Laurie L. Dove On Writing Women, Creating Authentic Indigenous Characters, And Her Debut Novel

Seasoned journalist and writing professor Laurie L. Dove’s debut novel, Mask of the Deer Woman, is the culmination of a lifetime of craft and advocacy. Tackling the real-world issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), Dove’s novel also explores the ethereal bond between mothers and daughters, as well as the innate symbolism of Native American cultures. In this exclusive interview with Cowboys & Indians, Dove discusses how her journalism influenced her writing, what it was like to find a publisher, and how her network of editors and fans helped her cross the publishing finish line.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Cowboys & Indians: This is your debut novel after a long and exciting career in journalism and as a creative writing instructor. You wear many hats and we're just so glad to have you on to talk about your book. So, for those of us listening who maybe don't know much about you, Laurie, can you tell us a little about yourself and your career before you wrote Mask of the Deer Woman?

Laurie Dove: Well, thank you for having me. It is such a pleasure for me to be here. I’m honored to be a part of this great publication. My career is as a journalist, and I have really enjoyed that being a writer was my earliest dream. And so I went into journalism and really found meaning in being able to tell other people’s stories and honor those in the best way that I was able to when I was able to write Mask of the Deer Woman. It was really these parts of stories that I’ve carried with me for my entire life, plus this research that I was able to do during the book. You can see my journalism showing as we talk about endangered species and the very real crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. But I especially loved being able to bring these characters to life. That was my favorite thing about it.

C&I: After having such a distinguished career as a journalist, why did you want to write a novel? What was the impetus of that for you?

Dove: My work over the years has been moving to longer and longer forms, and what I especially like about long-form journalism or working as a novelist is that it has this staying power. I love the idea that someone might pick up this book 10 years from now and still find it in some ways relevant to them and that to me feels like the kind of legacy that I would like to leave.

C&I: You mentioned a great point about the staying power of novels and how they can] open up these larger conversations. Was there a particular case or story that inspired Mask of the Deer Woman, or was it just something that [you’d been] been ruminating on throughout your career?

Dove: It really started with the character of Carrie Starr, and in this character, I saw a lot of things that I didn’t know yet but that I wanted to explore. I liked a lot of her complexities and the way she’s often opposite in the things that she does and thinks. Being able to follow her along that journey and get to know her as a character was really rewarding for me. Along the way I found that all of these things that I sort of carried in my consciousness bubbled up into this character and it was a really interesting way to explore a lot of these big what-if questions that I have about the world.

C&I: Novels are so different from a career in journalism. Were you a sit- down-9-to-5, I’ve-got-to-bust-this-out? Did it come in chunks? How much of this was research and on-visits for you?

Dove: It was a combination of all those things. There were points in writing this novel that I did it very methodically, but there was also a four-day stretch when I wrote 60,000 words that ended up being the middle of the book. It has been all of those things, which really kind of reflects my career as a journalist. It was great training for writing a novel. I learned to write everywhere. I learned to write fast; I learned to write no matter what else was going on. And those things all served me well, even the research aspect of it. I really found that like I did with my journalism, I really began with people, and as I would write the story, I would then research, but I would only research as it pertained to the story, as opposed to just really getting bogged down in that and spending lots of time doing it because that deadline is still always in the back of my mind, mostly self-imposed at this point, but always there. After I wrote the atmospheric location qualities of the book — from memory, from imagination — I did take an extended research trip with one of my daughters when we were on a location for quite some time. I wanted to make sure that I had it right, and I was very relieved to find out that I did. We went at the same time of year that the book is set, and I thought, Oh, thank goodness I got it.

C&I: As a reader myself — and I’m sure other readers of your book will attest — I became so quickly engrossed in the landscape and the place where Mask of the Deer Woman is set. How did you translate that sense of place?

Dove:I spent a lot of time growing up outside in pastures on horseback, and all those things I think really showed in this story as far as being an observer of the natural landscape and the creatures within it. As I was writing this, I really focused on watching those scenes play out in my mind as if I’m looking at the setting and then just transcribing it almost like I would do as a journalist, interviewing myself, taking note of the scene, and doing my best to relay that. The biggest distance to bridge is from the brain to the page. And so I spend a lot of time thinking. I spend a lot more time thinking than I ever do writing. I write really quickly, but it’s the decision-making about where the story would go. That was new for me because in journalism that was really already decided before I got there. So that decision-making process is really where I spent a lot of time doing other things outside while I would work through some of the snags I had hit with the book.

C&I: When you're tackling a real-life news article or a longer feature piece, everything’s already there — the story has been written really. With this one, it’s coming from a much different place, whether that be the head or the heart or the spirit. Were there any surprises along the way for you or places that you said, “Wow, I really didn’t see that it was going in this place, but it just seems so natural?”

Dove: Most of the book is a surprise to me. That’s my favorite thing about fiction. I like to write until it surprises me, and these characters frequently did. I would have something in mind and we would get to a certain point and that is not at all what would happen. I would often find that narrative flipped on its head. I think that’s really what I liked about the process of doing it and that discovery was a lot like how I worked as a journalist where I would just follow the story wherever it led. And that’s what I feel like I did with this book, with these characters especially,because it’s a very character-driven story. I’m excited to keep going on that journey with them because it’s now a series, and I am excited to see what Starr is up to next.

