Western Writer Chuck Tyrell (Charles T. Whipple)

What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? My first Western novel was Vulture Gold. I wrote it in 1979 and entered it in a Louis L’Amour write-alike contest. Didn’t win. Decided I wasn’t cut out to write fiction and continued as a journalist, magazine feature writer, copywriter, and corporate literature writer. I don’t remember why I dusted the manuscript off and input it (it was written on an IBM Selectric). But I sold it to Black Horse Westerns in 2004. It was published in 2005, and republished in 2011. It is now available in several eBook formats and in print. Originally, the book was about 70,000 words long. Now it is 45,000 or so.

What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work? A bunch. People have things to say about Louis L’Amour, but I read every book he wrote. I donated my collection of LL books to a university of foreign languages in Kanazawa, Japan, some years ago.

Gordon Sherriffs is a favorite. Clair Huffaker is a favorite. Richard Wheeler and Elmer Kelton are favorites. Will Henry, too. I’m also finding Elmore Leonard’s early stories very interesting and informative.

All that said, if I were to pick a writer to emulate, it would probably be Robert B. Parker. And if a genie came out of a lamp I’d rubbed and offered to let me write exactly like any writer I chose to, I’d choose James Michener and John Gardner and ask the genie to mix them into one for me.

What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover? Smokey the Cow Horse by Will James

Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why? Commodore Perry Owens. He lived the life we all write about. Named for Commodore Perry, hero of the Battle of Lake Erie. Had to leave home in his early teens. Punched cattle for the Rogers (as in Will Rogers) ranch in Oklahoma, drifted into Arizona at the age of 31. Worked as the horse wrangler for Wells Fargo at the Navajo Springs station (I have a piece of wood from the original station, no longer extant, just a swale that was once a watering hole). Ran for sheriff on a law and order ticket and won over the incumbent Juan Lorenso Hubbel, who, it was said, was in cahoots with the outlaws that used the Outlaw Trail through Apache County in Arizona. He enforced the county law with the barrel of his gun, shooting it out with nine members of the Snyder Gang in Round Valley, riding his horse to death to rescue three Mexicans held prisoner in a bar in Winslow, and killing Andy Cooper in the famous shootout in Holbrook, Arizona, in 1886. He was a dead shot, wore his blond hair down past his shoulders as a challenge to the Navajos who were constantly trying to shoot him, and he wore his sixgun on the lefthand side for a cross draw. He married at 50 and moved to Seligman where he opened a saloon. He worked as guard for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. He died of a stroke at 61 and is buried in Flagstaff AZ.

How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it? Depends on the novel. For the Snake Den, set in Yuma Territorial Prison, I went there and spent two days going through the prison, buying reference books, talking to the Arizona Historical Society people there, etc. Same kind of thing with Vulture Gold, which begins in Vulture City AZ, now a ghost town.

Revenge at Wolf Mountain is set in my own home country, which I know well. Most of the ranches actually exist, but I used a Mexican grant which does not exist in that area, although there are others in both Arizona and New Mexico. The same it true with Trail of a Hard Man. I create fictional towns at times, but often I use real towns as settings or as part of the narrative.

The Killing Trail takes place in a fictional setting, but is linked to Trail of a Hard Man.

Guns of Ponderosa takes place in the White Mountain town of McNary, which once was home to the largest sawmill and planer operation in the Southwest. I renamed the town, and shifted its founding back into history by about 40 years.

Hell Fire in Paradise is a prequel to Guns of Ponderosa.

A Man Called Breed is set in the desert area of southern Arizona, east of Ehrenburg and La Paz. The hero’s horse ranch is located in the Cherry Creek country just below the Mogollon Rim.

Dollar a Day begins in Sunset, which no longer exists, and ends up in Payson, again, just off the Mogollon Rim in the Tonto Basin.

These are all places I know, but I still use an Arizona flora and fauna book to make sure I get my trees and stuff right. Wouldn’t want the hero bit by a Gila Monster up in the Tonto Basin because they don’t get that high off the desert floor. 

