Recently, an amazing woman in England tragically died.
No, not the queen.
I am speaking of Hilary Mantel.
Here I am a few years into a historical novel and well:
Last year, I tried to contact Hilary Mantel through her lit agent. Bold? Yes. I’m trying this new thing where I don’t say no to things—the other person has to.
And her agent said no.
But she was nice and explained Mantel was busy with other projects. She was working up until she passed.
Recently, this quote of hers has been passed around Twitter:
When it comes to doing research for my book, I found this perspective to be helpful.
Back in June, I traveled to Seville, Spain and spent the month there with the idea that I would conduct on the ground meaningful research for my novel. Being that my protagonist was historically called “the Sevillian muse,” the city was kind of important. According to the scarce documents I do have about her, she moved to Seville where her writing career took off.
When I got to Seville for the month, I had no set plan. I made a list of certain tourist sites that I knew would be helpful to visit, but I had no meetings set up. Along with this, there was an added challenge. My Fulbright was set to end in the middle of June. There were two other fellows in Seville and I was excited to have them as fast friends. But in early June, they were both leaving.
I came to Seville with two big fears. The first was whether I would have any friends while I was there. I know myself. When I am alone, I get incredibly depressed. I need social interactions and I doubted that the Andalusians would be too excited for me to just sit down at their table and start up a conversation. The second—and probably most important issue—was whether I would get any actual productive research done. I worried I would get so depressed from a lack of friends that I wouldn’t find the gumption to get out of bed and actually do the work I intended to do.
This is when I found the perfect solution: dating apps.
Let me break it down.
To get started on my work in Seville, I decided that I wasn’t going to put all of this pressure on myself to get a ton of research done or else. Instead, I decided I would simply try a little every day and be open to the surprises that I encounter.
I had gone on the dating app Bumble in order to meet people. My profile said I was a writer, which basically meant that my conversations usually devolved into this:
I talked to one young man who was born and raised in Seville. He genuinely found my research interesting. After he did a quick Wikipedia search on the information I had given him, he sent me a message: “Hey, that last name Caro is common on my mother’s side of the family. And they’re from [insert very small town outside of Seville where my protagonist’s father was from].”
Having only had the intention of a date or two, I had inadvertently met someone who could possibly be a descendant of the Caro de Mallén family. It blew my mind to be meeting with someone who probably had some ancestry tied towards the figures I am fictionalizing.
Freakin’. Sweet.
Later, I got on Bumble for the BFF side. I find the app useful for making friends and connecting to really amazing people. I met a young woman originally from DR who also asked about my work. She told me I should talk to her friend who used to study under Professor So-in-so, in the department of Comparative Literature at the University of Seville. I said thanks, got the contact info, and reached out. Within a few days, I had a meeting with the professor. She sat me down, listened to my project and then handed me notebooks and a tote.
The above image is the group I’ve now become a part of.
Research happens in the most unlikely of ways. I hadn’t meant to use a dating app to find Ana Caro, but I was open to it when the opportunities came. And I’m incredibly grateful. I’ve known the joy of genuine Spanish hospitality for years, but it still continues to wow me every time it comes my way. There’s more I want to share about that month, and I’ll be adding another newsletter about it.
Shameless Plugs
In other news, I recently got to be interviewed in Becky Tuch’s fabulous newsletter Lit Mag News Roundup. Becky leads a wonderful interview series with editors from literary journals and discusses the ins and outs of submitting along with what we do as editors. You can check out my interview here.
Also, I’m teaching again! On October 23rd, I’ll be leading a one-day class on Humor Writing through Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop.
Book Recs?
On a side note, would you like for me to give a book recommendation at the end of every letter? Let me know!
Yes, please, to book recommendations!