RESEARCHING THE PAST

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

As January rolls along, I have been taking some time to look at what I'd like for the year to be for me as a writer and what I can share with my readers and hopefully find some new readers who enjoy the type of stories I tell.

So what kind of stories am I drawn to write? I enjoy stories that move, have action if you will, along with emotions that will move the reader. I love history and enjoy sharing what I find. Almost every story whether Medieval or Western contain or were inspired by pieces of research.

"Josie's Dream" came about because of my love and research of the early women doctors in Colorado. No, that does not include the TV show Dr. Quinn, which was fiction or Doc Susie the Colorado doctor the show was based on. Dr. Susan Anderson did not arrive in Colorado until 1894/5. The women who inspire me were here in the 1870s. Their stories and the reasons they came to this state informed my character, Josephine Forrester. The rest of the story played out in research on railroads, ranching and the land in which Josie walked.

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When I was looking at what became "Chasing a Chance" I had read a book called "Holding the Ace Card" and done some research on the town of Boston, Colorado, located in the southeast portion of Colorado. In the case of this story, the location and events that occurred in the doomed town of Boston became the basis of the story.

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I was writing a paper on the research I had done on a Colorado criminal names 'Joe Ward' when I began what was the novel "The Outlaw's Letter". Most of the characters in the story came almost directly from extrapolating characteristics of the outlaws and people I'd come across. Places and events were as in sync as I could make them with what was happening in Colorado during that time. I sometimes changed location or names, but as they say, writing is ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.

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So who do I go about researching the past? Many times all I do is read old newspapers and city directories at my local library's special collections department. I find names and occupations that catch my eye. Then I will sometimes to an ancestry search on those people to find where they came from, what occupation they had before arriving here.

Additionally from my own background in the criminal justice field, I find myself drawn to crimes that occur during the timeframe I'm writing about. Sometimes, like the town of Boston, Colorado, I will try to find all I can about a location I will be writing about. My current WIP takes place in Colorado in one of the mountain valley's, so I'm reading the newspapers from the towns in that area. All of this serves to add an authentic feel to my story.

So as readers, watch for what your favorite author has to say about the time they are writing about. As authors, what do you do when you're starting or writing a story? I really would love to know. Each piece we share can only make what we do more exciting.

I wish everyone a wonderful and productive year of books read and written. Thank you for taking the time to read my process. If you have enjoyed mine or other author's works, please share a testimonial. We appreciate the feedback.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

New Blog to Feature Sweet/Clean Historical Authors

 During a recent online marketing discussion among the Prairie Rose Publications family of published writers, it was agreed that one of the most effective means of reaching our reading audience is through group blogs. These blogs differ from individual blogs in that several people take responsibility for writing and publishing a blog post on a regular basis. These posts are not strictly for the purpose of "hard selling" a book. The contributors offer short articles with information of interest to potential readers of the kind of books the author writes.

Preferably, these posts include

Mountain Men of the West

a generous number relevant images.

Several authors I know write not only for the Prairie Rose Publication family of blogs, but they write for other blogs geared to their interest groups. Many of these are considered either western romance or historical western romance. This blog is intended to include historical western romance, but is geared to a slightly different reading audience.

First, let me explain how I came up with the name:

1.  Sweet covers writing described as sweet / clean / proper. 
2.  Americana is defined by dictionary.com as: "...books, papers, maps, etc., relating to America, especially to its history, culture, and geography." (origin 1835-45, Americanism)
3.  Sweethearts refers to the romance elements in the novels written by our featured writers.
   
   

   

   Union Soldiers - colorized photo

   Because I enjoy reading and writing about historical topics  (including American Civil War stories) outside the approximately fifty year period from 1850 through 1900 set in the "old west," I chose the time period of 1820 (mountain men and rendezvous era) through 1920 (post World War One/flu pandemic era). I also chose to include the entire North American continent. 

As for the sweet designation, I'm aware that readers who prefer novels free of graphic sex scenes and excessive profanity like to know that their reading material falls within that category. We don't like to get into a novel only to discover it has "too much information." This blog is designed to feature SWEET / CLEAN / PROPER romance only. The intended audience is those readers seeking books with that kind of romance.

World War One bond poster

On the other hand, other readers may consider sweet romance too tame. If authors prefer to write romance that is more spicy/steamy/sexually explicit, I encourage you to create and join a group blog designed to feature your work to the reading audience which prefer that heat level in their romance novels.

If you are an author of sweet/clean/proper romance set in the Americana time period of 1820 through 1920, and you are interested in participating in a group blog once a month, please read the Sweet Americana Sweethearts Guidelines. If your work falls within the guidelines and there are blog dates open, please contact the blog administrator. The details are toward the bottom of the Guidelines.

The portrait used on the blog banner was taken from an early family photo of George McKinley  and Laura Agnes Echols. These sweethearts were married when she was barely sixteen and he was still fifteen. They died within months of each other after  fifty-seven years of marriage. The background image was taken in the Genoa, NV museum and the flowers are from my garden.

 Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. Her novel, Family Secrets, was published by Fire Star Press in October 2014 and her novelette, A Christmas Promise, was published by Prairie Rose Publications in November 2014. The first two novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine and A Resurrected Heart, are now available. 

Zina Abbott Author Links

Website   Blog                Pinterest         Facebook        Goodreads

Purchase Links for Big Meadows Valentine:

Kindle                 Nook               Smashwords

Purchase Links for A Resurrected Heart:

Kindle                 Nook               Smashwords