Fantasy and World Building

This past weekend, I gave a presentation on fantasy and world building at the Nebraska Writers Guild Fall Conference. This is my power point and as much of my random babblings about the topic that I can remember.

As much as I hate using Wikipedia, I found a fantastic line “[fantasy] differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature

Fantasy is one of the oldest, if not oldest genre of storytelling (Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Oddessy, creation myths, etc) although modern fantasy was born after the horrors of WWII. Tolkien and Lewis are attributed with really getting the genre going. Summary: Fantasy is a genre where the plot could not happen in real life.

Magic- elemental, herbs, incantations, crystals, magical objects, internal power
Special powers- mind reading, seeing the future, communicating with animals. Also found in superhero stories but different origins- mutated genes, radioactive spider bite, serum, etc. Fantasy- comes from family, spells, curses, etc.
Supernatural elements- Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, etc. also found in paranormal fiction (sub-genre under Horror). Lines between paranormal and fantasy started blurring about 20 years ago and lots of elements are crossing over.
Creatures- elves, dwarves, mer-people, centaurs, basilisks
Made up setting- can be in a made out town like Hogsmead which is in Scotland from Harry Potter or you can create a whole world like Middle Earth
Not all these elements are required for a story to be considered Fantasy, except magic. It is the element that ties the genre together.

 How many fantasy sub-genres are there? Over 50. It is a constantly changing genre- sub-genres are combining and new ones are being created. Many are very similar with very minute differences.

These are the major fantasy sub-genres, you can see some of them are combined. On the right are examples of each of the sub-genre. Tolkien is considered the father of High Fantasy while Robert E. Howard is considered the founder of sword and sorcery Fantasy with his Conan the Barbarian series.
Many books can be under multiple sub-genres, ex. Outlander- Historical/Portal (Portal is where the protagonist gets transported to a different world/time ex. Chronicles of Narnia, 10th Kingdom), also time travel romance which is a much-fought-over sub-genre because time travel is traditionally in Sci-Fi while romance also claims it; all over the place.
Harry Potter is low (fantasy that takes place in the real world, similar to urban fantasy) and young adult. Daughter of the Forest- high fantasy romance/fairy tale retelling (fairy tell is The Six Swans).

In fantasy, the writer is the master of the universe which is liberating and very daunting. Nobody can fact-check you because you created it, but you also have to make sure you explain everything well enough that the reader understands your story. Ex. If Nicholas Sparks says the protagonist walks into a high school basketball game, everybody knows what that looks, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels like. When Rowling introduced Quidditch, we didn't even know how to pronounce it. She had to go the extra mile to clearly explain how it was played, what it looked like, and what it felt like to play.
Our world sucks sometimes, reading and writing fantasy is a great way to escape that because the problems that occur in fantasy are different from our own.

Good vs. Evil is a very common theme across the entire fantasy genre which I think is amazing because you're taking one of the most human struggles and applying it to fantastical creatures and places.

Extra words! A standard fiction novel is usually between 80,000-100,000 words. You get extra words when you have to create worlds. :)
You will rarely find a stand-alone fantasy novel. Usually in trilogies but the series can go on forever. Outlander has approximately 87 books while Diskworld has around 192 (slight exaggerations may happen).
Don't get so caught up in the fantasy elements that you abandon the elements of good storytelling: plot, conflict, well-rounded realistic characters, and character development.
Nebula awards are give every year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for excellence in sci-fi and fantasy, different categories: novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, etc. I want one.

World building is creating the setting where your fantasy story takes place. In urban/low fantasy you have to figure out how to twine your fantasy world into the real world or you could go full Tolkien and create a whole world.

I have read a wide range of fantasy but I have, by no means, read the entire range of fantasy (50+ sub-genres, remember), but in my opinion, these are the best world buildings in the genre.
C.S. Lewis- Narnia
J.R.R. Tolkien- Middle Earth
J.K. Rowling- Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts
George R.R. Martin- Westeros
Terry Pratchett- Diskworld

 I'm a writer, not an artist. Please don't make fun of my map. I know it's terrible.
Geography- mountains, rivers, jungle, grasslands, tundra, etc. and corresponding climates.
Creatures:
Intelligent- elves, dwarves, humans, centaurs, etc. (have language, culture, civilization)
Unintelligent- horses, dogs, cats, unicorns, etc.
Line crossers- horse that can talk from The Horse and his Boy (Lewis)
Culture- etiquette & taboos, courtship rituals, economy (important because it helps dictate how your world looks, poor economy-mud huts, good economy-marble palaces), medicine (herbs, man-made, magic), clothing, food
Religion- involved gods (Percy Jackson, anything by David & Leigh Eddings) or uninvolved gods
Language- do all the species have their own or is there a common language that everybody uses
Cause & Effect- what happened in the world to make all hell break lose (where your book is)

