Burgeoning authors who might be nervous to start National Novel Writing Month next year only need to look to The Davenports series author Krystal Marquis as inspiration.
Marquis originally started The Davenports, which now includes the original novel and The Davenports: More Than This, as her project for the national writing month, also known as NaNoWriMo. After many unsuccessful years of trying the monthly writing challenge, the year she wrote The Davenports involved her seeking community with other fellow writers, including her brother.
“I think when I started it, I had my brother who was also doing it, but then I also went into the chat rooms…and messaged other authors who were reading and writing books similar to [mine] and just striking up a conversation, just growing that sense of community with others,” she said when speaking to Just Add Color. “I think having people who are very supportive of your writing and can cheer you on and send you messages when you’re getting close to that daily goal or you’re getting close to the overall goal was really helpful. And I think putting that extra pressure, knowing that there are other people who are rooting for you and want to see you succeed, I think that’s very uplifting.”
History also provided its support as well by giving her the idea for the Davenports, a family who has made their wealth in building and selling carriages. Marquis recounted reading about the Patterson family on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History website sometime in 2019. The Pattersons were the first Black family to own an automobile company. Prior to building cars, the Pattersons built and sold carriages the 1800s, with the family employing a racially-integrated group of workers. C.R. Patterson, the head of the family, also earned several patents for his carriage innovations. It’s quite a resume for someone who was enslaved earlier in their life, proof of how much of America’s ingenuity resided in those same people it wanted to ignore.
“I saw the tagline, first and only African American owned automobile company in America, and that was just so surprising to me that I hadn’t known that there was an automobile company owned by a Black American, someone who had escaped enslavement and started his own company,” she said. “[T]o me, as a person who loves history, that was just such a big deal. It was such a big piece of information that I wish I had known or I would have expected to learn about in school that I hadn’t, so after reading that news article… I researched more about him and his life and that kind of inspired me to write the story, especially after I learned about him having three daughters and there not being a lot of information about their lives. [I was] just imagining what their hardships would have been like, to balance coming out of their Reconstruction era and Jim Crow becoming more prevalent in their society, but then also having a father who’s incredibly successful and having money.”
The Pattersons led to the creation of the wealthy and entrepreneurial Davenport family, including sisters Olivia and Helen Davenport, and their friends Ruby Tremaine and Amy-Rose Shepherd. Set in the early 20th century, the characters have expansive goals and dreams that we, unfortunately, don’t always read about in historical fiction or see in TV shows or films about Black people during the 1900s.
“For me, when I was writing it, I just thought about books that I had read when I was about the same age as the characters in the book. And there wasn’t a lot of representation. There weren’t a lot of books that had young black girls on the cover,” said Marquis. “To have this window of, like, wealth and achievement by Black people, which is inspired by real people, was, I think, very inspiring. I wanted it to be something that readers can look at and then go and do their own research and realize like these people [the Pattersons] were [real], this is not fantasy. This is not made up. These people existed. They had all these achievements and there was a whole community of successful people who were reached out and pulled the next person up and helped support it and grow the businesses. They created their own Wall Streets and had self sustaining communities that really thrived.”
“For me just being able to tell that story and provide that window opened up not only my eyes during my research, but also perhaps provided that context for other people,” she continued. “You don’t know something existed or is real or is possible unless you know it’s already happened, or there’s a story that you can relate to and draw some sort of experience from.”
The few forms of representation Marquis grew up included several popular book series many Millennial history buffs loved, such as Dear America and American Girl. But, as she said, “It was incredibly difficult as a reader to find those stories.”
“I gravitated to books that were more adult, just to get more stories, just because I didn’t see that many,” she said. “And stories that did have Black characters, they tended to be the best friend or the sidekick or just very much a stereotype or as an addition to the story, I didn’t feel like they were really the leads or the people who drove the action. And for me, I really wanted to tell a story where it was focused on the Black characters and Black women. The young girls in [The Davenports], they’re the ones that really drive the story forward.”
One element of those storylines includes romance. The Davenports provides representation in that area as well, keeping the conversation going about more diversity in the romance genre.
