How Research Made me a Better Writer

When people find out that I have graduate degrees, they often expect me to tell them I studied English. The wrinkles of confusion on their faces deepen even more when I tell them that my field of research and study was Human Geography. I know what you’re thinking: What’s that?! Even I didn’t know until I applied for my Master’s.

The definition of Human Geography that I like best is it’s the study of people, places, and spaces. It’s a broad field that encourages and allows for interdisciplinary perspectives, the freedom of which appealed to me when I was thinking about what direction to follow in graduate school. What appealed to me the most about Human Geography, however, as you might have guessed, is that at its root, it’s about people. In my previous life as a social scientist, and my current life as a writer, people are what fascinate me.

Truth be told, the connection between my life as a researcher, and now as a writer of fiction, was obscure even to me at one point, while I was struggling to finish my dissertation, and lamenting the fact that I was spending so much time and energy on something that I liked and was good at, but I wasn’t passionate about anymore.

When one’s journey to publication is more winding than straight-forward, it can be hard to see how one path leads to another, how one path influences another.

Now that I’ve had time to reflect on both my careers, I see that contrary to what I thought, my time spent in academia wasn’t a waste. In fact, the skills and experiences I had there I use on a daily basis now in my writing life. Perhaps because that at their core, both writing and research are about storytelling. In fact, a common phrase that circulates in academic circles is: What’s the story?
Here are some other ways that my time as a researcher made me into a better writer:

Curiosity: Writers and researchers are naturally curious and creative. We like asking questions, exploring them, and then asking more. It was research that taught me the importance of asking the right questions, thinking about why they mattered, and realizing that there is always more to know.

Observation: As a qualitative researcher, I often conducted interviews, focus groups, and participant observation as methods of collecting information. But this tendency towards observation and listening was with me long before I started school. They say that writers operate best on the margins. From that vantage point, we can get the most insight into human behaviour. Research might not have given me that propensity, but it certainly helped me hone the skill.

Rewriting: No dissertation or book makes it to the printer without a staggering number of drafts and copious amounts of revision. By the time I started revising manuscripts, the process was not only familiar to me, I knew the value of it. Rewriting is how we bring our work to its fullest potential, at least as much as we are able.

Collaboration: While trying to please one’s editor is no small feat, trust me when I tell you that trying to please five committee members is infinitely harder, and takes longer. The titanium scales, openness, perseverance, and confidence that I developed during grad school are part of what keeps me going, and writing, every day. The most valuable thing that I learned about collaboration while writing my dissertation, however, was self-belief. That is, no one knows my story better than I do. As I write and publish my work, this reminds me to be true to my voice, and not allow it to be masked by those of others.

Patience: Research taught me that it takes time to get the work done, from the conception of an idea to the final product. It takes time to learn, to figure out what your dissertation is going to be about, not to mention how you’re going to tell the story you decided to tell. Then there’s the waiting game of receiving feedback from one’s advisor, and later, one’s committee. Months can roll by without a word. Meanwhile, you’re climbing the walls. Or if you’re like me, you start writing a book. Waiting is such a huge part of a writer’s life, whether it’s waiting to hear back from agents, editors, or reviewers. The best way to deal with this, as I learned in grad school, is to start working on something else. Who knows, it might even get published someday.

Grit: There’s a reason why so many people start graduate school and never finish. It takes vision, dedication, and stamina. Those who fall into it, quickly fall back out. The way this relates to writing is that it takes similar vision, dedication, and stamina to push through and complete the (crappy) first draft of a manuscript, and even more to go back to it over and over again until it’s polished. And more still to endure the rounds of revisions with one’s agent and editor. Oh, and then there’s having the grit to handle the inevitable bad reviews. Writing and defending a doctoral thesis taught me the resolve to see things through to the end. If there’s one thing this writing life takes, it’s courage.

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 Anita Kushwaha grew up in Aylmer, Quebec. She has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Human Geography from Carleton University, and is also a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at the Humber School for Writers. She is the author of a novella, The Escape Artist. Her latest novel, Side by Side, was released this fall. She lives in Ottawa.

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/MsAnitaKushwaha

Find out more about her on her website https://anitakushwaha.wordpress.com/

About SIDE BY SIDE

Kavita Gupta is a woman in transition. When her troubled older brother, Sunil, disappears, she does everything in her power to find him, convinced that she can save him. Ten days later, the police arrive at her door to inform her that Sunil’s body has been found. Her world is devastated.

She finds herself in crisis mode, trying to keep the pieces of her life from falling apart even more. As she tries to cope with her loss, the support system around her begins to unravel. Her parents’ uneasy marriage seems more precarious. Her health is failing as her unprocessed trauma develops into more sinister conditions.

Her marriage suffers as her husband is unable to relate to her loss. She bears her burden alone, but after hitting her lowest point, she knows she needs to find a better way of coping. Desperate for connection, she reaches out to a bereavement group, where she meets Hawthorn, a free-spirited young man with whom she discovers a deep connection through pain.

After being blindsided by a devastating marital betrayal, she wonders if a fresh start is possible in the wake of tragedy.

Will she escape her problems and start over? Or will she face the challenges of rebuilding the life she already has?

Side by Side is a story about loss, growth and the search for meaning in the wake of tragedy, illuminated through one woman’s journey from harm to care.

Buy the book on Barnes and Noble  http://bit.ly/2EYMomB) and Amazon.com https://amzn.to/2QcFyuR)

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