Or need to (protagonist sneaking through the sewers to get to the castle/ traveling to find a magic thing on roads or wandering through the wilderness)

Do:
Make it as real as possible- this will make it more relateable to your reader and they will be engaged more. Usually, focus on making the characters realistic.
Usable- make sure your characters can function within the world, if it's too hard or too easy, it won't be interesting for the reader.
Don't:
Drown them in details- no info dumping at the beginning. Dole out details as the reader needs them to understand the story. Don't give them more details than they need.
Forget your own rules- will throw off the reader if the rules change in the middle of the book.
worldbuildingmonthly.com is a great website to go to if you need help with world building.

This is what the people in my presentation came up for the preliminary steps of world building. I thought it was fantastic and a good start to a very interesting world.

Editing Loop... of DEATH

Dun, dun, dunnnnnn.

I’m currently stuck in an editing loop (if that’s not an actual term, it is now, I claim it!).

For those of you who are not in my brain, an editing loop is the act of constantly editing the unfinished work that you’re writing instead of writing more.

I’ve been stuck in this current loop with the novel that I’m working on for about 2 years, the problem is, I just realized it this morning.

My justification this whole time has been “it’s been so long since I’ve worked on this, if I go back and read through what I’ve already written, it’ll put me in the right frame of mind to keep writing” but generally after an hour or two of editing, I get distracted or call it a day before I get any actual writing done.

This is your brain on Editing Loop...
Or at least this is what my brain does.

Happened to me just yesterday. I was going through a paper copy of my urban fantasy/twisted fairy tale that I had done edits on in pen and transferring those edits to my digital copy. I actually managed to get some things done between Facebook creeping, posting on Instagram (Toothless now has his own account: toothless_ski if you want to follow him. I have an account but it’s nothing great. Planning on doing an author one soon because all the amazing book stuff floating around needs to be shared), and Facetiming with my mom, complete with a guilt trip from my dad about still not having said book finished yet. Soon after I hung up with my parents, I realized I was hungry, got up from my computer to make supper, then got sucked into Criminal Minds on Netflix.

So much for getting some actual writing done.

It can't be all bad, right? I mean, I'm still doing author stuff and editing is a necessary evil of the writing world, so I'm actually being proactive.

Right?

While constant editing is not totally bad, it's not great either. Over-edited work is just as bad as under-edited work. It loses it's character and voice; it becomes stilted and clinical. It turns into what that particular genre is "supposed" to look like instead of that glorious piece of art that is part of the author's soul (I'm not writing so my creativity has to escape somehow, if you think this is bad, be glad you're not my coworkers, they put up with this for 40 hours a week).

If you're writing non-fiction, primarily a textbook, being clinical is not a bad thing. It's actually what you're going for so edit away! If you're writing fiction with a fiery, redheaded main character, it is.

So how do you escape the editing loop of death?

WRITE!

How do I escape the editing loop of death?

I'll let you know when I get out.

Support your Local Library

This post started out as an ode to the library, but due to recent events, it has turned into a completely different creature.

Recently, Forbes published an article by economist Panos Mourdoukoutas with the title "Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money."

I'm not going to lie, my head about exploded.

Screenshot of the (inactive) article link from my Facebook page.

I didn't believe it at first. I thought it was one of those satirical pieces that people write that expound on the virtues of the thing they are "against."

I was wrong.

In it, Mourdoukoutas claimed that libraries no longer serve the community like they used to, basically, they cost more than they are worth. He said that people can just as easily go to Starbucks for their wifi and human contact, use Netflix and other streaming services for their movies, and go straight to Amazon for their books. Mourdoukoutas also said that physical books are a thing of the past and there is no need for libraries' borrowing services since everybody just downloads e-books.

He is wrong for a few reasons:

1) Physical book sales are steady and are actually up from a few years ago when e-books first became popular.

2) You have to buy something from Starbucks to hang out there (it's rude otherwise and you might get the cops called on you).

3) Streaming services cost money as does getting books from Amazon.

