Background and Intentions
The life of a writer is imagined by many but understood by few. When we think about a writer, we envision a chain-smoking, white man behind a desk who waits for a muse to inspire. This romanticized, white-washed, phallic understanding of who a writer is and what a writer does erases artists' labor. This erasure is exacerbated in the case of artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or as a Person of Color (BIPOC). However, it is incredibly overlooked when it concerns the female BIPOC author. This oversight is why we must showcase the process of black women authors to the public in order to render their labor visible and showcase how these artists approach the writing process beyond the traditional writing workshop or explanatory writing textbook. Consequently, we can change how we teach the writing process in our local and global communities. For these reasons, I have curated this virtual exhibition with archival artifacts from Gloria Naylor's archive to trace and showcase her writing process. This exhibition will ideally make the archive more accessible to the public, and allow them the opportunity to unpack and reinterpret the possibilities Naylor’s writing process has to offer.
The demanding creative writing process consists of a methodology that few have called into question. But by looking at Gloria Naylor's approach, we can deduce five distinct, cyclic stages she utilized to execute her novels: 1) Generation 2) Creative Revisioning 3) Constructive Revisioning 4) Comparative Texts and 5) Research. These stages are not performed linearly, as generation, and creative revisioning are constants to flit back and forth until there is enough material to perform constructive revisioning. And in terms of comparative texts and research, these aspects of the writing process tend to be emphasized at the beginning of the writing process, as they heavily inform the generation and creative revisioning stages. However, these latter stages are tools that an author can't utilize at any stage throughout the process. Naylor's archive, in particular, shows us that the writing process is exhaustive and requires stamina that keeps up with all of the moving parts of constructing, structuring, and refining a vision. By looking at Naylor's archival materials she used to execute her novels from The Women of Brewster Place, Linden Hills, and Mama Day, we can begin to trace the evolution of her process from her first to third novel.
The virtual exhibition is centered around twelve archival artifacts:
Two "scrap" papers she used to generate Linden Hills, one explicitly utilized and one not explicitly utilized
Three loose-leaf creative revisions centered around the bill of sale for Sapphire Wade Naylor used for Mama Day
Two early-stage, hand-written outlines, one used for the constructive revisioning of The Women of Brewster Place and the other for the constructive revisioning of Mama Day
Two comparative text examples, both sections from the Bible, that influenced Naylor's synthesis of The Women of Brewster Place
Two research materials, both newspaper clippings from The New York Times, that were used to inform her novel Linden Hills
These artifacts will ideally decenter the emphasis on artistic, printed production and complicate the tension between author intention and reader interpretation.
I decided to select these first initial "scraps" because they are gorgeous and showcase how even beautiful bits of writing don't always make the final cut because they don't serve the narrative's greater purpose. And while not all stories need purpose, the best often do. The three artifacts from Mama Day for the creative revisioning section were SUCH a find! It showcases the evolution of the opening bill of sale for Sapphirra Wade, going from three jumbled partial attempts to one more coagulated hand-written attempt to a more cohesive, typed-up version of the bill of sale for her to only go back into it with her pencil. The time Naylor took to get her words just right is so perfectly captured by this series of artifacts and highlights the masochistic love she had for her craft. No word is wasted. No line is empty. And while I had collected a couple of excellent annotated versions of her hand-written drafts for Linden Hills that reveal her intentions behind characters and scenes, I ultimately decided that these documents didn't wholly capture Naylor's active, recursive creative revisioning process.
In terms of the outlines I selected, I think comparing two different outlines for such different books display the evolution of her approach to the constructive revisioning process. This contrast is distinguished by her more temporally minded outline for “The Women of Beekman Place,” to a flow chart that doesn't necessarily highlight the sequence of events, but rather the cyclic conception of herbal medicine and pharmacology she wanted to explore in Mama Day. And while I had a three-page, typed-up, partial outline for Linden Hills, it did not capture the sophisticated progression Naylor made from novel to novel. This revised selection emphasizes process in a way that the typed-up outline for Linden Hills couldn't showcase.
