Story Research--Death in Navajo Culture

The next story in the Catalyst Chronicles series will feature Julia Kee, a minor character from Twinned Universes. (In case you're wondering when I'll return to this series, it'll be after I finish revising Scattered Seasons, sequel to the just-released Seasons' Beginnings.) Julia Kee is half-Navajo and spent a lot of her childhood as a member of the Navajo Nation. Part of the reason it's taking me so long to write her story is that I needed to learn more about Navajo culture. With Halloween and All Saints' Day fast approaching, I thought it would be interesting to share a few tidbits I learned about how death is regarded in Navajo culture. Many of these I picked up by reading Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee mystery series. He was considered a friend of the Navajo people, and in my opinion, he does a good job of portraying Navajo attitudes.

• The Navajo view death as a necessary part of life, as a way of making sure there weren't too many people.
• However, Navajos consider corpses unclean and avoid touching or going into a residence where someone has died. If they must touch a body, they will have a medicine man conduct a sing for them to restore themselves to harmony.
• Navajos will avoid speaking the name of a dead person because they do not want to attract the attention of the dead.
• The Navajo believe that the evil parts of a person live on as an evil spirit called a chindi. If a person dies in a building, they believe the chindi is trapped inside. Therefore, they break a hole in the north wall of the hogan (north is the direction of evil) and do not use that hogan again.
• The formal mourning process lasts for four days. Four is a sacred number to the Navajo, and they believe this is how long it takes the deceased spirit to travel to the underworld.

You can find some additional information at this link.

 If I had time, I would have made this into a month-long series about death in different cultures. Unfortunately, I've been too busy to research this. Fortunately, I know another indie author who has researched many death customs and included them in her books. I'll discuss them next week. If we're lucky, she might answer a few questions for me too.

A-Z Indie Books: Twinned Universes

Twinned Universes

Author: Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

Paul Harrison always wanted to play Hamlet, but he never expected he'd live the role first.

In the aftermath of a family tragedy on 21st century Earth, Paul discovers he's the clone of Sean Lyon, his great-great-grandfather and a famous TwenCen musician. Suspecting his mother's death was no accident, Paul comes up with a plan to trick the answers out of the great-uncle who had him cloned. But in order to make his plan work, Paul needs help from Sean himself--and Sean's time is running out in the TwenCen universe next door. Although Paul's family lives on the spaceship that travels between the universes, he's never been allowed on TwenCen Earth. Now, with the help of his friends, his disguise-creating holoprojectors, and a quantum quirk, Paul must make his way to Sean while evading other time travelers who fear he'll change the history of the TwenCen universe. If Paul is to achieve justice, he must not only risk his own life, but the wormhole connecting the universes. "To be or not to be" was a simple question in comparison....

Sandra's Comments: I knew as I wrote Lyon's Legacy that I would need to write a sequel. This book is set about eighteen years later but can be read on its own. Paul is my favorite character I've created so far, but his friends are interesting too. I will be returning to the Catalyst Chronicles series once I publish the first book in my fantasy Season Avatars series later this year.

Holding Out for a Hero(ine)

This is one of my favorite posts. It was originally published on March 9, 2010 as part of a blog chain (which seems to be defunct now, alas). The only thing I've changed is I embedded a different video of "Holding out for a Hero." Also, since I wrote this post, Across Two Universes has been published as Twinned Universes, and "Move Over Ms. L." has been published as Lyon's Legacy.


Yep, the Blog Chain post is making its first appearance on my blog this month. Eric posed this question:

Do you create characters that are larger-than-life or are your characters more like the average Joe?

(For discussion purposes, let's use his definition of "larger-than-life" as meaning exceptionally talented. It doesn't have to be a supernatural talent--an Olympic athlete would be larger-than-life.)

In his book Characters and Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card discusses how these two types of characters go in and out of fashion. Most of my esteemed fellow Blog Chainers, from Eric to Kate, have been on the side of the average Joe or Jane. I think some of this is due to genre. A few people admit their characters have a slight supernatural twist, but for the most part, larger-than-life characters are considered too perfect, too hard to relate to, or even too cliched. We're at the end of the chain now, and there's only one person left to champion the champions: a short, overweight, almost-middle-aged speculative fiction writer. In other words, me.

Let's cue some music for our discussion:





Most of my protagonists have had some extraordinary gift. My first two books featured magicians, as does my short story "A Reptile at the Reunion." My NaNoWriMo book from 2007 had a pair of shapeshifting sisters. Paul, the hero of Across Two Universes, lives in a science fiction universe, but he has a "quantum quirk" of his own. The only protagonist who might be considered an "ordinary Jane" is Paul's mother, Joanna, in my novella "Move Over Ms. L." So, how do I avoid the previously mentioned pitfalls of larger-than-life characters?

