Interview with an Author: Dr. Vanessa Rapatz
Our August guest is Dr. Vanessa Rapatz.
Vanessa Rapatz is an Assistant Professor of English at Ball State University. She studies and teaches early modern British literature as well as studies in drama, and special topics on sexuality, gender, and performance. She is the author of Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works: In Media Res. She has also published in Studies in English Literature and co-authored a chapter on women's collaboration in Shakespeare for an Ashgate edited collection.
If you would like to purchase Vanessa Rapatz’s book, Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works: In Media Res, you can find a copy here.
Tell us a little about your specialty studies.
I study early modern (Renaissance) British literature with a focus on drama. I am particularly interested in gender, performance, and material culture in the context of religious/political shifts and upheavals.
Tell us about your writing journey. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I definitely always practiced writing and realized that it was something I had a knack for in high school, but it took some time to realize that it might be something I could do professionally.
I was drawn to theater and journalism initially, but I ended up feeling at home in my college English courses and particularly found that I thrived on discussing, or really arguing and about, the possible interpretations of literary texts. My best writing happens when I feel like I’m engaging in a complex conversation.
Where did the idea or inspiration for your book Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works: In Medias Res come from?
The simple answer is that it developed out of my dissertation project that, itself, was inspired by connections between plays I was reading in a graduate seminar and plays that I was teaching to undergraduates. I kept thinking about these dramatic women who found themselves at the thresholds of convents or marital alliances in plays that were written after Catholicism had been outlawed in England.
The women weren’t demonized or made fun of as so many Catholic figures were in the wake of the Protestant Reformation; so I became interested in the types of options their performances might allow us to imagine both in the historical context of the plays themselves and in our own contemporary discussion of gender and/as performance and the ways spaces affiliated with Catholicism were converted, much like the patriarchy represented in these plays sought to convert the women themselves.
I’m a feminist critic; so, I’m always looking for traces of female agency in texts that try to subvert such agency. Of course, I was most likely drawn to these Catholic figures and the convents they might seek to inhabit because I was raised Catholic and have been steeped in that culture. Digging into this religious history helped me understand family and hometown traditions as much as it helped me think critically about the plays I was analyzing.
Are there other books you’ve authored or collaborated on? If so, can you tell us a little about them?
This is my first book. I did co-author a chapter on female collaboration in Shakespeare with John Garrison and Kyle Pivetti for a book of collected essays titled Attending to Early Modern Women: Remapping Routes and Spaces published by Ashgate.
What was your process for writing the book?
Because I was revising my dissertation, I basically charted out the chapters that I felt were the most polished, that needed a bit less revision than the others, and started with those first. I also needed to update my scholarship and theoretical frames, because I finished the dissertation back in 2011.
I am lucky to have various support networks of colleagues and friends. So, each chapter would get sent off to at least one friendly reader as I pushed on to the next. I could then go back to the reader feedback and make sure I was making through-lines and improvements across all five chapters. That’s the big picture of the process.
On the micro level, I figured out deadlines and made writing and research schedules to try to meet those deadlines. It took a community and a lot of structure to create the book.
Academic writing, and oftentimes creative writing, requires a lot of research! Can you describe a little bit about how the research process works with your writing?
Research is my favorite part of the writing process! It’s like detective work. I’m a sucker for a good detective narrative and maybe wanted to be Clarice Starling when I was in junior high school. I love having a stack of books on my desk and searching through databases to compile a literature review.
Pages and pages of notes on literary criticism, historical analysis, and theory ultimately help me shape my initial research questions into the beginning of an essay or a chapter, as I make connections that I wasn’t expecting. The only tricky part is knowing when to stop, when to stop reading (never, really) and digging to focus on the writing.
Describe your biggest writing obstacle and how you overcame it.
I don’t think I want to answer this in the past tense. My biggest obstacle is finding regular time to focus on my writing and holding myself accountable. My dissertation advisor always said that I had a great deal of task energy, by which she meant that I would often delay my writing process by directing my attention to more manageable and completable tasks.
One of my friends calls this virtuous procrastination. It’s that moment when you’re sitting in front of your computer feeling stuck and frustrated and instead of working through that block, you think, “there’s a pile of dishes in the sink, if I washed them at least I’d be accomplishing something.” And, honestly, sometimes you do need to get the tasks out of the way to clear up headspace to focus, but those things can also keep you from getting into the habit of sitting down and pushing through.
Sometimes you really do just need to put your butt in the chair. Starting with my dissertation, I found one of the best ways to do this was through accountability groups. I’m the member of a Facebook group that focuses on writing every day, which involves logging daily word and time achievements and providing support and advice to other writers. I also participate in a writing group made up of Ball State English department colleagues; we take turns sharing and responding to each other’s writing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been attending regular Zoom sessions with two of my close friends from grad school. We check in, set goals, and then mute our Zoom for a set time and check in on what we got done.
Could you talk a little bit about the publishing process? How does it work, how long it typically takes, etc.
This varies quite a bit depending on publishers from what I can tell. In my case, I first sent a book proposal to a general editor in answer to a call for manuscripts that related to the series “Late Tudor and Stuart Drama: Gender, Performance, and Material Culture” that Medieval Institute Publications was launching. At that point, I had the dissertation, but had only really substantially revised two chapters.
The series editors were interested in my proposal and asked for sample chapters, so I sent off what I had. Based on the samples, they wanted to see more. Most often this means you finish the full manuscript and resubmit it for review, but because I’m on the tenure track and need proof of publication progress, my general editor worked with me to secure a contract based on my introduction and a revision of the sample chapters.
Once the manuscript was submitted it was sent out for anonymous peer review and then back to me to respond to reviewer comments. Once the series editors were satisfied with my revisions, the monograph went into pre-production (copy-editing, choosing the cover, etc.) and then finally to production and publication. I was teaching full-time throughout the process, which took about three years.
What is the part of the book (or process) you are most proud of?
Holding the actual thing in my hands! But also, I am really proud of the way my thinking and writing has developed through the process and over time. It’s a substantial revision that shows my development as a scholar.
Do you have plans for another book or additional published writing in the future?
Absolutely! I currently have a chapter for a volume about the religious marketplace in early modern England under review. I’m also in the early reading and research phases of a new project that focuses on English Civil War dramas.
Do you, or would you ever consider, doing creative writing? If so, how do you think that differs from your academic writing?
Honestly, creative writing is not my thing. I so admire my colleagues and friends who build fictional worlds and so eloquently turn out beautiful poetry and prose. I will continue to devour and teach their work. My creative outlets are focused more in the kitchen, I think.
Since your audience is primarily academics for this book, how do you think your writing & process differs from how it is in other writing contexts? Or maybe the better question is, is there a difference for you in how you approach this formal academic writing versus writing for other audiences?
Definitely. When you’re writing for an audience of scholars and students, you are using specific conventions and terms. In less formal writing, I’m much more conversational, as I am in this interview. That said, I do still strive to maintain a balance in my academic writing. I still want to be clear and engaging in any context. Sometimes I succeed.
What do you want the world to know about you as an author?
Wow, that’s a tough question. I guess I want them to know that I’m an inquisitive author. That I think about learning and critical thinking as a constant process. My writing and analysis evolves through that process and hopefully makes it onto the page in a way that opens up a conversation with which my readers might want to engage.
What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to aspiring writers?
First, find out what excites you, what you obsess over and want to live in for as long as you can stand it. Then, keep working at every day.
If you would like to purchase Vanessa Rapatz's book, Convents and Novices in Early Modern English Dramatic Works: In Media Res, you can find a copy here.
If you know an author (or of an author) you would love to read an interview with, email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com!