Cameron Kent takes the Road less traveled.

Sally Gupton Photography

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Veteran news anchor and reporter for WXII 12, Cameron Kent is no stranger to storytelling. He’s written screenplays for NBC, HBO, Lifetime and the American Film Institute, as well as two crime/thriller/suspense novels. But on this, the debut of his third novel, The Road to Devotion, Cameron has taken a leap: into historical fiction and his feminine side. “They always say write what you know, and writing about two women during the Civil War is nothing I know anything about. It was a radical departure but I just felt like it was the best way to tell this story.” And the story is this: two women, Sarah, a landowner, and Jacquerie, a runaway slave from Louisiana, develop an abiding friendship and cause Sarah to challenge a lifetime of spoon-fed ethics. “This book has been different because everything [else] I’ve ever written has been to entertain, and I wanted to say something, I wanted to express something about my world view.”

What you like about reading skirt!?: “I have a copy of skirt! in my car right now. It’s been good to read and get a woman’s perspective on the world.”

What do you like about wearing a skirt?: “The last time I had a skirt on was [right here] at Salem college in 1975 for a talent show and I remember being uncomfortable then so I imagine…”

EXTRA WEB CONTENT

Cameron on screenwriting: Screenwriting is such an art by committee because the screenwriter writes it, you give birth to the child, then you have to let everybody else raise it. They all have a say in how your story is portrayed, so by the end of the day, what you wrote isn’t necessarily what comes out on the screen. When you’re writing a novel it’s generally just you and an editor – it’s a lot more satisfying.

Cameron on naming his characters: No one’s actually asked me this question yet so I’m going to reveal something that I haven’t told anyone else. Sarah – I wanted a name that was old fashioned, from the Bible that would certainly fit into this time period and just what I envisioned "Sarah" looked like...that was the name that seemed to fit the best. And her sister is Rebeccah and that’s another name from the Bible and she’s a little more liberal minded, educated, goes to Salem and so that name seemed to fit with her. Jacquerie – I wanted a name that sounded French, sounded a little bit Cajun since she’s from Louisiana. Jacquerie also means “peasant uprising” which I haven’t told anybody. If you look that up, that’s what it is and it just seemed like ah! That’s what she should be named.

Cameron on the title of his new book, The Road to Devotion: The title has a double meaning and it’s really talking about the two different paths of these two women. One is the literal road to Devotion that Jacquerie is following from Lousisiana through NC, making her way through what is now Devotion, NC up in Surry Co. So it’s her road as she heads north going through that area as she makes her way to Canada. And for Sarah its more of a figurative road, more of a metaphor as she’s starting to understand that everything she’s been taught in life and in church is not necessarily the way she really should behave in the world.