Inside my book research process
Plus, an update on Sounds Like A Cult!
Weekly Q&A
Q: What does your book research process look like?
A: It’s different for every project! Wordslut’s research process was probably the most intense and intimidating. It was a matter of reviewing and translating basically an entire canon of literature (not quite, ha, but I did read/reread every paper mentioned on my college Sex, Gender, and Language syllabus, so… hundreds of studies). As I went through each study, I highlighted and color coded them according to which bits I definitely wanted to include in the book, supported the readings with about a dozen original interviews with linguists, and curated/synthesized all of that into a book that I thought would be fun and digestible for those with no background in the field. I was 25 and had never written a book before, so the task felt mammoth, I honestly can’t believe I had the guts to do it. Youthful hubris, baby!
Cultish was more of a strict reporting project—less academic reading and more interviews with sources, upwards of 60 phone calls from mid-2019 to late 2020. Cultish is a pandemic book, if there ever was one!
My research process for The Age of Magical Overthinking was more loosey-goosey, because the book is so genre-bendy—a combination of personal narrative and cultural commentary, backed by social science concepts. I basically got to follow my curiosities wherever they went! Fridays here on the newsletter, I’ll sometimes read an excerpt from one of the many books that informed The Age of Magical Overthinking—everything from psychology texts to Sylvia Plath poems to memoirs.
If you’re interested in more specifics about my research process, consider signing up for the paid subscription!
Sounds Like A Cult is relaunching tomorrow.
Eep! I didn’t think it was gonna be this soon, but voila! Sounds Like A Cult is transitioning to more of a seasonal release schedule (nice and manageable, better for the quality of the show!), and I’ve been having the loveliest time recording this next season with our wonderful little team, editor Jordan and new production coordinator Katie. There are such juicy topics and expert guest hosts coming your way! A spoiler just for the newsletter: We’re kicking off with an episode on the cult of Amazon featuring an ex-Amazon corporate higher-up turned public Amazon critic. The conversation went so great, my partner Casey (the Sounds Like A Cult theme music composer hehe) overheard me editing it and kept looking up from his work to be like, damn that is wild! Listen tomorrow whenever you get your pods :)
I’m in love with this TikTok recommending other books to read if you liked Cultish.
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Wow, what a GREAT list. Better than any I could put together. I’m always stumped when people ask for book recs similar to Cultish. Thanks a mil, @SchizophrenicReads! Those mentioned are Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, Tacky by Rax King, Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch, and They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib.
Goodreads is giving away 100 more copies of The Age of Magical Overthinking!
Another Goodreads giveaway! Huzzah!
Availability: 100 copies available
Giveaway dates: Jan 08 - Jan 22, 2024
Countries available: U.S.
This reader review PERFECTLY captures the new book.
I loved it so much, I read it to my mom. Witnessing reader reviews trickle in for The Age of Magical Overthinking is surreal. This is my most personal project yet, by far, so it feels all the more meaningful when the book clicks. Bursting with gratitude for this review from @mizukireads.
“I loved Montell’s previous book (Cultish) and I dare say this was even better. In The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell breaks down the various cognitive biases that impact us in our post-COVID, hyper-online world. In “Are You Our Mother, Taylor Swift?”, she examines why we’re led to exalt public figures on a god-like level, then get angry when they don’t match the impossibly-high pedestal they never asked to stand on in the first place. In “A Toxic Relationship is Just a Cult Of One”, she speaks about how social media makes us value the story of our lives more than the lived experience of it, and why we might invest even *more* energy and time into a situation that isn’t working just to maintain the narrative we’re trying to tell. If you’ve ever felt like the universe sent you a divinely ordained message in the form of a Tiktok tarot reading, felt super confident you could recreate a Pinterest DIY only to end up with a pile of garbage, or repeated a fact you heard without fully knowing if it's true, this book is FOR YOU. And, let’s be real, we’ve all been there.
Montell doesn’t speak about these things from a holier-than-thou, self-help and betterment perspective. She’s candid and genuine in these essays, speaking lots from her own experience. She talks first-hand about having been in a toxic relationship and not being able to leave, about getting sucked into the world of ‘beauty influencers’ and spending all her money on unnecessary products, about having a presence on social media even when she knows how harmful it can be. But she ties these experiences into a well-researched, well-articulated, and relatable piece of writing that perfectly captures our cultural moment, untangling the complicated web of why it feels so hard to just exist as a human being right now.
I knew from the Didion-reference title that I’d like this book. I knew from the fact that it’s literally about being delusional that I needed this book. But then she includes a quote from The Secret History???? Christmas came early for me this year… Im obsessed” — @mizukireads
A weekly roundup of books, podcasts, TV shows, tchotchkes, and anything else I’m currently “cult following.” This week, a mishmash of delightful obsessions, from a really good Substack piece to the only alarm clock I’ve ever loved.
SHORT READ: HOW TO LEAVE A PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP
This interview between cultural commentators Kate Lindsay (my recent “cult of A.I.” guest on the pod) and Lucy Blakiston of Shit You Should Care About lives absolutely rent-free in my head. Their convo makes some really well-articulated points about parasocial dynamics, explored via the case study of Emma Chamberlain’s fans’ recent growing pains. I love the part where they say that if an online “creator” (I hate that word, for the record, but here we are) is not resonating with you anymore, they don’t necessarily need to change or fix anything, you might just be “growing apart;” and while that might feel bad, it doesn’t necessitate animosity on the part of the consumer, but instead perhaps a “conscious uncoupling”—a description I like because, while cheeky, it acknowledges that some parasocial breakups are harder on the soul than just tapping “unfollow” and moving on. I have consciously un-coupled from a few figures recently—at no fault of theirs! We just weren’t a “fit” anymore. It’s of course no loss on their part lol. But it came with some melancholy for me!
TV SHOW: BAD SISTERS
Can this utterly perfect Irish black comedy come back for a Season 2 already??? I’m jealous of anyone who hasn’t seen Season 1 yet. My body is ready for more!!!
SONG: BOYHOOD BY THE JAPANESE HOUSE
“Dancey sad girl” is my forever music vibe, and this song is quintessentially that. Whenever I want a sonic pick-me-up that’s both super fun and bittersweet, this record has become my go-to.
GADGET: HATCH ALARM CLOCK
Who in their right mind would ever “enjoy” an alarm clock is a question I might’ve asked before discovering this bizarrely, inexplicably BEAUTIFUL wake-up gadget. At the risk of sounding like cheesy marketing copy, I swear to god this thing “gently” “nuzzles” you awake with this divine, warm glow-y light and an alarm song so pretty I actually can’t wait to hear it every morning. Why is this alarm clock so mesmerizing??? Am I in a cult???
To be fully transparent, Hatch did sponsor a couple episodes of Sounds Like A Cult last year, and I do have a discount code if anyone’s interested, but I swear on my mother’s life (hi Denise!), the only reason I’m mentioning this clock here is because I’m in love with it. I actually bought one for my brother for Christmas using my own discount code. Lol.
I just got an email saying I won a copy in the giveaway. I'm so stoked!