Many of you know me, but for those who don’t, I’m author Kaye Lynne Booth. Through Writing to be Read and WordCrafter, I’ve been able to do some pretty cool things, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, the annual short fiction contest, and the annual short fiction and poetry anthologies published by WordCrafter Press. But along with that comes the operational costs and the annual fee for this blog and domain name will be due in July, and I have discovered that I’m not making enough writing full-time to cover everything. So I got to thinking about other ways that this blog could start paying off, as I struggle to make all of this work.
I got an idea from watching what is working for one of my fellow authors, Patty Fletcher. She produces a sponsored newsletter, which seems to get the desired result. You may know that newsletters are not my strong point, especially if you are already a member of my readers group. Sorry about that guys and gals who are signed up. I promise to try to do better in the future.
I’ve decided to take on book related sponsors only for Writing to be Read. Sponsors will have a mention in the post of your choice, or for a little more you can have a full color ad for your book. Prices can be found on the new Sponsorship page which will be up soon.
So if you follow Writing to be Read and you like the content you find here and find it to be of value, or if you have contributed to or enjoyed any of the annual anthologies published by WordCrafter Press, please consider advertising your work here and becoming a sponsor, and contact me at KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com. I will have sponsor page up soon.
The D.I.Y. Author
Being an author today is more than just writing the book. Authors in this digital age have more opportunities than ever before. Whether you pursue independent or traditional publishing models, or a combination of the two but being an author involves not only writing, but often, the publishing and marketing of the book.In this writer’s reference guide, multi-genre author and independent publisher, Kaye Lynne Booth shares her knowledge and experiences and the tools, books, references and sites to help you learn the business of being an author.
This writer’s reference is must have for upcoming authors aspiring to build an author business and sell books. The D.I.Y. Author releases on June 4th, 2024, but it’s available for pre-order now at the purchase link above. It contains tips and advice on building an author business, from learning to be prolific, to publishing, to marketing and promoting your book.
I’m also hosting a virtual release party right here on Writing to be Read to give this book a proper send off into the world, and I hope you will come and join me. There will be exclusive offers available just for the event, where you can purchase them direct from the author: discounted eBooks, signed print copies, and discounted author services from WordCrafter. So, drop by on the 4th and join in the fun as we launch The D.I.Y. Author.
Here’s the link for the release party but it won’t work until the party goes live on Tuesday morning, June 4th: https://writingtoberead.com/?p=33911
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Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.
We had a great tour for Sarah: Book 2 of the Women in the West Adventure Series, although I would have liked to see a bigger turnout. I enjoyed sharing about myself and about the research and inspiration behind the book with all of you, and I may have made new friends along the way. Thanks to everyone who participated for helping me launch this wonderful book.
The Winners Are…
Each comment on the tour earned an entry in the tour giveaway and a chance to receive a free digital copy of Sarah. So without futher ado…
Drumroll Please.
The winners of the WordCrafter Sarah Book Blog Tour are…
Author Jan Sikes
Priscilla Bettis
Thomastigwikman
Congratulations to the winners!
Please contact me at kayebooth@yahoo.com to receive your free digital copy of Sarah.
Reminder
Today is the last day for tour participants to get a signed print copy of Sarah: Book 2 of the Women in the West Adventure Series. This is an exclusive offer for the tour – my way of saying thanks for your support. Tomorrow it will no longer be available, so get ’em while you can!
Please join us over at Book Places for Day 3 of the WordCrafter Sarah Book Blog Tour, where host Kay Castenada interviews me, the author, Kaye Lynne Booth, and my reading of an excerpt from the book. Remember to comment for entry in the giveaway and you could get a free digital copy of the book. I hope to see you there.
Welcome to the WordCrafter Sarah Book Blog Tour, where we’re celebrating the release of Book 2 in my Women in the West adventure series. We’ve got a five day tour planned and at every stop you can learn more about me, the author, and learn interesting historical facts which inspired my settings and characters through an interview, guest posts, and a review or two, and I’ll be giving away three digital copies of Sarah in the giveaway. You can follow the tour through the schedule below, but the links won’t work until each post goes live.
Tour Schedule
Mon. May 6 – “The Soiled Doves of the American West” – Writing to be Read
Tues. May 7 – “Utes in Glenwood Springs & the Legend of Chapita” – Roberta Writes
In Colorado, the mining town of Cripple Creek had over 300 prostitutes in 1894, and it was home to one of the most high-end brothels in the mining towns of Colorado. The clients were taken by appointment only and were put through a thorough screening process where their finances were scrutinized, as well as their references. Appointments started at $200 an hour and the gentlemen had to have at least a million dollars in the bank to get one. The Old Homestead House brothel was run by the infamous Pearl DeVere and housed five women who squeezed into their corsets, petticoats and fancy dresses every evening to offer their ‘services’ for sale. The girls entertained in luxury on the ground floor, with music provided by the girls, gambling and alcohol available for their enjoyment, but the real entertainment occured on the second floor, in the girl’s rooms.