What Mr. Mourdoukoutas fails to realize is, that libraries offer more than just books, movies, and wifi (all for free, I might add, which is very beneficial to low-income families, poor college students, and anybody living paycheck-to-paycheck). They offer classes on taxes, computers, languages, writing, crafts, music, and the list goes on; summer reading programs to encourage literacy in all ages, author readings/signings, local art/historical artifact exhibits, musicians, book clubs, stuffed animal slumber parties, pub quizzes, historical documents, genealogy services, and are usually staffed by some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

The article has since been removed from Forbes' site because of the backlash they received and they have issued a statement saying,

Forbes advocates spirited dialogue on a range of topics, including those that often take a contrarian view. Libraries play an important role in our society. This article was outside of this contributor's specific area of expertise, and has since been removed.(Quartz, downloaded 7/24/2018)

While I am happy Forbes removed the article and ecstatic that so many people jumped to the defense of libraries, what does this mean for our society? That a influential magazine like Forbes would publish something claiming that something as important as libraries mean nothing in our modern communities, op-ed piece or not.

As a taxpayer, I am 100% okay with that tiny percent of my taxes going to libraries. If I can help keep the doors open and the lights on so that single-income parent with a family of bookworms can check out the entire Berenstain Bear collection or new additions to the community can take ESL classes, I am more than happy to do it.

Why are we a society obsessed with things that will make money? Encouraging kids to get into STEM subjects is fantastic, but don't shame the kids who would rather dance, sing, write, read, draw, etc. because those things won't make them money.

Just because things "don't make money" doesn't mean they are without value.

I snagged this off of author and fellow Nebraska Writers Guild member,
Sarah Buhrman's Facebook page. It's been floating around the internet
for a few days. Thank you Denise Ivanoff for putting it into words.

First, they came after our national parks. Next they came after our arts and humanities. They try to come after our libraries again and there will be hell to pay.

#HufflepuffsUnite #RavenclawsCanComeToo

Be a Cheerleader, Pompoms optional

You want to be the next J.K. Rowling? Awesome, sign me up to be a beta reader when you finish your novel.

You want to be the next Stephen Spielberg? Spectacular, can I be an extra? I'll bring Reese's Pieces to share.

You want to be the next Julia Child? Amazing, let me know if you need to borrow any kitchen stuff or need a taste-tester.

You want to be the next John Wayne Gacy? Cool, you stay right there while I go call the police and get my self-defense machete, but when you start painting clown pictures in prison, let me know. They make lovely gifts.

Growing up, I never really was told that I couldn't be what I wanted to be. My parents taught me to be realistic with my goals but to also go for what I wanted. They gave me the right amount of encouragement that kept me reaching for my dreams but kept me grounded.

That's what I try to give whenever somebody shares their goals with me (especially if it's in the arts because that's where my heart is). If they tell me they want to go back to grad school to get their masters after being out of school for 10 years, I am going to cheer, encourage, offer study help, and anything else I can, including being ridiculously excited and proud.

Or if they say they're about to give up on their book because they've been working on it for five years and it isn't going anywhere.

Oofta.

You want to see some beat-you-over-the-head encouragement? Tell me you're going to give up writing because it's too hard/somebody said your writing is terrible/*insert stupid reason here*, because I will encourage the shit out of you.

This is my level 5 crazy face.

Do you know why?

Because you deserve it.

I have a few special cheerleaders in my life. They know and understand that I can easily get caught up in pipe dreams and instead of crushing them, they calmly bring me back to reality with questions about how exactly would I go about dropping everything to move to Brazil to own a llama ranch when I don't speak Portuguese, nor do I know the first thing about llamas. But they are champs with my more realistic dreams like becoming an author, moving to Lincoln, adopting a cat, and living up to my Worlds #1 Aunt tee shirt.

A few years ago one of my best friend's daughter's teachers told her that her daughter wasn't very creative and that they should work on that at home. My friend was floored because her daughter was one of the most creative kids she had ever known. She loved coloring, crafts, making up stories, and decorating their living room. I remember my jaw hitting the ground when my friend told me this because she was always bringing me pictures her daughter had colored for me. I still have them and one is on my fridge right now.

With less encouraging parents, that teacher's one comment could have stifled that little girl's creativity and artistic dreams for the rest of her life. But my friend did something awesome. She blew off the teacher's opinion and kept doing what she was doing. When a paint your own pottery place came to town, my friend took her daughter. They now go once a month to do all the projects that the place offers and her daughter's skills are growing by leaps and bounds.

I guess the point of this whole thing is encourage, don't discourage.

How do you keep writing after a huge life change?

