Meet Western Fictioneer Matthew Pizzolato

1. What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? 
My first published work was a short story titled "The Old Outlaw" and it was accepted by a small press magazine called The Storyteller.

2. What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?
I grew up reading Louis L'Amour novels and quickly accumulated everything he had written. I not only enjoyed his writing for the entertainment value but I gleaned a lot of life lessons from his stories that shaped me into the man that I am today. His stories always started fast and contained a lot of action, and I suppose that subconsciously, I've tried to begin my stories the same way.

I also enjoy reading Don Coldsmith, Loren D. Estleman and Elmore Leonard.

3. Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing?
I'd have to pick a movie for that one. The most powerful scene I've ever watched was the ending of the Clint Eastwood film, Unforgiven. Seeing it for the first time gave me chills and goose bumps. Eastwood's character in that movie was part of the inspiration for Wesley Quaid, the antihero protagonist of my latest release, OUTLAW.

4. What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?
I'd be hard pressed pick out one in particular because I've been reading Westerns for as long as I can remember. Most likely, it was something by Louis L'Amour.

5. Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?
Wild Bill Hickok. I've always been fascinated with his life and the tragic events of his death.

6. How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?
I've accumulated several shelves of historical books and I turn to them as I need to look up something. I do a lot of research online as well and on occasion, I'll visit the library.

7. How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned?
I think that setting can be critical in a Western, as vital sometimes as a character, but a lot of it depends on the story. Louis L'Amour always used setting well in his stories.

8. How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?
It depends on the story. I've used them before, but most of the time I don't. Usually, I start with an idea see where it takes me.

9. Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along?
I research as I'm writing. If I come across something I'm not sure about I'll look it up online or in one of the historical books I have. Then I'll do a fact check again as part of the editing process.

10. Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why? Was there a role model for this particular character?
My Texas Ranger character, Jud Nelson, would probably be the one that I identify most with, but I have put part of myself in all of the characters that I write, whether they are heroes or villains.

11. Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads?
Sometimes I write a general plot summary to serve as a sort of road map, but I never outline an entire story. For me, doing so would take the fun and enjoyment out of writing. Like Louis L'Amour said, I write because I want to see what happens next.

12. Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why?
I like to go against the norm and to create characters that don't fit the mold. Whenever I read fiction, I like to find characters that I can identify with, or in other words, characters that are flawed but are inherently good like antiheroes.

13. Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?
I prefer it to be quiet, but I can write with noise going on around me.

14. Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?
I don't believe in writer's block. Like Robert B. Parker said, I think that writer's block is another word for lazy. Whenever I get stuck on a story, I put it aside and work on something else. I've found that letting something simmer in my subconscious for a short period allows me to return to it with a clear mind.

15. Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?
The protagonist of OUTLAW, Wesley Quaid, is my favorite character because for me, writing an antihero is a lot of fun. Instead of being limited by the moral absolutes that the traditional hero an villain stories require, I find that writing an antihero allows me to explore the gray areas of morality.

16. Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?
William Tell Sackett by Louis L'Amour. There was a lot of the loner aspect of Tell Sackett that I found myself identifying with as a young man.

17. Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?
I have addressed racism and bullying in a couple of my most recently published stories, "Day of Reckoning," and "Sixguns and Pitchforks," that were published in online magazines.

18. Have you found that being able to self publish through Kindle and Nook, that you find yourself writing more of what you want rather than what the agent, editor, and publisher wants?
Apart from my short stories published in print journals and online magazines, I have always self published, so I've never had to deal with having anyone else tell me what to write.

19. Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?
I don't yet make my living from writing, but that is a goal that I am striving toward. In the meantime, I work as a meat cutter in a grocery store.

20. What are you writing right now?
I'm working on a series of short stories that is a sequel of sorts to my latest release, OUTLAW. I will be publishing them as a collection the first part of next year.

21. What do you plan to write in the future?
I'll always be writing Westerns because I think the potential of the genre is endless.

22. What made you decide to write Western fiction?
I decided to write Western fiction because I've always loved reading Westerns. I always said that I was born in the wrong century and writing allows me to go back in time and live vicariously through my characters.