First of all, I don't think a larger-than-life character is necessarily perfect--or should be. Many legendary characters had flaws as big as their virtues. Hercules was very strong, but he wasn't above using dirty tricks in battle. Lancelot was in love with his liege's wife. Modern-day larger-than-life athletes like Michael Phelps and Tiger Woods have shown what I'll call lapses of judgment. Even my beloved Beatles have done drugs, had affairs, made poor business decisions, and otherwise proved they're not perfect. Having an extraordinary talent doesn't mean you're invincible either; just look at Achilles and Samson. I could go on, but the point I want to make is that the larger-than-life characters may be good at what they do, but if they're too good, then the story loses any suspense factor. Struggle is at the heart of all stories, so your characters have to face challenges that force them to stretch themselves. Heck, much of the time my characters struggle just to get along with their allies!

Another concern writers have about writing larger-than-life characters is how to make sure the average reader can relate to them. It's not as if most of us turn into animals every full moon or perform magic and read others' minds. Here, I think the key is to focus on emotions or experiences that can be universal. Many larger-than-life characters in speculative fiction face problems readers can relate to; for example, Carrie Vaughn's werewolf Kitty has a mother dealing with cancer. A classic Star Trek episode, "The Devil in the Dark," features an alien that's basically a sentient rock. Yet this creature is also a mother trying to protect her young. How can any parent not relate to that? If you can relate to a rock, magicians and other larger-than-life characters ought to be easy.

As for whether or not larger-than-life characters are cliche, I think anything can become one. It's not always easy to find a unique spin on a subject, but it can be done.

Going back to Eric's question, why do I prefer larger-than-life characters? Part of the reason is escapism and wish fulfillment. I live in Midwestern suburbia, and I like taking mental breaks from it with my fiction. Having high-powered characters means you can demand more of them; they buy you a seat at the high-stakes plot table. But there are other reasons for enjoying larger-than-life characters and speculative fiction. By looking at the extremes of the human condition (or even examining non-humans), we can learn something about the ordinary parts too. And while ordinary characters in extraordinary situations can do astonishing things, extraordinary people can inspire us to transcend the commonplace and reach for something we never thought possible. Our future depends on how far we can see and our drive to try new things. If we work at it, what was once considered extreme or even impossible can become part of our mundane reality.

Five Reasons Why Diversity Matters in SF

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, we've been talking about diversity in science fiction/fantasy this week. Why is this so important? Here are five reasons:

1. To challenge the tropes. Stereotypes such as the passive damsel in distress subconsciously teach women that this type of behavior on their part is expected, even preferred. But why should women always be weak or men never show emotions? That's not healthy for either gender. Everyone, no matter what your gender, race, sexual orientation, physical abilities, or favorite Beatle is, should be allowed to be himself or herself and not confined to a narrow range of behaviors.

2. So other people can see themselves in the genre. Speculative fiction may not be the best-selling book genre, but it does do well at the movies. However, movies are often targeted to adolescent males. Why not broaden the appeal by including many different types of people in these stories? If you look at cosplaying, you'll see that some popular characters can be reimagined as a different character or race without losing their essence. (Unfortunately, not everyone believes a black cosplayer can/should dress as a white character; please check out the link. I was tempted to post some of Chaka's images here, but I won't to respect her copyright.)

3. To reflect the real world. By the middle of this century, whites/Caucasians are predicted to be a minority. Therefore, when I write about the future, I feel the need to show a diverse range of ethnic groups. For example, in Twinned Universes, Paul's best friend and romantic interest are both part black, the leader of the time travelers is Hispanic, Sean's wife and son are Filipino, Julia Kee from TwenCen Earth is Navajo, and so on. Although Paul as Sean's clone is 100% Irish, his sister is part Filipino and Native American, although those ancestors are several generations back and play more of a role psychologically than genetically. It is a bit ironic that I wound up with a white male as the main character, though Scott does counter tropes by referring to Paul as his magical white friend.

4. To learn about others. Although Paul is the main character of Twinned Universes,the next book in the series will feature Julia instead. I have been researching the Navajo culture and the Navajo Nation to prepare for writing from her perspective. (She would refer to herself as Dine, with an accent on the "e.") I've learned a lot, but it is a bit intimidating trying to learn about the Navajo language (which I'm not sure I can write accurately). It would be great if I knew someone I could interview about this culture, but you can't expect one person to represent an entire culture either. In the end, I will have to do the best I can with what resources I can access.

5. To develop empathy. I recently read The Golden Theme, which emphasizes that despite our diversity, we are all still the same in our wants and our needs. That's what makes us human, and that's what allows us to develop empathy for someone else. Reading is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in someone else's world. As authors and as readers, let's keep spreading empathy. I have a dream that that is one way to make Dr. Martin Luther King's Promised Land a reality.