Marilyn's Musings

On one of the lists I'm on they are discussing research--how much and watching out not to dump what you've learned into one spot in your novel. When I wrote my two historical family sagas I did lots of research, I wanted to know what the places the families lived in were like at the time they were there, what kind of food they ate, what they took with them when they traveled, what they saw along the way. I hoped that I could tell a story that the reader could actually see what the characters experienced. I learned far more than I could have ever put into the book. Now that I'm writing mysteries with a certain degree of law enforcement in them, of course I've done quite a bit of research. With the law enforcement part, I do stretch things a bit, and as I remind my friends in law enforcement, I am writing fiction. With the Native American tidbits in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, though I call the Indians Yanduchi, the real tribal name is Yaundanchi and they are a part ...

Tony Hillerman passed away this last week. He will be missed both as a person and a writer. Though I was never fortunate enough to meet Mr. Hillerman, I read all of his books. Of course his books about the Navajo and other Indians had an influence on me--and was part of the reason I created an Indian heroine. What he wrote gave me an interest in the Native American culture that I'd never had before. What I've learned is that in many ways, Indians are much like all the rest of us. There are good and bad among them, they love and hate, care for one another and sometimes do things they are sorry for later. I went to school with only one person of Native American heritage--and back then it wasn't popular to have Indian blood. My fellow student is now a professor and an expert on Native American culture. When we first moved to the foothills of the Sierra, I had no idea we lived near an Indian reservation, nor anything about it or the people who lived there. As time went on and I...