Of Rodeos, Trochees, and Western Novels

By Rod Miller

 Most writers of my acquaintance have been at it for a long time. They claim they wrote their first story at age nine or thereabouts and haven’t stopped writing since. Many say they “must” write, and suffer some sort of withdrawal when not tapping away at the keyboard.

Not me.

I spent the first 45 years of my life with no notion of writing a poem or a story or anything else we usually call creative writing. Other than the routine stuff in required English classes, I’ve never had any education or formal training in creative writing.

That said, I suppose I have been blessed with the ability to string words together. But it has always been with a purpose in mind—essay questions on tests, writing for school newspapers, and the like. And, since graduating from college with a degree in Journalism back in the mid-70s, the purpose has been business—writing advertising copy of all kinds. Other than a few essays for advertising trade magazines and such, that was pretty much it. 

Then, one day in the mid-90s (the decade, not my age—I’m not that old, yet) I wondered if I could write a poem. A cowboy poem to be specific. 

You see, I grew up in a cowboy family in a small town and spent a good part of my youth horseback, and a lot of time feeding, branding, and otherwise tending cattle. Cowboy stuff—real cowboy stuff, not that nonsense on TV and in movies—was a big part of life where I grew up. Like a lot of kids then and there, the rodeo bug bit me, and throughout high school and college and for a time afterward I spent most every spring and summer weekend straddling the bucking chutes at rodeo arenas around the West, climbing onto the backs of horses called broncs whose only function in life is to eat hay and buck off cowboys like me with the temerity to think they can’t.

  Well, they can.

 There may still be depressions the size and shape of my head in several rodeo arenas that attest to that fact. I tell you this only because the addled brain that resulted is responsible, more than anything else I can remember, for my (eventual) taking up of the pen to write for fun, rather than work.

As a lifelong member of the cowboy culture and longtime fan of cowboy poetry, it’s only natural, I suppose, that when I wondered if I could write a poem, that would be the kind of poetry I would attempt. And, given my appreciation for rodeo, it’s no surprise that a lot of the poems I wrote (and still write, on occasion) use rodeo life as their subject.

Not knowing any better, I assumed the reason one wrote poems was to get them published. There were, at the time, a couple of national and a few regional magazines edited for Western enthusiasts that published poetry either regularly or occasionally, so I started sending them poems. And, much to my surprise, they started publishing them. Other poems made their way into anthologies.

Which only spurred me on. I managed to get enough poems published to qualify for membership in Western Writers of America, where I met lots of real writers who knew what they were doing and were kind enough to offer advice and encouragement.

That, along with the same curiosity that led to me to write a poem (and the addled former-bronc-rider brain that allows such ill-considered notions to pass through unfiltered), made me wonder if I could write a short story. So I did, and several of my stories have been published in Western anthologies. I tried a novel and that was published. Then another, and that was published. A couple of nonfiction books got written and published. A collection and a chapbook of poetry. A bunch of magazine articles. Some book reviews. A series of essays on writing poetry for CowboyPoetry.com (in which I pretend to know how to write poetry). And so on. 

All in all, writing has been a pretty smooth ride, compared, at least, to riding broncs. I’ve been lucky. Most everything I’ve written has been published, by everybody from well-known New York imprints to unheard of art-house presses.

One of my short stories was even a Finalist for a Western Writers of America Spur Award back in 2006. A recent short story, “The Death of Delgado,” from the anthology The Traditional West, won a 2012 Spur Award for Best Western Short Fiction and was a Finalist for a Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award (as was my novel, The Assassination of Governor Boggs). A 2012 Spur Award for Best Western Poem for a piece from my collection Things a Cowboy Sees and Other Poems also came my way, and the book won the Fred Olds Poetry Award from Westerners International.

Who knows what the future holds? I write for fun (and occasionally for profit), but do not feel compelled to do so and, thank goodness, don’t rely on the income to pay my bills (advertising still does that). So, I write whatever seems interesting and enjoyable at the time, then figure out who might want to apply ink to it. At the moment, I’m awaiting publication of a third novel (Cold as the Clay) that’s due out anytime now From High Hill Press/Cactus Country Books, and there’s a fourth  novel in the hands of a publisher awaiting rejection. A nonfiction pictorial about westward migration and settlement, Go West: The Risk & The Reward, is slated for October release.

And there are a few poems and stories, a novel, and a nonfiction book either in progress or awaiting attention. I’ll get to them, as soon as I find the time and the inclination.

