What inspires a story? For me, it's often reading about history and then saying, "What if...?"
That's what happened when I read about Dodge City, the Queen of Cattle Towns, and the damage something as tiny as a tick could do—and might do in my story.
Below is the Story Inspiration page (a page I've included in the back of all of my books) for Between Love and Lies (book 1 in my Gambling Hearts series)...
BETWEEN LOVE & LIES
Story Inspiration page ~ from the back of the book
The spark for Between Love & Lies came from the letter below and my collection of Time-Life Old West books containing these lines: “The longhorns were carriers of a microscopic tick. The Texas animals were immune to the parasite, but the same tick produced deadly splenic fever in local cattle.” I imagined a small farm, held together only by the grit and hard work of its owner, might not survive such an event. I wondered what might happen next, both on that unlucky farm and in the nearest town: Dodge City, the Queen of Cattle Towns—where life would be challenging for a woman who luck had deserted.
January 1, 1878 - Letter in the Washington, D. C. Evening Star
“Dodge City is a wicked little town. Here those nomads in regions remote from the restraints of moral, civil, social, and law enforcing life, the Texas cattle drovers, from the very tendencies of their situation the embodiment of waywardness and wantonness, end the journey with their herds, and here they loiter and dissipate, sometimes for months, and share the boughten dalliances of fallen women.”
It's always fun to see where a 'what if' takes the imagination. Thank you for sharing the letters for your inspiration for a great story!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie! For commenting & being the always-awesome you! ❤️
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