I’ve had the privilege to interview author Suzanne Bratcher this week. Her book Kokopelli’s Song is the featured title for ScrivKids Book Club in February. Kokopelli’s Song is the story of three teens’ race against a waxing moon to prevent an ancient evil from tipping the universe into chaos. Join us as Suzanne offers excellent insight into the role setting plays in her stories, and we dish about writing and the most adventurous thing she’s ever done. Enjoy!
Suzanne, before we get started, tell us about yourself.
Thanks for hosting me on the blog today. I’m excited to share with the ScrivKids writers and readers. From the time I was born, I was surrounded by stories: Bible stories, bedtime stories, and stories my grandfather and I made up together. Once I learned to read, I had a book in my hand if I wasn’t riding my bike or climbing a tree. My earliest career choice was bookmobile driver, but by the time I was in fifth grade, I’d switched to writer. When I was in college and realized I couldn’t support myself with my writing, I decided to become a teacher. I started out teaching junior high English and remedial reading. Five years later, I went to graduate school to teach English in college. When I was twenty-eight, I got a job teaching Freshman Composition at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff. In the almost thirty years I was at NAU, I taught various writing courses to students of all ages. I wrote professional articles and two textbooks about teaching writing during those years. I also wrote short stories and poetry.
When I was fifty-five, my Multiple Sclerosis (MS) took a dramatic downturn, and I retired from teaching. That was when I could go back to my childhood dream of becoming a full-time fiction writer. Since I retired, I’ve published four novels: the Jerome mysteries trilogy (The Copper Box, The Silver Lode, and The Gold Doubloons) and Kokopelli’s Song, the first book in my YA series, the Four Corners Folklore Fantasies. I’m currently working on Tommyknocker’s Gold, the next book in that series. I live in Prescott Valley, Arizona, ninety minutes from my daughter, her husband, and my precious granddaughter.
How fortunate for us that life brought you full circle back to your love of storytelling. There is much debate about which comes first in storytelling, plot or characters, but I know many writers are inspired by setting. So, which comes first for you?
Setting comes first when I imagine a story. The plot and the characters grow from the setting. The idea for Kokopelli’s Song came when I was camping in Chaco Canyon. One morning I woke up early to the sound of a Native American flute. Kokopelli is the figure of a flute player found pecked in rocks from the tip of South America all the way into Canada. As I listened, I thought, “That’s Kokopelli’s song.” Then, fascinated by the thousand-year-old ruins in Chaco Canyon, I started to read what archaeologists have found there.
As I researched theories of why the great houses of Chaco were abruptly abandoned and the ceremonial kivas burned, the plot started to form. I wondered, “What if ancient witches took over the ceremonies at Chaco? What if shamans banished the witches into space and burned the kivas to prevent the witches from returning? What if those witches tried to get back into our world?” The characters to oppose the witches emerged from an ancient pueblo myth I read in a book about the pueblo people who came after Chaco was abandoned. In this story, a set of boy and girl twins accomplished several magical tasks. I already knew that turning eighteen was a significant ceremonial moment in Hopi culture. From those bits and pieces, my characters emerged: a set of boy and girl twins about to turn 18. Because I didn’t want to write from the point of view of a different culture, I knew the twins had to be half-Hopi and half-Anglo.
So, the idea for Kokopelli’s Song originated from your real-world experience. Do you often use real settings, or do you ever make up fictional places?
I always use real settings in my stories. As you can tell from how I get my plot and characters from the setting, none of my stories could take place in another location. Kokopelli’s Song, for example, couldn’t take place anywhere except in New Mexico.
With Kokopelli’s Song’s connection to Hopi culture and lore, you must have had to do some research. How do you research your settings? And how much time do you spend researching?
I research my settings by going to the place multiple times. In between trips, I read books, articles, and internet sites about the location and its people. Then, as I write, I generate more questions and read more. Sometimes I interview people who are experts. For example, I interviewed a park ranger from Jerome State Historic Park for The Silver Lode (one of the Jerome stories).