Finally, while I came to writing late and took an unusual road, I like it here. It’s a whole lot easier than getting bucked off ornery broncs. And at least as much fun.

 Rod Miller is among the original members of Western Fictioneers. He is Membership chair and serves on the Executive Board of Western Writers of America. Visit www.writerRodMiller.com for more information.

      

Western Writer Jerry L Guin

1.   What was your first Western novel or story and was it published?

My first western short story was “Caught Red Handed” published by Western Digest of Calgary back in 1995.

2.   What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?

Douglas Sharp (Western Digest).  He not only critiqued my work but challenged me to do more.  He taught me to speak more western; for example, using (most likely) instead of probably; limit the use of ain’t in dialogue and cut down my use of commas.    “Write the way people talk,” he said.  Eventually Western Digest published seven of my short stories before ceasing publication.  That’s how I got started in western fiction. 

Robert J. Randisi took a chance and included my story “Likker Money” in the anthology “White Hats” in 2002.  That gave me a big boost.  I’ve been trying to equal it since.  I’m very grateful for that opportunity.

Harry Drago – I love his factual authenticity.

Louis L’Amour  - A true master of fiction.

3.   Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing?

It wasn’t a novel.   It was the short story “Wine on the Desert” by Max Brand.   The whole story is full of intense drama, very effective.   

4.   What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?

Zane Grey’s “The Thundering Herd.”  I was in high school at the time.

5.   Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?

Bat Masterson.  Despite the call that he was a quick draw artist and killed untold numerous others, I believe history shows that he only shot and killed one man, in self-defense, after he was wounded by the same.   Why do I like him?  He was a standup guy that would not back down from anything.  I believe that he did more good than his embellished gunslinger reputation shows.   Bat, like Luke Short, was not a tall overbearing man but his demeanor and undoubtedly no-nonsense facial expressions and eye contact, when confronted, helped to make others think things over rather than push to conclude the outcome.

6.   How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?

I read a lot both historical and fiction.  If it is old west 1850 through 1900 then I’m interested.  I use the internet and Wikipedia.  I read reviews.  I go to libraries to look up facts.  Haunting used book stores is a hobby that I’ll never get over.  My desk is littered with historical findings.   

7.   How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned?

You have to get it right.  Setting is a difficult thing, if not impossible, to talk about if you’ve never been to that locale.  When reconstructing the past, I feel that it is my duty to at least get things historically correct even if it isn’t pretty.   All those John Wayne westerns filmed in Monument Valley made good setting. 

 8.   How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?

I try to show who my character is and why he is there then build the story from there.  Prologues will certainly set the stage to time and locale.  I usually do not begin a story with a prologue.  

9.    Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along?

Mostly as I go.  Each story requires different facts to support the setting.  The cowboy era was different than the gold rush of 49.  Both time periods had their share of miscreants but oh so different. 

10.   Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why?  Was there a role model for this particular character?

Charlie Cox “Drover’s Vendetta.”  He is just an ordinary cowboy caught up in circumstance that inspires him to do things others would shy from.  With a little luck he becomes a hero by just doing what he feels is the right thing to do.  I don’t have a particular role model.  If I had a wish it would be to emulate Charlie.

11.   Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads?

I rarely outline a story.  I let the story lead me where it goes.  I usually have the beginning down pat and sometimes I know how it should end.   The middle is the tough part.  I am used to writing short stories; I write the whole story then edit to cut out the unnecessary.   If I am working on a novel then I have to re-adjust, slow the story down in order to tie all the pertinent facts together without giving away or hurrying up the ending.    

12.   Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why?

I write conservatively following history, for time and place, as close as possible.   My stories are set in the traditional old West.  Its fiction so anything imaginable is fair game.  The unexpected can be refreshing and necessary to the story as long as it can be made believable.  Some of the stuff coming out lately has to do with vampires or science fiction.  I’m not opposed to some of it.  I just prefer to write about things the way they may have been traditionally.   

13.   Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?

I don’t mind noise.  I have been doing something, my whole life, while noise surrounded me.  I’m usually alone in the room when I write.  I can tune out what goes on in the house.  

14.   Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?

