If you haven’t read anything by Rebecca Roanhorse, you are missing out. Roanhorse is a New York Times-bestselling author of sci-fi and fantasy, and her work has received Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards.
Her book Black Sun is one of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a while, so when I had the chance to attend an author talk during her tour for the release of the sequel, Fevered Star, I jumped at it. Roanhorse was in conversation with Erika T. Wurth, another indigenous speculative fiction writer, and they both had lots of great things to say about writing, so I’m sharing some of the best nuggets of wisdom here with you.
Write for yourself first
Rebecca Roanhorse had a career as a lawyer for years before she started writing. The thing that prompted her to dive back into fiction work after years of not thinking it was a feasible career was that she wasn’t seeing stories on shelves that featured Native people like her, doing interesting things and having daring adventures. So she started writing one on her own. “Write the book you want to read” is advice given out so much it’s become a cliché, but Roanhorse spoke to how important it was that she was just writing the book for herself first. It would be years before she even considered the possibility of being published, and then longer before she actually achieved that dream. But what kept her going was her love of the story she was writing, because she had written for herself.
You have to make time for writing, not just find it
Not only did Roanhorse have a career in law when she started writing, but she also had a young daughter. This meant that she did much of her writing between the hours of 10pm and 2am. We often use the phrase “find the time to write.” But really, the more accurate wording is make the time to write. Since most of us haven’t inherited enormous sums of wealth to live on while we laze about, writing as we feel led, we have to fit writing into our already busy lives. If writing is a priority for you, though, you will make time to do it, even if it’s just in small snippets of time.
Follow your curiosity
The language we use to talk about writing and inspiration varies from writer to writer, but there is often an assumed idea of the spark for a story coming like a lightning bolt, like a gift from a muse. And while there are certainly ideas that come that way, don’t assume that that’s the only way.
Although Black Sun is decidedly fantasy, the cultures and people in it are inspired by people and cities in pre-Columbian Americas. Roanhorse talked about how there was heavy research needed to create the foundation of the world of Black Sun, but that she didn’t do it all solely for the book. Instead, it was the culmination of years of research that she was doing just because she was curious, and wanted to know more about her ancestors and what life was like before colonization. The book was the result of her following her curiosity, not just a lightning spark of an idea. So, although you should be spending time writing, do let yourself fall down that rabbit hole of research or a new hobby or whatever it is that catches your attention. You never know where it might lead.
The best characters are in the grey area
Morally grey villains have become more and more popular in books recently (especially when they’re hot guys…) but Black Sun takes it to a new level, with every character existing in this grey area. They all have good reason to be making the choices they do, and backstories that make their actions believable, even if they leave you yelling at the book. Roanhorse spoke about how this was very intentional; stories like Lord of the Rings can be great fun, but lack realism by having a very clear Good Guy and Bad Guy. Instead, she wanted to play around with having characters who, even as they straight-up murder people, you’re still sort of rooting for, because you understand why. These are the characters that stick with readers long after the book is over.
Readers need to support new kinds of stories
There are more and more books by indigenous authors coming out recently, but it’s still a small percentage of the books that are published. Roanhorse spoke about how, for decades, the expectation for Native writers and Native characters (especially ones not written by Native people) have been to tell the stories of trauma and pain, whether that is historical fiction or contemporary. While those stories can be important to share, it’s equally important to have stories about indigenous people where their suffering has nothing to do with their race or ethnicity (obviously, they’re still going to suffer, this is fantasy we’re talking about). She called on the publishing industry to open up, but also for readers to be open to these new types of stories, because ultimately publishing is an industry and will follow the money. Whether you’re a writer or a reader, keep that in mind next time you’re looking for a new book to read.
Have you read any of Rebecca Roanhorse’s books? Any on your TBR? Let me know in the comments!
