Ask the Author: Tiya Miles
Answered Questions (13)
Tiya Miles
Hi Richard, Thanks for your very kind words, your interest in the essay, and your question! I'm working on multiple projects right now. The one on the front burner is a cultural history of women in the abolitionist movement. I can't predict when it will come out, but I hope within the next few years.
Tiya Miles
Thank you! I write about my grandmother telling me and my cousins that she had Native American heritage in her family, but I note that these stories are common in Black families and not always (or even usually) accurate. In my essay "Uncle Tom Was an Indian" published in the book Confounding the Color Line (edited by the historian James Brooks), I explore the psychological and historical dynamics of these kinds of claims of Indigenous ancestry among some African Americans. It's complicated, as the saying goes! Even though as a scholar I have reason to question my grandmother's belief -- yes -- her story did inspire me to study Black and Native connections in graduate school and to eventually write Ties That Bind, The House on Diamond Hill, and The Cherokee Rose.
Tiya Miles
In the perfumed restroom of the romantic restaurant where her fiancé waited, she glanced at the mirror one last time to check her lipstick. Staring back at her was a face not her own.
Tiya Miles
Once, when my husband and I were looking for a house with charm in Ann Arbor, Michigan to suit our growing family, we saw a listing that ticked all my boxes. The house was cheap (which we needed), very old (which I love), and located on a street known for Underground Railroad activity (a big bonus for history buffs). We arrived as soon as the appropriate hour struck for the open house. Strangely, we were the only prospective buyers in sight. Not even curious neighbors had turned up to peek inside. Seconds in, we thought we knew why. The structure was filled with a sense of foreboding that we both felt. Somehow, the spaces seemed physically misaligned. The hallways felt narrow, and the flow of rooms had no logical arrangement. There was a prevalent mood of lost-ness. In my memory, the home was dark and cluttered, too.
But can I trust my memory? I don't know how much of what I am sharing here is true about the house, because the accuracy of that memory has been compromised. My memory of the house has grainy spots in it, like the fuzzy places that sometimes appear on Google Maps "street view" because someone has blotted them out. My husband's memory is splotchy, too. "Was it a hoarded house?" He asked me recently, as we tried to recall what exactly had been wrong with that place. "Was that the one where we almost stepped into dog crap in a back hallway?"
After my husband and I hustled out (as quickly as we could while trying not to offend the realtor whose face I cannot recall), we asked each other what could have happened in the home's history, because it had to have been something to trigger our instinctual flight response. We wouldn't have been surprised, we said, if a body was buried beneath stacks of misbegotten things in the basement. To this day, I wonder what would have happened if we had tried to buy that house. After all, the price was right. Or was it?
But can I trust my memory? I don't know how much of what I am sharing here is true about the house, because the accuracy of that memory has been compromised. My memory of the house has grainy spots in it, like the fuzzy places that sometimes appear on Google Maps "street view" because someone has blotted them out. My husband's memory is splotchy, too. "Was it a hoarded house?" He asked me recently, as we tried to recall what exactly had been wrong with that place. "Was that the one where we almost stepped into dog crap in a back hallway?"
After my husband and I hustled out (as quickly as we could while trying not to offend the realtor whose face I cannot recall), we asked each other what could have happened in the home's history, because it had to have been something to trigger our instinctual flight response. We wouldn't have been surprised, we said, if a body was buried beneath stacks of misbegotten things in the basement. To this day, I wonder what would have happened if we had tried to buy that house. After all, the price was right. Or was it?
Tiya Miles
Thank you so much, James M!
Tiya Miles
Hi Gary, thanks for reading and for sharing your reflections on my book! The history was quite a surprise to me too as it unfolded through the research. The past is an unexpected place.
Tiya Miles
Hi Patty, Thank you so very much for sharing your personal reflections on The Cherokee Rose. This is my first novel, and as a writer of history, I found it challenging to structure. Your phrase "a golden weave of story" is beautiful and will be a source of encouragement to me going forward!
Tiya Miles
The idea for The Cherokee Rose, my first novel, came straight from my academic research on my last book. That book is called The House on Diamond Hill, and it focuses on the history of a Cherokee plantation in present-day Georgia. I wanted to tell a story that was hinted at, but not accessible, in the existing historical record, and so I wrote a novel.
Tiya Miles
I am currently working on a few projects, so my head is spinning! I am working on a history of slavery & freedom in early Detroit. I also have a fiction project in mind related to that research. I am living in Montana this year with my family, and of course that experience has generated ideas for both historical and historical fiction projects, particularly related to environmental issues.
Tiya Miles
Ideas often seem to jump out at me when I am engaged in some kind of history-oriented experience, like visiting a historic site or museum, touring an old home for sale, or looking through items in vintage & antique shops, at garage sales and flea markets. I also find inspiration in the expressed thoughts of people around me. I love being in classrooms and for this very reason.
Tiya Miles
Keep writing if it satisfies something in you. Find supportive networks for both your spirit and your creative work. Don't give up!
Tiya Miles
I love being able to meet new people -- characters -- and to dive into their lives and worlds. It's so absorbing and satisfying.
Tiya Miles
I don't really experience "blocks." Mostly what I struggle with is making time to write. I do have periods when I feel that my writing is not coming together well -- elements in the fictional story or historical analysis are not gelling as I would want them to. At times like this, I turn to other projects and try to refresh my imagination by allowing myself a break from the trouble spot.
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