Laughing Boy, a Navajo brave, goes to the dance to compete in the horse races and leaves a man embarking on married life. His soon-to-be wife, Slim Girl, lives on the border of American standards, living much like the white people, but yearning for a Navajo life -- a life Americans robbed her of when they took her from her home and sent her to school.

Studying alternate cultures, especially if you are a fantasy/sci-fi author in the process of creating your own races and cultures. Seeing how different just the races here on Earth are can really spin you in new directions. And I'm not just talking about customs, but ways of thinking and rationale that put a quirk in your brow and motion to your pencil.

Laughing Boy -- the way he thought, the way he handled things, the way he went along with some things while revolting against others -- the way he did these things. I felt I was able to discern the difference between what of him was Navajo and what of him was Laughing Boy. That's important in a story like this.

The writing style. I got used to it about midway through, but I never really enjoyed it. I say suffer through it if it does not strike you either, for there are lessons to learn if you are willing to let them come to you.

Read more books on cultures with which I am unfamiliar, then redraw the races and cultures I have created in my writing.

This is a part of my Reading Resolution:

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Created Jul 10, 2006 at 4:13am • Submit your own review...