The comparative texts from the Bible were never a part of my original vision, but after reviewing your notes, I decided to stop forcing a structure onto Naylor's process and take it as it is. It also felt right to include sections from the Bible because it was such a massive part of her life and inspiration, as she was a Jehovah's witness for so much of her young adult life. And in terms of research materials, I decided to keep my selections to Linden Hills because it focuses on how she learned about parts of the black community, the black upper-middle class, that she was removed from.
I am to use this virtual exhibition as a launchpad for two creative writing workshop syllabi intended for both mature adults and young adults that writing non-profits can use in low-income areas. I will be test-driving these process-driven syllabi this Spring semester in the Lehigh Valley with the help and support of the Lehigh University Art Gallery (LUAG). This will hopefully connect the archive to the community it resides in. As the Naylor archive, like most archives, offer us corporeal ghosts that offer possibilities that can continually be utilized to serve the living.
1) Generation
Generation is the act of writing and creating. It is a stage in the writing process that is always active and highlights the cyclic, linear nature of artistic production. The following archival artifacts indicate that Naylor is an exemplary example of this constant synthesis, as she was always firmly rooted in the story she was developing. They also showcase that Naylor did not sequester the generation process to her desk or to her home, but rather the story followed her wherever she went. This possible conclusion can be substantiated by the following documents:
Transcription:
X’s downfall w/ love
Arranged around a song on a dance floor—If he got up + danced w/ that wench he would leave the floor in love She would grow fat and wear polyester pant suits when they vacationed in The South of Spain She would bury her tongue
Xavier’s Downfall with Love
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 17, Folder 7):
This unused passage was a part of Naylor's generation process for her second novel Linden Hills. This note was written on a piece of scrap paper from a notepad, as indicated by the page header "Things to do Today...or Maybe Tomorrow or Maybe Never." This shows that Naylor was constantly generating her stories, even when she was away from her desk or typewriter, as inspiration can strike a writer anywhere, at any time. The note itself was perhaps meant for the scene that unfolds at Winston's wedding, as Xavier brings "a young blond woman," presumably white based on this note, as his date rather than the black woman he was beginning to fall in love with: Roxanne (Naylor, 84). And while this jotted down note is beautiful in its own right, the lines are centered around a white woman, which was antithetical to the greater purpose of Linden Hills: rich, black people who have lost something, or someone. Naylor's choice to exclude this note from the final draft highlights her intentions for the book. It also gives us a small glimpse into the copious amount of writing that Naylor generated beyond what was printed in the novel. This omission, in turn, showcases that Naylor, in many senses, is like all writers in that we all must wrestle our stories to the ground.
Xavier’s Upfall with Love
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 17, Folder 7):
This two-sentence note on a piece of loose-leaf is also from Naylor's second novel, Linden Hills, and is word-for-word the first two lines of the December 21st section of the novel (p.97). This scrap is a rare occurrence in the archival documents that showcase Nayor's generation process, as it is unedited and unannotated which is something Naylor tended to do even throughout her generation process. However, the phrase is still floating here without structure, displaying that even when Naylor has pinned down a small section of her story, she was still unsure as to how the sentences would fit into her larger handwritten and typed drafts. It also highlights, like the other scrap note, Naylor was constantly in the generation process, as it is haphazardly written on a piece of loose-leaf.
Transcription:
Xavier Donnell was falling in love with a black woman. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of his life.
2) Creative Revisioning
Creative revisioning is the stage of the writing process that focuses on revising what you’ve generated. Like generation, it is an act that is always in motion. Naylor’s creative revisioning process is especially interesting, as she tended to self-annotate her copious hand-written drafts and diligently worked out certain sections by rewriting and retyping them until it was to her liking. The meticulous nature of Naylor’s creative revisioning stage is highlighted by the following three archival artifacts:
Transcription:
1819
Sold to Mr. Boscombe Wade of (Willow Spring) one wench answering to the name, Sapphira. Said Sapphire to known to be of bilious nature, not conducive to field or domestic labour.
