THE CRIME OF BEING

It's a novel about a racially-motivated shooting, and I knew right away that I didn't want any blood, or people or guns or any of the other common signifiers we see associated with this all too common kind of event. Instead I was drawn to the idyllic location, a small town in a beautiful place, on a beautiful day where nothing like this should have ever have happened, where it doesn't belong. That to me was the most horrifying thing, that beauty has no defense against this kind of ugliness, and yet, it's still there after it happens, still beautiful, still there for us.