That's the question I've been asking myself for about as long as it takes for a baby to cook (nine months gestation, guys. I'm not actually cooking babies. If you think lobster screams are bad when you drop them into boiling water... kidding).

Be it marriage, kids, or, like in my case, a new job and the subsequent life upheaval that came with (my last day at my old job was six months ago today), how do you keep writing?

I went from a town where I had a solid friend base, a full time job I hated, and a part-time "job" that I couldn't spend enough time at. Now, I have a job I like, in a city with a ton of things to do where I know approximately 6 non-work people and regularly see two of them.

Writing was my escape. It was the happy place that counteracted the 40 hours a week that drained me. It gave me the control that "superior customer service" robbed me of. I've had the thought more than once that maybe I can't write anymore because I'm not miserable. Such a cliché artist thing to think but some of the greatest artists were the most haunted people. Not that I'm putting myself on the same level as Dickinson or van Gogh or anything.

I keep trying to tell myself that it's simple paranoia and panic. One of these days, I'll start believing it, for no other reason than the fact that my liver could never hold up to Hemingway's "cure-all".

But seriously, now that I am in a good place mentally and emotionally, how does writing fit in?

Honestly? I'm trying to figure out the answer to that and I may have found a small piece of it.

This past weekend, I road-tripped to Denver with my best friend to see Hamilton (it's amazing, drop everything and see it right meow) with my sister and brother-in-law. Denver has always been a bustling city but it has grown exponentially since the last time I spent more than a few hours there, which, interestingly enough, was pre-marijuana legalization.

I was terrified about driving in the city and all the tru-crime podcasts I've been listening to have made me hyper-aware and slightly (depending on who you talk to) more paranoid. All these things considered, we all survived, nobody got more hurt than when they arrived (Walt, I'm looking at you), and we got to see some pretty amazing things: from the natural beauty of the Rockies, to incredible art at the Denver Art Museum, and of course, Hamilton.

I'm not obsessed. You're obsessed.

Monday at work, I was struck with the strongest desire to write. I don't know if it was the dreary weather, the ghost stories on a podcast, or something else, but I just needed to work on a story that I had started last summer from a writing prompt for writers group. (The prompt was "take a folk belief and write a story where it is true" if you wanted to know.) I wrote more on Monday (including majority of this post) than I have since NaNoWriMo, if not before.

So what was different about Monday?

We've had more cloudy, dreary days than I can count and creepy shit on a true crimp podcast is nothing new. The only thing I can think is, this people-en-mass hating, run-away-and-hide introvert needs to get out among people more.

*car crash, screams, sirens, and somewhere in the distance, a baby cries*

It was a terrifying realization and one that shouldn't be surprising to anybody, especially me. I love people watching and people studying. I label myself an amateur anthropologist because I love learning about people and cultures. I am a very character-driven writer and need the fodder that being around people provides.

Meanwhile, I was trying to write with the lowest level of human interaction I've probably had since I was in diapers.

So, what does this realization mean? That I will be fully immersing myself into society for my craft?

Ah... no.

Because I still hate being around lots of people, but, now that I know part of the problem, maybe I will sojourn out of my apartment more to recharge the creative batteries.

More importantly, what does this mean to you?

Probably nothing, because no matter what all the writer help books and articles (and blogs) say about defeating writer's block and finding your muse (which you shouldn't be hunting anyway because they follow the writing, not the other way around), it all really is person- specific. What works for me might be detrimental to you.

All I'll say is, figure out what makes you tick as a writer and try to make it happen as much as necessary. Whether it's taking trips to exotic places, reading every book at your local library, or forcing yourself to leave the safety of your apartment and the painless judgement of your cat to sit at the mall and creepily watch people for a few hours, do it as much as you are able.

As for sitting alone at the mall with a notebook and a pen, a shirt that says "I'm a writer, not a creeper" couldn't hurt, right?

From Zazzle.

2017: A Year in Review AKA Better Late than Never

That was kind of a crazy year wasn't it? A lot of stuff happened, some good, a lot bad.

Lots of famous people died.

Even more non-famous people died.

Donald "You're Fired" Trump took office as president of the United States.

Rompers for men.

Brexit.

Irma, Harvey, and Maria.

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris split.

Still crying about that last one.

Millions of dollars in donations flooded (probably a poor choice of words) in for the victims of Irma, Harvey, and Maria in one of the largest outpouring of support I have ever seen.

Disney and Amazon now own approx. 106% of all the things.

