Straight from the Source: Avery Cunningham on Writing Historical Fiction
Avery Cunningham is a resident of Memphis, Tennessee, and a 2016 graduate of DePaul University’s Master of Arts in Writing & Publishing program. She has over a decade of editorial experience with various literary magazines, small presses, and bestselling authors. Avery grew up surrounded by exceptional African Americans who strove to uplift their communities while also maintaining a tenuous hold on prosperity in a starkly segregated environment. The sensation of being at once within and without is something she has grappled with since childhood and explores thoroughly in her work of historical fiction. When not writing, Avery is adventuring with her Bernese Mountain Dog, Grizzly, and wading waist-deep in research for her next novel. She aspires to tell the stories of complex characters at the fringes of history fighting for their right to exist. The Mayor of Maxwell Street is her debut novel.
What typically comes first for you: a character? An era? A story idea? How do you proceed from there?
The story idea is so often what comes first for me. For example, my debut THE MAYOR OF MAXWELL STREET started as a desire to tell the story of the original Black elite. I had no sense of setting at the time, or characters, or era, and certainly no sense of plot. But the intrigue of this world wouldn’t let me go. It was only through initial research that the bones of the story began to materialize and take hold. I’m also drawn to story ideas that call attention to familiar points of history from unfamiliar perspectives. When I finally settled on the 1920s as the setting for my debut, I knew I didn’t want the traditional, boozy, and romanticized 1920s that we all know and love. I knew I wanted readers to experience it in all of its flash and spectacle, yes. But also all of its danger and audacious risk.
What kinds of sources do you use? The more specifics here, the better!
I’m an academic at heart, so I always start with articles and primary sources. My first stop is usually JSTOR.org, an online database of scholarly content from all over the world. With just a keyword search, I can access historical texts, academic journals, and literary criticisms. All great foundations on which I can build an understanding of a time, place, or people. Outside of JSTOR, any works of nonfiction – especially those published by university presses – are beneficial. They’re often more than just history books; they’re narrative journeys that make the past all the more present and impactful.
At what point do you feel comfortable beginning to draft? How does your research continue once you begin writing?
I’m one of those writers for whom research is never over. The chance to engage in such in-depth discovery is why I love writing historical fiction in the first place, and I can easily spend years investigating before writing a page of prose. It isn’t really until I have a basic understanding of the period and the main plot points that I feel comfortable drafting. Of course, I still drift into research black holes in the middle of a manuscript and then spend two weeks digging myself back out.
What’s your favorite thing about writing historical fiction?
My favorite thing about historical fiction is that it makes history personal. It allows us to experience a different time from an intimate perspective, in all of its trials, horrors, beauty, and joy. For me especially, historical fiction allows me to connect with my ancestors long gone. When telling their stories, I am somehow telling my own.
What’s one of the most interesting things you’ve learned while researching?
My all-time favorite bit of research has to be the Yellow Cab vs Checkers Cab feud of 1920-1925. This is a quintessentially Chicago feud between two cab companies who literally battled it out for turf. The feud often became physical, and even fatal. I spent days researching this insane war, but it only made it into my debut as a throwaway line from a minor character. While I wished I could have this feud as an entire subplot in my debut, I learned that no matter how much fascinating research you come across, not everything can or should make it into the final draft.
Avery’s book recommendations
All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore
The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis Graham
Passing by Nella Larsen
The Orginal Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
Negroland by Margo Jefferson
Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks