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  • Input Please?

    Hello,

    I was wondering if you could indulge a new member? I've been visiting your threads for some time and finally joined today. I love reading here and I will be reading for some time from the looks of it!

    I was wondering there was anyone here that could shed some light on a few basic facts or concepts for me?

    I am doing research for a novel that I am writing. It's an adventure novel that I'd like to have set on a Hawaiian Island. The hero will live on the mainland but the story will take place on a smaller island.

    I've studied basic culture interest such as family values and traditions, superstitions and deities, language, foods, dance, etc. but all just at a minimum level.

    It is very important to me to write from a truthful perspective. This is somewhat challenging for me as I've never been to Hawaii. I always have shared a love of the islands but so far have only afforded a few trips and none of them to Hawaii.

    Is there any one specific thing that you would impart to me? Like I said I know the basics but I'm open to anything. OR, is there a specific resource that is a good (truthfull) starting point for this type of research?

    Thanks and have a great day!

    P.S. You'll have to excuse me for not sprinkling the language in my post. I refuse to screw up someone else’s language and I don't know the contexts well as of yet.

    HawaiiDreamer

  • #2
    Re: Input Please?

    Aloha and welcome to hawaii threads.com. The information you seek can be best explained by our expert in that field...on our forum, kimo55 ~ Mr. Kon Tiki , himself.

    Auntie Lynn
    Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
    Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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    • #3
      Re: Input Please?

      Originally posted by HawaiiDreamer
      It is very important to me to write from a truthful perspective. This is somewhat challenging for me as I've never been to Hawaii.

      HawaiiDreamer
      I don't think you can "write from a truthful perspective" about someplace you've never been, whether it's Hawaii, Cincinnatti, Los Angeles or wherever. You can't get it from someone else. You have to immerse yourself in a place (any place) to pick up on the nuances and flavors that you then communicate to your reader. Otherwise you're just faking it. You don't have to live in the place you're writing about, but you do have to experience it, even if only for a brief time.

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      • #4
        Re: Input Please?

        I agree with Madazza. I had such ideas of life in Fiji. Living in a village, no electricity or running water, bathing in the stream, cooking on wood fires. It was all that and more, but I really didn't understand the difficulties or hardships involved till I did it. The longest time was for 6 months. So please come to Hawaii before you seriously start implying what Hawaii is like in your writing. It'll be good for you as well as your readers. Mahalo and Aloha.
        Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

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        • #5
          Re: Input Please?

          Originally posted by HawaiiDreamer
          I've studied basic culture interest such as family values and traditions, superstitions and deities,

          It is very important to me to write from a truthful perspective. This is somewhat challenging for me as I've never been to Hawaii.

          it's looking you in the face: It will be a challenge unless you are a resident of some extended time. You visit and return, write yer novel, it will still be from the perpespective of some one who is still challenged, while you continue to refer to;
          superstitions.
          deities.
          (ugh)

          This may be a common practice, in most part of the world, esp. america. To write of that which you are not familiar. And lesser knowing fools will suck it up as if at an oasis, for they cannot recognize "truthful" writing, or something that is imparted from deep (or even shallow) personal experience, or material relayed from the soul. And a "novel" of Hawaii would and should, by necessity contain much more than; "We moseyed on over to a volcanoe. We sat under a coconut bush. a coconut hit us on the head. The kind that has milk and juice in it so we ate it. Good roughage, the kind ya get at the Lie Eeyay Luau. A native walked by, wearing a loincloth, holding an idol. What idol is that dere, oh dark neighbor? He replied 'dat id one ABC idul, carved from authentic plastisol, massuh!."

          Most would say; "hey, ok, sound good! reminds me of that fun Western I read a while ago. I have never lived as a cowboy nor a Nawaiian native, so, yea, okey doakee! I'll take two!"
          Any bit of drek, marketed well may sell. but Hawaii is not just another part of the states, tho' it may be the fiftieth. Is is a special place. deserved of the respect it should be given. leave it alone if you are not familiar.

          To go ahead just because others have done it or similar, is not justifiable.
          Write a novel based on what is part of you; where do you live now? where have you been? What other exotic vacation spots have you definitely experienced? not one you have a vague love for but have not set foot on.
          Write of that.

          To exploit the name "Hawaii" and its culture to sell a novel is uncool.

          Look at past threads here on the subject. Look at the Hawaiian Dick comic book thread. Written by two who have never been here.

          Check out other's experiences re; this exact kind of "challenge"...
          On another newsgroup there is seen some dude creating a "Hawaii for haoles" book or something like that. He shows parts of chapters as they are tentatively written, and other readers online then add and make corrections. He admits to not being familiar with Hawaii. How "truthful" is this kind of publication? And IF... he accepts the tips offered by others, who is to say they are accurate?
          http://www.hawaii.com/phpBB2/viewtop...t=2292&start=0

          P.S. You'll have to excuse me for not sprinkling the language in my post. I refuse to screw up someone else’s language and I don't know the contexts well as of yet.
          No one demands that you toss in some token Hawaiian or even pidgin words, here. You would not be excused if you did.
          Last edited by kimo55; January 2, 2006, 11:09 AM.

