Wild Things: Embracing the Unexpected

This paper will explore the complexities involved in the notion of research being both writing and not writing, and writing being both research and not research. As a graduate student writing a historical novel and exegesis, this concept resonates profoundly with my experience. When I began work on the creative component of my PhD, a historical novel with the working title: Wild Women, I thought that first I would do the research (Australian history, art history, cultural theory and so on) and then I would do the creative writing, in a clear-cut, methodical way. During the course of unexpected events involving a suspended semester and travel to Ireland, and my discovery of a wild enough background for my fictional character, I discovered the riches of the research that is ‘not writing’. In my paper I discuss the serendipitous events and discovery of wild places which trigger thoughts and spark the imagination in ways that cannot be predicted or planned. This also had ramifications for the notion of writing being both research and not research and I examine this aspect later in the paper.