Sold to Mr. Bascombe Wade of ( ) one wench answering to the name Sapphira. for one born needed. Said buyer acknowledges on date that said purchase is of pure African stock, + said a bilious nature is is not concussive to field, breeding or domestic labor. Bill of sale is iredemible.
Said purchase is of pure African stock, given to a bilious nature + on reasonable chastisement of life +laws for to date refused field, domestic breeding
August 3, 1819
Solf to Mr. Bascome Wade of ( ) one for a bilious nature wench pure African stock answering to the name, Sapphira. Sullen disavows any obligation for future performance of
understood on date of sale was said stock (maladies) is of pure African blood, given to fits of sullenness ran away + of a bilious nature refusing under reasonable chastisement to refuse mate do field or domestic labor
Bill of Sale: one brown naked. Purchase is untenable.
delves in the practice of witchcraft
Sapphira’s Receipt: The Beginnings
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 19, Folder 2):
This archival object was a part of Gloria Naylor's creative revisioning process for her third novel, Mama Day. This handwritten document was meant for the opening archival object, the bill of sale of the slave Sapphira Wade. Sapphira was the mystical African woman that married her master Bascombe Wade to take over Willow Springs, the speculative setting where the narrative takes place. This document shows three attempts at pinning down the proper syntax and wording for this critical framing artifact that is rediscovered by Mama Day later in the story. These initial attempts emphasize Naylor's fanatic approach to her creative revisioning process, as she understood that each word and sentence needed to serve a larger purpose in driving the story forward.
Sapphira’s Receipt: The Refinement
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 19, Folder 2):
Once Naylor pinned down the bits she liked from the above three attempts at the bill of sale for Sapphira Wade, she wrote down a more cohesive version of the artifact, as shown to the left. However, her revision did not stop after this fourth attempt. Naylor instead went back into this handwritten draft with her pencil and took the time to cross-out lines and add and move sentences and words until the draft more closely captured her idea. Her near-obsessive approach to creative revisioning is what set Naylor apart from her contemporaries, as she had a clear vision and intention with each of her novels and left no word or comma unattended.
Transcription:
Tuesday, 3rd day August 1819
Sold to Mister Bascombe Wade of Willow Springs, one wench answering to the name Sapphira. Age 20 [A] Purchaser accepts upon signature revocation of warranty against the vices and maladies prescribed by law (hold forth.) Purchaser having been made to understand before transaction on above date [not said Sapphire is how pure African stock half prime, given to fits of sullenness + due to is of a bilious nature reforming under reasonable chastisement field or domestic labour. Has secured in capacity of midwife +physical bus given to extreme mischief and suspicions of delving in witchcraft. [Pure African stock. Good breeder. Limbs + teeth sound.] [A]
Sapphira’s Receipt: The Beginning of the End
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 19, Folder 2):
Naylor often wrote innumerable handwritten drafts of her novels before typing them up, and this was no exception to the scenes and archival artifacts she created for her books. However, even when she typed up her handwritten drafts, she often made slight variations during the typing process before going back into the typed-up page with her pencil to make further alterations. This painstaking attention to detail during her creative revisioning process is visible in this third archival document that makes up this series of drafts centered around the bill of sales for Sapphira Wade in her third novel, Mama Day.
3) Constructive Revisioning
Constructive revisioning is the act of taking your bigger aims for each scene/chapter and structuring them in order to propel the plot forward. This macro-thinking tends to be visible in multiple outlines that are centered on the order of events. Constructive revisioning can also take place on a more micro-level, when you move around a sentence or section within a scene/chapter. This stage in the writing process tends to be prioritized at the beginning of constructing a story, and/or after further generation when you see what scenes/chapters you are attempting to weave together in a way that continues to build tension throughout the narrative.