“I think I’ve seen an increase of even covers with Black protagonists on it and knowing that their love interests are Black and just celebrating that. I think that a lot of people who are probably outside of [the Black race are] identifying with those characters. They’re curious to pick up the book,” said Marquis. “I know that in the traveling for promoting Book Two, I was very happy to see diverse crowds at my events. People are falling in love with the stories and the romance and they’re finding that the characters are relatable.”
“I think that was something that maybe it seemed like a risk, I think,” she continued. “At one point, all the covers of books looked the same, and that having one type of character on them, or having one type of protagonist, was a safe way to tell a story. I think that as I see more books with more diverse characters and more diverse ethnic groups and religions be the focus of the story, it only shows that people are there for the storytelling, they find characters relatable and that there’s just a lot more that connects us. I just think that’s, it’s very rewarding to see stories that are diverse in their storytelling really stand out like that.”
The sibling relationship in the books also bring Marquis to reflect on her own relationships with her siblings. She said writing the dynamics between the Davenport sisters was a lot of fun for her to write.
“I think that it came naturally to have the siblings [joke with] each other and [have] the bickering. I had an event where my brother is asking like really tough questions. We joked with the audience that, you know, trust your siblings always put you on the spot. I think people really responded to that,” she said. “I think people found it relatable, whether they thought about family by birth or chosen family, [of] just having strong connections with people that you share memories or a childhood with. I think a lot of them were really excited to see the relationship between Helen and Olivia really get stronger.”
“I had people come up to me and say that maybe when they were younger, they weren’t as close with their siblings. But then as they became adults, they were able to better understand each other and see that relationship strengthen,” Marquis added. “I had people talk about how much they enjoyed the friendships between the young ladies [in the books] and how they’ve been really supportive, that there isn’t a dynamic where the girls are catty or competitive in a negative way. That they aren’t mean girls, for another way of putting it. That it is a story about women who really support each other, even though that they might want different things in their lives. For example, Ruby wants the traditional future where she settles down and gets married and starts a family. And seeing her friend, Olivia have her own view of her future change. It doesn’t cause friction between the two. They’re just very supportive of each other’s choices. And I think a lot of people really resonated with that.”
While The Davenports would have been successful regardless, Marquis acknowledges that the book series is having a clear conversation with the current moment in the zeitgeist. Due to Shonda Rhimes decision to make the Bridgerton book series a multiracial (or even post-racial) version of Regency-era London, other TV and film productions have also started to create period stories with diverse casts, such as The Gilded Age, The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Green Knight, Mr. Malcolm’s List, Great Expectations and others.
Marquis said that she feels that regardless of what brings her readers to her work, she hopes they can also come away with more knowledge about the real people who influenced the story.
“I think for me, being compared to Bridgerton, I guess it depends on what the reader is going for. If they’re looking for maybe a young adult romance that’s a bit more adult, I can see the risk there in them maybe being disappointed that it’s not as steamy as they expected. Or maybe, they’re approaching [the books as if] this is a colorblind retelling, or a fantasy,” she said. “But I think however they come to reading The Davenports, whether they’re disappointed that it’s not what they expected, I think at least that there is that exposure where they can get to read a story where the young Black women are at the center of it. I think once They realize that this is based on history and that it’s inspired by a family that lived and that was a part of American culture and ingenuity, I think that just having people learn that kind of outweighs the risk of it being compared to something that’s not like a one-to-one comparison. I like the comparisons to Little Women better. But, for me, um, I think whatever gets books, mine or any other book, into the hands of readers and more people is a win in the long run.”
Soon, The Davenports will also belong to that group of TV shows bringing more diversity to historical fiction. The books have been optioned for a series with Prime Video, something Marquis shared her excitement about.
“Seeing that story come to life and having even more people hopefully come to [learn about] the books and the history behind it will be really fulfilling,” she said.
What started as a NaNoWriMo project has grown into a franchise that encapsulates Marquis’ love for writing, history, and family. Indeed, The Davenports‘ success has taken Marquis on a very fulfilling ride.
Buy The Davenports books from Penguin Random House or wherever books are sold.
Like this:
Like Loading...