Although their profession was illegal, authorities and town founders chose to look the other way and add fees, fines and taxes and taxes collected to the town coiffers. Permits were required ply their trade for both madams and doves, and each girl had to undergo a weekly or monthly exam by the town doctor to be cleared for the permit, all of course, at a cost. There was a designated shopping day when the ‘respectable’ ladies stayed indoors so as not to be offended by their presence, and a ‘dove’ caught on the streets on a different day would bring a fine not only upon herself, but upon her madam, as well. And donations made to local causes such as church and school by the madam kept the ‘respectable’ ladies from complaining too much about the very existence of the houses of ill repute.
Less fortunate women in the profession, who did not work in such a high-end establishment were found up and down the street They received less for their services, with small make-shift shacks in which to entertain their customers. Independent doves who had no madam to offer a place to offer their services and provide protection from unsavory types, might provide services in the shadows of an alley for as little as a dollar gold piece.
Meet Big Nose Kate
Big Nose Kate Horony is one of the historical characters which the Women in the West adventure series is known for. In real life, she was an independent prostitute and one-time Madam, who made her own way in the west and was companion to the infamous John Henry “Doc” Holliday, and her portrayal in Sarah, as ‘the woman behind the man’ is a true and accurate story. Kate was there, and she really did go into the hills of the surrounding canyon and gather firewood to sell in order to keep a roof over Doc’s head as he lay dying of tuberculosis, too weak to practice his trade as a gambler.
Mary Katherine Horony – Big Nose Kate, Public Domain Image
One of the fascinating things about the Women in the West adventure series is the fact that there is a true-life historical female character in a supporting role, along with the strong female protagonist in each book. In Sarah, the supporting historical character is Mary Katherine Horony, (Big Nose Kate), who was the consort of the infamous dentist, gambler, and gunfighter, John Henry (Doc) Holliday. In this case, our character was the woman behind the man, and is little known for her own merit.
Born Mary Katherine Horoney on November 7, 1850, who lived in Mexico as a child, she was the daughter of a the personal surgeon to the Emporer Maximillian until her family immigrated to Iowa when she was 10. As the daughter of a prominant surgeon, Kate was educated and it is said that she spoke several languages.
At the age of 15, she and her younger siblings were orphaned when both of their parents died within a few months of each other, and the children were split up and placed into foster care. But Kate ran away within a year, and she and her sister traveled to St. Louis and by 1869, in a time when there were few opportunities for females to earn a living. A self-sufficient woman in the rough and tumble of the American west, Kate worked as a dance hall girl, a prostitute, or just about any way she could to make a buck.
In Texas, she crossed paths with John Henry “Doc” Holliday, a dentist turned gambler, who became a notorious gunfighter, and they were traveling companions, on and off, until his dying days. A strong woman with a hot Hungarian temper, she and Doc had their ups and downs as they frequented saloons and gambling houses in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, living a life of vice and liquor. Even so, Kate was always there to back up Doc’s play, even setting a she on fire to distract his guards and breaking him out of house arrest to avaoid a lynch mob, after he stabbed a man who accused him of cheating at cards. It is said that for a time, Kate even had her own bordello in Tombstone, before she reunited with Doc after one of their many seperations.
When Doc was dying in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a friend contacted her and she traveled to Glenwood Springs to care for her destitute lifelong companion, gathering firewood in the nearby hills to cover his room and board when he could no longer support himself. And that is where my fictional character of Sarah, or Hair of Fire, meets Kate in my story, after a harrowing ordeal of survival through the mountains of Colorado.
You can learn more about Kate and Doc in my guest post from the tour for Delilah: Book 1 on Kay Castenada’s Book Places blog site.
Sarah is a young girl trying to make a place for herself in the world.
Sarah is not the young girl who was stolen away from Delilah anymore. Now she is Hair of Fire, mate of Three Hawks, even as she blossoms into a young woman and tries to make a place for herself among the Ute tribe.
When she is stolen away from the life she’s made with the Utes, she struggles to survive in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. A streak of stubbornness and determination take this tough, feisty heroine up against wild beasts of the forest and the rugged mountain landscape to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where she receives a less than welcoming reception by some.
Will this young woman find her way back to the Ute tribe, which she’s come to think of as family, or will she discover a place among the colorful inhabitants of the Colorado hot springs and mining town?
Follow along on her journey to learn who she truly is and where she belongs in this rough, and often hostile frontier.
If you like strong and capable female protagonists, you’ll love Sarah.
The Women in the West adventure series features strong female protagonists in a setting filled with hardship, which many believed did not fit well with the female constitution. Women on the frontier were few, and most of those were included in a family unit. Single and widowed women did exist on the frontier, as did those whose husbands just never came home for whatever reason, went back to the family unit in most cases. Women who chose to go it alone, defying societal expectations were rare. Those who did, chose a hard life and had to have backbone to survive.
While my protagonists are fictional, they are representative of strong women who did make a way for themselves, out of choice or necessity, and each book introduces a fictionalized version of one such historical female character who plays a supporting role in the story. In Delilah, it was Baby Doe Tabor. In Sarah, it is Big Nose Kate. And Marta will feature Clara Brown.
