Denise Hildreth talks about "Flies on the Butter"

Added February 14, 2007

Joyce: In the Library Reviews welcomes Denise Hildreth!

Flies on the Butter is such an intriguing title! Although it's explained within the context of the novel, can you tell readers why you chose this title?

Denise: You know, it is actually the title of a song by Wynonna Judd. I was riding in my car one day and I had just bought her new CD and when it came to this song I couldn't believe the emotion that it brought to the surface in me. It's all about how simple life use to be. Life like I had growing up in South Carolina and traveling to my grandparent's in Mullins, where I set the final scene of the book. And I realized how complicated life had become and how much, on some days, in the soul of each of us we just wish we could go home. And that is what happened to me. I just wished for one moment I could go back home, to that moment and place. And then I thought, what an amazing book this song would make. So, I never thought about titling it anything else.

Joyce: In the story, Rose Fletcher must deal with a painful past. I'm sure many people can relate to that. What do you think Rose would tell your readers?

Denise: I think probably she'd tell them she wasted a lot of good years letting hers cause her to miss the gifts that were dwelling in her present. That no one invites a thief in-but we have the ability to make him leave. We also have the ability to invite him to take up residence in a guest room upstairs if we want too as well. She would say she hates that she took so long in kicking him out.

Joyce: As a Southerner, you're able to give readers a savory taste of that culture. Why do you think the Southern lifestyle is so appealing? (At least this Northern gal thinks it's appealing!)

Denise: Why thank you....For me, I think the heat makes us kooky or something! And people are attracted to kooky people like they are stopping traffic to look at a car wreck. Honestly, there is something about the south and it's inbred, no not that kind, I was going to say, their inbred hospitality. They have an innate capability of making strangers seem welcome. Now, they may talk about you after you leave, but rest assured you'll feel like a million bucks while you're there!

Joyce: You're able to portray genuine emotions in your characters. How do you achieve this?

Denise: I think it's because personally I've always felt things deeply. It doesn't take much to move me. My husband told me one Sunday at church he wished I'd stop crying or "people are going to think I beat you or something." I just feel deeply. At movies, when I listen to music, when I watch kids playing on a playground, or an elderly woman reach over and pat her husband's toushy. Those things move me. And I've lived more life than most people my age too. I've walked long roads, hard roads, real roads. And I always promised myself that I wouldn't try to sugar coat life, because I never found life to be sugar coated.

So, when I write, I just let every emotion that a scene or interaction brings come on the page. I don't edit it, I just write it. If it needs to be edited my editor can do that. But I never edit my original thoughts in a scene that has intense emotions. I trust someone else to do that. For me it's about the realness and that when the reader reads it they can say, "I know that feeling. I've felt that before. I've been there in my mind too!" Those are the reasons people will buy something else you write.

Joyce: How do your Christian beliefs direct your writing?

Denise: I don't know that they really direct my writing as much as they are just a part of who I am. They are the core of my beliefs so they are evident in what I think, what I feel and inevitably who you are can't help but come out in what you write.

Joyce: Flies on the Butter unravels the story in tantalizing tidbits. The car ride to Rose's home lent itself well to the spiritual journey she also took. How did the idea for this book originate?

Denise: I mentioned a lot of the reason for this in my first answer because it's so intertwined with the title. But to go a little farther, when I first got the idea it was simply about letting life be simple. Taking the reader back to a time that simply doesn't exist anywhere anymore except in people's memories. But then I thought, why not let it be a journey. Then the idea for the car trip-the flashbacks-her present turmoil-all of that began to come into my thoughts.

But like in all my books I usually just have a beginning and ending and no idea how exactly we're going to get there. So, each day when I sit down to write it really is as exciting for me as if I were reading the book because I have no idea where exactly the journey is going to take me.

Joyce: What are you working on now?

Denise: Right now I'm about to go into the second edit of my book that comes out in September, "The Will of Wisteria." It's about four kids of a Charleston blue blood who has just passed away. The night before the reading of their father's will, all four kids are kidnapped, creating a year that will change each of their lives.

Joyce: Thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Keep writing and your loyal fans will keep reading!

Denise: Thank you Joyce, it's an absolute privilege. I'm still amazed anyone other than my mother reads what I write! So thank you for such a great opportunity.

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