Where do I get my ideas?

I’m often asked where I get my ideas for writing. Most authors can relate to having story ideas float through their heads…usually when they hit a stall on their current work in progress and need to focus!

I should say first that I am a geeky academic that loves research, and I’m interested in a variety of fields and their history (law enforcement, legal practices and doctrines, medicine, government.) The core of the study of history is change over time, and reading and learning about these areas has always fascinated me. 

I often start by brainstorming and then generating questions – often starting with “what if?” or “why?” The answers to those questions shape the story. Before I began writing The Widowmaker’s Bride, I knew I wanted my hero to be a lawman. I thought it would be interesting research (and it was!) 

I did some searches on Google and went down rabbit holes, and I stumbled across the term “the widowmaker.” I thought that sounded interesting and frankly, like a very cool book title. I also knew I wanted my heroine to be a mail-order bride. It’s both a popular trope and one I have always found fascinating.

So my thoughts ran something like this…Let’s make The Widowmaker a good guy. What might he have done to earn that name? So I visualized scenarios where a U.S. Marshal might have to use deadly force, and that led me to develop the backstory of the man I ended up naming Dan Crawford. 

Once I had an idea for my hero (in this series, the heroes anchor the book title and the heroines both grace the covers and totally upend the heroes), I let my imagination take over…what would he be like? The romance writer in me immediately came up with “tall, dark, and handsome” (I know, I know) and stoic, but hiding a very tender heart. Rather than a never-married man, I decided to make him a widower himself. 

Then I start asking “what if.” What if I gave him a child that he has to take care of? That’s when six-year-old Susannah Jane Crawford entered the plan. I knew the child needed to be a little girl, to give him extra confusion in parenting (he might think he knows what to do with a boy.) I needed him to be having a tough time, which led to the scene that opens the book (poor Dan finds Susie has just wrecked the kitchen trying to make biscuits. ) 

Next, of course, I needed the heroine’s entrance. I wanted my mail-order bride to be a Southern belle. Why? It’s a culture I’m familiar with and know well. I wanted her to be a “fish out of water,” out of her depth at first. I also liked that it’s such a change, going from the deep South after the Civil War to the West. There is rich, abundant material there, and many people reinvented themselves on or after their journey west.

The whole concept of being a mail-order bride is fascinating to me. Getting on a train west to marry a man you’ve never met in person? It had to be beyond daunting. Of course, in inventing Lily, I had to answer those “why” and “what if” questions. Why does she need to be a mail-order bride? What if I give her a secret, troubling past? 

My books really emphasize the legal and social realities that women faced in the 19th century, focusing on the 1870s. A married woman had very few rights and almost no autonomy in a legal sense. The amount of control husbands had legally at the time was extensive, to say the least. The roles that women were “allowed” to play were limited.

I use these structures the way they were, not how we would like them to be, and try to let my heroines shine in dealing with the world they faced. Lily Bishop’s reality was needing a good man to protect her from a bad one. Fortunately, that became a love story — and Lily rescued Dan every bit as much as he rescued her.

I’m working on Book 2 of the Brides of Buckhorn Gap series (first draft is done, and there’s light at the end of the tunnel!) I chose a character I liked from Book 1 as the hero of Book 2 (Dr. O’Brien.) Then I started asking “what if I give him a backstory nobody expects?” That was fun. I’d already decided that the heroine is a writer, so it only remained to figure out how they crossed paths and what happened from there…why is she in Buckhorn Gap? 

You’ll find the answers to that in Book 2, planned title Doc O’Brien Meets His Match. I’ll share updates about my progress. Until next time, may you richly enjoy whatever you are reading. And whether Valentine’s Day is about hearts and flowers for you or a “bah, humbug,” enjoy your day!