Laura Hulka: How much of the Nevada County area's actual history did you incorporate into your book?

Ken Ramirez: The actual history of Nevada County within ‘Valley of the Raven’ is more of a conceptual interpretation than an accurate historical account. The implied references within the text to environmental devastation and human ambivalence to the given situation at the time of the Gold Rush Era are historically accurate as is evidenced by laws created to bring hydraulic mining, mercury usage in reclamation processes, and clear cutting, to name a few, to a halt, long after the devastating effects of these practices occurred. The history of the area is relayed through the opinions of the characters during dialogues within the story. Even the history being taught in Ms. Fannuchi’s classroom incorporates ‘opinion’, along with factual text book references.

 

Laura: You use Lakota history and the story of the Buffalo Soldiers as a backdrop for your modern day characters. Why did you decide to use the Native American and Slave/Soldier chronicles for your story?

Ken: The story line in ‘Valley of the Raven’ is centered on environmental awareness. Shortly before I started writing the story the girls and I came upon a place in the nearby woods where someone had dumped a couch and some trash. We discussed the nature of people and how sad it was that folks could have such blatant disregard for nature. I shared with them how that when I was a kid it was a common thing to roll down the car window and drop one’s trash along the roadside, and that there was a media campaign in the late 60’s where a Native American was standing on the roadside watching people dumping garbage. There was no dialogue in the TV commercial, just a huge tear rolling down the cheek of the otherwise stoic Indian Chief’. I explained how that commercial made my generation ‘rethink’ things concerning our local ecology.

The specific subject lines were chosen because the Lakota believe that they are ‘tenders’ of the land and the Buffalo Soldiers dispatched to California had the job to ‘tend’ government land. The two characters, Maka and Clay Cooper both share a love for the creations around them while at the same time despising the brutality to both people and their immediate environments. Aside from the environmental angle, I also chose these two lines because they allowed me to entertain issues that are popular to teenage interests. Within the history of Native Americans and African Americans the teenager can examine the struggles of survival and the power of individual choice when engaged in overwhelming circumstances. These story lines play to the teenager’s fascination with the darker side of mankind while still providing a positive light; yet, they are still unfinished sagas which allow the reader to ponder the future.

 

Laura: Traditionally in the Lakota tribes, dream catchers were to be hung over the bed of children and adults – to filter their dreams and encourage their visions. In your book, you had Ty hang the dream catcher in the window. Was there a specific reason for that variation?

Ken: The dream catchers could be placed anywhere in the home, for the children it was commonly hung above the bed. I had Ty hang it in the window because he would be able to view it during the night; its dark hoop and feathers silhouetted against the moon and starlight beyond the window. I felt it made for a greater ‘mystical’ affect; he in the dark, the dream catcher in the light. It also distanced Ty from the magical device—relating to his reluctance to believe.

 

Laura: There are Seven Hills in Nevada City. Was there a significance to the use of Six Hills in your book?

Ken: The only significance in altering the Seven Hills to Six Hills was to merely create familiarity, rather than to recreate a real place. The entire story was created to time capsule my then seventh grade daughter, her friends, and her teachers, and the area in which they live. The antics of the children and the levels of conversation that they have in the story are actually spin offs of the ‘real’ characters who I have had the great fortune of interacting with over the past 16 years…in the Seven Hills of Nevada City.

 

Laura: Where did you do the research for your book?

Ken: My research was conducted via search engines, library books, experience, and personal interviews. Publish America also offers a chat line for their authors. Through the author chats I made a lot of international contacts that have been very useful.

 

Laura: How did you evolve from writing the science fiction trilogy for your daughter, Naida's Quest, to this book?

Ken: To date, all of my novels have been inspired by my children and my students. As a teacher I am inundated with one character after another, almost always bringing a smile to my face. Childhood is something that we are forcing our children through at such a frenzied pace that I can’t help but try to capture the innocence, the curiosity, the rebellion, the joy, the mischievous behaviors, and the fears of youth that I get the opportunity to witness each and every day. My characters get to be kids.
Naida’s Quest was a story created by the simple request of my eldest daughter, Kayla. She asked me to write her a story about gnomes… “…because, daddy, there just aren’t any good stories about gnomes!” I had no idea that writing a story was even within me. I didn’t story board. I never drew out a plan of any kind; I just sat down and let the story develop itself. I am one of those kinds of people that have three or four strands of thought going through my head at any given time. If I wake in the middle of the night and begin thinking—my night of sleep is over. The only activity that allows me the opportunity to not think is when I ski—until I started writing. I found that hours could slip by while I was walking through the forest with Randin, Naida, and her pet lynx, Mikki. It was a wonderful escape. I had no idea where I was going to go until I started hitting the keys. I made myself laugh and I found a vehicle to incorporate my own opinions and beliefs. I was talking to myself basically; and you can figure that teachers are pretty good at the talking business.

