There is too much lousy fantasy out there. Make yours good.

I was reading a book the other day that is a fine example of the importance of matching culture to plot. It was a novel about Native Americans set in the 1800s (I feel no need to name names). I got through three-quarters of it without seeing much amiss. The writer had done her research even if the plot was somewhat standard.

Then, our main character runs away from her adopted tribe to try to find the tribe she was born to. On the way, she is taken captive by another tribe that intends to make her a virgin sacrifice to their evil god. Only her beloved, who is desperately following her, can possibly save her now.

At that point, I just closed the book. Because that kind of plot belongs to B-movies and bad science fiction. It reeks of ignorance and prejudice and is just NOT what I signed up for when I picked up that book. I was hoping for something more authentic, not this.... drek.

It is this widespread cultural ignorance that makes me roll my eyes when someone tells me they based their fantasy race on Native Americans. Usually it's a idealised New Age-y idea of a people that never existed in reality. Though you do get those Noble Savages from time to time. Neither one worth a damn in any literary sense.

People, you can do better than that. I know you can. Either get creative and make something up instead of lifting it from popular culture, or get real with your research.

 

Pick a tribe. Read and learn. What we lump together as "Native American" are several hundred separate cultures that just happen to share a continent. How much can the Seminole of the Florida swamps and the Inuit of Alaska have in common, after all? The Algonquian tribes of the East Coast and the Pueblo of New Mexico had very different climates to contend with. How did that shape their societies? Their myths? Their clothing, housing, what they ate?

Most of all, if you are going to write Native American historical fiction, find out what themes run though their literature and mythology, and adapt it to your needs. Don't borrow plot from spaghetti westerns and dime novels. If you write fantasy, use your knowledge to create yourself a well-rounded society and stop falling into the stereotype trap.

There is too much bad fiction and fantasy out there. Make yours good.