Moonshine—when not inspiring fist-fights and gunshots—can loosen a good story.
On Thursday, September 26, 2013, a jug of the notorious libation found its way from hand to hand on the stage of the Camel in Richmond, VA. Taking sips and swapping tales were Dean King, local bestselling author of The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story; Geoff Shandler, King’s editor from Little, Brown and Company in New York City, and Darrell Fetty, Hollywood producer of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning mini-series, The Hatfields & McCoys. “Warring Words, Endless Possibilities: The Hatfields & McCoys from Bookstore to Reality TV” was the last Writing Show of James River Writers’ 2013 season, and it was indeed a show-stopper.
King described his years of original research, including documents and interviews with relatives of both families. He unearthed anecdotes that shed new light and brought vivid detail to the tangled saga. His search for the truth found him bushwacking up ridges, only to find a Hatfield who told him that being a writer was “worse than being a cop.” King passed him a little moonshine, and they were friends. On another occasion, with his 16-year-old daughter in tow, he hiked to a river, only to find a McCoy just shooting into the water.
“Even when you get shot at, you have to walk off nice and slowly,” King said.
The author’s deliberate, dedicated process is one appreciated by his editor, Schandler, who said that King’s writing needs limited editing. Schandler spoke about his experience working on the book at a time when the media attention surrounding The Hatfields and the McCoys was at its peak.
“A good book will sell forever and ever,” said Schandler, on why they chose not to rush the editing process of King’s book to fit in with the timing of the television series, which was the most successful non-sport-related cable broadcast of all time.
“[The mini-series] got people really excited about the feud, made them want to seek out a more accurate history,” said King, as he passed the jug to Fetty. “Naturally, film and TV have to compress things for convenience.”
Fetty agreed that there are discrepancies between the “true” story and his mini-series. “It’s more important to me to be emotionally true to the characters,” said Fetty. “We raised the body count a little bit, because the network wanted a little more action. We adjusted the love story a little bit. Because you want people to be invested in the show.”
Fetty and King touched on the importance of respecting the families whose history they captured. Fetty spoke about how the stereotype of feuding hillbillies, while inaccurate, did the world a favor by getting these incredible, Shakespearian stories on the radar. “The descendants loved being portrayed in a human way,” Fetty said.
With so much attention being generated from the mini-series, the reality TV show, and the book, strong reactions from the families were not a surprise. King said he was currently negotiating with both Hatfields and McCoys on changes for the paperback edition. “As the writer, you’re the decision maker about what gets accepted. But then you’re also responsible,” said King. “A lesson learned here: don’t write about anyone with living descendants!”
Both King and Fetty spoke about their emotional ties to the story. “I was looking for a way to reconnect to my ancestral home and this incredible landscape. Even though I’m still an outsider,” said King.
Fetty described his experience of growing up in a one-room schoolhouse. He worked on a Hatfield and McCoy screenplays for twenty years. His first wife was both a Hatfield and McCoy. “We’ll drink some moonshine to that,” said King.
Fetty also spoke of the challenge of getting the story to the big screen. “No one believed in it,” he said of the original idea. A documentary by the History Channel helped spur the Hatfield and McCoy names to infamy. Fetty stressed the large amount of information already circulating about the hot-blooded families, which put pressure on the screenwriters to do something different and new.
But Fetty knew the feud was a story that resonates across time with all of us. “Who of us have tried to take up for our brother or sister and incurred the wrath of someone else?”
An audience member asked Schandler what appealed to him about working on this book, when it was already such a saturated topic. “One of my great strengths is vast ignorance of certain subjects. So I come to the topics with a fresh perspective,” he said. “I knew Dean could unpack it. Even the truth was complicated. Myth was simplified and inaccurate.”
“What’s really important about the story is what’s beneath the story, the values of these people,” concluded King. “Here are people who fought and died for what they believed in . . . They don’t want an outsider coming in to exploit it.”
The last Writing Show of the 2013 series delved deep into the minds of three key players who brought a classic story to life on both the page and the screen. Now that’s worth a proper moonshine toast.
— by Sheila Sheppard Lovelady and Jacqueline Hatch