Leia Organa is officially a Disney Princess, so is Ironman.

We lost both Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.

More broken up about that one than all the others.

All of this and more happened last year for us as a whole but 2017 was pretty groundbreaking in my own life.

The first half of the year is pretty hazy, probably erased by everything that happened after. In June, I decided to move out of Kearney, NE where I had lived for about 8 1/2 years and chose Lincoln, NE as my new home. I gave myself until the end of September to find a new job and apartment. It was one of the most nerve wracking things I've ever done, but I managed to pull it off and I feel like I earned the "I Adulted" first place trophy. I have a tiny apartment that suits Toothless and I just fine and I have a job that I actually enjoy where I don't talk to people for most of the day. It's fantastic!

It was also probably my most successful year as a writer. In September my short story "The Vaults" was selected to be included in Below the Stairs: Tales from the Cellar, a horror anthology produced by Oz Horror Con, I released my sixth e-book, Shenanigans & Jello Shots, and an excerpt from my work-in-progress, The Whiskey Widow, was selected to be included in the Nebraska Writers Guild's first members-only anthology, Voices from the Plains.

Find it on Amazon.

Find it on Amazon.

Find it on Amazon.

Oh and my best friend and I nearly completed the Nebraska Wine Tour, I had a sister get married, and another give birth to another absolutely adorable little boy.

Just a little busy.

I also attempted my own challenge of only reading books by Nebraska authors, Operation: Nebraska Author. I didn't do as well as I wanted but I don't think I did too bad either.

Operation: Nebraska Author Books:
Blissfully Married by Vicotrine E. Lieske
In Cold Storage: Sex and Murder on the Plains by James W. Hewitt
*All the Gallant Men by Donald Stratton and Ken Gire
Sky Rider, the Story of Evelyn Sharp, WWII WASP by Dr. Jean A. Lukesh
*Steam on the Horizon by Melissa Ann Conroy
The Meaning of Names by Karen Gettert Shoemaker
*The Reluctant Canary Sings by Faith A. Colburn
The Marrying Type by Laura Chapman
The Clearwater House by Tammy Marshall
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Ogalala Sioux by Nicholas Black Elk and John Neihardt
(* indicates my three favorite books of the year, in no particular order)

I had so much fun with this project. I read a lot of books outside of my normal genres and I really got to see the amazing talent we have here in the Cornhusker state. My stack of books by local writers more than doubled in 2017 so I've decided to extend my project into Operation: Nebraska Author 2018. I gave up TV and Netflix for Lent so we'll have to see how many books I can plow through in the next 40 days.

I think 2017 was the perfect shitstorm of good and bad that allowed me to grow as a person and get me ready for whatever life will throw me next. I don't know if we, as a society, will recover as quickly or as well as I did (hello Tide Pod challenge), but I do know there are millions of people like me who decided that they were going to stand up from the mess stronger than before instead of burrowing deeper into it. I just hope their voices rise to be heard over the moaning of those who chose to stay down.

2018, don't let me down.

Operation: Nebraska Author- Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Ogalala Sioux

Today, I finally finished my last book for Operation: Nebraska Author and 2017. I know we're a week into 2018, but I started the book three weeks ago so I'm counting it.

My final book of 2017 was Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux by Nicholas Black Elk and John G. Neihardt.

I first heard about Black Elk Speaks at the 2016 Celebration of Nebraska Books that was put on by the Nebraska Center for the Book. It was chosen to be the 2017 One Book One Nebraska.

"The One Book One Nebraska reading program is entering its thirteenth year. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss one book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting." (onebook.nebraska.gov)

Black Elk was born in 1863 in the Ogalala band of the Lakota Sioux. He was born into the time when the Wasichu (white people) were spreading across the Great Plains, depleting the buffalo herds and, mile by mile, taking the land the Plains Indians had occupied for centuries. When he was six years old, he was taken by a sickness that swelled his limbs and face and brought a great fever. During this fever, he had a vision where he was taken to the center of the world, which was in the holy Black Hills, and shown and taught many things from the spirits. He was to become a very important man to his people. When he finally woke from the fever, it had been days and his parents feared that he was dead, but he miraculously recovered in very little time.

Black Elk remembered the vision when he woke, but he was scared. He didn't know what it meant and didn't know if he was the right person to complete the tasks laid out for him. He waited many years before finally telling a medicine man about his vision, and only told because he could feel that the time was coming that the spirits had warned him about. The medicine man worked with Black Elk to make his vision come to life so they all could see it and from this, came the Horse Dance.

