Kizzie's Kisses: From Character and Setting to Plot

In my last post on the development of my novel, Kizzie’sKisses, in the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series, I wrote how I used the descendant chart the Sweet Americana Sweethearts authors put together to develop my characters and setting. You may access the first two blog posts. 

• The first one about developing the descendant chart you may read by CLICKING HERE. 
• The post about developing my main characters and setting you may read by CLICKING HERE.

I described a bit of the setting that was established by one of our other authors. We knew Mary and Ezra Benton would plan to go to Oregon, but he would get sick and die, leaving Mary with her three children far from their former home in Ohio. One of the authors in our group, P. A. Estelle, accepted the challenge to write up a scenario so we would know where the family ended up when Ezra died, how she would meet Edward Palmer, and where the family would be living at the time our stories begin. She is the one who put Edward and Mary (Grandma Mary, the quilt-maker) Palmer in Salina, Kansas.

My character, Kizzie Atwell, is the oldest grandchild. She marries in 1865, the last year of the Civil War. When I started Kizzie’s Kisses, I was just sure I was writing a Civil War novel. After all, in many ways, the Civil War started in Kansas almost from the time the territory was opened to white settlement in 1854. The fighting between the free-soil movement and abolitionists against the pro-slavery advocates who moved to Kansas from Missouri led to the famous expression, “Bleeding Kansas.”

 

Territory Map of Kansas

Ha-ha! Did I get fooled. Those characters of mine had minds of their own. Put together with the setting, the plot went a different direction than my original plan. All my research into the Kansas cavalry regiments of the time will have to wait for another book.

 

Early map of Kansas Counties

When I first read the scenario where the grandparents moved to Kansas, I assumed it was soon after Mary Godwin Benton married Edward Palmer in 1845. From that, I got it in my head that most of Mary’s children plus Edward’s son, Stephen, would have gone with them. Once I started researching the history of Kansas, I realized they needed to migrate to Kansas much later. In spite of that, knowing from my study into family history research that families and communities often traveled together, I decided that the oldest daughter, Jemima Benton Atwell, and her husband, Sidney Atwell, plus their children and some Atwell cousins would go to Salina, Kansas too.

What was happening in Salina, Kansas in the 1850’s and early 1860’s?

February, 1858 – A townsite along the Saline River was located and given the name of Salina. The region was officially unorganized territory known as the Arapaho District. However, that same month and year, the Kansas Legislature passed a bill organizing and defining the boundary lines of five new counties west of the 6th principal meridian, among them Saline County. Saline County was on the edge of the frontier. To the west was Cheyenne buffalo hunting grounds. 

Cheyenne Buffalo Hunt

1858 – The first stock of goods to Saline County was brought by George Pickard. The great floods that occurred in that year, washed away all the Government bridges on the Smoky Hill, Saline and Solomon Rivers. Another road was built on the south side of the Smoky Hill River between Salina and Kansas City.

1859 – Gold was discovered at Cherry Creek in Colorado, and the The Smoky Hill Trail, which followed an ancient Indian trail along the Smoky Hill River, was traveled to reach this region. It started at Fort Leavenworth and Kansas City, followed the north side of the Kansas and Smoky Hill Rivers and passed through Salina before travelers entered Cheyenne land. This trail cut about 120 miles off when compared to traveling the Oregon/California/Mormon Trail along the Platte River. The Cheyenne were extremely hostile to whites entering their territory, even if they were only passing through.

 

Kansas Map showing Smoky Hill Trail and Santa Fe Trail

Wolf Robe, Cheyenne

April, 1862 – as described in the records of the times, "Indians" massacred white settlers and burned down their farm buildings west of Salina. They reached Salina itself.

September, 1862 – Bushwhackers invaded Salina. There was no loss of life, but they stole provisions, weapons, ammunition, horses and mules.

The closest fort to Salina was Fort Riley, established in 1853 about fifty miles to the east of Salina on the north banks of the Kansas River. The regiments stationed at the fort were not only involved in Civil War actions against the bushwhackers and Confederate soldiers in both Kansas and Arkansas, but they protected the people living on the Kansas frontier from Indian attacks. As the Indian tribes were later pushed into Indian Territory, Fort Riley became a cavalry training fort.

