The Birth of a Novel | How A Story Found Me

Here’s the gospel truth: I’d finished my debut novel, historical fiction set in Florida in the early 20th century, but didn’t secure representation of a literary agent after submitting many queries. A depressing development, for sure. Gut-wrenching, as one of my critique partners said. I was weary of working on this novel and desired a new adventure, new characters, a new setting. Because writers love to write.

Elizabeth Gilbert said in her book, Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear:

“I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us—albeit strangely. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will. Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner. It is only through a human’s efforts that an idea can be escorted out of the ether and into the realm of the actual.”

So I was sitting in my sunroom, contemplating nothing in particular, when, like a flash of lightening, the words “Mussolini’s Mistress” jolted me.

Where did that come from, I asked myself? I believe, as Gilbert does, that creatives like us are merely hollow reeds, capable of attracting “energetic life-forms” that demand our ears and eyes to become manifest through our art.

Intrigued, I dashed to my laptop, googled Mussolini’s mistress, and was shocked to learn that Mussolini, first a journalist, actually published a book—The Cardinal’s Mistress—in 1922, the same year he and his blackshirts marched into Rome and demanded that King Vittorio Emmanuel appoint him Prime Minister to unite Italy and restore her to her former glory. I ordered the book, devoured it, and kept reading. A story unfolded, the grist of my novel, that showcases the rise of fascism through the eyes of a fictional protagonist and Mussolini’s mistress, Claretta Petacci. And did these Italians keep diaries galore, a goldmine of nuggets to enrich my story.

I’ve worked on writing and editing this novel now for 3 ½ years. Above my desk, I keep a photo of me with a mocked-up copy of my future, published novel, to inspire me to complete this journey—finding a literary agent who’s as passionate as I am about this novel, and a terrific publisher. Why this book, besides my desire to honor the idea that chose me (me?)—me—to breathe life into it? We must understand the historical rise of fascism, the parallels of its renaissance today, and the danger it poses to people everywhere. But no spoilers here. Do check out my latest blog entries—research in Rome!