I met Faith Phillips a couple of years ago at a Library Festival at the Oklahoma City Municipal Library. We shared the elevator together and I loved her cowboy boots. Then I found out she was the speaker! I was there that day representing Tornado Alley and had other things I had to attend to, so I was in and out of her presentation. She was probably tired of that, but she was gracious. Then I found her on Facebook and invited her to speak at the Enid Writers Club fall workshop. Everyone loved her. Since then, we’ve developed a relationship based around books and writing. She is a novelist, screen writer, TV producer and a great proponent of the art. She is incredibly busy, but she agreed to this interview like always. I asked her a few questions.
1. What drives you to write?
This is such an interesting question. What drives me to write? The truth is, when I’m writing, everything feels right in the world. Time is suspended. I don’t need to eat or drink. I don’t need anything except that feeling of creation.
I wrote my first book when I was six years old. It was a work of supernatural fiction called Grandma and the Water Gnome. Hah! So, I think if I was compelled to write at that age, perhaps I was just born that way.
I love mystery. I prefer to live a life of great mystery. So, I’m ok with not knowing exactly how to explain why I’m compelled to write.
2. What genre(s) do you write, and why?
I write fiction, true crime, and essays/memoir. My great dream in life was to become a great writer of literary fiction. My first book was a fiction supernatural thriller. But my career didn’t really take off until my third book, a true crime novel about the 2008 Weleetka murders. This was not my plan. The book basically fell in my lap and when I heard the story from the woman who prosecuted the murders, I knew without a doubt that it had to be written. After that, I planned to get back to fiction. As it turns out, people have a powerful response to my non-fiction writing. So, I have been riding that wave since 2015 and it hasn’t crested yet. I still plan to get back to fiction, but so far, my plans have failed in a most spectacular fashion.
3. What genre(s) do you read, and why?
I started reading Stephen King at a completely inappropriate age. I think Pet Sematary is the one that hooked me first. I was a really good kid, straight A’s, class president, church every Sunday. But I had this secret life with Stephen King, and I still feel a little guilty about it. I also love the humor writing of David Sedaris. Basically, if you can scare me and make me laugh at the same time, we are going to get along just fine.
4. What’s your writing schedule? Do you write every day?
I really want to tell you that I write every day, but I don’t. When I’m writing a book or a screenplay I go into obsessive mode, and I’ll write up to 5,000 words a day. My mind just grabs onto the story and won’t let go until I finish. Then I’ll take a break until the next project.
I do journal every day but that’s not the same as when I’m on a project. When I’m on a project I’ll start writing around 10 a.m. and finish around 2 or 3 p.m. Then I’ll do some editing in the evening. But I confess I’m more of a binge writer than a disciplined writer. I’m trying to get better about that part.
5. What pulled you into writing and did you always want to be a writer?
I have always been writing I just didn’t realize as a kid that it might become a career. As a young person, authors seemed like rock stars to me. No one in my periphery did anything like that. Matter of fact, it’s a little bit insane to pursue a career in the arts where I’m from. People said that to me when I moved back home to write books. They just couldn’t believe that I would do something so irrational as to leave a law career to write books. And they were probably right.
6. Tell us about your screen writing and television production and how you got into it.
It’s a strange story. I think I could say I spoke it into existence. My fourth book came out and I was somewhat frustrated with the trajectory of my writing career. I wondered if maybe I would spend the rest of my life as a local author – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but I am nothing if not ambitious. So, I decided I would study screenwriting, thinking I might adapt my books into screenplays. I was in the process of learning when a production company contacted me to ask about using my book on the Weleetka murders for a tv series. It just so happened that I had come upon some new information in another notorious cold case and I just pitched it to the producers. The next thing I knew, I was arguing with Nancy Grave on national television. I genuinely had no idea what I was doing. That’s how I sold my first tv series. Since then, I’ve been adapting my true crime into scripted feature films and tv shows. They’ve been winning awards so it seems like I may be on to something. All will be revealed.
