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Native American Author Roundtable
8.
AOTW: What are the unique challenges you face in writing about the Native American culture? What do you find most rewarding?
Joseph Marshall III: Finding an audience is the biggest challenge, along with overcoming the credibility gap --- that is, so much has been written by non-native writers about Native Americans it is often difficult to get past that, often misleading, information. I don't know how it breaks down statistically, but white readers will often accept information from a white writer about Native American topics (especially if he or she purports to have been "adopted" or singularly informed by a Native American source) rather than from a Native American writer. The reward is that the trend seems to be shifting.
David Marion Wilkinson: As I mentioned above, the biggest challenge in writing about Native Americans is that they evolved out of the oral tradition. They didn't leave archives. Primary and academic sources are rich with detail, but the real picture of how the tribal nations lived two hundred years ago, in my opinion, remains sketchy. If I'm successful in bringing this remarkable period back alive for a reader to see with fresh eyes, I feel like I've really accomplished something. If a story is well-drawn and correctly crafted, it's a great experience for a reader. I'd like for readers to imagine the world inhabited by our red and white ancestors and consider what life was like back when these incompatible cultures confronted one another. It was truly a remarkable period in the history that we all now share.
Margaret Coel: The biggest challenge is to accurately portray a culture that is not your own. However, even if you're writing about your own culture, you still face the challenge of portraying it accurately. I've been writing about the Arapahos --- and imbibing the culture --- for a long time, so sometimes I'm not sure what I think I know. While working on The Spirit Woman, I wrote that the Arapahos believe the spirits dwell on the bluffs. I looked at what I'd written and wondered if they really believe that or if I had just made it up. I stopped writing. I checked my notebooks, my resource books, and called several Arapaho friends. It took me three days to verify that, yes, they believe that. I'm keenly aware that one of my novels may be the only book someone may ever read on the Arapahos, and I try to make sure that the impression the reader takes away is an accurate one. Most rewarding for me is when someone from the tribe says, "Margaret, you got it right."
Penina Keen Spinka: People have expressed amazement with my characters making treks across Labrador or the Inuit crossing of the Davis Strait. I can't believe the ignorance. The Native Americans had no horses to help them travel until after the European conquest of America began, and yet, they managed to create great cities in Mexico and South America, and great brick and stone built pueblos (towns) in Arizona. Their government, especially the Five (now Six) Nations' government included delegates and voting, and the right of recall by the women if the elected leaders failed to perform. There was nothing like it in Europe. Most of the settlement of Europe and Asia from Africa (where evolution says we all began) was done without the help of the horse.
Thomas Perry: Writing realistic fiction in America means learning to write convincingly about all sorts of people who populate the country. I believe that if you make a sincere attempt to learn enough, and to present members of any group of people and their ethnic and cultural backgrounds accurately, then things go well.
The moments that I've found most rewarding in writing the Jane Whitefield series are those times when I meet Senecas, and they thank me for what I've written and tell me that I "got it right." This happened most recently last Saturday when I was speaking at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Several Seneca ladies from three different reservations came to hear me and get books signed. It made me want to come home and write the next Jane Whitefield book.
Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear: The biggest challenge is always getting the facts right. As hard as we try, we still make little irritating errors. As an example, we got an email from a textile specialist on a mistake we made about Z-twist vs. S-twist cordage --- two different methods of twisting fibers to make string. Sure enough, we looked it up and we'd goofed. Of all the millions of readers we have, we're sure he was one of a handful of people who caught that, but he was right, and we should have done better. That's the kind of accuracy we strive for. It's unattainable, but that's part of the challenge.
Another challenge we face is that cultures change over time. When we're talking with modern tribes about their cultures so that we can fill in the gaps for a prehistoric culture, we always have to ask, "How much have they changed?"
For example, if you study the archaeology, then read the early ethnographic accounts of the Sioux by Louis and Clark, you'll find two very different peoples --- and different again from the Sioux who were Ghost Dancing in 1891, or the Sioux at Pow Wow today. There have been a great many changes in their cosmology, world view, kinship, religion, etc.
David Matheson: I think the most challenging part writing about native America is being careful around the ceremonial aspects of our living. I think everyday life, religion, and ceremony are inseparable. You could not separate religion from every day life; you could not separate ceremony from religion. We are very prayerful and thankful people. Our ancestors and people today try to live a good life but it is difficult to write about the ceremonial aspect. In fact, much of it has never been photographed and never been written about and I do not intend to be the first to do so. The ceremonial aspect of our way of life is the part that if it is not written correctly, even in the general way that I do, it could be misunderstood. My parents told me to never talk about our deepest religious beliefs and ceremonial ways. Our ceremonies and beliefs are so sacred and so beautifully powerful it would be wrong for people to talk about them or make fun of them in a disrespectful way as they read about it or hear about it.
I enjoyed writing very much. I learned a lot about what art really is. When you create art, whether it is a painting, photograph, sculpture or writing a story, people look at what you created and they get a feeling like what you had when you created it. The observers can often times share the feelings of joy, happiness, laughter and tears. I get overcome with a deep feeling of satisfaction when I can portray these feelings to the reader. To me that is the greatest reward an artist could get.
Aimee and David Thurlo: Writing about another culture and portraying Navajo characters is very difficult work, even with all our experience, resources and contacts. Conveying the essence of a culture, having it fit in naturally with characterization and story events, yet keeping the novel moving forward briskly, is always a challenge.
We are rewarded by the comments from readers, especially those who are Dineh (Navajos, The People) who appreciate and compliment our efforts, and encourage us to continue with our stories.
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