Books and Other Helps in Writing The Gold Rush Christmas

I sat down one November day, not long after I’d signed the contract for The Gold Rush Christmas, and stared at the computer screen.

What was this novella about?

I’d just finished another project and had been awarded this contract on the basis of a short description. I knew the location and basic plot, but I didn’t know the characters or much more about what would happen in this story beyond boy/girl twins and boy next door journey to Alaska in search of the twin’s missionary father.

Where would you start?

I went to the Internet and the history books and began reading as much as possible about 1897 Skagway, Alaska. I’d been there 20 years before with my husband, his father, our godson, and our three sons–in other words, Michelle and six guys went camping.

I’d done my research before that trip, taken all four boys to the Klondike Gold Rush Museum in Seattle and watched White Fang. A lot of it was hazy but when I picked up the books again, it came back pretty quickly.

I remembered the bad guy Soapy Smith, though not why he was bad. I knew lots of “sporting women,” went to Alaska, but had forgotten details about their life.

The Chilkoot Trail photo vividly portrayed a scene I’d work into my tale. I picked up Jack London’s stories and read a fantastic recent book, The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush by Howard Blum.

Internet resources

The Internet provided many nuggets to consider when crafting the story line. Mollie Walsh’s story caught my imagination, particularly when I learned she had sailed to Skagway in the right time frame with the first real missionary to the Klondike, the Reverend R. M. Dickey.

And somewhere–I don’t remember where, now–I read a fantastic story that became the hinge of The Gold Rush Christmas.

The Reverend R. M. Dickey published a narrative of his experiences: Gold Fever: The Great Klondike Gold Rush, 1897-1899. I knew the book could give me insight into a lot of life in Skagway and so I ordered it on line.

Three different times before I finally got a copy.

And when I did read Rev. Dickey’s actual descriptions of his life, I discovered the details of that fantastic story.

I even quoted him!

The sporting women “incident” became useful when I considered the pompous book-loving “hero” of The Gold Rush Christmas. He needed to learn some lessons and the details found in Dickey’s book, along with several others, gave me the hooks I needed to turn Miles into a full fledged character, not a stereotype.

The Harris twins and Miles spend several chapters traveling to Skagway. In my search for information about the type of ship, I ended up at an amazing website: The Steamship Historical Society of America. Astrid Drew was a cheerful and terrific help and even turned up photos of the Aliki!

A visit to my local used bookstore, Treehorn, also produced photo essays about the time. From the book, I learned the telegraph station in Skagway was bogus, Dr. Runnals ran the mail, and Peter Harris would work on the White Pass Trail, rather than the Chilkoot.

I was sorry to lose that dramatic photo from above, but plenty of folks wrote about the horrors of the White Pass–most of which were too graphic to describe for an historical romance.

A Christmas totem pole plays a part in the ending. I knew I could figure one out by reading Tlingit legends, but what if someone had actually already designed one?

The Reverend David Fison beat me to it and graciously asked me to include his design in the story.

But the fictional people, where did they come from?

Donald Harris exemplified the attitude of Nehemiah in the Old Testament–a man who disregarded the siren call of comfort to stay at the task God had sent him to do. Nehemiah’s story has set in my heart for 25 years; I’m glad to finally get to honor it!

Peter is just as tall, self-assured and powerful as my own brother.

And our heroine, Samantha?

Easy.

I know her all too well.

Do you like such attention to detail in reading? What do you know about the Alaskan gold rush?

 

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