It is a very self-centered thing—this writing business! Since I am not a very good technical writer and I didn’t even know what a noun phrase was, I have never been under the illusion that I am creating anything of literary greatness, nor am I inclined to pursue such writing. But I did discover that I could make up a story that was both entertaining and thought provoking. I was simply having fun. So why stop? When my daughter entered Junior High School her circle of friends and their antics just kept on getting better and better with all the drama that goes on during the early teen years. The kids knew that I created characters based on my students so they were constantly begging to be put into a story. How could I resist? I took the children and the history of their surroundings, coupled with the subjects being taught in their classes, and launched on into another yarn. Again, I had no idea where I was headed as I sat down at the keyboard in the early morning hours. The only direction was to have a good time.

 

Laura: The way you weave your story to include concerns of today's teenagers, including drugs, clothing styles, language etc., is very adroitly done. Did you talk to any of your students for “research” purposes while writing this book?

Ken: No…I ‘listened’ to my students. As a science teacher and an artist I guess you could say that I am a well trained observer. Twenty five years of working with youth and I have had the opportunity to see some pretty incredible things that go on in the lives of children. Some of the things can make a man weep, both tears of joy and pain. Even the story lines of my ‘villains’ touch upon the unfortunate childhoods that some kids endure.

I think that my writing will allow adults to stop and reflect on the world of the child—or even the child within us all. I like the idea that a character’s mannerisms, dress, and behaviors, all contribute to the whole being; that the nonverbal cues are as important, if not more so, than the verbal. I enjoy creating the personality of the characters more so than even the appearance. Some people who have read the Naida’s Quest Trilogy felt that they needed more description of the character’s looks in order to really make the character tangible. I purposely pay little attention to the facial appearances so that readers can put themselves into the character; I want the reader to identify with a personality, not an appearance. When kids have read the ‘Valley of the Raven’ they often remark how they identified with one of the characters, asking me if I think that they are like the story book adventurer…of course I have to say yes. The response is usually a big smile. All kids want to succeed, to be the hero, to make the right choice—books provide that opportunity. Whether it be fiction or nonfiction, books can even provide the mindset to help kids in their individual struggles. That pen truly is mightier than the sword!

 

Laura: Are there any other insights you'd like to share with the readers of this review? Do you have a website?

Ken: I’d like to encourage people to tell their stories; get them on paper, or at least on the computer screen where you can edit away and have a red line pop up to tell you to reconsider what you’ve just written. It is a non-threatening way to stand on a stage and display what is in your heart and soul.
I never intended on publishing and I don’t anticipate making any money. An author makes about a buck a book. You’d have to sell a lot of books before you could make a decent living. But I’ll tell you this, it is sure a cool thing to hand your kids a bound book that you wrote for them, and it is a total blast to have kids flip through pages to show their friends the character that they inspired. And you know what?

You can slip your book between a J.K Rowling and a Brian Jacques and stand back and smile—perhaps they might just rub off a bit!

It’s all about enjoying life. I’ve always said, in regard to my teaching, “If I’m not having fun there is no way the kids are going to have fun—and how inspiring is that?”

I’m having a ball!

Visit my website at www.kennethramirez.biz , buy a book and let me know what you think. I love to hear how my writing affects my audience. Write me at kramirez@nuhsd.k12.ca.us and share your reaction with author.

 

Laura: What is in the works for you now? Another book?

Ken: I have another novel, a YA fantasy that I wrote about, and for, my youngest daughter, Julia, and her two friends Jamie and Allie. “You, Me, Naideen, and a Bee” is a wonderful adventure between three worlds where the girls have been prophetically chosen to end the strife on Middle Earth, where ecological disasters are a direct result of the damage enacted upon our planet, by performing a series of tasks. It is filled with humor and once started ‘can’t-be-put-down’ excitement. Like my other novels, this story is already being read by my students and I am getting a huge thumbs-up. I feel that it is the best I have written to date. It is presently sitting on a publisher’s desk and I am hopeful that it will soon go to print.

I have also written a novella, ‘The Hedge’, a bizarre tale of two boys that crawl through a surreal hedge to reach a football on the other side. Once they crawl between the meaty trunks of the tall bushes they can’t get back and begin a journey to find their home. Throughout the tale there is the constant question of just what is reality? Young adults read this as an adventure but adults read deeper into the story and are left with a great need to question life. The entire story is based upon the common dream sequences that children have—with a child’s narrative. Reviewers have compared it to the feel of Stephen King’s ‘Stand By Me’. Publishers have struggled with the genre and the target age group. It is something that I wrote specifically for myself, sort of an autobiography. Very unique!

Presently, I am a third of the way through ‘The Tin la Casa’, a story depicting a real life adult who has faced some amazingly funny, yet disastrous, scenarios in his life. ‘Paul Jones’ has just had a heart attack and he is being driven home from the hospital by his obese sister, Mary, and his schizophrenic sister, Pattie. Paul’s family is hugely dysfunctional and on the two hour trip home, his life flashes before is eyes. This is my first real attempt at an adult novel and folks reading along with me as I write are demanding I send them anything I write the moment I finish it. All of us can relate to some aspect of Paul’s life…and we’ll either cry or laugh…or perhaps a lot of both.

Read Laura's review of Valley of the Raven