In last month's blog, I mentioned that I had read 38 print books and 47 Kindle books in preparation for writing Xylander. Did I really read 85 books? Well, not all entirely. Some of them I only needed a little information. Others I was able to scan through and find the material specific to what I needed. However, for the most part, yes, I did read the better part of 85 books over a period of six months.
What is more unbelievable is the fact that I have so many more I want to read that are listed in my wish list on Amazon. Currently I have 450 books in my wish list. There are 157 books in that list that are about Native Americans in general, the Osage, the history of either the U.S. or Arkansas, and any others that might give me more insight into the subject in which I am writing. I doubt I will ever read them all in my lifetime, mainly because I keep adding books to the list every week, or I keep getting new Kindle books for $.99, or free, or through Kindle Unlimited.
It seems I can never read enough. I feel sort of like Abe Lincoln; I am educating myself through the various books that I read and the many articles I find on the Internet. Information is everywhere! When I was teaching, I would tell my students that they were so lucky to be in school during this time period. Anything they want to know can be found easily on the Internet. Of course, that also means they find other things that they don't need to know or be filling their minds with. I feel that a teacher has a great responsibility to direct his/her students toward the right information and away from the distractions. Believe me, it is not easy! As for me, I love it that I can look up anything and find the answer almost immediately. Teens don't appreciate the wealth of knowledge.
As I mentioned before in April 11th's blog, I am not an English major and Xylander is my first novel. In preparation for my writing I researched other books that may be out there similar to mine. I didn't want to write a book that had already been written, but of course, since it is partly about my life there can be no other book like mine. But, I wanted to read what was already out there.
I downloaded books that were written with similar agendas: time-travel, Native Americans, frontier life, etc. Gradually, I began to accumulate quite a list of books with similar agendas. However, I really needed to learn about the Osage. I explain in my Author's Notes at the end of my book how I came about writing about the Osage, so I will let you read that on your own. But, when I started researching Native American tribes that could have lived in the area in which I grew up, I was impressed with the Osage the most.
The Osage people are an under appreciated group that have not made their way into fictional writing enough, in my opinion. I found plenty of historical writings, some of which I have read, but more of which I still have to read. Writers have romanticized the Cherokee, the Iroquois, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Dakota/Lakota, the Mohawk, the Mohicans, to name a few.
Once I decided on the tribe that I would write about, I had to research the time period in which I wanted to put them in. Throughout most of the book Charlotte searches just as I did for what could have happened during the time to be significant and interesting. I didn't need a major dramatic event; I just needed something that I could use to spin off from and create a dramatic story around it.
My own historical events I used in the same way. For whatever reason, the events in that period of my life are still clear in my mind. I could go from month to month and almost week to week and remember almost exactly what was going on in my life back then. It was 26 years ago, but it was a very impressionable time in my life.
Although I have some knowledge of plants and animals and experience from actually living in the area, I had to research plants that would have been used for medicines, what plants they grew and ate, what they hunted, how they made their clothes and houses, tools they used, and even games they played. I cite some actual stories that were told among the Osage. Their religious ceremonies were harder to pinpoint. Many customs are lost due to the fact that many were passed down orally and they were considered so sacred that only those that were ordained as "ministers" knew the words and order of events.
Then I began finding books on how to write a book. When I first made the decision to try to write a book, I had no idea that Kindle Direct Publishing existed. I imagined that I would write a book and send it out to as many publishing companies I could find in hopes that it would get published. I was so surprised and relieved to find that it was so easy to upload and Wa-La! it's out there.
It's only been six and a half weeks since I first launched my book on Amazon and only a few sales have trickled in here and there, but I keep believing in what I'm doing and maybe one day it will pay off.
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