When I was in the Navy I was aboard a destroyer.  The ship’s motto was “This Can can do.”  So whenever I think of writer’s block I just sit down; edit the story I’m writing to the point I’m stuck at.   It helps to go to the beginning; by the time I get to the stopped part I usually can pick it up from there.  Sometimes I’ll take a break from writing for hours or days even.  The story doesn’t leave my mind though and often a new inspiration allows me to just get in there and get it done!  

15.   Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?

Colonel Ben Buffington in the short story “All the Water you Want” in the anthology Award Winning Tales.  He’s so full of it he impresses no one but himself.

16.   Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?

Tyrel Sackett.  Circumstance dictated his response.

17.   Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?

Brutality and bullying, in some way, are addressed in most of my stories.  I will mention other touchy issues if they can be put in a favorable light for the victim.  I’m still trying to learn how to do that.

18.   Have you found that being able to self-publish through Kindle and Nook that you find yourself writing more of what you want rather than what the agent, editor, and publisher wants?

Yes, somewhat.  It is disheartening to sit and wait on editors, hoping that you have a chance but often do not even get a reply other than a printed form letter.  I’ve a novel set in 1853 titled “River Whiskey” that has sat for over a year at a publisher without word one way or the other.   Self-publishing is okay but you have to promote the work yourself.  It is much more satisfying to successfully write a given assignment and then see it in print.  

19.   Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?

I’m compelled to write but I guess I never considered that I could make enough to live off the proceeds alone.   I’m still learning.   My day job was as a wholesale lumber trader.  I was fortunate enough to work for three different sawmills and made a decent living for my family for 30 years.  I later managed a propane distribution plant for a few years before I retired.

20.   What are you writing right now?

A novel about an 1870’s cowboy who collects on a bounty then learns there has been a bounty put out on him in return.    

21.   What do you plan to write in the future?

Western fiction; both novels and short  stories.   At some point I will write a sequel to “Drover’s Vendetta.”

22.   What made you decide to write Western fiction?

I can’t get enough of the Old West.  Western history is our heritage.  I like to see how western fiction is imagined then put to life.  I began by trying out the magazine markets then short story anthologies and decided that I would like to give it a try and work my way into novels.   So here I am.

Author of the Week

Check out here how writing saved Western Fictioneer member, Jory Sherman's, life.

Western Writer Troy D. Smith

1.   What was your first Western novel or story and was it published?

My first two Western novels, Riding to Sundown and Brothers in Arms, were written in 1990... purely for my own entertainment. In those days I buffed and waxed floors for a living, and would be locked in Wal-marts and K-marts alone for up to twelve hours a night. I wasn’t paid by the hour, and it only took about half the time to do the work, so I wound up writing to occupy myself. It never even occurred to me at the time I could be published. A few years later I got serious about writing, and decided to do a few short stories to see if I could get them published and at least have something on my query letter when I tried to sell my novels. My first short story was accepted at Louis L’Amour Magazine; they took several others too, and I thought I’d found my gravy train, but then the magazine folded right after my first story appeared. I kept selling stories, though. In the past year a lot of my older stuff has been reprinted by Western Trail Blazer, and those first two short novels I wrote while my wax was drying twenty years ago finally got into print for the first time.

    2.   What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?

Louis L’Amour was a big influence; I’d been reading his novels while locked up in those stores before I ran out of books and started writing my own. I also loved Elmer Kelton, and often paraphrase his great quote: he didn’t write about a bad guy in a black hat versus a good guy in a white hat, he wrote about two guys in gray hats, one trying to institute change and one resisting it. I like that. I was also influenced by Larry McMurtry; I like the way he plays with history, and how he uses humor to endear characters to you before he suddenly visits horrific death and destruction on them, making you care deeply about their fates. Beyond that, I could name a whole slew of writers active in WF right now as big influences, and dozens of classic writers –from Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Steinbeck to Stephen King, Robert E. Howard and Stan Lee.

     3.   What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?

Bowie’s Mine, by Elmer Kelton. I read it in 1976, when I was eight… it was the first “grown-up book” I ever read. I read it over and over, in fact, and can still remember the opening scene in great detail.

     4.   Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?

