Young Writers Society

One thing I've been having trouble with, is where my characters live/come from. The one character that needs a home town right now, is a First Nation person. I just thought Canada would be too cliché. I also live in Canada myself, so I thought that would also be a bit cliché. I thought of America, but let's face it; everyone thinks of America! I don't want to use the good old fall back, I want something new but believable.

My character will not be in his home country, however. It's just his home, so to speak.

So yeah... I can never think of a good place for my stories to take place, or anything like that. I'm finding it a real problem now that I've been writing stories based on earth, and not some fantastical world, or land. It's such a pain!

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Hmm, Canada actually seems very uncliche to me since errv'one is from 'Murica in books. I know what you mean though since you live there. One time I tried naming a character after myself once, but it did not feel right, so I get what you mean.

It seems you would like an English speaking first world country? I would try maybe The UK or Ireland.

And Canada is DEFINITELY a third world country, as my brother would argue, since it is comprised of evil hockey players that will all die once the US launches its nukes pointed towards it. My brother has this thing about Canadians. He's a real stinker.

It's not cliched unless you make it a big deal! Picking Canada doesn't sound cliche too me, but neither does America! I usually stick with places I'm familiar with, so I don't have to research the region or anything. For instance, most of my stories take place somewhere in Appalachia. Because that's what I know, so it requires no research at all. You can do that as well. Really though, just pick where you want.

I think this is one of those instances where I would tell you to just write what you know. It's easier and it comes more natural to you. Of course, it would depend on what kind of story and setting you have, but seeing as you just need a character from a first world country, then why not?

And I actually don't view a characters nationality or country as a clichè. A majority of the books that get popular out there have an American protagonist, but I have never viewed it as a clichè. It's just how it works, sort of.

There are some nationality clichès I can think of though. Like how a lot of British characters are antagonists in stories. Because they lost the revolutionary war. And as we all know; history is written by the victors.

Don't overthink your characters, just create some enjoyable ones.

Thanks guys! I actually feel a lot better.

"First Nations" gives you away— that's a Canadian term! There is a massive language difference between how Aboriginal people are called between Canada and the United States; in Canada, the terms are First Nations, Metis and Inuit, while in the United States, NDN or Indian are used more often than not (Also, different words towards aboriginal people are different slurs. In Canada, "Indian" and "Eskimo" are slurs, while in the US, they aren't).

I really hope you give this character a good amount of history, including a nation, culture, and identity (along with the relationship to that identity). Some things you might want to know about Canadian First Nations:

- The last residential school was actually closed 1996, instead of the 60s like most official sources say; that means three generations of residential school survivors (people born in the 80s could've gone)
- If the story's modern, you might want to include their relation to Idle No More
- Ditto with their relationship to the Assembly of First Nations
- Has the nation been displaced?
- Did they sign a treaty with the government, or not?
- Is the language dead? (this is actually a huge thing for identity)
- How international is the people? (For example, the James Bay Cree are particularly internationally known)
- Did the character live on a reserve? Run away from home? Foster care? Off reserve?
- Status or no? (Ie- registered with the government)
- Racism is still alive and well, especially in people who grew up in the 50s and 60s

If you want other potential countries, check out this list. It looks a lot longer than it is because it's broken up by people, not countries. So you'll get a lot of multiple peoples in any given country. But there are indigenous populations around the world, so you're by far not limited to Canada and the States.

Thanks @Rosey%20Unicorn! ( Honestly, I couldn't figure out how to spell Aboriginal )

It is in modern day - but maybe even the future - so he's pretty young. He's about 23.
I wanted to stray away from too much culture and stuff. Not completely, but I don't want it to be a huge part of his life/character.
Partly because I've known a few First Nations People, and they weren't all that into culture...

Let me rephrase that: I don't want to have my characters sitting around the bonfire in head dresses, telling their history to the youngsters...
'Cause, well, that's a stereotype.

But I understand what you're saying about culture. Yes, I'm going to season him.

'Eskimo' and 'Indian' are not politically correct terms... Which is why we Canadians don't use them. Actually, we do use them, but you're right; it's a slur.

Being in Canada, I think we often have to be careful where we step when it comes to the Aboriginals. The residential schools and all we did to the First Nations People, really burns. And it sucks that we were such idiots.

Anyway, all I'm trying to say is I especially want to stay away from anything that resembles a stereotype, because of the crap Canadians did, and are still doing.

Thanks again for all the advice!

Different words have different packs of cultural baggage, which makes finding the slurs in different countries fun.

The thing about Native American identity is there are so many shades. Sometimes, you're ashamed of it, and other times you live and breathe the culture and religion. You can feel most alive in your home territory, and while you can appear to not be that tied to it, internally, you really are.

A lot of it depends on whether or not you discover/rediscover your identity, were raised in an area where it was something to be proud of, or were raised in an area it was something to be ashamed of. That really impacts your relationship to the idea you are First Nations. Any sort of discovery and being raised in it as a point of pride obviously have the strongest ties, because the former has you actively searching for who you are and the latter is a positive part of your identity.

There's also how much of the culture is left in the first place. Some tribes had their culture all but destroyed, while others have almost all if not all preserved. It can lead to some interesting practices done. There's also cultures blending together as Native peoples have more contact and adopt practices (the pow-wow, for example, was a Prairie thing before it spread across the country).

A note on headdresses: these are war honour items. So unless the man has gone to war, he wouldn't be wearing one.