I do a lot of looking up on guns. One character in my current WIP carries a Baker 3-barrel 10-guage. The hero in A Man Called Breed carried a Rogers & Spencer pistol, which were considered very accurate. He also carries a one-in-a-thousand Winchester ’73.

I’ve got lots of books on history and fashions and whatnot. I try very hard to put my people in places and circumstances that fit the times I’m writing about.

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 setting can and probably should be one of the characters. I’ve been reading some early novels and it seems there’s always a rain storm. People seem to forget that places like Show Low, Arizona, get a total of 8 inches of rain a year. Chances of an all day all night rain storm in most of the southwest at least are so close to zero it wouldn’t be worth figuring out the difference. I vote for getting the setting right. Have a look at the towns. There are plenty of photos. See any alleys? Not likely. Know what’s out back? Piles of rubbish. We have the data. No reason to get setting wrong.

James Michener’s Centennial is as good a portrayal of setting as I’ve read, I believe, but there are many good stories. Some of Elmore Leonard’s early (1950s) stories have setting as one of the characters.

How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues? I have not used a prologue yet. That does not rule out using a prologue at some time.

Most often I see a character and a situation. Most often the first chapter sets up a tough situation. Mostly I know how the story starts and how it’s supposed to end, and I write the story in between. Sometimes the ending changes.

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

Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why?  Was there a role model for this particular character? I have a bunch of characters I like, which is why they show up as walk-ons in stories that have nothing to do with them. Ness Havelock is one. Real Lee is another. I imagine Falan “Wolf” Wilder will see more action. Lightning By God Brewster will be around, as will his sidekick Sparrow. I’m now writing the second Matthew Stryker novel.

Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads? So far, as I mentioned, I tend to have an opening and a closing in mind when I start. That said, I think I would write better stories if I thought them out somewhat more detailed in advance. I’ve not found myself adept at plotting. I think I need to learn that skill, but I’m not losing sleep over it. At this time in my life, I have no aspirations of writing the great American novel. I just hope to do a few more before I, like Robert Parker, die at my desk, trying to finish my last . . . .

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 suppose I am conservative. I am in most things. I imagine my characters are much more black and white than the shades of gray that were actually the case in the times we write about. You’ve got to remember that writing fiction is a relatively new thing for me. James and Bob and others have hundreds of novels under their belts. I’m trying to hit a dozen. I write some fiction every day, but I write a lot more other stuff – everything from CSR reports to magazine articles. I have a lot to learn about writing and writing fiction. I’m constantly amazed at the young whippersnappers who brazenly purport to be able to teach people to write. How’s that for wandering far from the point? Yes, conservative, but not hidebound.

Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around? I tend to want the same environment every day. Doesn’t have to be quiet. Doesn’t have to be musical. Just the same. A number of my books were written at Starbucks. That’s probably why I can’t lose weight. The chocolate is totally sinful.

Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it? Writer’s block comes from two things, in my experience: One, a loss of confidence in your own ability to tell a story, and two, dead-ending in a story, that is, writing yourself into a corner. When your confidence goes out the window, as when you get especially nasty edits from someone, or when they tell you the story did nothing for them, you do something else. I suggest to others that they try Julie Cameron’s morning pages – three pages of handwritten whatever comes to mind first thing in the morning. Hand on paper with pen and ink tends to get your writerly blood flowing and tends to stimulate your frozen brain.

Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created? I suppose Ness Havelock is my favorite, as he’s showed up in a number of books, though only one as the main character. He was my first and so far only first-person narrator. I also like Shawn Brodie, the 14-year-old who was sent to Yuma Territorial Prison. I will pick him up in a new book if I live long enough.

Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created? The one who sticks in my mind is Tyrel Sackett. No way you can figure out why, eh?

Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more? Not sure if it’s an “addressing,” but often my characters have a disability. Garet Havelock, the half-Cherokee marshal of Vulture City, had a bad knee. Wynn Cahill, in Guns of Ponderosa, was a sadist sociopath. Loved to see things in pain. Judge Wilson in Trail of a Hard Man was a pedophile who “took in” orphaned boys. His pedophilia was not so much sexual as sadist. Squirly, in the present work in progress, is not very smart, but he takes care of Wildman Kelly, who is not “normal” by ordinary standards, but not violent either. I once did a story from the frist-person POV of Boo Radley. I imagine there was some PTSD following the Late Unpleasantness that is better known as the Civil War, too, but I haven’t seen a novel addressing it yet. 