7. Tell us about your latest work in progress.
After self-publishing for fifteen years, I’ve just signed with Bloomsbury Publishing. This is the largest indie publishing house in the world, and they discovered JK Rowling. So, it’s going to be a whole new world for me. Here’s the logline:
Faith Phillips, a Cherokee true crime novelist, targets eight cases of missing and murdered indigenous women that she believes are all solvable. The author, with a proven track record of re-opening official cold case investigations, travels to each of the eight tribes across North America to document the crimes, share the intimate grief of families who continue to search for their missing women, and coordinate resources between state, tribal, and federal governments to demand answers, once and for all.
I also have a feature screenplay in development. It’s a thriller called Mankiller Shell and it is an adaptation of my experiences in true crime. We’re making movies, baby!
8. Tell us one unusual thing about yourself – not related to writing!
I have experienced prophetic dreams since I was in grade school. I woke up crying telling my parents that I couldn’t go to school because the bus was going to crash. They said don’t be silly and put me on the bus. Guess what happened next?
9. Who was your first love and what age were you?
Oh boy, I’m a strange bird, in that I fall in love all the time. Don’t tell my husband I said that. I just mean I see Creation in all people, so I’m in awe of them. So, I’ve been falling in love as long as I can remember. But if we had to say first romantic love it must be my first boyfriend, named Gator. He was a wrestler who took me to the opera and that was it, I was totally gone. I would have married him and had a family except that he cheated on me in the girls’ restroom of the high school gym with one of my classmates. It was the first of a long string of violently broken hearts. It’s ok though, I got better.
Most importantly, the love of my life is Mark Hinson. We have been together for ten years now and he’s been a huge supporter of my writing career. Without him, it wouldn’t have happened like this. It isn’t easy to be partnered up with a creative, so Mark deserves all the accolades.
10. If you could relive one day, which one would it be? Think GROUNDHOG DAY, the movie for this one – you’ll have to live it over and over and . . .
I would choose Harvest Day at my family’s small vineyard. We all came together to help my dad bring in the grapes, then we de-stem while listening to our favorite music (Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, etc.). We stomp the grapes … sounds gross but it’s one of the best feelings in the world. Mom puts out a huge charcuterie and we share last year’s vintage together. Grandma would bring a homemade chocolate pie while the kids run around with grape stains on their faces. That’s all. Let it be again.
11. What three words describe you, the person?
Peculiar. Cunning. Awestruck.
I asked Faith for her bio and here is what she says:
Creator / Executive Producer
Faith Phillips, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is known for her work as a novelist, screenwriter, and producer living in the Ozark foothills. She created, wrote, and executive-produced the national docu-series The Girl Scout Murders in 2022.
Her third book, Now I Lay Me Down, is an Oklahoma best seller selected for development with legendary documentarian Stanley Nelson and the HULU/Firelight Kindling Fund. Phillips adapted her true crime novel into an original pilot, Bad Creek Bridge, a finalist in the SeriesFest TV Lab. She is also the creator of the crime noir series Cadaver Dog.
Faith’s feature screenplay Mankiller Shell was selected as a finalist for the Almanack Screenwriters Colony. She was also named a 2024 recipient of the Netflix Native American Writer Accelerator Grant. Phillips recently signed with Bloomsbury Publishing to pen an MMIW true crime novel, due for release in 2026.
Missing & Murdered
Bloomsbury Publishing
Faith Phillips, a Cherokee true crime novelist, targets eight cases of missing and murdered indigenous women that she believes are all solvable. The author, with a proven track record of re-opening official cold case investigations, travels to each of the eight tribes across North America to document the crimes, share the intimate grief of families who continue to search for their missing women, and coordinate resources between state, tribal, and federal governments to demand answers, once and for all.
Here are her buy links:
https://www.facebook.com/share/17F3RDj4iN/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Watch for her new book in 2026 and pick up a copy of her older ones or watch for her on TV. Faith Phillips is an up and comer!
What are you reading, writing, or creating this week?
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 