Velda Brotherton's Page

GO WEST YOUNG WOMAN

This story is atypical of many groups who headed west in the earliest migrations. Getting a late start, a small group of wagons left Sapling Grove, Missouri on May 12, 1841. In the group were 35 men, 5 women and 10 children. about 20 miles west or Independence, MO., and not one of them had any notion of what lay ahead.

Of the women in the group three were married, one was a widow and one was a girl of marriageable age traveling with kin. Totally…

In researching for Western Historical Novels, I've run across some strange historical facts. I thought I'd share a few of them here, and illustrate how some showed up in my romance novels.

Frank James quoted Shakespeare, and he and brother Jesse liked to have their pictures made. In Images In Scarlet, they kidnap Allie Caine to take those photos.

If you think the Civil War actually ended when Lee surrendered, then it’s back to the books. The final battle took place out west at…

Researching and Writing Regional History

Have you ever wondered where a writer obtains historical information or interviews? I began writing regional history long before the advent of the Internet as a feature writer for a weekly newspaper. Searching for the same facts today is much easier if we’re computer literate. Yet nothing beats contact with the people who have stories to share.

During the nine years I wrote for the newspaper, I must have interviewed…

Many times I'm asked where I get ideas for my western historical romances. It's simple, really. In fact I have enough stuff scribbled down to write these books for another twenty years or so. I prefer to write about the 1860s through the 1880s, though that's not a set rule. Each time I go on a trip through that era in my research the most fascinating thing happens. Characters begin to appear and talk to me. Tell me what it's like to live in the time and place I've stepped into. They speak to…