What are you writing right now? A story about a man who keeps the promise he made to the town drunk.

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? The biggest advantage, as I’m not a terribly prolific author, is getting books that have gone out of print, such as Vulture Gold, back out there so readers can find them. My second novel, Revenge at Wolf Mountain, will also reappear in the not too distant future in its original unabridged form at about 80,000 words instead of the 45,000 version published by Robert Hale Ltd.

Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job? Yes. But not writing fiction. I would starve on the proceeds from my fiction at the moment. That said, I get paid well to write advertising, corporate literature, web content, and non-fiction articles, many of them in narrative form. One article brings me nearly five times as much as one Black Horse Western book, and about the same as the advance for a paperback original, if I’m not mistaken. I also write non-fiction books under my own name. Seeing Japan is a perennial seller to visitors to this country.

What do you plan to write in the future? I have two “works in progress” outside westerns. One is a saga set in an alternative version of 10^th century Japan, where all mythical creatures exist. The other is a gumshoe of an investigative journalist hero who searches for a missing woman in a Japan where a large amount of plutonium has been stolen from the Tokaimura nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. Naturally, the kidnapper and the kingpin who wants a nuclear Japan are one and the same. Trouble. Trouble.

What made you decide to write Western fiction? I was born 100 years too late. Since I made the decision to make my living with my pen, so to speak, I also set my sights on writing a Western novel. I also joined the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History (now defunct) with a lifetime membership. The Louis L’Amour writealike contest came about three years after I started writing newspaper copy and then advertising copy, but got put on hold while I formed my own company, edited two magazines, wrote for Time and Newsweek and the Herald Trib, then became a stringer for two technology industry mags, but I kept the home fires warm, kept sending the re-edited versions out and kept getting them back. Until John Hale at Robert Hale Ltd. said he’d publish the book if I’d cut it down to less than 45,000 words. I’d already written the follow-up novel with the same protagonist. It, too, went under the knife, and was accepted by Hale. Here I am. I love writing about the West, partly as I knew it growing up in a ranch-like environment in northern Arizona, partly because I feel there was something in those people that we need to remember and emulate. 

Sweazy Won The 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award

Larry D. Sweazy's novel, The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe #2), has won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction.

The Will Rogers Medallion Award is presented each year to those books that represent an Outstanding Achievement in the publishing of Western Literature. They are books that exemplify outstanding excellence in content and design with an enduring quality that preserves and celebrates the history and spirit of the West and the memory of Will Rogers.

Congratulations Larry!

WF (Western Fictioneers) Peacemaker 2011 Award submissions

Submissions for the WF Peacemaker Awards are being accepted for works published in the year 2011. Rules, judges, and submission forms can be found on the WF Website.

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.

Review of Larry D. Sweazy's The Badger's Revenge

SWEAZY, LARRY D. The Badger’s Revenge. Berkley Publishing. Softcover, 320 pps., $6.99. ISBN 9780425240489.


The third book in Sweazy’s Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series, The Badger’s Revenge, is aptly titled, as the book serves up that cold dish left, right, and center. It also whips up a mess of guns, heat, trail dust, Texas Rangers, Comanche Indians, and people stuck in hard-luck lives, doing their best with the cards they’ve been dealt. This time out, Josiah Wolfe has a price on his head. He is dogged by two Comanche scouts, a murderous Irishman nicknamed The Badger, and the whiff of something—or someone—unseen and dangerous.

It’s a pleasure for me to sink back into the dusty, dangerous, and complex world of everyman Josiah Wolfe. His rich inner monologues, his self-doubts, and his moments of emotional vulnerability counter the convictions that form who he is and what he stands for. But in The Badger’s Revenge, that rigid moral core threatens to fill him completely.

As with all of Sweazy’s characters, Wolfe is refreshingly human. Even the bad guys aren’t wholly bad, they’re driven by understandable, if unacceptable, impulses. Wolfe is still plagued by a bloody war and the brutal deaths of his wife and daughters. His young son is a constant reminder of what should have been, and his trying friendship with Scrap Elliott hints at something unknown, but looming.

The Badger’s Revenge is a richly layered story that offers twists and turns that dare the reader to speculate who is guilty and why. There is blood, killing, deceit, anger, mistrust, and betrayal and, in the midst of it, Josiah Wolfe does his best to keep it all at arm’s length as he tries to make sense of the mayhem, even as bullets whistle by his ears. My only complaint is that since I have grown so fond of these characters and Sweazy’s artful unfolding of their predicaments, I have to wait for the fourth book before I find out what happens next.

—Matthew P. Mayo

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.

Western Writer L.J. Martin

 What was your first Western novel or story and was it published? My first novel was actually a historical, Shadow of the Mast, and I finally made a buck off it 20 years after writing when it was brought out in audio.  I’ve since published it with my own imprint and it’s on Amazon and does okay.  My second, the first sold to a publisher, was Tenkiller, picked out of the slush pile at Zebra.

What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?  L’Amour, off course, but all the great old writers and some of the new, Leonard and Parker.  But as important, Sidney Sheldon, Wilber Smith, and many thriller and mystery writers.  Writing is writing, and compelling novels are just that.  It’s only time and place and lexicon that changes.

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? Although I disagree with the basic premise of High Noon (a short story), I loved the juxtaposition of the characters and conflict.  It’s a great drama.

What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?  Probably a Zane Grey, but it was a long time ago.  I began reading fiction in the 7^th grade and by the end of high school had read most of what was then published of Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Rand, Shelton, MacLean, Spillane, and others.

Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?  No question, Edward Fitzgerald Beale, who I think was the quintessential western man.  His exploits eclipsed those of even Kit Carson and certainly of John Fremont.  Beale crossed the country horseback 13 times, riding from California to D.C. one time to knock cold George Moneypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who accused him of malfeasance as an Indian agent.  He was a record setting sailing master of Stockton's ship; the hero of the battle of San Pasqual; carried the first evidence of California gold, a seven pound nugget he bought with his own money, to President Polk, thus starting the gold rush, and beating the Army to D.C. with the news, even though he left four days later; he was an early Indian agent in California, and an honest one; the surveyor general of California, keeping California in the Union as he convinced Lincoln that California would go with the south if conscription was ordered; he was the leader of the great Camel expedition; he built the first wagon road to California; he consolidated four Spanish land grants into what's still the largest private property ownership in California, the Tejon Ranch; he was a friend and confidant of Grant; he ran guns to the Mexicans during their struggle for independence; he ended his career as the Minister to Austria Hungary; and so, so much more.  He ended life successful and never sought praise, and didn't have a wife to chronicle his exploits as did Custer and Fremont.  Kit Carson said "I can't believe this guy Ned Beale," which is high praise indeed.  He was happily married, having made his wife a wedding ring from that huge nugget.  He was the subject of my biographical novel RUSH TO DESTINY, which elicited my favorite compliment as a writer when a high school history teacher said, "my students learn more California history from your novel than from their texts, and love doing so."

How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?  Biographies and auto-biographies, journals, diaries, and old newspapers are my best source of material and provide great time and place.  I have one wonderful 3 volume set of Alfred Doten journals that I always refer to.  Doten arrived in Virginia City, NV in 1854 and was the newspaper editor there for 50 years.  He kept accurate journals of day to day life.  Unfortunately when he married he went back and erased all the parts about visits to the city’s brothels.  The editor, however, was able to reconstitute some. 

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 another character.  But more than that, if you use an actual area or town you MUST be accurate.  Hitler said “tell them three truths and they’ll believe your lie.”  Well, in fiction, tell them three truths and they’re more likely to believe your fiction.  Involving the reader is your first responsibility if you want to write compelling, can’t-put-it-down, fiction.  And if they see something they know is wrong, it breaks the reading trance and you’ve lost “compelling.”  Western readers are very knowledgeable.  I once put a cigar type in a tale and got a letter from a reader, “You used that cigar in 1873 and it wasn’t on the market until 1875.”