“The Women of Beekman Place” Outline
Gloria Naylor, circa 1979 (Box 16, Folder 2):
This archival artifact is an early draft Naylor used for her first novel The Women of Brewster Place. We can presume this is an early draft because Naylor was still referring to this book as “The Women of Beekman Place.” This outline shows us the temporally minded structure Naylor implemented and was known for in many of her novels. She uses this outline to aid her in what she needs to establish in each section of the book which was divided by the female characters' experiences on Brewster Place. This outline is of special interest because we can see the modifications she made to the structure of the book, such as moving Mattie Michael's sections to the first full chapter and moving Lucielia Louise Turner's narrative to the fourth chapter in the book. But what is the most standout observation from this early outline is that the chapter "The Two" appears to not be referring to the two lesbians, Lorraine and Theresa, the chapter centers around, but rather the dynamics between the two communities: "lesbians + the black community." Naylor's intentions for the chapter come to the forefront and reveal new opportunities for interpretations regarding the black community and the queer community.
Transcription:
The Women of Beekman Place
Dawn
1) History of the street before it became
a) The residence of the poor black Some details of
-middle class WASPS a woman’s plight
-poor Jewish + Italians=blacks for each group
b) paragraph @ the city ordinance that built the wall
c) Ben’s arrival to the block—first one to move there
organized beekman he was useful to the community (Jamison)
—Ben’s first— reasons for his drinking?
Spring I Lucielia Louise Turner }
Summer II Etta Mae Johnson }
Fall III Kiswana Browns } cure of the lost revolution of the 60’s
Winter IV Mattie Michaels } black woman + their son
V June } middle 30’s - six kids - wants better for them (Shakespeare)
VI The Two } lesbians + the black community
Dusk
“Delta” [Change] redemption of the street after Ben’s death
Transcription:
Herbs in modern society + medicine acceptable phenomena (love, intuition)
herbal healing (acceptable pharmacology ) dreams
herbal healing (unacceptable) affecting change (unexplained
herbal healing (migraine-psychosis) two become one
Cocoa looking for a job } late July
meets George } Must go South- Willie’s death, fine as L. Hills
C. goes South ( gets the job (1st two weeks in August)
in spite of difficulties ) on a Sunday M.D. helps
Begins dating George
G: takes hens medicine (digitalis)
C: worsen wed (herb)
Young Mama Day Outline
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 19, Folder 1):
This archival artifact is an early outline of Naylor's third novel Mama Day. We can deduce that this is an earlier draft, even though the document is undated, because of the serious changes between the series outline at the bottom of the archival document and the printed series of events. And while we see a bit of this conventional, sequential outlining at the bottom of the page, Naylor's major creative restructuring intervention is seen in the flow chart at the top of the piece of loose-leaf. This chart is centered around herbal medicine and pharmacology and actually begins to name certain herbs, like "digitalis," that Naylor aimed to incorporate into the plot, but more specifically into her dream sequences, the final phenomena that George is unable to piece together himself, and the catalysts that create change without explanation.
4) Comparative Texts
All authors, in some capacity, draw inspiration from comparative texts. Comp texts are typically included when appealing to agents or publishers in order to give them some sense of where the author’s narrative has sprouted from. However, some comp texts are less visible than others when trying to understand the authors vision for the narrative
Ephesians 6, King James Version + John 1:23
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 16, Folder 7):
This archival object was found in Naylor's notes and drafts for her first book The Women of Brewster Place. This handwritten document, written on the back of the following typed-up artifact, is a direct quote from the Bible, specifically from Ephesians 6, King James Version, and the dashed lines separate this quote from another passage from the bible, John 1:23, John's reply to the word of Isaiah the prophet. The fact that Naylor hand-wrote this passage from the Bible shows the importance of the Bible in The Women of Brewster Place. We get a better understanding of Naylor's intentions of incorporation in her marginal notes "underwater," "shoes socks," and "suit tie." While these annotations are rather elusive, we can connect this possibility to Louise's journey across the sea when her child passes unexpectedly. However, like all archival materials, these connections are uncertain, but the possibilities are always worth venturing into.