This one is a tie. Crazy Horse is inspirational; he fought for his people and culture, and in innovative ways, even when many of them abandoned him. I am also quite fond of Bill Tilghman; he saw it all. Serving as a lawman in Dodge City with Earp and Masterson, federal deputy marshal in Oklahoma Territory, and still taming oil boomtowns when he was an old man in the 1920s. He had a sort of quiet efficiency that got the job done while more boisterous attention-seekers got all the fame and glory.

     5.   How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?

It helps that historical research is my day job. I spent several years familiarizing myself with 19^th century Indian Territory / Oklahoma for my dissertation, and I plan to use that in future fiction works. Generally speaking, though, it depends on the project. If I am writing about a historical figure like Champ Ferguson, I want to get all the details down right. For Bound for the Promise-Land I spent six months doing nothing but research, filling up several notebooks and poring through slave narratives before I wrote my first sentence of narrative. I spend a lot less time on a typical adventure story, but I still read a lot to make sure I know the difference between point and drag, gee and haw.

       6.  Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?

This one is a tie, too. Both my favorite creations were supporting characters in Civil War epics, and each served as a conscience for the hero. As such, they were intrinsically good people, and therefore (to me, at least) very lovable. The first is Lonnie Blake, ex-slave-turned-soldier-turned-preacher in Bound for the Promise-Land. I wanted my hero, Alfred, to be a sort of everyman, and torn by conflicting emotions about life and about racial issues. His two best friends, Lonnie and Chamas, played the roles of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, each trying to sway him to their perspective. Lonnie was the MLK figure, and –while a flawed human being –approached life with love, compassion, and faith. My other favorite was not quite so saintly –Rains Philpot was the sidekick of Champ Ferguson, the notorious Confederate guerrilla that I wrote about in Good Rebel Soil. I wanted to structure Champ’s story like a Greek tragedy: a brave, and likable, hero who has a fatal flaw (in Champ’s case, his angry passions) which draws him inexorably to a doom that he knows he can’t escape no matter how hard he tries. Rains is kind of simple-minded, intensely loyal to his friend, and –despite the band’s violent activities –kind of an innocent. It’s his voice that tries to pull Champ back from the abyss when he goes too far. I had a soft spot for him –although his positive qualities were entirely of my own invention, for the sake of a good story. I’m pretty sure the real Rains Philpot was just as ruthless as Champ.

       7.   Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?

Oh, hands down, Augustus McRae from Lonesome Dove. They just don’t come any better than Gus. Although I also have a soft spot for Hewey Calloway, Elmer Kelton’s great cowboy character.

       8.    Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?

I am a history professor, currently teaching at Tennessee Tech. My dissertation, which I hope to publish soon in book form, is about the Five Tribes of the Southeast (and later Oklahoma –Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles) and the process by which, in the first half of the 19^th century, they adopted plantation slavery and developed racial concepts unknown to previous generations in their leaders’ quest to become “modern,” eventually allying (for complicated reasons) with the Confederacy during the Civil War. I explore what that whole process says about the connections between racial identity and national identity, and how each is formed. This pulls together my three fields of research: American Indians, slavery, and Southern history (Western history, too.)

       9.    What do you plan to write in the future?

My next big fiction project will be a crime novel. I plan to write several short stories before that, though, to be included in various series of ebook shorts. I’ll do a couple more tales for the Blackwell Western series being published by WTB, as well as a couple of mystery series which should be available in the next few months. One stars a 5^th century Irish chieftain, Conor Mac Cormac, who has a tendency to get involved in political intrigues in the days of the late Roman Empire –where the murders are never as simple as they seem. The other series will be called “Dead Rednecks!” and centers on an ex-con in Knoxville, Hoss Qualls,  whose efforts to keep his nose clean are complicated by his many crazy relatives, especially his semi-delusional brother who has opened a detective agency and constantly needs Hoss’s help. Right now I am working on a story for an upcoming Lone Ranger anthology.

       10.   What made you decide to write Western fiction?

       I actually write in various genres: Western, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, and horror. What success I have had, though, has mostly come from Westerns, and I don’t think that is an accident. I like to write about characters who face their most primal emotions. A story set on the frontier is very conducive to that; the veneer is stripped away, and the primordial comes to the surface. You can cut through the crap, in other words, and pretty darn quick. 

Western Writer Robert J. Randisi

What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? The first Western I had published—book or story—was The Gunsmith #1: Macklin’s Women.

