Why I Chose 1885 Indian Territory for His Voice
The setting of His Voice is more than a backdrop. Here's why 1885 Indian Territory became the right place for Sarah and Michael's story.
BEHIND THE STORIES
WHY 1885?
I chose 1885 first because of Sarah.
In the opening chapter, she is dressed for a New Year’s Eve party in clothing that reflects the life she is trapped in: formal, structured, and expected. As her story moves forward, her clothes become simpler. She trades elaborate dresses for plain farm dresses, and that visual change mirrors what is happening inside her. Her life becomes quieter. Safer. More honest.
I wanted the year to support that contrast, and 1885 gave me the fashion, social expectations, and historical setting I needed to make the change feel natural rather than forced.
WHY INDIAN TERRITORY?
That choice was much more personal.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma, and my own family history reaches back through this part of the country. My family migrated to Oklahoma from Missouri, traveling through Sallisaw, and many of them lived there for a time.
That history made Indian Territory feel less like a setting I was borrowing and more like a place I had inherited.
I want the stories I write to carry pieces of that history forward. They are fictional, of course, but I love the idea that the roads, towns, landscapes, and communities my characters move through echo places my own family once knew.
HOW THE SETTING SHAPED THE STORY
For Sarah, the Territory becomes more than a new location. It becomes the place where the life she knew begins to loosen its hold on her.
The physical distance from her old world gives her room to change. The simplicity of ranch and farm life offers a stark contrast to the pressure and appearances she has lived under. And the people she meets there begin to show her that safety, faith, love, and belonging can look very different from what she once believed.
That is part of what I love about writing historical fiction. I can take pieces of real history, family history, and imagined lives and weave them together into something new.
In that sense, His Voice may be fiction, but some of its roots are very real.
I hope His Voice feels like a story rooted in another time while still carrying questions that matter now—about fear, faith, belonging, and what it means to begin again. And as I continue writing this series, I’m looking forward to sharing more of the history, research, and family threads woven quietly into the stories.
When I began writing His Voice, I knew the setting needed to feel like more than scenery. I wanted a place that could hold both danger and possibility, a place still being shaped by the people who lived there.
Indian Territory in 1885 gave me exactly that.
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