C&I: You’ve been on the publishing side, and you’ve also worked as a creative writing instructor. How different was it to be in the driver’s seat instead of the review process or the grading process?

Dove: It is a piece of what I’ve been doing all along as is publishing, as is teaching. I could talk and read about writing all day long — it’s my favorite thing. To be in the community with other writers who are interested in doing the same thing is one of the best things in my life. But bringing all this together, it does sound very different to have been a publisher who owned a publishing company for a time and a writing professor and then to do the work of writing. But for me, they’re all one thing. I don’t really compartmentalize those things. That’s really how I’ve tried to live my life without that compartmentalization. I grew up on a working farm and ranch,and we were family and we worked and all of those things went together all day long. That’sreally the approach that I still bring to my life: to really bring all these kind of disparate parts of my life together.

C&I: I get the sense that, especially in terms of your world of writing, you find a lot of value in the community aspect of it. What was that writer’s community like for you while writing Mask of the Deer Woman?

Dove:I have such a beautiful community around me, whether it would be this project or a different one. I have five daughters, and I’ve always said to them, If it’s interesting to you, it’s interesting to me. It doesn’t matter what it is. That’s really our family’s approach to each other. I only had two people read it before it went to the publisher. My husband, who I’m sorry to say, had to read it two dozen times — I am working so hard for him not to have to read it that many times for the second one. And then a dear friend that I actually grew up with who is just this brilliant well-read person who I trust. After they read the book, I thought, OK, this is going to be OK.This is something that I can do.

C&I: What was the process of finding a publisher and getting published like, especially as a first-time novelist?

Dove:I have the most unusual story, and it’s such a joy to be able to share. I had just completed a master’s degree at Harvard. I’m a first-generation college student, both undergrad and the master’s degree I earned. I walked across the stage right before I turned 50, and I wanted to finish that program. It afforded me the time to set aside to really focus on that because as a journalist with other pressing deadlines, it was always pushed to the bottom of the list. And I kind of liked that instant gratification of journalism to see your work out in the world. So I went through that process, and I had a manuscript and I was querying agents. My idea was I’m just going to keep my head down and work because I’m very good at the working part of it and I’ll make the effort to find the agent or to get this book published, but if not this book, the next one or the next one or the next one. I finished this manuscript and began querying agents, began writing the next book, and I learned of an open submission for agented writers from Penguin Random House with the Berkeley imprint. I submitted and promptly put it out of my mind and continued to do the work. They actually contacted me about 18 months later, and I am very happy to say I have found a home with Berkeley. They are so smart and lovely and passionate about what they do, and I’m really honored to be a part of it.

C&I: You’ve already done some stops with readers and different events with this book. What has been the feedback with readers who may have surprised you with the outpouring of support?

Dove: Well, that outpouring of support at all is really what surprised me. I did not expect to be surrounded by this reader community like I was and like I am now. And that has been my favorite thing about it. I am one of those people in the reader community. I have my authors whom I love and they’re automatic purchases for me every time, and I can’t wait for their next book to come out. For me to even have a small part of that experience as a writer has been such a shock and a joy all at once. I’ve really liked the way that people have gone into the book with an open mind because Starr is not an easy person to love. I’ve had some really fun conversations with people that really felt like Starr was a real person. Someone in my family stopped by and they were like, OK, she can drink and she can smoke, but not both, not at the same time. It was like an intervention. And I was like, Yes, I know. Then I just had to laugh because I thought, Oh, right, I made her up. So this experience has really just been so fun.

C&I: I’m not going to give any spoilers away, but the stakes are pretty high right from the opening pages of the book. How important was it to set the tone from Page 1 for you and Mask of the Deer Woman?

Dove: I really felt like that was critical for me because as a journalist, that’s really how I tried to approach every story. I think that’s reflected in this as well. Instead of thinking about, Oh, how do I construct this lead? I would think, What’s the point? That’s really the prologue of this. I like the way that that really carries the reader right into this way that the larger story unfolds.

C&I: And we do it through the lens of your protagonist. And she’s, I guess, in essence a fish out of water in the truest sense of the term, and she’s a hardened Chicago cop who finds herself on her own trying to tackle some pretty important issues and dealing with her own issues  at the same time. One thing that struck me about your protagonist was just how three-dimensional she is and how you really could see this kind of person. I don’t want to give too much away, but I get the sense that you really started off this story trying to portray it through your characters. How difficult was that?

Dove: Yes. I went into this knowing that any type of plotting was going to be my element that needed the most work because I was the least experienced in that way. The ability to approach it from a characterization standpoint really felt natural for me. I think all my stories start with people, and I didn’t even know what type of book I was writing. I only knew that I had this character and that there was a younger character that was in some kind of peril and I wanted to see what between these two characters would be. I really just followed that for the story. I did have the end in mind when I wrote it. I already knew what the ending was. It’s really the same ending that still exists in the story.

