Real-life Native Americans often come from reservations where 80% unemployment, common fetal alcohol syndrome, and the highest teen suicide rates in the nation make life daunting; these individuals have historically made less compelling characters in novels about Native American life, generally overshadowed by romanticized and fictionalized versions of reality. This article, made available by The World & I Online, discusses how real-life Native Americans are finding their place in literature as the authors of modern novels.