ALL LIT UP: Tell us about your book The Return of the Nish. What can readers expect?
TYSON STEWART: The Return of the Nish is about a young man, Gerry Smith, who is reconnecting with his Anishinaabe relatives. Eventually, he meets his father, Dale King, who pitches him on a lucrative, but dangerous business venture. The son and father’s bond is tested with the backdrop of crime and desperation. So, it’s a drama about Indigenous (specifically, Anishinaabe) family dynamics that morphs into a crime thriller.
Told in a noir-like rearview plot structure, the novel dramatizes a family reconnection that gets put to the test when the son discovers who his father really is.
ALU: How would you describe your writing style?
TYSON: I would call the structure circular or cyclical; the story is told no less than three times, but with each version, another layer of the onion gets peeled off. It begins with a cold and clinical court room sequence that condenses much of the action. Then, through flashback, you find out a lot about the son’s perspective on the events and his participation in the father’s criminal activities. Finally, you get the father’s version (or origin story) that puts everything into a starker perspective. It was necessary to withhold information and walk a fine line between revelation and mystery throughout the whole novel. For me, the conflict of story is between the father and son, and not so much about who knew about the drugs and when.
I also think my voice is marked by a particular Anishinaabe brand of wry humour à la Drew Hayden Taylor and a certain amount of noir hardboiled cynicism (also common in my culture) that I think works perfectly with the son’s POV. More on that later…
ALU: How do you overcome creative blocks when they arise?
TYSON: I only write when I have ideas. Not an obvious or easy lesson to learn. Luckily, ideas come to me regularly. When I listen to inspiring music, when I watch great cinema, when I read incredible prose…I think exercise and time spent out on the land can regenerate the flow of ideas. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to solve writer’s block. Bird by bird, word by word, chapter by chapter…it’s hard, but it’s worth it. I keep copious notes and voice memos when working on a project. The more planning that goes into the writing, the better. There’s always at least one idea that I can return to and explore when the creative juices aren’t flowing.
ALU: What inspired the idea for your latest book?
TYSON: Indigenous noir was my main inspiration. This is a sub-genre characterized by existential dread in which its main characters are often fish out of water types that have difficulty navigating a society flipped upside-down where political discourse, such as reconciliation, often doesn’t match reality. A lot of my influences are cinematic, as you can imagine. A Red Girl’s Reasoning (Tailfeathers, 2012) draws on noir tropes to tell a revenge story of an outlaw vigilante. Rhymes for Young Ghouls (Barnaby, 2013) finds dark humour in its heist-centered, revenge narrative. Falls Around Her (Naponse, 2018) builds existential dread around the threat a musician faces from her ex-manager. Ron E. Scott’s TV series Blackstone (2009-2015) and Tribal (2020-2022) were also inspirations, especially because they don’t shy away from dramatizing conflict and corruption. 2021’s Wild Indian mounts a blistering study of an alienated urban Indigenous man played brilliantly by Michael Greyeyes right before his comedic turn in Rutherford Falls (Peacock, 2021). Indigenous people might feel like a character in a noir film trying to navigate a world off its axis while also being urged to recognize the “progress” that has come out of Truth and Reconciliation. I suppose I wanted to explore “negative” feelings of resentment and alienation in a contemporary setting.
I wanted to write a story about anti-heroes and outlaws within the context of reconciliation and reconnection, a story that would elucidate some of the darker aspects of assimilation and internalized forms of violence. In the noir world, many obstacles get in the characters’ way of attaining mino bimaadiziwin (the good life), but this goal remains an important north star for Indigenous creatives and audiences alike. I didn’t want Gerry’s reconnection journey to be smooth and easy; rather, I needed to show how even in the most loving families and communities there can be a lot of intergenerational pain and resentment to have to wade through. I still insist that the journey was worth it.
ALU: Which writers have had the most impact on your own writing?
TYSON: Definitely Drew Hayden Taylor’s Someday trilogy of plays. The Great Gatsby. Waubgeshig Rice is a trailblazer for me. Crow Winter’s (Karen McBride) portrayal of an Indigenous community in Northern Quebec is spot-on. Personally, I gravitate more toward Tommy Orange’s kaleidoscope of pain and violence in There There than sweet and saccharine portrayals of Indigenous virtuousness (something I’m guilty of from time to time). Nicholas Pileggi’s Wise Guy and Casino are big ones for me. Camus, specifically L’étranger, La peste, and Sisyphus. I like Jean-Paul Sartre’s voice a lot. Even though they’re filmmakers, I would have to include in any list of influential writers Quentin Tarantino and Jeff Barnaby. And David Mamet. My cousin Mary Laronde from Temagami is an amazing storyteller. My Mishomis! The list goes on…
ALU: Do you have any rituals that you abide by when you’re writing?
TYSON: I like to record a lot of voice memos, when I’m walking, or driving, or even snowshoeing. Then, when I’m back at my desk and ready to write, I listen back to them, and it feels like I’ve already begun and I just need to transcribe the recordings. And I suppose it makes writing feel less lonely. But time is hands down the most important element to my writing. The only pressure I like is the feeling that I can’t get my ideas onto the page fast enough.
***
Tyson Stewart is an author of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai and an associate professor of Indigenous Studies at Nipissing University. He has delivered numerous lectures and presentations on Indigenous noir in media, exploring the genre’s historical influences and the concept of biskaabiiyang (returning to ourselves). The Return of the Nish is his debut novel.
Click here to find a copy of The Return of the Nish at your local indie bookseller using our Shop Local feature.
For more Writer’s Block, click here.
