Author William Heath didn't read just secondary research sources when writing his historic novel, Blacksnake's Path: The True Adventures of William Wells, he tried to out-research the historians. His goal was to create an original piece of work that combined narrative with authentic history. In order to be as accurate as possible about the time period and to get to the center of the story, Heath researched details such such as the weather, food and how to differentiate his characters' voices. Writing authentically about the Miami Indians proved to be especially challenging because not much has been written about this generation of people.