Today I welcome author Suzanne Bratcher as she shares about where she finds settings for her stories. And keep reading--she has generously offered a free ebook to one lucky winner.
I sat on the left side of the room listening to the instructor say, “Always start a story from a character or a plot. Never start from setting.” I wanted to object. I always start my stories from setting. In fact, that’s what I did with my recently completed mystery trilogy. Those books all began in my favorite town—Jerome, Arizona. A town that thrived from the late 1800s until the early 1950s mining copper, silver, and gold ore, Jerome is now an artist community with a population of fewer than five hundred. A tourist attraction because of its unusual history, Jerome is known as the largest ghost town in America and the billion-dollar copper camp.
As I began the first book, The Copper Box, I needed to discover the characters. I wondered who might be drawn to Jerome because of its ghosts. I wasn’t writing fantasy, so I considered ghosts that haunt us from the past. Antiques expert Marty Greenlaw was in Jerome to lay to rest the ghost of her sister. Had she killed little Ruthie twenty-two years before? Historian Paul Russell was in Jerome to lay to rest the ghost of his wife. Was he to blame for the car crash that killed Linda? The plot grew as these two characters searched for a copper box Marty thought would unlock her memory and solve the mystery. But someone else wanted the copper box, someone willing to kill for it.
The second book, The Silver Lode, followed the same characters, but this time the plot grew from Jerome’s other title, billion-dollar copper camp. As I researched mining in the early years of Jerome, I read about a rare formation called a silver lode—a vein of silver ore mixed with pure gold. While a silver lode was never discovered in Jerome, the geologic conditions were right for it. The plot for this story grew out of a murder that occurred seventy years before when the silver lode was discovered. Would more murders follow as Paul and Marty tried to solve the cold case?
Because the ores copper and silver were in the titles of the first two books, the last one title needed to include gold. A legend tells that when Coronado marched through the Verde Valley searching for the Seven Cities of Gold, he left gold doubloons near Jerome. In The Gold Doubloons the plot revolved around a contemporary search for the coins. When Paul and Marty’s foster son searched for the doubloons at Montezuma Castle, an ancient cliff dwelling, someone died. Was that fall from a cliff an accident—or was it murder?
Who says a writer can’t start from setting? From this one little town, I wrote three mysteries with different plots. I hope you have as much fun reading the Jerome Mysteries as I had writing them.
Giveaway:
What is your favorite town? Leave a comment, and we will randomly select one lucky person to win a free ebook of The Gold Dubloons. Please leave your email as well, so we can contact you. Cleverly disguise your email so the bots don’t find you, for example, donna AT livebytheword DOT com. Comments without an email will not be included in the drawing.
About Gold Dubloons:
When Coronado marched through the Verde Valley in 1542, looking for the Seven Cities of Gold, Yavapai scouts took him to a mine near present-day Jerome. Coronado didn’t find what he was looking for, but a persistent legend says he left behind a bag of gold doubloons. Now, almost five hundred years later, Reed Harper, Paul and Marty Russell’s foster son, needs those precious coins to finance the future he dreams of.
But Reed isn’t the only one determined to find the gold doubloons. As the search intensifies in the caves around Jerome and extends to the ancient cliff dwelling called Montezuma Castle, someone dies. Was the fall from a cliff that borders Montezuma Well an accident—or was it murder?
When a second fall from the same cliff puts Reed in a coma, the sheriff arrests him for murder. But Scott Russell knows his foster brother is innocent. Convinced a ruthless killer is after Reed, Scott rushes to protect him. Will Paul and Marty find the teens in time to rescue them, or will the murderer claim another victim?
About Suzanne:
Suzanne J. Bratcher, Ph.D., delights in writing contemporary mysteries woven with romance and sprinkled with history. Her award-winning novels are set in the very real ghost town of Jerome, Arizona as well as the four corners states: New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Bratcher lives in Prescott Valley, Arizona. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading with her granddaughter, laughing at her rescue cat, and piecing colorful quilt scraps. To learn more about Bratcher and her writing, visit her website and sign up for her monthly newsletter.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorsuzannebratcher/
Website: https://suzannebratcher.com
Buy Links
The Copper Box https://bit.ly/ScrivCBox
The Silver Lode https://bit.ly/SLode
The Gold Doubloons https://bit.ly/GDoubloons
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