Research and Reading: Gathering Books to Help Your Novel Take Shape

All writers have known the joy of being lost in a good book. This month, we’ve asked NaNoWriMo participants from around the world to share their personal libraries with us–the books that give them insight, inspiration, and that keep them turning the pages again and again. Today, Cass Morris, participant and author of the upcoming novel A Flame Arises, talks about how her bookshelves shape both her life and writing: 

My bookshelves are chaos. I think I’m about three cases short of how many I’d need to actually shelve all of my books without having them stacked two and three deep. I’m a confessed book hoarder and a bit of a literary Luddite; I only got an e-reader last year, and I still only use it for traveling. I like physical books precisely because of these shelves: They tell anyone entering my apartment who I am. And now, I get to share that with the NaNo community! I’ve taken pictures of the two that are most relevant to my current series-in-progress:

Historicals

These shelves are arranged chronologically by topic, mixed fiction and non-fiction. They are also guarded, as you can see, by dinosaurs and knights (my bookshelves also have a habit of attracting toys and knick-knacks). 

Those top two shelves contain the most books that have directly influenced the writing of A Flame Arises. Some are reference books–I’m particularly fond of Alberto Angelo’s A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome and Philip Matyczak’s humorously-inclined Legionary and Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day. Some are fiction, like Colleen McCullough’s excellent Masters of Rome series. The female-centric focus of historical fiction writers like Kate Quinn, Michelle Moran, and Stephanie Dray is also something that really speaks to me.

The sheer density of those books is so impressive–but also something I had to be careful not to let influence me too much. Too much history can bog down a narrative. I can’t include a ten-page treatise on the voting procedures of the Tribal Assembly in the middle of what’s supposed to be a tense scene. (I mean, I could…and that’s a great way to up a NaNo word count! But it’s the sort of thing my agent and editor are quick to put the kibosh on.) 

Fantasy

These shelves, as you can see, overflow. They’ve expanded leaps and bounds in the past few years, as my agent and editor have both made recommendations to me of authors whose work mine might profitably be compared to. I’ve also been making a concentrated effort to read more diversely–both from diverse authors and stories featuring a diverse cast, and these shelves reflect that. 

Other authors have been with me for a long time. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett helped form a lot of my mythopoeic worldview, and I yearn for the lush stylistic elegance of Catherynne Valente. The most recent addition here is Zen Cho’s Sorceror to the Crown, which I just adore for being a thoroughly creative and well-woven historical fantasy.

I love my bookshelves for what they say not just about who I am, but where I’ve been. I can see a book and remember when I bought it, where, and why–and I can remember what my life and my writing were like then.

Cass Morris is, by day, a Shakespeare educator who develops classroom resources, writes teaching guides, and leads workshops and seminars. A graduate of Mary Baldwin University and the College of William and Mary, she lives in western Virginia with two royal felines, Princess and Ptolemy. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut novel, A Flame Arises, began life as a 2011 Nano novel and will be released through DAW Books in September 2017.