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To Hell or the Pecos, by Patrick Dearen, is a fast-paced western that had me flipping the virtual pages on my iPad as fast as my finger could swipe. (Oh, I was riding a bucking bronco at the time, and shooting at bandits to save a rancher’s daughter. Just so you know I’m not a total . . . → Read More: Galloping To Hell or the Pecos; or, One Bucko’s Review of a Novel of Pursuit, Redemption, and River Crossings   4 comments  Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly  american west, cowboy code, Horsehead Crossing, novel writing, Patrick Dearen, Pecos River, Pecos River fiction, Texas A&M University Press, texas fiction, to Hell or the Pecos, western novels, westerns, writing novels is great Writing a novel is hard work. Writing a good western can be even more daunting: westerns, which tend to have plotlines so well traveled you can drive a wagon train through them, nonetheless require historical specificity and a protagonist who typifies rugged individuality—laconic and gimlet-eyed from the start or in a dude-to-hero arc. So whenever I read . . . → Read More: Writing the High Country; or, Author Larry Bjornson on His Western, Wide Open 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Uncategorized, Wrangling a Novel abilene 1871, american west, essential western plots, larry bjornson, novel writing, Western, western themes, wide open, wild bill hickok, wild west, writing a western novel Some Silver-Screen Western Heroes have big pecs and holsters hanging alongside their brass balls. The Silver-Screen Western Antihero Some have breasts that don’t sag and thighs without cellulite, even if they try to wreak vengeance in a poncho. Gratiuitous Raquel Welch photo All ride into town and act all aloof and lo! They get the girl and kick the . . . → Read More: A Silver-Screen Western Hero’s Journey; or, The Rough and Ready Life of an Unpublished Author 2 comments Cowboy Moments, Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Reach for the Skies!, Reel Life vs. Real Life, What Would Gary Cooper Do?, Wrangling a Novel cowboy hero, cowboy up, essential western plots, novel writing, novel writing can suck, reach for the skies, western cliches, writing novels is great The Dude totally got them. Roy Rogers harmonized for them in their self-titled theme song by Bob Nolan. The glamorous Supremes sang about them. Jack Palance recited their theme song. The Library of Congress, in 2010, honored them with their song’s inclusion into the National Registry.
Seeeeeeeeeeeee them tumbling down 6 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Wrangling a Novel city slickers, novel writing, sons of the pioneers, summer, supremes sing country western, tumbling tumbleweed, western cliches, western movies, when will i ever finish this novel, wild west In a reckless land…In a lawless place…Sometimes one man can make all the difference. –voice-over of trailer, The Miracle Rider
The story is an old one. Clichéd even. But satisfying. Writer’s hopes for perfect manuscript leading to speedy publication, six-figure salary, film, and several homes around the world are killed in some suitably dramatic, bloody way. The writer, . . . → Read More: The Miracle Rider; or, How Tom Mix Saved My Novel 4 comments Cowboy Moments, Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Movie Quotes, Reach for the Skies!, The Good the Bad the Fugly, What Would Gary Cooper Do?, Wrangling a Novel 1930s serials, b-westerns, cowboy hero, cowboy up, novel writing, silver-screen western hero, the miracle rider, tom mix, western cliches, western movies, western serials, westerns, when will i ever finish this novel, writing novels is great When things get gritty–gnarly deadlines, eye-batting heroines to save, elderly cats to inject with life-saving H2O, classic whiskeys to be drunk, blog posts to write after, like, weeks–it’s time for a gritty soundtrack. I hereby invoke you… RED. DEAD.
REDEMPTION. Sometimes Roy Rogers’s warbling will not do. Sometimes Morricone’s coyote-ish howls are too . . . → Read More: Mojo Rising; or, The Red Dead Redemption Songs Let’s see…where was I before I dropped off the face of the earth a few weeks ago? Funny how novel writing brings out the best and worst of one’s inner self. (Cue any spaghetti western theme here, as its wailing singers and off-kilter drumming is the only kind of soundtrack appropriate for the angst-ridden wackness of . . . → Read More: Run, Man, Run; or, High Plains Adventures in Novel Writing 5 comments Cowboy Mythos, Reach for the Skies!, The Good the Bad the Fugly, What Would Gary Cooper Do?, Wrangling a Novel death valley, ennio morricone, james stewart, novel writing, novel writing can suck, novel writing hell, run man run, spaghetti westerns, the writing life, tonto, writing novels is great Writing a novel is not for the common mortal. And I have been all too mortal these days. Too whiney. Too morose. Too passive. Just like the hero of my novel (or so I’ve heard from my ever-patient agent). The End. Ho hum.
Or have I been pressed to set the novel-in-progress . . . → Read More: The Way of the Novel; or, Cowboy Up and Write Already 2 comments Cowboy Moments, Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, Reach for the Skies!, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly, What Would Gary Cooper Do?, Wrangling a Novel cowboy up, cowboylands, novel writing, novel writing can suck, self-help, western cliches, what would a cowboy do, writing novels is great Writers are badasses. They have to be. The stereotype of a writer is a coffee-shop-writing fop in a cravat not needing to cling to a 9-to-5 job, but honestly, to get images to incarnate as black-and-white correctly spelled prose between a front and back cover with ISBN number, and read and critiqued and/or praised by more . . . → Read More: Of Western Writing and Dreaming; or, William Post’s The Mystery of Table Mountain 4 comments Cowboy Mythos, Origins and Originals, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Wild Western Web american west, Cowboy Mythos, james raymond, mystery of table mountain, novel writing, western book reviews, western reviews, wild west, william post, writing novels is great There is a strong possibility that during 2 a.m. sleepless dreads or after one too many shots of rye alone, your Silver-Screen Hero can turn into a shaking mass of insecurities. As for my 2 a.m. dreads, they too easily take the scenario of I am spending forever writing a novel; 4 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, Reach for the Skies!, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Wrangling a Novel avon westerns, cowboy hero, cowboy up, novel writing, novel writing can suck, nurse genre, popular library westerns, pulp novels and paperbacks, reach for the skies, self-help, silver-screen western hero, station west, western cliches, western paperbacks, what would a cowboy do, writing novels can suck |
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