When something feels true
New author photos and The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Dear Readers,
On Thursday, Trish Mennell, a photographer, and Andrea Sanchez, a hair and make-up artist, came to my house.
Our task: Update my author photos.
As a writer, I spend hours alone in my office, tucked behind my computer, thinking about how to make characters feel alive on the page. When writing a novel, I am successful when a story feels “true.”
Trish, using her camera, does much the same thing. She understood that I see my writing as a conversation with a reader. She suggested taking photos in my house where I’m comfortable. She looked for natural light. When I felt awkward (often), she asked me to move until I found a natural position. She helped me express a version of myself that feels heightened, but still “true.”
Andrea, paint brush in hand, warned that my make-up would appear too heavy in the mirror, especially as I don’t wear much day-to-day. What looks good in a photo might not look “true” in real life.
I loved working with Trish and Andrea. It was a collaboration between three artists who use different tools to express what feels true.
Ever since reading The Wager, by David Grann, I’ve been thinking about how it is billed as “true” — it’s nonfiction, but reads like a novel. This book tells the story of a shipwreck in 1742, the journey, how the crew survived, and the grisly court-martial when they returned home.
Grann's previous books include Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, now a film by Martin Scorsese, and The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon.
Have you read Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe?
It starts, “I was born in the year 1632…” and tells the story of a castaway who lived for 28 years on a desert island, fending off cannibals, fighting other captives, and struggling for survival. Though it was based loosely on a true story, it’s a novel.
When Robinson Crusoe was first published, many readers believed it was true. Defoe’s book proved so popular that it spawned many imitators. Johann Gottfried Schnabel coined a term for books in the genre, "Robinsonades." They tell the story of shipwrecked castaways who must improvise to survive.
I love sea stories. I love sharks, shipwrecks, pirates, and the terrifying moment when a ship rounds Cape Horn and the mast is inevitably blown down.
The Wager is a “Robinsonade.” Though billed as nonfiction, I'd argue that Grann plays with fact and fiction in similar ways to Dafoe. In an author's note, Grann acknowledges this relationship with the truth, "I must confess that I did not witness the ship strike the rocks or the crew tie up the captain..."
The past is a place no writer can go, but Grann did the next best thing. He consulted ship logs, diaries, muster books, court-martial testimonies, newspaper articles, ballads, and sketches. He took a three-week trip to see parts of the journey for himself.
Grann set out to write a story that felt “true.” He did so with the flourish of a novelist.
Two examples:
The description of finding a seaman lying on the deck, “His body was still, his expression unmoving. He was dead…”
It’s impossible to describe an expression made hundreds of years before, but if that face is dead? That becomes a detail an author of nonfiction can safely work with.A young midshipman named John Byron, my favourite character, is trying to stay warm, and Grann writes, “the dog, huddled beside him, began to growl.”
A growl is gone the minute the dog stops feeling threatened. It doesn’t leave a trace, but Grann found details in Byron’s own writing. We become close to Bryon in The Wager because of the paper trail he left behind.
Grann uses his tools, primary sources, to fill in colour, sound, sight, and smell. The result is a book that takes you on a wild journey. You’ll find yourself on the ship, worrying about getting blown onto the rocks, looking to the horizon to judge the weather, thinking about how to share food, and staying warm.
I loved The Wager because feels “true.” If you are a Robinsonade reader, I promise you will too.
And yes, I’ll post the photos from our shoot when I have them.
Thank you for reading!
xo Claire
P.S.
A podcast I highly recommend, Who trolled Amber. On the surface it is about a celebrity divorce, but more importantly it’s a deep dive into understanding disinformation campaigns and how much they are shaping our reality.
Great news for a few books I’ve written about recently: And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot has been long-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Daughter by Claudia Dey and A History of Burning by Janika Oza have been long-listed for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.
Another book I wrote about, a memoir, The Outrun, has been adapted into a film. Saoirse Ronan plays the main character and, “gives one of her greatest performances,” according to The Guardian. The movie might be as good as the book? My fingers are crossed.
You might not think you need to listen to Liam Neeson and Glenn Close reading excerpts from the indictments, United States vs. Donald J. Trump, but I promise you do. It's haunting.
My Dad just read The Wager and thought it was fiction. No idea it was based on a true story! When I told him after he'd finished, he couldn't stop shaking his head in disbelief. After reading your last post, I need to re-read the English Patient. When I first read it, back when it came out, it made me realize I wasn't in love and I broke up with my then boyfriend. I can't remember the details, just the feels I felt from reading it. Thanks for these write ups!