C&I: You do a lot of work with setting not only the stage in terms of the location with showing the real authentic life of people living on the reservation and the law enforcement that's tasked with helping to police these communities. How much research went into that, and how important was it to you to get it right?

Dove: Oh, getting it right was the most important thing. If it wasn’t right, this book shouldn’t be out there.

We worked really extensively with an authenticity reader after the book was written who had lived experience on a reserve and knew more of the cultural aspects of it that I don’t know. That was really important to me, and I was very gratified to hear back from them that I’d really gotten that right in 99 percent of those instances as well. I’ll always work with an authenticity reader. I think that’s a really crucial part of these stories. But I was also a council woman and the mayor of my town, and when you are the mayor, you get to see all kinds of things happening and all of these systems and the way they work. Having that inside look at the way that government functions and the way that police departments function was really crucial for me in doing this. I didn’t become mayor to use it in a story, but it did come in handy later.

C&I: One thing I thought was really interesting about your writing style and the almost-symbolic aspects of this book was you were able to weave in real-life authenticity, especially with the Indigenous element, with a lot of the folklore and parts of their spirituality that really permeate everyday life. How difficult was it to weave symbolism in?

Dove: I would like to say I had a big plan, but I did not. I knew all of these things that I wanted to have in the story because they were all things that I liked or that interested me. And when I began writing it, I didn’t know what kind of book it was going to end up being. I’m very pleased with how it turned out. But being able to weave all of these things together was interesting to me. It’s really a time capsule of my life at the time, but I do really enjoy reading magical realism. I had just come off a lot of reading of Annie Pru and Louise Erdrich and Richard Ford and Craig Johnson and all of these authors whom I really enjoy. That, paired with my rural farm ranch background, really just showed. And because I wanted to write, being able to draw on the experiences that I had only went so far. I am Indigenous by heritage, but I was adopted as an infant by a Mennonite family and raised on this farm and ranch. And so that part of it I really felt like we needed to pull the authenticity reader in. But the rest of it, I was really able to draw on things that I’d experienced or that were adjacent to things that I had experienced, and that really helped.

C&I: This book is really, at least from the early parts of this story, about mothers and daughters. You have five daughters of your own. Why was that a subject that you wanted to tackle?

Dove: That too was almost unintentional. When I write — when things are coming from within me as opposed to reporting on things without me — I often find that I write about those familial relationships. Mothers and daughters is a topic that has come up for me again and again. In a lot of short stories I’ve explored these things; it really isn’t even intentional. I just had such a lightning bolt of realization when I had my children that this love was so powerful that there were things maybe I’d allowed in my life that I would never allow to happen to them. Right? I felt like such a protector and wanting all of these best things for them and that feeling of standing between them in the world. That’s really a feeling that translates into lots of other relationships now that my daughters are grown or nearly grown and very capable and courageous and intelligent women. But I do find that feeling is so universal, and that’s something that I really enjoyed exploring in Mask of the Deer Woman.

C&I: The story is propelled by female characters. How important is it for young girl to have those markers in stories that they're reading, seeing the capabilities, but also that women in your stories would act so differently than a male character would, but to find that that’s a strength?

Dove: I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback about that, which I am pleased about. I really want to see representation. I like the characters who have had terrible things happen to them in their lives that get up every day and do it anyway. They move forward even if they’re dragging themselves along sometimes. I think in our lives we’ve probably all known someone — it might even be us — who have had to do that and just really get through something. That resilience in characters is especially interesting, but I think especially in women and for all of these people who are able to read the book, to see this representation of smart, capable, struggling humans, is really what my goal was.

C&I: [Let’s talk about] the ongoing issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Do you view your book as a call to action?

Dove: That’s really my hope because I want the work that I do to make a positive impact. And I felt that way from the beginning, even when I was writing stories at my college newspaper years ago. I hope that’s true for this book. I have seen some people take action on this. And that to me is such a joy. I have a reader who is a 92-year-old woman who stayed up all night to finish it, and the moment she was done, she donated a semester of college funds to a Native organization in memory of or in honor of Genoa. That to me was just such a gift as a writer to see that someone had been so moved by this, that real-world positive action happened. I could only hope that it does have that impact on people.

C&I: What’s the status of Book 2?

Dove: I didn’t start out to make a series. My goal was really to write this first book, and once I did that, I knew that there was so much more to this character. There is a whole lifetime to explore with [Starr], and I don’t want to give that up. So I’m very, very excited that this is now a series and that other people see this in her as well. I’m editing the second book now. It will arrive in summer of 2026, and we’ll have another book after that. I’mvery excited to be able to share Starr’s life with everyone.

C&I: Now that you’ve entered this novelist phase of your life and career, what has been the best part?

Dove: I think the best part is that I am living this life right now. I have never been happier. This is exactly what I had always hoped and envisioned my life would be, and that is such a joy to wake up to every day. I want to write books every day for the rest of my life and talk about books with people like you. That is, I think, my highest calling.

Find more information about Laurie L. Dove and her books at lauriedove.com. 

Mask of the Deer Woman can be purchased here.