How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?  I don’t use prologues, I begin with a hook if possible (and it’s always possible if you’re clever enough to figure it out).  My last western, NEMESIS, began with  “It’s been fifteen years since I’ve killed a man.”  Let’s hope that compels the reader to keep reading.

Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along?  As I go, I don’t always know the questions yet.  I do know the setting and some of it I research as settings change.

Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why?  Was there a role model for this particular character?  With the hero, of course, who else?

Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads? I know the beginning and the end (usually).  Then all I’ve got to do is fill in the middle without getting a “saggy middle.”

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? Interesting characters make for interesting reading.  My last hero was attracted to a whore and a preacher’s daughter, and the whore ended up having a good heart and the preacher’s daughter’s was a little on the black side.  One of the most compelling western characters I’ve read was a humpback.

Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?  I raised four sons, what do you think?  I almost always have something on the TV or music channel.  If it’s too quiet, when you’re raising sons, they’re up to something.

Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?  As I relate to young writers, when I hire a carpenter to build a new garage and I walk out to see him staring at a pile of lumber, does he have carpenter’s block?  If you claim to be a writer, write.  Sit down and start typing, and soon, you’ll be writing. 

Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?  Kind of like asking me who’s my favorite son.  Sorry, can’t choose.

Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?  Too many to name, however Shane is way up the list.

Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?  You don’t think Billy the Kid was a sociopath?  I didn’t know those were “modern.”  Seems like they’re humanity issues and have been with us always.

What are you writing right now? I’m working on a thriller and a non-fiction on promoting your work on the internet.  Then it’s a sequel to my last western.

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 never wrote what they wanted, only told them I was.  By the time they get the book they can’t remember what you were supposed to write, and if it’s a good book, they don’t give a damn.  But, yes, I love not having to deal with publishers, although many of them are still friends.

Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?  Yes, and so does my wife, far more than I do, thank God, and my day job is promoting her career which makes me more money than writing.  If you figure out how to work more than ten or twelve hours a day, please advise.

What do you plan to write in the future?  Fiction and more fiction and work on my cookbook which is an ongoing project.  The problem with a cookbook is your waistline.

What made you decide to write Western fiction?  Even though I was born and raised in central California, my town was the Oklahoma and Texas of California, where many of the dust bowl folks landed.  In high school I worked in the fields.  I was a western guy, a hunter, a packer and wrangler (at a boys camp in the high Sierra), and always wore Levi’s and boots.  We have three horses now, and have to pull fence and trim hoofs.  My town was Nashville west, the home of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard (who I picked up hitchhiking one day about a half century or more ago).  I spoke the language. My wife’s family was old time rodeo, her dad a PRCA team roper, and her uncle one of the sports finest bullfighters.  It was the easiest genre to step into.

May I Sign That For You?

Or Booksigning 1A  

 L.J. Martin

Booksignings.

To some authors, they’re about as much fun as a root canal.

Booksignings, after the initial ego gratification of a first book, are a unique form of torture where one sits astride a cold metal chair in a corner of a musty book store while passerby’s presume you’re registering voters or offering petitions to “save the whales.”

But they can be a career builder, sometimes even ego gratifying, and a way to sell books. To some of you, that concept, selling books, may be repugnant. In fact, selling anything may be repulsive to you. Having been a salesman all my life, it’s second nature to me, and, by the way, it’s also the highest paying profession in the world. To put it in your perspective, even Louie, D. Steel and S. King are pikers in the income department compared to some of this country’s great salespeople.

Nothing happens in this free enterprise system of ours until someone sells something. Publishers can’t pay the help, or buy manuscripts, or sponsor book tours unless someone is out there selling books.

And it’s my belief that it’s your responsibility as a major contributor to the book process to contribute to that effort--at least to not hinder it.

But selling, like writing, is a craft. A learned art that takes some practice.

