Slaves running towards freedom. Wives trying to hold down the household without their husbands and sons. Sounds of gun shots. Cries for equality.

Imagine if this were everyday life. For creative writing professor and author Philip Gerard, who is writing a series of stories based in the Civil War era, this is his life.

Gerard isn’t a Civil War reenactor or stuck in the past. Approached by Our State magazine, a publication that focuses solely on North Carolina, Gerard was asked to write stories that captured life during the Civil War in NC. The stories are written in present tense, and are not about the battles; they shed light on the other things that are often ignored.

“The stories are written in present tense so that I am really able to capture the suspense of not knowing how everything will turn out,” said Gerard.

The first story was released in May of this year to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first firings at Fort Sumter, the battle that started the Civil War. The last story will be released in 2015. Eventually, all of the stories will be put together in a book, something that Gerard sees as an advantage.

“When it turns into a book, I can correct it. You rarely get that chance as an author,” Gerard said.

So far, about ten stories have been released. Topics include John Bellamy and his influence in secession, slaves escaping down the Cape Fear River and the roles of women and how they were left behind.

When deciding about what to write about next, Gerard immerses himself in his work. At one point, he said that he told his wife Jill that he feels like he was in the Civil War. In order to get it right, however, this is what it takes. His next story due out in the magazine has to do about medical procedures; by the time the story comes out, he will have already handled many Civil War era medical instruments and visited a field hospital.

“Once I find a character whose eyes I can write through, the person is the way into the story,” said Gerard. Researching and trying to experience what someone might have gone through during that time makes the story more natural. “You can’t make that stuff up,” said Gerard.

It can be a challenging process when writing the stories. “It can get hard when you get information and can’t organize it or find out who that person was,” said Gerard. Yet, Gerard realizes that if he did it last time, he can certainly do it again.

Gerard said that the reason why Our State magazine chose him to write these stories is because he doesn’t know about the Civil War. This is exactly the type of writing he likes to do.

“I always write about what I want to know about. It’s an adventure of discovery,” said Gerard. “There’s a lot more ambivalence and confusion to the Civil War that I didn’t know about and find very interesting.”

Whenever Gerard isn’t teaching or writing for another project, he spends time with his wife and two stepchildren, and his Australian Shepherd, Daisy. Another one of Gerard’s hobbies is playing music. Gerard plays the pedal steel guitar and the banjo.

It has been a long time since the Civil War, but Gerard said that in a funny way, “the things we struggle with today, like who are you loyal to, are conflicts that have never been settled.”

Gerard’s story will continued to be released in “Our State” magazine. They are also available on the magazine’s website.

“People are often ignorant of their history,” said Gerard. “If you live here you should know what happened here.”