Hi there, writers of Western!

If you have a newly-posted manuscript on Book Country, and are seeking readers & feedback, here's the place to talk about it. Go for it.

Nevena

BC Coordinator

--edited by Nevena Georgieva on 7/2/2013, 9:58 AM--

Hi, Nevena,

I've always had trouble defining my historical novels. They are set in Montana Territory during the Civil War, but they are not the traditional Western. They don't feature two men inexorably moving toward a showdown in which one of them is killed. A killing doesn't end any of my books or restore order, peace and justice. Life was then, as it is now, far too complex -- even without the Internet and cell phones.

I write historical novels in which people are forced to make dangerous choices where justice and forgiveness collide.

The Ghost at Beaverhead Rock:

Montana Territory, December 1864. Mercury freezes in thermometers and Civil War passions boil. During the previous winter, Vigilantes hanged 24 criminals, but with Territorial status, Montana is about to gain its first Constitutional system of justice. Daniel Stark, the Vigilante prosecutor, welcomes the court. Other Vigilantes, however, vow to correct the courts’ mistakes when they fail to protect honest citizens. As a rift widens among them, a fellow Vigilante accuses Dan of murder. He knows that if the true killer is not discovered, he could be tried for the crime, convicted by a jury, and hanged. Even if the court acquitted him, he would not be safe from some of his fellow Vigilantes, who might take it upon themselves to try him and, if they found him guilty, hang him. As he pictures himself on the gallows, the ghost of a hanged man haunts him. Is it a vision of his fate to come? Is it retribution? Dan tells himself, I do not believe in ghosts.

--edited by CarolBMT on 7/16/2014, 7:09 PM--

I enjoy reading and writing Westerns and had one almost finished some years ago, historical fiction that took place in Tombstone Arizona, when the hard drive on my old computer crashed and I lost it and several other finished manuscripts. I've since purchased an external HDD and everything is saved to it.

The problem with Westerns is, what publisher wants a traditional Louis L'Amour type Western these days? Even many agents now specifically state that they aren't interested in handling western novels. Or novelllas as some might refer to them, of 50K to 60K words.

The Western is defined only by its setting, west of the Mississippi River, and its time frame: prior to 1940. It is a broad and wide-ranging genre, and the traditional Western is only one shrinking part of it.

Think of it: a vast and varied landscape composed of white-topped mountains, deserts below sea level, the Great Plains, many mountain ranges. It's a region that does not lend itself to generalization. A person cannot make a generalization about the Desert Southwest that will hold true in Montana, except in the broadest sense. Were there outlaws? Of course, just as there are bad guys now. Did some marshals, sheriffs, and other lawmen slide to the other side of the law? Sure, just like today. Was there cattle rustling? Yes, just like now.

Greed existed then as now. No matter what laws there were or are, human ingenuity will find a way around or through them.

Was there greater than average violence? In the late nineteenth century the nation emerged from the Civil War, which imprinted thousands of survivors, military and civilian alike, with memories of corpses strewn across acres of ground, and arms and legs piled as high as second story windows.

Was there lawlessness? You bet. But in what became Montana during the Civil War, the Vigilantes who rid the gold fields of a rapacious gang of armed robbers and murderers established the law where there was not even a code of law, and they kept the peace until the law could be established and take hold in a new territory.

Don't ever say there's nothing to write about the West except the formulaic two men meeting in a duel at sundown. Or sunrise. Or noon. This country hasn't even begun to yield its rich deposits of stories. But I and other writers in this genre and digging into the history, and  finding gold in stories bound to become the literature of the West.

I have recently posted a new short story (less that 1000 words) that would be considered western/dark comedy. I wrote it for a contest entry.

It is called "High Sheriff of Notoe" by Rob Emery.  It is what it is designed to be and I don't see how it could be expanded on. Perhaps there is someone among you who could show me a way to turn this into something more that a short story

Thanks and good writing, Rob Emery

Hello Western Writers:

Having written over 4,100 pages of western stories so far, there is no bigger fan of westerns than me.

I grew up watching John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Glen Ford, Jimmy Stewart and so many others who entertained millions.

It is odd though for me to write westerns in 2011.

Between 2002 and 2009 all I wrote were ghost stories.

Had someone bet me in 2009 that my first book would be a western I would have taken that bet, lol.

I am new here so have not posted any ofmy writings and haven't decided if I will.

I am a procrastinator in that area.

But I will take some time to browse this site.

Raymond

So sorry to hear about your hard drive crash.

I tried writing a western book seen thru the eyes of Native Americans as wagon train after wagon train and soldiers took their lands. I made it to 65 pages I think and it was very powerful, but I dead ended. So I deleted the file and regret it to this day. Now a days I keep everything written on CD's and on a back up external hard drive.

All writers should do this because we all know, if you had to start from scratch to write something over again it would never be as powerful as the original you wrote.

raymond

No truer words were spoken.

After writing 18 westerns I told all my friends that I wasn't going to write another western and that in January I was going to go back to writing ghost stories in January.

But all of them chided me and said; "Ahh, come on, you still got a book or two in ya." and thus my 19th western was penned. Now I am working on my 20th book with one more to write after that.

Raymond

Raymond--welcome to Book Country! Please let me know if I can help show you around the site.

*18* westerns?!?! That is incredible. What do you think makes the genre so beloved to you?

Lucy

It appears there's been little activity here of late.

If you would like to read a western set on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at the end of the 19th Century, check out-

Riding for the Brand-http://www.bookcountry.com/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=8116

 As the 19th Century draws to a close, John Everett Sage is a man on the edge. He’s a husband, a father, a lawman, and a man whose courage and commitment are shaken by the scars of his past, the politics of the present, and the rapidly changing times. He might just make it all work out, if he can stay alive.

It's a work in progress, about 2/3 finished. I would love some beta readers and any comment you have would be helpful.

I hope you enjoy it.

I've forgotten how to post the link.

For those of you like Westerns, I've added the rest of Chapter 22 and all of Chapter 23 in, Riding For The Brand. Check it out.

Thanks,

Dan