Transcription:
King James
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
underwater{ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
shoes {And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
socks
suit tie{ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
He said, I am the voice of the crying in the wilderness
Make stronger the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Elijah
Ephesians 6:10
Gloria Naylor, Undated (Box 16, Folder 7):
This archival object was also found in Naylor's notes and drafts for her first book The Women of Brewster Place. This typed-up document is word-for-word from the Bible, specifically from Ephesians 6:10. This passage indicates once again how influenced Naylor's vision for The Women of Brewster Place was heavily inspired by the Bible, as were many of her novels as she spent many years of her life as a Jehovah's Witness, even though she ultimately disavows her previous beliefs later in life. While this document has no clear annotations, she does bracket off seven sections from this passage:
[Put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machination of the Devil;]
[with your loins girded about with the truth,]
[and having on the breastplate of righteousness,]
[with our feet shod with the equipment of the good news of peace.]
[take up the large shield of faith]
[accept the helmet of salvation,]
While Naylor typed up the entirety of this passage she had a clear focus about which sections of this Bible passage she aimed to utilize in her narrative for The Women of Brewster Place. Her focus tends to be upon the "suit of armor" and the weapons that the saved use to fight off the Devil. This can indicate that the materials used by the holy fighters will be utilized, whether implicitly or explicitly, by the women of Brewster Place she centers her narrative upon. The possibility offered by this document could indicate that these women are the saved, or God's chosen ones.
5) Research
Research is not always an aspect of the writing process that is considered by authors. However, like Zora Neale Hurston, one of Naylor’s inspirations, Naylor took her research process very seriously. She collected extensive research materials for each of her books in order to inform her descriptions of characters, settings, clothing, relationships, etc.. And while we cannot draw heavy-handed conclusions on how she incorporated her research into her novels, they nonetheless open up possibilities of interpretation we should consider to get a better understanding of not only her stories, but of her writing process.
Black, Corporate Stress, NYT Clipping
Gloria Naylor, 1982-1983 (Box 18, Folder 1):
This archival object is a partial newspaper clipping from The New York Times and was used as a piece of research material Naylor used to draw inspiration for her second novel, Linden Hills. This article from 1982 is centered on black, corporate stress. This research could be considered as an influence on the characterization of the character Maxwell. But in a macro sense, this newspaper clipping shows how Naylor needed to go beyond her own scope of experiential knowledge in order to capture the black upper-middle class through research. This newspaper clipping is just one of many archival objects that Naylor used to shape her novels, showcasing the extra, near-anthropological lengths Naylor went to in order to describe, contextualize, and ultimately, love each of her characters.
The Big Blackout, NYT Clipping
Gloria Naylor, 1982 (Box 18, Folder 1):
This archival object is also a newspaper clipping from The New York Times and was used as a piece of research material Naylor used to draw inspiration for her second novel, Linden Hills. This 1982 article is centered around the color black in fashion and asserts that black clothing is no longer considered a sign of mourning, but is a slimming color that conveys elegance, sex, and class to the public. The article even goes as far as to say that "black is magic," not in regards to blackness in terms of race, but in terms of fashion choice. This poorly aged article showcases the fashion choices of the opulent at the time, and this information could have informed Naylor of the fashion trends that the rich were donning in order to accurately capture the upper-middle-class community she describes in Linden Hills. However, the way the article handles blackness as a fashion color exclusively, showcasing some element of racialized color-blindness, might have been of interest to Naylor, as she creates characters, like Maxwell, who embody this ignorant color-blindness.