Reader Questions
I can't answer every reader question, but I get to as many as I can.
What genre is The Women In Pants series?
I love westerns and think of the stories as westerns, but because they blend a lot of different genre elements I've seen them categorized in a variety of ways. They're often listed as historical fiction and women's fiction. Others classify them as adventure or women's adventure. Some call them literary fiction, though that always sounds stuffy to me. Amazon has a lot of expanded categories, and the first book reached number one bestseller status in the Teen & Young Adult US 19th Century Historical Fiction eBooks category. It's a fascinating category because it has westerns, pirates, magicians, romance, time travel and more — everything from Little House on the Prairie stories to werewolves.
How much research do you do?
The books are fiction, but, like Laurie, the narrator of the stories, I try to be accurate whenever possible. I especially have to be careful about events I've seen or read about in other westerns and historical fiction that I thought were true but weren't. I think little true-to-life touches add depth and make the stories feel more real. For The Women In Pants, I did a lot of research about cattle trails and drives (especially to make sure there were no real cattle drives by an all-female crew) as well as who was the actual sheriff and marshal in Dodge City at the time of the story. For In Pursuit, I needed to research mining operations. For Reputations, I learned a lot about Buffalo Bill. It's all still fiction, though, so I go with whatever I think best serves the story. My most common "cheat" is to shorten the distance the characters have to travel so that I can get them where they need to be.
Did you start out planning to write a series?
Not at all. I had an idea for a western that I thought was pretty good and decided I'd better park my butt in a chair and get it done. It was written mostly to prove to myself that I could do it. If I had had any previous experience or thought there would be audience interest in a sequel, I would have been a lot smarter about not spreading the characters out so far at the end of the first book. Now with each book my first challenge is figuring out how to get them all back together again.
I like that your stories have a lot of emotion. Would you consider them western romances or historical fiction romances?
Family, friendship and love are at the core of all the stories, and there is romance between characters, but I hesitate to classify the stories as western or historical fiction romance because no one has sex under a tree and no well-muscled men are ripping off their shirts. These are western adventures that have elements of romance and humor.
How are you able to write female characters so well?
That's a wonderful compliment! Thank you. Although I have three older brothers and zero sisters, I've been around strong, thoughtful women all of my life. While most of my friends growing up had stay-at-home moms, my mom worked with my dad and my uncle to run a business. My female cousins were smart and independent. Everywhere I've worked in my advertising career, there have been more women than men, and I've observed how intelligent and creative they are. It probably also helps that I think of my characters as real people instead of just plot devices, so that requires giving them real-world traits (both good and bad).