This novel began with a desire to explore a sort of neglected interior space, and to consider my own heritage. Having turned my attention to that primarily personal territory, and the blank page, I selected some words and images from my little store and scattered them before me. Here, I hoped, might be some place from which to begin.
Actual place names, I thought, would help anchor it all in ‘reality’ and assist it to become something other than mere personal indulgence. I used details of Kimberley topography, and borrowed from the dialect and past of one community I had lived in.
It is not difficult, for those so inclined, to trace Karnama back to a specific community. But then it’s no longer Karnama. In terms of its character Karnama could, it seems to me, be one of many Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia. I created fictional characters that seemed appropriately ‘typical’ and who would be most able to assist me in my explorations. Many of them ran away from me. None of them bear any relation to any real person.
As I continued to write, the story developed in ways which I had not anticipated. None of the events or situations of the narrative are intended to correspond to any real occurrence. And although in a few instances, aspects of certain actual events are suggested, they are used as stepping off points for the imagination, and this work remains wholly fictional in every aspect.