Fort Riley, Cavalry Training Camp, 1920's

What does all that have to do with my plot? My book starts with Kizzie fleeing east to Fort Riley where her father and uncle (Jefferson Atwell, Sidney Atwell’s older brother) had gone to sell cattle. She wants to get help for the rest of her family who find themselves fleeing from the Indians attacking white settlers around Salina. Later in the book, both the bushwhacker attack on Salina, and Fort Riley pay a part in the plot.

My book, Kizzie’s Kisses, is now on pre-order. It will be released on Monday, January 9th. Be aware: the book is currently at the pre-release sale price of $.99 which will continue through January 9th. Starting January 10th, it will go to its regular price of $2.99. The book is also available on Kindle Unlimited. You can purchase this book on pre-order by CLICKING HERE.

You will want to read all the books in the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series. To find then all in one place, please visit and follow the series page on Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

To keep track of any games, parties, contests and special information about the Grandma's Wedding Quilts series, please "like" and follow the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts page on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

There are two days left of a Quilt Contest Trivia Game which continues through January 8th. By playing that game, you will have a chance to win prizes including free ebooks, signed copies of print books, Amazon gift cards and a new 7" Kindle Fire. Even though you may have missed the first few days, you still may qualify to win the daily prizes or the grand prizes. CLICK HERE.

 

The Sweet Americana Sweethearts authors plan to keep writing together to create more book series. You can keep track of our progress two ways. First, please visit and follow the SweetAmericana Sweethearts blog by CLICKING HERE. 

Second, join the SweetAmericana Book Club group on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

From Descendant Chart to Characters and Setting

My excitement is building as I prepare for the release of my newest novel, Kissie's Kisses, which is part of the Grandma's Weddng Quilts series.  Yesterday we had our launch party on Facebook. I hope you were able to attend. If not, I wish to share a little bit of background about my writing of this book that I shared during my fast and furious fifteen minutes plus a little more.

I explained in an earlier post how the authors in the Grandma's Wedding Quilts group get up the framework on which the each author could build. If you missed this post, you may access it by CLICKING HERE. 

When it came time for us to choose our grandchildren and develop their characters as well as that of their romantic interest, I held back to give the other authors first choice. Many authors in the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog write either historical westerns set in the 1870-80's, or write Victorian novels set slightly later. Many of those dates went first. No one jumped on our gal with a marriage date in 1865. Since I enjoy reading and writing about the Civil War years, I took Kizzie Atwell.

 When developing Kizzie's character, I used the cover image as a guide. As it turns out, even though I wrote the scene with Kizzie in the pink frilly dress in the fancy room into her story, it was not the real, everyday Kizzie.

My book, Kizzie’s Kisses, is now on pre-order. It will be released on Monday, January 9th. You can purchase this book on pre-order by CLICKING HERE.

Since I knew my story would take place about the time of the Civil War, I ORIGINALLY planned on my character, Leander Jones, being a Union soldier. I found some pictures of unidentified soldiers who enlisted in the 11th Kansas cavalry. This is the one I chose for Leander.

However, as I was writing the story, I realized my characters have minds of their own. Leander wasn’t inclined to join the Army at Fort Riley where he would be subject to being ordered about by egotistical West Point officers. Instead, he continued to be his own boss by doing contract freighting for the military on both the Smoky Hill River Trail and the Santa Fe Trail. I never heard of the Smoky Hill River Trail until I did the research for this story. From 1863 on, he carried supplies to the new Fort Union, the frontier fort being built of adobe to replace the earthenworks star fort.

 

Kizzie Atwell and her family lived along the Smoky Hill River just east of Salina, Kansas. Kansas had barely been open for white American settlement only 10 years earlier. In 1862 when Kizzie’s story begins, Salina was on the western edge of the frontier in what had been Cheyenne buffalo hunting land. The story opens with Kizzie and her family fleeing from an Indian massacre, an event that actually took place just west of Salina. Here is a picture taken along the Smoky Hill River. The Atwell farm house might have looked like this.

 

1867 photograph of farm house by Smoky Hill River

You will want to read all the books in the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series. To find then all in one place, please visit and follow the series page on Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

To keep track of any games, parties, contests and special information about the Grandma's Wedding Quilts series, please "like" and follow the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts page on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

We are also sponsoring a Quilt Contest Trivia Game starting on Tuesday, January 3rd and running through January 8th. By playing that game, you will have a chance to win prizes including free ebooks, signed copies of print books, Amazon gift cards and a new 7" Kindle Fire. Even though our first day is past, you still may qualify to win the daily prizes or the grand prizes. CLICK HERE.