Black Elk's childhood was spent moving around the upper Plains, which was not unusual for the nomadic tribes, but the time had come where they were not just following the bison herds, they were also dealing with the encroaching tide of Wasichu and the US government. When gold was discovered in the Black Hills and yet another treaty was broken by Wasichu, the Lakota found themselves losing the battle for their lands, their freedom, and their way of life.

"I guess they got enough to drink, for they are drinking yet.
We killed them in the water."
-Iron Hawk, "The Rubbing Out of Long Hair"
Haunting.

Black Elk was just a boy when he took part in the Rubbing out of Long Hair (Custer's Last Stand/The Battle of the Little Big Horn) but he was quickly learning the hardships that were sweeping through the tribes. He was a cousin of Crazy Horse and was with him shortly before he was killed at Fort Robinson, NE.

Black Elk was seventeen when the weight of his boyhood vision became too much and this is when his parents asked Black Road, a medicine man, to help Black Elk. The Horse Dance was the first thing he gave to his people but it was just the beginning of his life as a holy man. He had a vision that led him to a flower that cured all who were ill and he began curing any who would come to him, but he did not feel that he was doing enough for his people.

When Black Elk was twenty-three, he decided to join Buffalo Bill Cody's troupe and visit the place where the Wasichu were from, Europe. By this time, the Lakota's culture was rapidly being stamped out by the influx of Wasichu, hunger due to the diminished bison herd, and because many of the bands were giving up the fight. Black Elk thought that if he visited Europe, he could discover a secret that would end the Wasichu hold over the Lakota and return prosperity to his people.

Black Elk spent many months in London and then a few more in Manchester, he even met Queen Victoria who rather liked the Ogalalas in the show and they liked her in return. When it came time for Cody's troupe to leave Manchester, Black Elk and a few other men got lost and separated from the troupe. They found two Lakota men who could speak English and the group made their way to London so they could earn money to get home. There they joined Mexican Joe's show and saw more of Europe, including Paris and Germany.

Caption: "Black Elk and Elk as they appeared when
touring Europe with Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Used with
the permission of the Smithsonian Institute, National
Anthropological Archives, 81 negative no. 72-7016."

After more than two years away, Black Elk grew more and more homesick, even having a vision of his family while visiting a girl he met with the show and her family. He was unconscious for three days during that vision and they feared for his life. Eventually, Mexican Joe's show cross paths with Cody's show and Black Elk went to visit Cody, who was excited to see him. Cody offered him a job but when Black Elk said he wanted to go home, Cody gave him money and sent him on his way.

By the time Black Elk returned to his family, the remaining nomadic bands of Lakota were in dire straights. Few bison to hunt, a hard winter, and constant broken promises by the US army lead to the loss of many people. Black Elk did what he could, but the Wasichu hold on the Plains grew with each passing day.

There were only a few bands of Lakota still free when the Massacre at Wounded Knee happened. Black Elk was not far away when the fighting started and he and other warriors raced to help. They were able to save a few, but 200-300 men, women, and children perished. Black Elk also nearly died during the fight when a bullet ripped open his stomach, but he recovered.

The Massacre at Wounded Knee signaled the end of the the resistance. The brutality of it broke the spirit of those who had withstood the force of the Wasichu and ended the era of the Plains Indians.

This was just a brief overview of the book but there are so many more great things contained within its pages that I can't express. The beauty of expression many times left me speechless, wither it was Neihardt's poetic pen or Black Elk's voice I don't know, but I do like to think it is Black Elk's for the rhythm and imagery is nearly alien to me as a native English speaker.

I now understand why Black Elk Speaks saw a surge in popularity during the 1970s when the Civil Rights Movement was changing the way we looked at our fellow man and the infancy of the Environmentalist Movement was changing the way we looked at our surroundings. The way that Black Elk and his people honored the Earth and the spirits and how their tribe wasn't just their community, it was their family, both lessons that we sorely need today.

I'll stop there before I step further over the line of political/societal commentary, I'll just say this: Black Elk Speaks was an amazing book. The imagery was beautiful at times and heartbreaking at others. It gave me more insight into a culture that I first experienced in college when I was befriended by two Rosebud Lakota women and a culture that I wish to learn more about. I strongly recommend it to anybody who is interested in American History, Native American History, Native American Mythology/culture, Civil Rights, or Environmental preservation.

What is good in this book is given back to the six grandfathers and to the great men of my people. 

-Black Elk, inscription in Black Elk Speaks