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          • #6
            Re: Input Please?

            I respectfully disagree. Karl May wrote westerns without ever setting foot there first.

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            • #7
              Re: Input Please?

              and consequently, his material was replete with ethnic, historical and geographical inaccuracies.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Input Please?

                Originally posted by kimo55
                Look at past threads here on the subject. Look at the Hawaiian Dick comic book thread. Written by two who have never been here.
                Speaking of which, are they still going to attempt to make a Hawaiian Dick movie starring Johnny Knoxville? I hadn't heard anything about it so it made me hopeful that production never did start and for some reason they aren't gonna make it.
                I'm disgusted and repulsed, and I can't look away.

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                • #9
                  Re: Input Please?

                  Thank you everyone for your comments and emails. I knew that I was going to irritate some people by posting this but I'm okay with that. I can take anything that anyone has to say and appreciate it as his or her viewpoint on this topic.

                  I will say that the book I referred to will be one in a series and the series features a Hawaiian-American heroine living in Texas. She herself will barely remember Hawaii and what she knows will be imparted from her mother. I wanted her first adventure to include Hawaii because she was born there but the land itself wouldn't really be a part of any other book in the series.

                  Me getting to Hawaii is like me getting to the moon. I have traveled to many other locations around the world but right now I just can't pull off a trip there. Someday, I will but until then I'll just do the best I can with what I have and put all my talents and energies into doing it decently.

                  I think you'd be surprised what any person can do with their talents, no matter where they come from or what their past is. It's hard to say truthfully that someone can or can't do a good job at something until the job is done and then maybe you can pass that sort of judgment. I'm a few years from that finished point, for sure.

                  Thanks again, everyone. "Also, forgot to thank you for the link". I will be reading it as well.
                  Last edited by HawaiiDreamer; January 2, 2006, 03:32 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Input Please?

                    Hi HD

                    Yanno, follow the words of Kimo and MadAzza and Mista-M-Man. Spend some time on the boards here, make some friends, then take a trip to Hawaii and hook up and get em to show you around. You'd make a new bud and possibly see a little through their heart and eyes when you actually get to the Islands.

                    To do otherwise would be like trying to discribe the intensity of the red and orange colors in a sunset altering the shadows to deepening shades of purples to a blind from birth person... or taste of a Twinkie or a Snowball to someone who was born without the sense of taste or someone who's never had one. It's especially difficult when you yourself have never seen such a sunset or tasted a Snowball yourself.

                    You want to impart the Snowball's taste to the knowing and unknowing equally with your writing, otherwise the unknoing might get themselves in trouble without all the facts (allergies and the sugar), and the knowing will bust your chops at every turn.

                    You want to taste the Snowball...not become a 'Snowball'

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                    • #11
                      Re: Input Please?

                      I must agree with Kimo55. I given a book to read that was written by a professional novelist (one who had actually sold books) and who had done a lot of research. The novel was about how different members of a family are affected by the movement for Independence. Yes, she had subscribed to discussion groups, yes she had visited. But, the novel was painful to read - it was written from a westerner's point of view, using her own experiences as a basis for interpreting experiences that are unique to Hawaii and kanaka maoli. There are so many nuances to life here, the cultures intermingled yet still separate. Takes many, many years to "get" the lifestyle & culture here.

                      I've lived here most of the last 42 years - and I still don't "get" it all the time! half the time? ah shoots - some days not at all.
                      "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
                      – Sydney J. Harris

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                      • #12
                        Re: Input Please?

                        that was rude - should have signed the post "Fran"
                        "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
                        – Sydney J. Harris

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                        • #13
                          Re: Input Please?

                          Originally posted by HawaiiDreamer
                          I will say that the book I referred to will be one in a series and the series features a Hawaiian-American heroine living in Texas. She herself will barely remember Hawaii and what she knows will be
                          dhhhoooh!
                          it's being done already!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Input Please?

                            What did I do? lol I have a basic plot, shoot me! P.S. I like the snowball analogy and I do understand what you all are saying.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Input Please?

                              Originally posted by HawaiiDreamer
                              I will say that the book I referred to will be one in a series and the series features a Hawaiian-American heroine living in Texas. She herself will barely remember Hawaii and what she knows will be imparted from her mother. I wanted her first adventure to include Hawaii because she was born there but the land itself wouldn't really be a part of any other book in the series.
                              .
                              Point of clarification: What do you mean by "Hawaiian-American"? Yanno, not many people of kanaka maoli heritage would call themselves "Hawaiian" and "American" in the same breath. Are you talking about ethnic Hawaiian ("kanaka maoli") or person born in Hawai'i (also called a "local"). A local could have any ethnic heritage, including kanaka maoli, but a local could also be Asian or caucasian, too.

                              If you mean ethnic Hawaiian, you will need to do a lot of research in order to have her mother be able to relate things to the daughter and have it be correct. You might want to start by researching the Hawaiian sovereignty movement (including the threads here on HT) to understand why Hawaiian American is not considered correct.

                              Miulang
                              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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