March 11-17, 2004

cover story

The Writer's Block

Street smarts: For her story of two teenage girls in the 1960s, Diane McKinney-Whetstone sought inspiration here on Cecil Street, in her old West Philly neighborhood. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Diane McKinney-Whetstone returns with Leaving Cecil Street, a novel about guilt and redemption set on the streets of West Philadephia.

by Gary M. Kramer

"The book knows what it’s about -- it’s up to me to discover it." This is how novelist Diane McKinney-Whetstone describes her craft. The Philadelphia-based author is talking about writing Leaving Cecil Street, her fourth novel, and her first book in five years. "I know much more about the book than actually ends up on the pages, except that in some kind of way, my unconscious is cuing me in that this [or] that needs to happen."

Leaving Cecil Street, to be published by William Morrow in April, concerns a tight-knit block in West Philly, and McKinney-Whetstone, who grew up on the 5700 block of Chestnut Street, describes it as if the story wrote itself.

"While I am writing, there is a sense of something taking me over, and I am seeing it and following it. The characters pull the story along. It doesn't happen often," she says, but when it does "it's such a gift."

The gift will give much pleasure to fans of the author, whose first novel, Tumbling, became a best seller in 1996. McKinney-Whetstone tackles some pretty heavy themes in her latest book -- adultery, abuse and abortion -- and quite vividly, too. Leaving Cecil Street incorporates guilt and redemption in striking ways.

The plot, which artfully weaves together various characters and episodes, concerns two teenagers, Shay and Neet, who are best friends and neighbors. Their lives change drastically after Neet has an illegal back-street abortion. While Neet's religious mother, Alberta, and Shay's parents, Joe and Louise, are engrossed in their own problems, this traumatic event -- unforgettably depicted in the novel -- has lasting consequences for both families.

McKinney-Whetstone admits that although she had Neet's survival in mind when she wrote the abortion scene, she does not attempt to moralize. "I try not to make political statements with my books," she says, because "then the book comes off as agenda-driven, as opposed to character-driven. I try to back off from that and let the characters come to life."

This strategy helps the novel. For McKinney-Whetstone, the character of Deucie, who hides in Joe and Louise's basement and whose bond with one of the central protagonists is later revealed, is the true moral center of the book.

Deucie sees and hears the people on the block "furtively," McKinney-Whetstone explains. "She makes some of the most insightful statements in the book."

And although Leaving Cecil Street is steeped in morality and tragedy, the author is not afraid to add a little humor.

McKinney-Whetstone chuckles about how she "laughed out loud" when a woman punches Joe. "When I wrote this scene, it was almost like I had the sense of, "Yeah, girl, hit him again!’ And then I wrote it that she hits him a second time. It was very funny to me." Once again, the author does not guide her characters as much as she is guided by them.

And this explains why Leaving Cecil Street excels at portraying the community atmosphere that McKinney-Whetstone remembers from when she was Neet and Shay's age. The setting stems from the novelist's experiences spending time on her grandmother's small street, at block parties and at the beauty parlor -- "the pulse of the neighborhood," she says -- all of which are lovingly rendered in the book and carry the story along.

"West Philly in the '60s was filled with its own energy," McKinney-Whetstone remembers fondly. "People were always out, talking, very much involved in each other's lives, protective of each other, even when personalities erupted." She adds that, sadly, this is less the case today.

And while the block of Cecil Street is central to the characters' interaction, there is also a tremendous emphasis on home and church. The author is quite taken with these concepts and describes how they are manifested in her novel.

"Home is a place where people know you, understand you, accept you, embrace you, comfort you -- all of that -- and that no matter what happens, you get whatever it is you need there, even if sometimes [there is] guilt," McKinney-Whetstone says. "The church was a prominent aspect of my upbringing. It is very important to me, except that there is a dichotomy of people giving the church too much power."

These ideas are incorporated beautifully in Leaving Cecil Street, and the author is extremely pleased with the results.

"This book went through so many iterations," she recalls. "Three fairly muscular revisions before my editor saw it," she says, referring to Claire Wachtel at William Morrow/Harper Collins. "That's partially why it took five years. I put it away, and started on something else for a while. I am, finally, very satisfied with it."

Meanwhile, McKinney-Whetstone continues, as is her habit, to get up at 5 a.m. every day to write.

"I do my best writing very early," she claims. "Things happen for me at that hour."

Perhaps this explains why she feels her books know "what they are all about."

Diane McKinney-Whetstone reads on Thu., April 1, 7 p.m., Free Library Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341.