What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work? Louis L’Amour, naturally, since he was pretty much the first one I read, but a larger influence on my work was actually Jory Sherman. Reading his GUNN series helped me learn to write westerns. Meeting him and becoming his friend was also important to me.

What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover? You know, I’m not sure about this, but it was either SACKETT or THE SACKETT BRAND.

Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why? BAT MASTERSON.  I feel a connection with him, might even be a reincarnation of him. He and I had a lot of the same interests—Boxing, Horse Racing, Poker, Writing. I enjoy writing about him.

How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it? I do quite a but, depending on the story I want to tell. I have a research library of my own, which I’ve built up over the years, but—and I hate to admit this--Google might be making it obsolete.

How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?

The stories usually choose their own starting places. I just go with it.  I have used prologues, when I feel they’re necessary. Obviously, I don’t agree with Dutch Leonard, who says they are NEVER necessary.

Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along? Some ahead of time, a lot as I go along. My desk is usually covered with open books, or print outs from Google.

Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why?  Was there a role model for this particular character? I identify with Bat Masterson from my book THE HAM REPORTER, for reasons I covered in question #5.

Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads? I start with the character and then go where he goes. I have only ever outlined in order to show it to an editor and get a contract.

Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why?  The simple answer to this is that my approach to writing has never been conservative or traditional.  In fact, the same is true of the way I live my life.

Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around? I need SOMEthing.  A ball game, music, t.v. , anything, but NOT silence.

Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?  I have never experienced writer’s block. I’ve never been able to afford to. My schedule just would never permit it.

Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created? Too many to choose from.  Some of them are mystery characters—Nick Delvecchio, Eddie G. Western characters? Lancaster, Tracker and, probably, The Gunsmith.

Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created? In westerns I’d say William Tell Sackett, for sentimental reasons. When I was young I liked Max Brand’s Silvertip.  Also Edge, Steele, Gunn, but probably my VERY favorite character is Fargo, from the Ben Haas series.

Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?  I do, probably more lately then in the past. In GALLLOWS recently I covered spousal abuse in the West.

What are you writing right now?  The first in a new Nashville based P.I. series, 2 historical short stories, and about to start the new Gunsmith and another Rat Pack book.

Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?  I have made a living writing for the past 30 years.

What do you plan to write in the future?  Everything!

What made you decide to write Western fiction?  I backed into it when I was asked if I could write Westerns. I had no idea, so I said yes. I was asked to create an Adult Western series and came up with The Gunsmith. After that it was just fun—and profitable—to keep doing it.

Western Writer Pete Peterson

What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? The first manuscript that I wrote was THE SHAME OF JACKASS JAKE,  retitled A DARK TRAIL WINDING at the request of the publisher. It found print only after several years of trying to get someone to even read it, and was actually my third book to be published. The first novel I had published was THE RELENTLESS GUN.

What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work? Louis L’Amour, Will Henry, Tony Hillerman, Elmer Kelton

Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing? .       I’ve read a lot of powerful stuff by western writers: the opening scene of Lonesome Dove with the pigs eating the rattlesnake; the scene where Estleman’s Page Murdock finds the lynched lawmen, …and you can’t read Elmore Leonard, Will Henry, Elmer Kelton and a host of others (including WF’s Reasoner, Sherman, Randisi, Roderus, ad infinitum) without having your socks knocked off again and again.

What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover? MOUNTAIN MAN by Vardis Fisher.

Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why? JEDIDIAH SMITH, mountain man, explorer, trapper. His thirst for new horizons took him and his followers throughout the west. He was an educated and spiritual, bible-toting man in an often pagan and hostile land.

How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it? Everything I’ve written has been thoroughly and painstakingly researched, and is true to the conditions and character of the country and its inhabitants as they existed during the period in which the story takes place. I still mostly use references from municipal and private libraries, preferring the tactile solidity of books to the ether of the web.

How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned? Setting is vital! Every picture needs a background. The reader must imagine he feels what the character is feeling. Is it hot? Cold? Stormy, or a bright, sunny day? Is the hero in a lush forest, feeling serene, or in a dark cavern where danger is lurking?

How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues? I use a prologue only if I feel it is needed for background or history to establish the plot, to flesh out characters, or to pre-condition the reader to a situation. Where I begin depends a lot on where I’m going, and on pre-planning. Sometimes that little voice just says, “start here”.

 Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along? Most of it from notes or outline, then I fill in as I go. A lot depends on the story, the complexity of where, how and when.

Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why?  Was there a role model for this particular character? Jacob Eriksson, “Jackass Jake,” of A DARK TRAIL WINDING. He made some self-serving and bad decisions that pushed him to the edge of destruction, and only a complete change of  lifestyle, and the help of a mentor, saved him. Me, and others like me, were the role models.

Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads? I mostly outline, at least use plot notes.  Again, the complexity of the story dictates the amount of research. I’ll admit to inspiration, but I’m not so sure that I have a ‘muse’.

Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why? Traditional and conservative pretty well describes my writing style, though occasionally one of my maverick characters takes off on a tangent of his own and surprises me. I am not always politically correct; I tell it like it was then, not how modern society thinks it should have been.

Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around? I prefer quiet, but sometimes it’s hard to come by. I occasionally write at night when the household is asleep.

Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it? Jack Dancer of THE RELENTLESS GUN and RECKONING AT RAINDANCE is my favorite creation so far. I caught him when he was young and brought him up right.

Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created? Writer’s block? Sure… about twice a day when I’m writing. I just write through it, then go back later and polish and shine it. I think it’s called editing.

Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created? There are many, but Estleman’s Deputy Page Murdock jumps to the fore. He is salty, irreverent, tough and humorous, and wise enough to be scared when the situation calls for it.

Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more? Not intentionally, but sometimes they crop up in the telling. Again, I am not always politically correct. Time and place. Time and place.

What are you writing right now? Nothing. I’m trying to sell what I’ve already written: a 107,000 word historical adventure, and what I believe to be my best work.

Have you found that being able to self publish through Kindle and Nook, that you find yourself writing more of what you want rather than what the agent, editor, and publisher wants? I’m just getting into e-publishing. I still prefer the heft and feel and smell and looks of the printed word, but I see where we’re headed, too, and I guess I’ll tag along.

Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job? No, I’m a retired advertising man. I dabble in writing and in painting.

What do you plan to write in the future? More westerns, with maybe a foray into crime fiction.

What made you decide to write Western fiction? I love it. As a callow youth, I imagined myself a mountain man, fighting wild beasts and savages. What I ended up fighting was boards of directors. So now, I can strap on my sixgun and fight editors and agents.

Western Writer Frank Roderus

What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? My first Western was DUSTER, a YA that was rejected by a rather nasty agent who said I would never be able to write. Crushed me and kept me from submitting for some years. Then I re-read the ms, submitted it to the smallest publishing house I could find...and they bought it. I haven't looked back since.

What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?  Alan LeMay (THE SEARCHERS, THE UNFORGIVEN). Once I found him I was hooked. Still am. Hooked on his films as much as his novels. Wow.

Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing?  In THE UNFORGIVEN, Andy, dying, knowing he is dying, lying in wait until the Kiowa warrior is actually scalping him before he strikes so that he can be sure he kills the hated enemy. I know I will never be able to equal that.

What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover? Will Henry's NO SURVIVORS. Heckuva book.

 Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why? U.S. deputy marshal Bill Tilghman, one of The Three Guardsmen (along with Chris Madsen and Heck Thomas) riding for Hanging Judge Parker's Federal court. The man was everything a lawman should be.

 How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it? I rarely research anything specific for a book but read a lot of history for pleasure.

 How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned?  To me setting is just a place for my characters to get into trouble so I can hopefully get them out again.

 How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues? I try to find something that will introduce my primary characters. Anything. I do not use prologues.

 Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads? No outline. No prepared plot. I like to find a character and let him tell the story.

 Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?  I prefer to have music but can get along with pretty much anything.

 Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?  I don't think there is such a thing as writers block. There is sloth. And depression. But no real block.

Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?  I have touched on a number of those but only as the characters find them. I don't deliberately introduce them.

Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?  Writing is my only job and has been for more than thirty years. I am truly blessed.

What made you decide to write Western fiction? My grew up in Florida and my parents wondered the same thing. Then one night we were watching some very old home movies. I was nearly always wearing a cowboy hat or cap guns or on my Hopalong Cassidy bicycle. Ah, what a fine steed that was too.