What if the history you thought you knew was only part of the story?
For Tom Mauser, that question wasn’t just curiosity. It was a mission. His bestselling Civil War novel This Leavened Land: A Novel of the Civil War in East Tennessee started as one story, became another, and took ten years to bring to life.
Charlie sat down with Tom on The Munn Avenue Muse podcast to talk about the spark, the detours, and the lessons every writer can take from a journey like his.
A Childhood Fascination That Never Let Go
Tom’s love of the Civil War began at age ten with a single book: Heroes in Blue and Gray. That early spark quietly shaped his reading, his studies, and eventually, his writing life.
Years later, while researching a completely different novel, he uncovered a real-life tragedy in Eastern Tennessee: the 1864 murder of Union soldiers by civilians. The event, hidden in the footnotes of history, became the beating heart of his book.
Letting the Story Surprise You
Tom didn’t map every plot point in advance. Instead, he let the narrative evolve and allowed unexpected characters to walk onto the page.
One of the biggest? Jedediah Whitson. A free African-American cooper, Jedediah emerges as the loyal, grounded friend of protagonist James Meacham. He wasn’t part of the original plan. In fact, Tom says Jedediah “just appeared one day” while writing a scene, his voice and personality already fully formed. Rather than push him aside to stick to the plan, Tom listened. Jedediah stayed, and he became a key emotional anchor in the story.
For writers, it’s a reminder that sometimes the best moments on the page happen when you stop forcing the story into a box. When a character or subplot shows up uninvited but feels authentic, it can be a signal you’ve tapped into something true.
Writing That Sounds Like the 1860s
For Tom, historical accuracy went way beyond getting the clothes, weapons, or dates right. He ensured the voices of his characters sounded like they could have been heard in 1860s Eastern Tennessee. To achieve that, he dove deep into digitized letters, journals, and memoirs from the period. He read until the cadence of the sentences, the choice of words, and even the humor matched the era.
This meant learning how someone from the mountains might speak differently than someone from the lowlands, how formal writing and everyday conversation contrasted, and how the concerns of the time shaped the way people expressed themselves.
The result? Characters that felt so alive to him that, as Tom puts it, “the characters just kept on talking.” That immersion allowed their authentic voices to guide the dialogue and help drive the scenes forward.
Ten Years, Countless Drafts, One Finished Book
This Leavened Land wasn’t written in a hurry. The process stretched over more than a decade, marked by “fits and starts,” rewrites, and life’s unexpected detours. Along the way, Tom faced a battle with cancer and navigated the global challenges of COVID, both of which put his work on hold more than once.
But through every pause and restart, he kept coming back to the story. And when he finally held the finished copy in his hands, Tom described the moment as “almost surreal.” It was the kind of quiet triumph that reminds us perseverance might be the most valuable writing tool of all because it’s what gets you to the last page.
Why This Story Resonates Now
The San Francisco Book Review praised This Leavened Land for offering “a fresh look at the Civil War.” But Tom’s work is as much about the present as the past. It wrestles with loyalty, division, and freedom.
For readers, it’s a compelling way to learn history. For writers, it’s a blueprint for research-driven storytelling that still feels alive. And for anyone curious about how the past shapes us, it’s a reminder that history’s heartbeat is never far from our own.
📚 This Leavened Land is available now wherever books are sold.
🎧 Hear the full conversation with Tom Mauser on The Munn Avenue Muse podcast.
If you would like to publish your book or your audiobook (or are just dreaming about it), let the MunnAvenuePress.com team help make your dream a reality.
Happy Writing! Charlie Levin, Publisher & Founder
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