Knowing the history helps the story by Paty Jager

I’ve been interested in history, specifically the Pacific Northwest where I grew up and continue to live. If you’ve read my books, you know I like to write about this area and its history. I hope that with each book I write I sneak in a fact or two about either how people lived ( if it’s historical) or about a place or culture. I don’t pull things out of the air and put them in my books.

Well, okay, there is a lot of fiction in my fiction, but, I don’t make up cultures and tribes. I had one person leave a review saying I didn’t know what I was talking about, there wasn’t a tribe called the Cayuse.

I stared and stared at that review. All they had to do was google or look it up in an encyclopedia. Granted now there are no true pure blood Cayuse tribal members. But they were a tribe who lived in SE Washington and NE Oregon. I have a book titled: The Cayuse Indians; Imperial Tribesmen of Old Oregon by Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown.

They were a small and insular group. That was one of the things that caused their language to nearly become extinct. They spoke it only among themselves. They didn’t use it publicly. They were a unique tribe who only spoke their language and remained together in their territory. The area they claimed as their home held all they needed to sustain them. They were nomadic traveling from the Blue Mountains to the foot of Mt. Hood and north to the plains of SE Washington, staying within the boundaries of the heads of the Grande Ronde, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Rivers and the Deschutes River in Oregon and Washington

But because they remained close, when a disease hit, it would wipe out whole families and villages. With this happening they had to allow men and women to marry outside of the tribe. With their marrying into the neighboring Nez Perce and Walla Walla tribes, they slowly began to speak those languages. The Cayuse language slowly died each time an elder passed.

Their neighbor tribes were the Walla Walla and the Nez Perce. These tribes were all well known for their horse breeding and horsemanship. In the 1840s, the European settlers following the Oregon trail arrived in their territory. While they were curious and allowed Walt Whitman to establish a mission in their territory, when the white people brought measles which killed many of the Cayuse, they retaliated by killing and kidnapping settlers. This only brought the soldiers and more trouble which landed them on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation with members of the Walla Walla and the Umatilla tribes.

It is believed there is no longer a 100% Cayuse tribal member, but they are a rare and strong group of individuals that have grown and become prosperous on the Umatilla Reservation. I have been subscribed to the CUJ- Confederated Umatilla Journal- the newspaper printed on the reservation for several years. I enjoy reading about the business and social happenings along with the school information. They have a wonderful cultural center that I have visited multiple times.

My main character in the Gabriel Hawke Novels, is from this reservation and his mother still lives there. My 50th published book, Stolen Butterfly, book 7 in the Gabreil Hawke Novels is set on the reservation. It was written to bring more noticed to the MMIW organization. (You are the first to see this cover)

And now this reservation is the location of my new Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries. There is an Indian Casino on the reservation but I made up my own casino so I can have murders and events happen there that wouldn’t actually happen at the real casino. And I didn’t have to adhere to how one is run. 😉

This is my rebuttal to the reviewer who said, there isn’t a tribe called Cayuse. Google it!

I wanted to let you know that in May my 50^th book will be published or at least on pre-order. Because of that, I’m having a 50Book Bash! all month long on Facebook. Here’s the link if you want to sign up to say you're coming and get a reminder of the event. It will be a month of fun and chances to win prizes. I’m giving away prizes every day to people who comment.

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 50 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Books a Plenty Book Reviews has to say about the Gabriel Hawke series: "The blend of nature tracking, clues, and the animals makes for a fascinating mystery that is hard to put down." 

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The excitement of starting a new series by Paty Jager

Having always had a creative mind, I'm not sure if everyone gets excited when they come up with something that they think will be fun and challenging to make or do. However, I swear, little skyrockets go off in my head when I get excited about a project. 

That's the way it was when I wrote a short story for an anthology contest (it didn't get picked) and after I'd formulated my main character, I knew she would have to have her own series. The skyrockets went off and I started writing down everything I knew about her and what I didn't know. Where she would live and work. How she looked, her temperament, what made her the way she is.  

And before I knew it, I had secondary characters popping into my head. I saw where she worked. That was fun spending half a day sketching the Indian owned casino where she works. I made it fictional, but in a setting where there is an Indian Casino and Reservation. I'm using the real reservation. I hope I can make this book as authentic as possible without offending anyone. 

There is that downside, but I feel confident this series will be as well liked and hopefully bring more of the Native American culture to people who don't really understand it. Just with talking to one woman who has been helping me with a Gabriel Hawke novel which introduces my new character, I have learned a few things that are stereotypes and hope to enlighten more non-Natives while entertaining them with a good mystery.

Starting a new series comes with lots of fun things to consider. I've named the series The Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries. My cover designer and I have been working on a logo for the series and how I want the covers to look like. Since the series is about a casino I've decided the titles will have gambling titles.  I've already figured out the first three books- titles and premise for the stories. The titles are: Poker Face, House Edge, Double-down.  

Let's see, I have my character, some of the secondary characters, the setting, the vibe, the series title, book titles, oh! Since in my other mysteries the main characters have pets, I decided the other day that in the first book, my character will find an injured dog, and it will have to have a leg amputated. Because my character is an amputee, she decides to adopt the dog. I've been going through dog breeds and trying to decide what breeds her mutt might be mixed with. I haven't decided what size yet. I tend to like large dogs, but at the same time, I could see her relaxing with a small fluffy dog on her lap. But she's an outdoors kind of gal, so she would need a dog that would go on hikes and jog with her. So who knows, maybe down the road she'll adopt a lapdog or a cat. 

As a reader have you every wondered how an author comes up with new books or series? As an author, do you do this much before hand information or do you just come up with a character or a story and go for it? 

The first book in The Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries will be out in June. In May, my character Dela Alvaro will be in the Gabriel Hawke Novel, Stolen Butterfly. 

  

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 49 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Books a Plenty Book Reviews has to say about the Gabriel Hawke series: "The blend of nature tracking, clues, and the animals makes for a fascinating mystery that is hard to put down."

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest   / Bookbub