Susan Storer Clark
Susan Storer Clark reads history and asks questions. Her most recent book was born when she was reading about Francis Drake’s voyage around the world. Drake captured an African woman called Maria, who sailed with him across the Pacific. That’s all history says about her. But history leaves important questions unanswered: Who was she? What was her culture? What was her story?
Susan had a long career as a journalist in radio and TV, and it was a reporting trip to Nigeria for the Voice of America that prompted more questions. What if Maria was Yorùbá? Yorùbá people are numerous in Nigeria, and Yorùbá culture has spread all over the world in the forced diaspora of the slave trade. It is a complex and inspiring culture, and exploring a character who carries that culture with her is fascinating. For her newest book, An Uncharted World, Susan traveled back to Nigeria to see current culture and to consult experts.
Her book also explores the many historical forces at play in the time when Maria lived and traveled. In earning her history degrees from Kings College London and Rhodes College in Memphis, she gained the research skills that make her work grounded in the history of the time she writes about.
Susan now lives near Seattle, with her husband and two entertaining cats. She writes about history, historical fiction, and other interesting things at HistoryMuse.us. She also plays electric bass in a band, sings in two choruses, works in her garden, and enjoys learning about the fascinating area around her. And she’s asking more questions.
My Next Novel
Right now I’m writing another novel. Here’s how it happened: I was reading about Francis Drake’s voyage around the world in 1577-1580. I hadn’t known that he captured an African woman off the coast of Mexico. The woman, referred to as “a proper African wench named Maria,” stayed on the ship for seven months. Drake left her in what is now Indonesia.
When I read that, I thought, “Who was she? She was somebody. And what happened to her?”
“What happened?” is only a beginning, though. It’s often fun to ask about what could have happened, and that requires some digging. You have to make sure you have your facts right. And it was fun to make up a whole life for her, and discover the richness of the culture such a woman might have carried with her. That’s why it’s such a pleasure for me to read and write historical fiction.
There’s So Much to be Interested In
Other interests include making music with groups of friends, tending the garden at our house near Seattle, exploring the Pacific Northwest, keeping up with the news and and the astonishing people use their brains for. So I write about all these things. When I’m writing I feel that I’m doing what I’m really supposed to be doing.
I also write about writing and about other authors, using some of the resources I’ve gained writing for the Washington Independent Review of Books and the street newspaper Real Change. Other topics may include people whose stories have been invisible in mainstream history, spiritual practice, my own adventures in publishing, and drivers who don’t move when the light turns green.
I don’t write much advice about writing. I will pass on some I received and try to live by: Use words. Be interesting.
But enough about me. Tell me something about you, and how you ended up at my website. Leave a note on my Contact page.