June Third Thursday Recap: “Following the Thread: Well-Researched Writing”

“The fear of asking holds you back from your research.” -Eiren Caffall

Time machines exist. Sounds impossible, right? That’s because the past, present, and future exist within the pages of our favorite books. Writers are the inventors of our modern time machines. Their words have the ability to transport readers to the 1950s in New York or to a post-apocalyptic world where the ocean is a character in its own right. Even so, this doesn’t happen overnight. They spend years researching, writing, and refining their craft. Yet, every writer’s inspiration stems from somewhere, and researching has a lot more to it than meets the eye. Is research the red string between writers? Do readers enjoy falling down the rabbit hole just as much as writers do? 

This Third Thursday, WLT’s Sarah Renee Beach was joined by three writers devoted to presenting picturesque and accurate scenes, backed by their love and understanding of history, science, and integral human experiences. WLT was pleased to host the gifted Isa Arsén (The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf), the versatile Eiren Caffal (All the Water in the World), and the investigative Alejandra Oliva (Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration) and discuss their success in creating well-received stories and their research strategies for nurturing the inspiration that gave them their initial spark. 

Our lived experiences and conversations are just as valuable as any research you can hold and share. This is precisely what inspired Arsén’s original draft. Many readers will be surprised to discover the numerous revisions Arsén went through to bring The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf to fruition. Initially inspired by her background in music, Arsén’s beloved characters, Margret and Wesley, who are in a marriage of convenience, were originally opera singers of the Santa Fe Opera. However, Arsén realized that her experiences and vast connection with music might not be as recognizable for readers, and wanted to transform her characters into something everyone would be familiar with—Shakespearean actors. This change got gears turning into how the story would develop. From being based primarily in Santa Fe to mostly New York, understanding what it was like for queer communities in the 1950s, and bringing to life the streets and buildings that now only exist in memories. Arsén said, “I know New York, I know New Mexico, but I only know them in my own lifetime, so what do I need to do to make them feel more authentic as they were 70 years ago?” By asking herself guiding questions about what changed and what stayed the same in these settings and communities, Arsén was capable of capturing modern internal sentiments and creating identifiable contemporary characters that readers would enjoy. The resourcefulness of her research was also a part of her “Scrapbook” method. Arsén collected videos, song lyrics, pictures, hymns, and more to help her fall in love with her craft, but also a reminder that research comes in many forms, and that this well of knowledge can be filled from just about anything. 

Driven by her mother’s career as an EPA Scientist in Western Massachusetts, Eiren Caffall explores extinction, water loss, and oceans. Like Arsén, Caffall also uses questions to guide her, but instead of the past, she wonders about the future. Caffall began as an essayist and journalist, utilizing her research skills in climate justice, environmental issues, and ecological collapse to direct her writing in All the Water in the World.  Her first draft was twice as long as the book is now, but the details didn’t die; if anything, they deepened each round of revisions. Her research was based on conversations with multiple individuals, including fishermen, researchers, scientists, and librarians. Conversation is a valuable part of research because it gives professional and humane insight into distinctive fields. Caffall wanted her book to be exciting for anyone unfamiliar with the science behind eco collapse, as well as for scientists to pick it up and not feel taken out of their element. Caffall said, “It’s important to have effective and realistic science communication even when you’re writing speculative fiction—the world needs to have an internal logic. I’m not a scientist, I’m a writer.” Communication is needed to cultivate a time machine as elaborate as Caffall’s. That, and inspiration from museums and libraries. Caffall reminds our listeners that using the resources around you is important. Many people forget just how privileged we are to have access to these information and resources. “The fear of asking holds you back from your research,” said Caffall. 

Alejandra Oliva was influenced by language and the divine. Her experience translating and interpreting for immigrant children, helping people navigate asylum applications, and attending divinity school, supported her writing about purposeful experiences. Her assignments in divinity school began to have conversations with each other, showing how research can be the reflection of our own lives in the pieces we choose to collect. This writing was divided into three sections that helped her idea’s for her book come to life, moreover, help her fill in the gaps she didn’t know. Oliva paid close attention to the people around her that were focusing on the work she was interested in, mainly immigration. Oliva reveals how research can help you reach conclusions about history before your writing meets them. Her book concentrates on what its like to be an immigrant in America in the 20th century, and the fine line between politics and ethics. Oliva’s unapologetically bilingual book could force readers to do a bit of research and translation of their own, but this is part the experience of being a reader and her way of offering a meeting point for readers to see how powerful language and translation can be. “Immigration is an issue that has been going on since the U.S. was founded and people have been thinking and theorizing about all the ways that it is an incredibly racialized and messed up dynamic,” said Oliva. Her research offers transparency into modern America and how people have been approaching immigration from different angles.

 Oliva’s research can also lead to rabbit holes, emotionally, informatively, etc. however, Oliva says “When there is a gap in the research it means something. When there is a gap in the archive it means something, and that’s something else you can write into and explain.” We can take a page from Oliva’s book and see that their is something fruitful in the blankness. This empty space is where author’s get to show their personality and bring their characters to life. Better yet, as Arsén said, “You can use that space to draw from the present.” Research can be intimidating, and doing so much to not have all the answers can be a big block, but as a writer, you can begin to understand that all research is good research, even the parts that lead to dead ends. They are there for a reason. Caffall is transparent with the lack of answers: “As a writer, when you admit that you are still in question and didn’t get it answered, it earns the trust of your reader….certainty is not the idea.” Therefore, a bit of the answer is better than none of it. 

Our authors confess that the research and work you put into a book may never end, but you have your lifetime to keep discovering what you care about. Go out and imagine what it was like to stand on a hill in a place you’ve never been to, at a time where you were far from existence, because wondering is the beginning of wanting to know, and wanting to know is when the research begins.  

Want to research like our authors? Check out the resources and tools mentioned in this Third Thursday Panel:

  “Thank you to the people who fill the well.”–  Isa Arsén

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For more insight into writing and publishing, please join the Writers’ League of Texas for July Third Thursday: “Remixes & Reimaginings: Seeing Stories Anew”