About the Author
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
That wraps up the first stop on the tour. Thank you all for joining us. Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance at a free digital copy of the book. Join us tomorrow over at [ ], where I’ll be guest posting on how the history of the Ute Indians helped me choose my settings.
Hey Everybody! Sarah, Book 2 in the Women in the West Adventure Series is available for pre-order. It will be released on May 7, 2024, but you can reserve your copy now.
And don’t miss out on the WordCrafter Sarah Book Blog Tour, May 6-10, starting right here on “Writing to be Read”, where you can learn more about the book and the series. There will be guest posts, interviews with the author, a reading, and a review. You’ll have the opportunity to check out the book trailer for Sarah, engage with the author, and a chance to win a free digital copy of the book.
This post has been a long time in coming. It was promised back when I posted “Writer’s Corner: Creating Characters with Depth” back in September. I finally got back around to tackling this subject, so let’s delve in.
While our characters need to be deep, they also need to be characters which readers can relate to and feel like they know, so that readers will care about what happens in our story enough to keep reading. A good part of this work is done at the beginning of the story, where we first introduce our characters. There are several methods we can use to make our characters feel more real to readers.
Save the Cat
All characters are flawed, just as all people are flawed, but they must also have redeeming qualities if readers are going to care about what happens to them. This method of redeeming our characters comes from Blake Snyder and his screenwriting book of the same name, Save the Cat. The idea is to reveal the good qualities of your protagonist through a good deed, like saving a cat in an opening scene.
Not all protagonists start out a story as the good guy or hero. In fact, in a story which follows the hero’s journey, the protagonist is usually reluctant to take on the role which he or she has been given. Bilbo Baggins comes to mind from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, where the character has no desire to leave his cozy hobbit hole and go on the adventure he’s been called on to take.
In Sarah, which will be released next month, I have a scene where we see Sarah, who goes by Hair of Fire in her Ute family, sits at the bedside of a sick child, administering healing medicines and showing concern for the child. Sarah is a nice character and this small act is enough to show reveal her caring qualities. Her hero’s journey begins when she is snatched away from her tribe and has no choice but to embark upon her journey.
Often our characters are not nice people to start out with, and developing redeeming qualities may be a part of their character arc, so the changes won’t be seen until fiurther along in the story. But they must have some redeeming qualities or the readers may not like them enough to route for them.
The worse a character is, the bigger the redeeming deed must be. So if you have a character like Dexter, a serial killer who kills serial killers you must try harder to show the softer, caring side, by showing how he supports his sister and can really be a nice guy. I would think it could be really rough getting readers, or viewers, to relate to someone who goes out and brutally kills people, even if they might deserve it. Dexter’s save the cat event comes when he saves the next victim of the serial killers who become his victims, a tricky ploy to pull off for the writers. Redeeming a character like Dexter could be quite a challenge.
Heart’s Desire
I was listening to Wulf Moon on the Stark Reflections podcast, episode 341. Wulf is a writer who found success at a young age and winner of the Writers of the Future contest, who turned his own success into a way to help his fellow writers to learn about the essentials of writing a good story. He claims readers must see & feel what is important to the character, what drives them to action and propels the story forward in order to care about the character and carry them through the story or series. Wulf calls this the “Heart’s Desire” and he claims that he’s found that one of the mistakes beginning writers make often is to not tap into the heart’s desire and let your readers see this aspect of your character.
I discussed this a bit in that previous blog blog post, (linked above), on giving your characters depth using the character triangle to identifying the character’s flaws, their need, and their “want”, but “Heart’s Desire” is stronger and more applicable term for the motivating factor for your character. No matter what you call it, by revealing what matters to your character, and what makes them take action, and their flaws, readers get a glimpse into what makes your character human.
Subtext and Inner Dialog
In The Rock Star & The Outlaw, Amaryllis is an adrenaline junkie who thrives on taking risks with her life through drugs, alcohol, and dangerous behaviors. Not a very savory character to start with at the beginning of the story, she winds up killing her boyfriend in self-defense and running from his cronnies and the law. In order to make readers care about her, I had to reveal things about her past, and show her vulnerablities through her relationship with Monique, her interactions with LeRoy, and her determination to stay by his side when she could have run and saved herself. To be sure my readers didn’t overlook the hints as to her motivations, I revealed them through inner dialog and subtext, putting her thoughts out there so there would be no misunderstandings about her motivations.
Subtext is found in body language and tone of voice. It is the feelings which lie just below the surface and may indicate things are quite different from what they appear. You can check out my archive post from 2017, “Dialog: Talking in Subtext” to get a deeper discussion on how to use subtext to make your characters feel more real.
Inner dialog can be used anywhere it is needed to clarify character motivations and help readers see where the character is coming from or understand the direction in which they are going, helping readers to relate to them. When Dexter’s inner thoughts are revealed, and they use this a lot in that series, viewers come away feeling that his actions are, if not justified, then at least understandable, making Dexter seem like maybe not such a bad guy, if misguided by his background. If readers, or viewers, can see the character’s point of view, they understand the character better, even if they don’t agree with it.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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