S.L. Woeppel is the author of the new novel The Butcher and the Liar. She also has written the novel Flipping the Birdie.
Q: What inspired you to write The Butcher and the Liar, and how did you create your character Daisy?
A: As a child in small-town Nebraska, I lived a few blocks from a cattle auction - the sounds, smells and organized chaos of which were seared into my memory. Much later, I moved to Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood while it was still a meatpacking district. The story was inspired by the confluence of these settings.
Daisy emerged from my own experience as a kid in late 1980s middle America, living next to a cattle auction and having endless freedom to explore that world on my own.
The auction (a mix of slaughter, death, and a place of joy for a little kid) really fed the character of Daisy - a generally happy child led into a dark life by her serial killer father. She evolved into this complex, resilient, and brave human – but with a darkness inside her.
The setting reflects the duality of her nature, both as a child enduring a life with her father and then as an adult coming to terms with who she became.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The Butcher and The Liar was the first title. At the time, it was a placeholder – so simple, yet fully encapsulating the characters on many levels. The title changed several times, but I kept coming back to the original. It just fit.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I did not. I never really do – not exactly.
Daisy’s story as a youth came fast and easy with few substantive changes after the first draft. But her story as an adult came more slowly, almost like I had to fully flesh out who she was as a kid to get to know who she’d end up becoming. That timeline went through many rewrites.
After knowing child Daisy fully, I finally knew who adult Daisy was and how her story could collide with the story of her youth to create a twisty thriller with a lot of heart and a love story at its core.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: I want readers to become immersed. I want to deliver escapism – the kind that takes you into another world and keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next, and maybe the kind that sticks with you a while afterwards.
And if readers find solace in Daisy’s journey, connection with her experiences, or if they cheer her resilience, and find some in themselves…well, you can’t ask for more than that.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on a story inspired by my new home - a historic district in Minnesota. It’s about growing old and about how people are so much more than meets the eye.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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