The fact is your writing career can’t grow unless your readership grows. So the more of your books you get into the hands of readers, the more opportunity you have to find a few who like what you do, and may just look for your next book without you personally shoving it into a reluctant hand.

There’s only one primary reason to do a booksigning, and that’s to sell books. Delbert, the bookstore manager at D. Balton has not gone to the trouble of stocking a case of your Cruising the Strip Joints of Southern Louisiana, of contacting your publisher or his own corporate office and getting that great poster made, of rounding up a table and chair and vase of plastic flowers because he wants your sparkling company for a couple of hours.

And Delbert sure doesn’t want to re-pack and return forty five of the fifty books he’s stocked because his “author” has elected to read a good book rather than sell his own while he or she’s warming the booksigning throne. And you sure as hell don’t want him to strip the covers off those paperbacks and irritate your sacred sell-through. For those of you not familiar with the term “sell-through,” it’s the percentage of books not returned (presumed sold) of those shipped. In the case of Westerns, many times that percentage is as low as 40%. And I’m sure you’re aware that returning a book, when it’s a paperback, means only returning the cover. The rest of the 250 pages go to the shredder.

But back to booksigning. Reading a good book is definitely the wrong way to do a booksigning.

Besides selling books, there is a secondary reason for doing a booksigning, and that’s to please a bookseller. But trust me, you’ll please and impress them more if you sell the hell out of those books.

If you don’t want to sell, stay home. A signing is not an invitation to be idolized by an adoring public, it’s a bookstore to which you’ve been invited. A bookstore, with rent and light bills and personnel costs.

Unless you’re D. Steel or S. King, the likelihood of having a line of patrons salivating for a signature is slim-and-none and Slim’s out of town.

So what do you do? You take advantage of every live body within polite (and sometimes not so polite) speaking range. And you can do that far better if you set four simple ground rules with the bookstore before you agree to sign.

1. Find the right day to sign. An event at the location of the bookstore, a sidewalk sale for instance, that’s the best day to sign. More people, more targets.

2. You have to have people to sell to in order to sell, so locating in the highest traffic area of the bookstore is best, and out on the sidewalk or in the mall walkway itself is even better. You want to send the guy who came to the mall for a pair of BVD’s away with a book and a pair of BVD’s. It’s usually much easier to sell him a Western, than to sell one to the guy who came into a bookstore to buy a manual in order to pass his concrete contractor’s exam.

3. You need the books on the table, not on the shelf, even if you’re outside in the mall walkway. (You’ll see why later)

4. You don’t need a helper. Save the chat with the bookstore personnel until after the scheduled signing time. (He’ll “step on your close,” which I’ll explain in a moment.)

Now it’s up to you.

You’ve got the table, the prime location near the front entrance or out in the mall; a pile of books on hand; a great poster on the window behind you; and the manager and his employees, at your request, are leaving you to do your job. There are a lot of folks passing by, most intent on buying new underwear.

Now what?

Sell books, that’s what.

All direct selling is an interchange between buyer and seller. Great salespeople sell to those who may not yet know they want to buy. You can’t ask a closing question unless you establish a relationship, even the most tentative of ones, and you can’t do that without talking--communicating.

Step one is letting them know why you’re sitting on that cold chair.

Greet everyone who passes. “Hi! Are you a reader?” Or, “Do you read westerns?” Or, “Do you like strip joints?” Or whatever is applicable.

It’s seldom you get a “no” to the first question. You do occasionally get “What do you think I am, an imbecile?” To the second you may get a straight out “no,” then the question is, “How about your dad, or husband?” Or “An autographed book makes a great gift.”

This is the easy part. “Good morning, are you a reader?” is an easy question, but not a closing one, and closing questions are how you sell. If you get the least encouragement, the next piece of selling business is to get the book in the buyer’s hand. And you do that by handing it to him. “Have you read mine?”

This also informs him that you’re not about to ask him to sign a petition. Even though you’re sitting there with a pile of books and a poster, his mission was to buy a pair of skivvies or socks, so you’ve got to slow him down and make him think books. Let him read the cover copy. Don’t talk while he’s digesting the product. It, too, is there to sell.

Now maybe he gets it. You’re an author.