The Sweet Americana Sweethearts authors plan to keep writing together to create more book series. You can keep track of our progress two ways. First, please visit and follow the SweetAmericana Sweethearts blog by CLICKING HERE.

Second, join the SweetAmericana Book Club group on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.


 

Welcome New Year, Welcome to Grandma's Wedding Quilts - The Series

Today marks the start of a special time. Besides being the recognized New Year’s Day holiday which many employees have off work, it is marks the start of a busy week for me as the authors of the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog officially launch the Grandma’sWedding Quilts series.

Eleven authors who write for the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog banded together to put together a romance series. We tossed around several scenarios on which we could build our series. Being both a family historian and a quilter myself, I was thrilled when the group decided on adopting many of my ideas that led to the series, Grandma’s Wedding Quilts.

We (well, I started it; I’m the chart queen, much to the chagrin of some of the other authors.) helped put together a descendant chart for a fictional family. It was built around Grandma Mary Alice Godwin Benton Palmer born in Ohio in 1810. She was married first to Ezra Benton in 1828, by whom she had three children: Jemima “Mima,” Franklin and Viola Grace. Like many farmers of their day, intrigued by reports of prime farmland in Oregon Territory, the family traveled south to join a wagon train traveling west. Unfortunately, Ezra sickened along the way and in 1843, he died, leaving his little family stranded in Boonville, Missouri. There Mary met Edward Palmer, a widower with a young son. She was hired to cook and keep house for him as well as help raise Stephen Palmer. Mary married Edward two years later in 1845.

They later moved to Salina, Kansas after the Kansas Territory opened up to white settlement. By then, some of the children were older and went their own way. One of our authors wrote out this scenario which, in addition to the descendant chart, we used as a guide for the development of our stories.

 

Kansas Territory -  formed in 1854 and opened to settlement, admitted as a state in 1861.

 As a family historian, besides Mary Alice, I suggested a few names I knew to be old-fashioned and the group adopted them. Godwin is a surname from my husband’s family tree. Also, there was a Jemima Godwin, who was occasionally listed as Mima on some of the records.

Those four children married and had children. About the time her grandchildren started to marry, Grandma Mary decided to make a wedding quilt for each grandchild. Each quilt was unique. Something Grandma Mary did that was different from many quilters is that she saved a remembrance of each grandchild for herself. The individual wedding quilts were made with blocks all of the same color and design. However, Mary made an additional block of each quilt design for herself. In the corner of each, she embroidered the names of the couple and the year of their marriage. In honor of little Georgie, the grandson who died when he was two, she made a LeMoyne Star. She stitched these twelve blocks together to make a sampler quilt for herself. Here is an example of a modern sampler quilt:

The book series is about the romances of the individual grandchildren. The marriages started in 1865 and continued until 1890. Each author selected a grandchild and developed their own story using the foundation of the descendant chart and early history for Grandma Mary’s family to guide them. The stories are now written and scheduled for publication. It is time to introduce the romances of the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series to the world.

You can get a sense of how these quilts traveled down through time by reading Grandma’s Wedding Quilts – The Prequel written by Kate Cambridge. This book is already published and you may purchase it from Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

To find all the books in the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series, please visit and follow the series page on Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

To keep track of any games, parties, contests and special information about this series, please "like" and follow the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts page on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

To launch this series, we are having a Facebook Party between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, January 3rd. You may join in the fun, learn more about each of the books and win prizes by CLICKING HERE.

We are also sponsoring a Quilt Contest game starting on Tuesday, January 3rd and running through January 8th. By playing that game, you will have a chance to win prizes including free ebooks, signed copies of print books, Amazon gift cards and a new 7" Kindle Fire. More on that in tomorrow’s blog post.

The Sweet Americana Sweethearts authors plan to keep writing together to create more book series. You can keep track of our progress two ways. First, please visit and follow the SweetAmericana Sweethearts blog by CLICKING HERE.

Second, join the SweetAmericana Book Club group on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

All of the books about the grandchildren are on pre-order. They will be published at the rate of one per day starting with my book, Kizzie’s Kisses, on Monday, January 9th. You can purchase this book on pre-order by CLICKING HERE.

More about my journey writing Kizzie’s Kisses in future blog posts.

Enjoy the journey. 

Enjoy the Grandma's Wedding Quilts series. 

Enjoy learning about lives and loves of Grandma Mary's grandchildren.