their experience.
Samantha Specks is a licensed independent clinical social worker. She and her husband live in Houston with their baby (Pippa) and fur baby (Charlie). When not in Texas, they enjoy spending time on the lakes of Minnesota and in the mountains of the Roaring Fork Valley in Colorado. Dovetails in Tall Grass is Samantha’s debut novel. Currently, she is writing Dovetails of a River, which is set at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Tell us about your book.
Inspired by the true story of the thirty-eight Dakota-Sioux men hanged in Minnesota in 1862―the largest mass execution in US history―Dovetails in Tall Grass is a powerful tale of two young women connected by the fate of one man.
As war overtakes the frontier, Emma's family farmstead is attacked by Dakota-Sioux warriors; on that same prairie, Oenikika desperately tries to hold onto her calling as a healer and follow the orders of her father, Chief Little Crow. When the war is over and revenge-fueled war trials begin, each of these young women is faced with an impossible choice to either lose herself or lose the ones she loves. In a swiftly changing world, both Emma and Oenikika must look deep within and fight for the truth of their convictions―even as horror and injustice unfolds all around them.
Dovetails in Tall Grass explores a tragic and complicated history. What inspired you to write about this subject matter?
It was Christmas Eve on a silver snow covered road that the first seeds of the Dovetails story were planted in my heart. I was a high schooler—cozy, riding in my parents’ Suburban, making the final turn to my grandparents’ home, when I spotted something new. Headlights illuminated unusual shapes moving across the darkening horizon. A group of men on horseback. Curious, I asked my parents why people were riding in the cold. My mother explained: “They’re Dakota who are marching to show they haven’t forgotten what happened here long ago.”
I felt compelled to learn about what they hadn’t forgotten. And quickly I found out that the riders I crossed paths with were the Dakota 38+2 Riders – a group that still rides every December from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota (330 miles) – riding to commemorate the war. I knew before my family had arrived, Laura Ingalls and other settlers had called Minnesota home. But before them? I hadn’t thought much about any others who’d been there. So, I educated myself. I learned about the Dakota-Sioux people, about proud warriors, and hunters. Years passed and my interest never waned. During graduate school (Master of Clinical Social Work) I dug into the scholarly articles. I learned about the violence of westward expansion that happened here that ended many lives and changed so many others. The war that sparked the next three decades of warfare, massacre, and genocide of the Indigenous people of the plains.
Historical fiction always requires a great deal of research. What kinds of research did you do to write this novel?
Reading scholarly articles couldn’t take the place of walking the bluffs along the river, touching the stone of old buildings that would have echoed the gunshots of battle, or standing on the ground where 38 men lost their lives at once. Each summer, my grandmother, mother, and I visited the historical markers scattered through the countryside. These markers were almost unnoticeable along a random gravel road next to a soybean field. The three of us would stand around quiet stone statues with dandelions sprouting around the bottom. Most of the monuments featured the names of the settlers – over 600 men, women, and children -- killed. Until the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the US-Dakota War was the largest civilian casualty event in U.S. history. Other markers listed the 38 names of Dakota men. Peaceful rolls of prairie and sleepy country towns held so much history that mattered then and now.
And the book research went beyond reading -- I talked to people, went to historical society events and lectures by the Dakota-Sioux community, watched documentaries, read trial transcripts, listened to podcasts, scrolled the pages of comments on old history message boards. I got research recommendations from the Dakota-Sioux community. Dug into Dakota oral histories. I sought advice and feedback. Capturing the actual events of the US-Dakota War on the page was extremely important to me, and initially, I wanted to work in every single detail and follow the exact timeline of all battles in the war, etc. But once I started working with an editor, I learned how I could stay true to the history but not get locked down in chronicling every single event. Then I really dug into my protagonists’ emotional journey – and that’s where the magic happened! (Although, I still managed to sneak in historical details like the actual weather conditions for my characters to encounter). After the first draft of the manuscript was complete, I worked with a Native writer, Diane Wilson (she’s brilliant, read her latest, The Seed Keeper) She offered feedback on cultural components. I reworked the manuscript again. After beta reader feedback from The Spun Yarn, it was time to think about publishing options!
What is your writing process like?
Pre-baby and post-baby (I had a baby last pandemic, I mean, last year!) writing routines look different. Pre-baby, I’d write based on my level of inspiration and was always able to submit more words than I’d aimed for at each deadline with my editor. Something like 30-40 pages every two weeks. But since having a kid, I’ve had to get more efficient with my work time: I plan backward from my deadlines, block writing hours on my calendar, and assign scenes to each block. Then I masterplan childcare coverage to overlap those writing hours. It’s usually a few hours a day, four days a week, to squeeze out 20 pages per deadline.
And, of course, my own pressure to be more efficient often makes me less efficient. After a writing session that turned into a rabbit hole of historical research (try reading scholarly articles on water cisterns in the 1870s) and then an hour of me Googling “toys for a baby who can only roll to the left” I get a version of the “Sunday Scaries” I call the “Writing Scaries” and start a negative and self-critical shame spiral. Driving away from the coffee shop, I think to myself, “You imposter! You watch terrible reality TV and don’t read literary fiction. Sometimes spellcheck cannot even tell which word you are attempting to spell! Who are you kidding trying to write a book?” I arrive home to find that I missed my baby rolling to the right for the first time – and my brain screams, “YOU CANNOT WRITE THIS BOOK!”
But time passes and shame slinks back into the shadows. I’ll see an interaction between people at the grocery store that reminds me of something my characters would do, or I’ll read a research book, then listen to a podcast, and my brain starts to tick. Then, sure enough, “story” begins to bubble up and I just can’t keep it down. My heart sings out, “YOU CANNOT NOT WRITE THIS BOOK! IT IS YOUR TRUE CALLING!” and I’m off to Starbucks at six in the morning to cram in a Saturday morning writing sesh.
In summary: I go to a coffee shop and ride a roller coaster of the “Writing Scaries” about four times a week.
Why do you write?
In all honesty, I am not smart enough to be a writer. Even seeing the “Author Interview” request from The Spun Yarn for this felt odd for me! But I realize calling this article “Talking with Samantha, someone who is just lucky to tap into compelling ideas when learning about significant times in American history” would be weird. But that’s truly what fuels me! Once I’ve spent time in the trenches of historical research, the fictional story is something totally outside of myself that I just happen to be able to see. The more I study the fascinating dynamics of our past (cough cough *present*) the more fire lights within me and illuminates just what complexities would play out in a story arc. If I can get my fingers to type fast enough, the actual writing feels like grabbing the ideas/feelings/characters invisibly floating beyond my mind and sticking them onto the physical page. If I write well enough, at the end of my work the fire will spread to a reader turning the pages of a meaningful story playing out on our vibrant and vivid past.
How was your experience with The Spun Yarn?
Phenomenal. I felt encouraged and more confident after working with The Spun Yarn. The feedback was constructive and straightforward to integrate. Sarah [Beaudette, The Spun Yarn Editor-in-Chief] is so thoughtful, genuine, and supportive of writers; I could certainly see where that comes through in working with the company.
My only wish: That I could meet my beta readers and thank them in person!
What advice do you have for other authors?
Keep on, brave one!
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Learn more about Samantha Specks and her writing at her website, samanthaspecks.com.
And follow her on social media at:
Instagram: @samanthaspecks
Facebook: @samanthaspecks
To learn more about The Spun Yarn and see how you can use their manuscript beta reader program for authors to help make your writing even better, click here.