Every historical fiction book requires a certain amount of research. As a novelist and historian, I take pride in ensuring that my books are historically accurate. But I felt that When the Chokecherries Bloom, required special attention to detail. After all, I’m shaping young minds (Ok – a bit of an exaggeration). Still, I needed to do more research and I needed a sensitivity reader who was an expert in Lakota culture.
Even before the sensitivity reader was engaged, I immersed myself in Lakota culture and mythology. I also studied the habits of prairie birds and animals through online resources and several key research books.
Tracking is important to the plot. I relied on the Falcon Guide to Animal Tracks for this information. The guide’s illustrations helped me describe the tracks that Shining Water was seeing. It was one of my go-to research sources.
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve’s Sioux Women: Traditionally Sacred provided an indepth look at the critical roles that Lakota women play in their culture. I used this resource for Proving Her Claim, as well.
Since Shining Water’s father, Two Hawks MacKenzie, participates in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie, I read Red Cloud: Oglala Legend by John D. McDermott. Red Cloud was the last tribal leader to sign the Treaty. McDermott’s book is an excellent biography of this extraordinary leader.
And, in order to write about education in the 1860s, I relied on McGuffey’s Primer. McGuffey Readers were the most widely used reading book of that era.
Finally, I found myself referring back to passages in my first book, Proving Her Claim, to ensure I was accurately describing characters, dwellings and plot developments. It would have been embarrassing to describe Anna’s lavender eyes in the first book, and blue eyes in When the Chokecherries Bloom!
After the last words were written – and edited – the manuscript went to a sensitivity reader to ensure the story was true to Lakota culture. After he gave me the thumbs up, it was ready to publish.
As I wrote in an earlier post, When the Chokecherries Bloom was inspired by a reader. After reading Proving Her Claim (which is a little spicy), the reader said, “I wish there was a version of this book for my granddaughter.”
I hope her granddaughter, as well as other young readers, will enjoy Shining Water’s story.