How interesting that you visit the locations you use for setting. I bet you grow to love some of those places dearly. Did you have a favorite setting to write in Kokopelli’s Song?
Because I visited all the places I wrote about in Kokopelli’s Song, I enjoyed writing about all the settings. But Old Oraibi was my favorite. This ancient village is closed to outsiders, and I was very fortunate to go there. Three or four years before I had the idea for Kokopelli’s Song, I visited the Hopi Reservation with a guide who had led many tours on the Hopi mesas and had made several Hopi friends. Because he was considered a friend rather than a tourist, he was allowed to go into Old Oraibi. When he found out I was a writer, he took me to the village so I could see it firsthand. But I wasn’t allowed to take any photographs. So when I realized the best place for Kaya’s grandfather to live was Old Oraibi, I worked from my memory and a few historical black-and-white photographs I found on the internet. I especially enjoyed writing the scene where Diego and Amy/Kaya sit on the mesa’s edge and watch the hawk. I didn’t do that in Old Oraibi because I couldn’t get out of the car, but I did watch a hawk from another mesa. I’ll never forget the feeling of space stretched out below my feet.
Now that we’ve seen how location inspires your stories, where do you like to write?
I like to write in three different places. I sit on the floor or in my recliner when I begin a story. I draw mind maps, make a three-act outline, and dictate quick ideas into my cellphone. For drafting chapters, I like sitting on the screened-in porch with my laptop at a round glass-topped table. But when I’m ready to turn my rough chapters into a complete draft for my writing partners to read, I sit at my desktop computer. I suppose the closer I get to sharing my writing, the more formal the place I like to write becomes.
It sounds like you’ve had some truly unforgettable experiences. Just for fun, what is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
The most adventurous thing I’ve done was to hike on the island of Saipan to see the Marianas Trench by myself. I wasn’t truly alone, but in our group of nine, I was the only American, the only woman, and the oldest person (I was in my mid-fifties). The rest of the group consisted of two Filipino guides in their twenties and six Japanese businessmen in their thirties and early forties. We got in a van at the tour office and headed for the ocean. Because the businessmen were the largest group, the guides explained everything in Japanese. Occasionally, one of them remembered I was along and gave me a summary in English.
After we drove for a half-hour, the van pulled off the side of the road, and we all got out. But instead of the shore I expected, I saw a thick jungle. We hiked for about a mile on a narrow path, finally coming to a trail at the top of a vine-covered cliff. An experienced hiker, I’d never seen a trail so steep except at the Grand Canyon. Feeling every one of my years, I told the guides I’d wait for them at the top. Unfortunately, they weren’t allowed to leave me alone because of liability issues, so I finally agreed to go down. But instead of trying to walk, I sat down and slid! At the bottom, I found a piece of shore, narrow and quite rocky like I was expecting. But I did get a glimpse of the Marianas Trench, the deepest place on the planet. (If Mt. Everest were put in the Marianas Trench, the top of the peak would be a mile underwater.) I heard the boom of the waves hitting the side of the island and watched sea creatures caught in a tide pool. All I’ll say about getting back up that trail is that the Japanese businessmen waited forty-five minutes for me. But they were good-natured about it, smiling and breaking into applause when I finally climbed onto the van.
Suzanne, before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with young writers?
My advice to young writers is to read, read, and read some more. Read the classics, bestsellers, mysteries, romances, thrillers, fiction, and nonfiction. Read to find stories you like, stories you don’t like, and stories you don’t know what to make of. Read for facts about topics you’re interested in, topics that bore you, and topics you never knew existed. Then, when you’re not reading, watch people and listen to them. Watch and listen to people you like, people you don’t like, and people that surprise you. Between reading and watching, make up stories—some in your head, some to tell little kids, a few to write down. Then, when you’re not doing anything else, dream. You never really know where that next idea is going to come from. It might just come from the sound of a flute, a memory of a petroglyph, and a book on archaeology.
Suzanne, it’s always a pleasure talking with you. We’re looking forward to the release of the next book in the Four Corners Folklore Fantasies, Tommyknocker’s Gold!