Few settings expose the complexities of justice, redemption, and human connection quite like prison walls. In San Quentin Exodus, Bill Smoot explores these themes through the intertwined lives of James, a long-term inmate seeking a second chance, and Allison, a volunteer tutor whose determination to help him grows into an all-consuming mission.
Q&A with Author Bill Smoot
Q. What inspired you to write this book?
A: It’s not easy to know why we do what we do, write what we write. But I am aware of a couple of things. When the pandemic started, I had been teaching at San Quentin for eight years. I had often wondered, looking up at those forty-foot walls topped with coils of razor wire, how one might escape. That question would be the seeds of my story. I began to wonder: who would be trying to escape? Who might help? In my imagination, the characters of Allison and James began to form.
The other reason was that, because of the quarantine, I really missed the students and the classes. So writing about the prison was a way to supply what I was missing. I suppose it’s like the lonely child who imagines a pretend playmate.
Q: Can you tell us about the main characters and their development throughout the story?
A: Once I had Allison and James thinking about a prison escape, I imagined their backstories, all the way back to childhood. Allison is a girl in suburban Indianapolis. She discovers, and soon becomes obsessed with, Nancy Drew novels. When an Olympic athlete visits her school, she feels the first stirrings of an attraction for women.
James has a happy childhood in Sacramento with two loving parents. But his father dies, and he moves to Oakland, where his mother finds a job. A good boy by nature, he is traumatized by the mean streets of Oakland in the 80s, develops a loving friendship with a pit bull he saves from dogfighting, and plans to attend a local college. Then things go to hell.
So the core of their characters has been formed—the helper-sleuth and the good boy- survivor. As Heraclitus said, character is destiny.
Q: Did you have any challenges while writing this book? If so, what were they?
A: Aside from the fact that writing is a challenge in itself, I was in a good situation. I had an income and lots of free time, and I was very grateful for that. Free time is key. Besides writing, the only things I did were mask up, go to the grocery, and hike with my dog. I wrote the first draft in six months.
Q: What is your favorite scene in the book and why?
A: I like the scene where Allison and her partner, Meagan, arrive at Meagan’s family’s dairy farm at milking time. Though Allison is out of her element, they pitch in and help. It told me that their relationship would thrive. I know that sounds like I observed the characters rather than created them, but that’s the way it feels. I just settle into the imaginative part of my mind and let them come alive. And of course, I like the scene of the escape attempt.
Q: Were there any specific books or authors that influenced your writing of this book?
A: Probably many books have influenced me in ways I barely recognize. But one in particular, Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, provided an example of a book composed of short mini-chapters. I went to school on him and built my novel in that way.
Q: Can you talk about your writing process and how you approach writing a novel?
A: I never have problems with motivation or writer’s block. I like writing, so I don’t need a schedule. Mostly, I compose on the computer, though sometimes I write longhand and then type it later. I don’t use outlines. I just start writing and created it from beginning to end. Then I do a lot of revision—which I love. I like revising more than composing the first draft.
Q: What was the most difficult part of writing this book?
A: One difficulty was that I reference a number of real historical events in the novel (the OJ trial, the Felix Mitchell funeral in Oakland, the pandemic, etc.), so I had to write in a way that the dates of those things are accurate. That can feel like the tail wagging the dog.
Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from the book?
I like when James says, on the last page, “I’m not saying it’s enough. But it’s all I’ve got.”
Q: Can you give us a hint about what you’re working on next?
A: I have a completed novel for which I am seeking a publisher. It’s about a classics professor obsessed with the Eleusinian mystery religion. He’s working on an archaeological dig in Greece during the reign of the fascist dictatorship. Currently, I’m writing short stories.
Q: How do you hope readers will feel after finishing your book?
I hope they will be in love with the same characters I love: James, Allison, Meagan, Mama, and of course, Spike. I hope they will have felt the fierce humanity of the incarcerated men they have met in the novel. And I hope they will believe.
About the author:
Bill Smoot grew up in Maysville, Kentucky, and received a BA in philosophy at Purdue and a PhD in philosophy at Northwestern. He has published fiction in such periodicals as Ninth Letter, Orchid, Crab Orchard Review, Barely South Review, Narrative, and Literary Review. He has published a non-fiction book, Conversations with Great Teachers (Indiana University Press, 2010). His non-fiction short pieces have appeared in The Nation, Salon, Medium, USA Today, The Ohio Review, Western Humanities Review, and others. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his dog Artemis.