We chat with B.L. Blanchard about her first novel The Peacekeeper, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, B.L.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m an author, a mom, a map nerd, voracious reader, and lawyer. I’m a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and originally from the Upper Peninsula (we call it the “U.P.”) of Michigan, but I’ve lived in California so long that I can no longer handle cold weather. I write speculative and historical fiction, and my alternate history book The Peacekeeper is my first novel!
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Like most writers, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be an author. My childhood was unstable and lonely for quite a few years, and so stories (and books in particular) were my escape from the world.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first book I remember reading: Little House in the Big Woods. It was my first chapter book, and I was six years old and about to start first grade.
The book that made me want to become an author: There was no one specific book making me want to be an author. I do remember re-reading The Babysitters Club books over and over when I was eight or nine (Stacy’s Emergency was my favorite, and I read it so many times the cover fell off) and thinking, “I wish I could do this.” I first started writing my own stories after I saw Star Wars for the first time at age 12. Then, the summer between my first and second years of college, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out. I was already toying with changing my major from pre-med (I was washing out) to something else, and when I read that 800-page book in a day and a half, I thought, “Books are what I love. Writing books is what I want to do. What am I doing studying anything else?”
A book I can’t stop thinking about: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. That book is just breathtaking; it tells the story of seven generations of a Ghanaian family impacted by slavery from the 16th century onward. It begins with two sisters: one who remains in Ghana, and the other who is captured into slavery. The book traces the story of their descendants through to the present day, where the stories converge. The stories are so beautifully written that they stick with you for long after the book is done.
Your debut novel, The Peacekeeper, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Mystery in the Ojibwe Wakanda.
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect an alternate history novel first and foremost, which features a murder mystery.
Picture it: It’s 2020 in a North America that was never colonized. I wrote the first draft in 2019, long before we knew what 2020 would become, but I guess some part of me must have known I’d want an alternate version of that year! In this alternate world, the United States and Canada don’t exist, the Great Lakes are surrounded by an independent nation with a dominant Anishinaabe (Ojibwe/Chippewa) culture.
And Peacekeeper Chibenashi has a body on his hands.
When he was a teenager, Chibenashi woke up to find his mother murdered and his father covered in her blood. In the years since, Chibenashi has become a police officer and caregiver for his traumatized sister in their small village of Baawitigong (what we know as the cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada). Life is simple, and crime is rare.
When the story begins, it’s the twentieth anniversary of his mother’s death, and her best friend Meoquanee is also found murdered. Lacking any leads locally, Chibenashi reluctantly travels to the big city of Shikaakwa (what we know as Chicago) to interview Meoquanee’s estranged family and test the limited forensic evidence. Shikaakwa is home to the two people he never wanted to see again: his imprisoned father, and the woman who broke his heart.
As the investigation progresses, the interviews and forensic evidence reveal that the murders of Meoquanee and Chibenashi’s mother are connected in ways that seem impossible. Solving this crime will necessarily mean confronting the past and reopening the investigation into his mother’s murder. In doing so, Chibenashi will discover that everything he believed about his life and her death was a lie.
Where did the inspiration for The Peacekeeper come from?
I got the idea for the main setting of the book, Shikaakwa, when I was driving to work one day and had a vision of a high-rise building with a dreamcatcher built into it like a stained-glass cathedral window. That triggered the idea of what a never-colonized North America might have looked like in the present day. And the questions of how and when history diverged, the history of a never-colonized society, what values shape it, and its structure consumed me. The plot came together fairly quickly, but the worldbuilding, and the many different ways I could have gone with it, was something I thought about every day for over a year before I started writing: everything from why colonization did not happen to the societal dividing lines to just how technologically developed and globalized the world would be. A lot of the worldbuilding did not make its way into the book, but a lot of it will be used in the second book.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
The biggest challenge was finding time to write while balancing a career and a family. I had to make conscious changes to my life to be able to fit time for writing. The biggest one was changing jobs so that I worked fewer hours—I did that for several reasons—and moving homes so that I had a shorter commute.
The second biggest challenge was anxiety. The voice in my head telling me that I’d never be good enough, that I was wasting my time, you get the idea. Telling that voice to shut up and just writing was a huge challenge, because there are always reasons to give up.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
My favorite part of the book to write was the manoomin (wild rice) harvest festival that is featured in the early part of the book. It was a chance to showcase an Anishinaabe tradition that is still practiced today while also highlighting the beauty of what is known in our world as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in late summer.
My favorite character to write was Takumwah, Chibenashi’s verbose and extroverted partner during his time in Shikaakwa. Of all the characters in the book, his personality is closest to my own. Chibenashi is reserved, traumatized, and cantankerous. Takumwah was written to be his living nightmare—someone who has no sense of personal boundaries, will not stop talking, and who is far better at his job than Chibenashi is at his. For a reserved and private person like Chibenashi, that’s pretty much hell on Earth.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
Best advice: The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to exist. Rough drafts are meant to be rough, and if you try to make the words perfect as you draft, you’ll never finish, because perfection doesn’t exist. I highly recommend Ann Lamott’s book Bird by Bird for any writer, regardless of their level of experience. It’s the best pep talk I can imagine.
Worst advice: Write every day. It is not realistic for writers with families and day jobs, and the absolutism of the advice keeps a lot of people from starting. Write as many days as you can, but cut yourself some slack if you can’t write every day.
What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
Very long! Remember how I talked above how I decided to change my major after reading what was then the latest Harry Potter book? That was in 2003, and I was just about to turn 19. My first novel wouldn’t be published for another 19 years.
I didn’t have the luxury of pursuing a life as a writer right out of college; I had to find a paying job! The next 10 years was a whirlwind of law school, getting married, passing the bar, starting my legal career, and having a baby. I didn’t get to spend much time writing or reading for fun. Then after burning out professionally and suffering a health scare, I started to reprioritize. Focusing on writing again was near the top of my list. It took five years, three manuscripts, and 45 rejections before I signed with my agent. But every delay, every rejection, every failure was an opportunity to become a better writer, and I kept with it in hopes that I would one day be good enough.
What’s next for you?
I’m finishing my next book in the same universe as The Peacekeeper, The Mother, which features a different setting, cast of characters, and plot. It’s a thriller set in an England that never had an empire. Readers will get more information about what this world without colonization looks like. Specifically, they will see what England and Europe might look like had they never had New World colonies, and how that may have impacted their development over the last 500 years. There is a very deliberate contrast between the two worlds.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
2022 has been such a great year for books so far! My favorite books that have come out this year are Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson, which is a wonderful family saga; The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas, a great suspense story that gives Rebecca a run for its money; and Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin, a literary sci fi novel that made me stop and think more than once while reading.