“Did you write this?” is something near what his next question will be.

“Yes, it’s a great guide if you’re into strip joints,” gives you a chance to relate to your buyer and his/her interests. The easiest sell is one that satisfies a need.

“Looks great,” he says. . . .And now is when 99.99% of you farm it out.

Now what.

Step two. A close, that’s what.

“May I sign that for you?” you ask, with your best smile.

It’s decision time. The book is in his hand, he’s already said it looks great. You’ve offered to autograph it. And more importantly, you’ve given him an easy question to answer. You haven’t asked, “Do you want to part with a hard-earned $5.95 rather than have lunch?” That’s a much tougher question to answer. His choice is replying, “No, doofus, I don’t want your autograph,” which is a little like saying “Who the hell are you?” Or admitting that he doesn’t have the $5.95 until pay day. All tough ego-preventing responses to your close. A much easier answer is “yes.”

You’ve asked your closing question, and he’s silent for an interminable five seconds. . .and you know what 99.999% of you will do? You’ll get sucked right into that maelstrom of torturous silence with, “That’s a great belt.” And you know what--you’ve let him off the hook. Now he can tell you about his Uncle Charley who does leather work, and ignore your close while casually slipping the book back on the table. You’ve given him the easy out--right through your big mouth.

Don’t ever forget that you’re doing them a favor by selling them your book. If you don’t believe that, stay home. Let someone else who believes in you, even if you don’t, sell your books.

The largest real estate deal I ever sold, I waited in silence 23 minutes (by the watch) after asking a closing question. Now, when you’re waiting for an answer that may mean a 50 foot sailboat or six bedroom house, 23 minutes seems enough time to read War and Peace. But, I knew the rule--first guy to speak loses. So I waited, and he took a couple of phone calls, looked out the window across San Francisco Bay for a while, and finally spoke--and I won, or should say “earned,” the largest commission of my life.

You speak, and he’s off the hook. Silence, is the salesperson’s best friend. Silence is the loudest closing technique of all. Not chatter. But silence after a closing question. Silence is what separates the salespeople with yachts from those with yearning. That’s why you don’t need the help of the manager or store personnel. They can stand the pressure even less, and they’ll speak into the silence. Hell, if they were trained to sell, they’d probably be making a lot of money somewhere else, not schlepping your books in a chain store while working their way through college so they can get as far from that bookstore as possible. They, in their well meaning enthusiasm, will “step” on your close every time--by speaking and letting your buyer off the hook.

You can’t get that book into their hands unless the books are on the table in front of you. If the bookstore owner is worried about someone hooking a book, then he doesn’t think much of the value of your time. You might be better off staying home and working on your next, Strip Joints of Northern Louisiana.

Kat, my wife, and I make a game out of booksignings. A contest, with inner self to sell more than we sold the last time, and with each other. Sometimes the closing questions go a little overboard, such as the time I suggested to a haggard looking man that he was probably going to have a heart attack if he didn’t relax with a good book. I lost that sale. But it was good advice. Or when Kat turned to a passing lady and asked, “Do you read?” before she noticed the red and white cane. To the lady's credit, she laughed even though she could not see Kat’s red face.

But then again, we sold 650 books in six hours—three two-hour booksignings in three consecutive days. And made a lot of friends at Anderson News.

And not one of those folks who walked away from that table with a book in their hands knew Kat or Larry Jay Martin from Adam’s off ox before that day.

Now they do.

A few other tricks to help you sell books for that hard-working bookseller.

Have a representation of all your titles on the table if you have more than one, not just your newest book—including a couple of your audios and large print titles, if you've got them.

Help him and yourself by providing him with press releases a couple of weeks in advance, or by offering to contact the press yourself and get those articles in the local paper. Sometimes large malls have their own newspapers! Sometimes military bases have their own papers, radio stations, and T.V. stations.

Sign all the unsold books before you leave. The bookseller is less likely to strip covers and return them if the books are signed. Chains will sometimes circulate those signed copies to other stores. And take and use your own “signed by the author” stickers.

Make sure some of your books remain on the shelves during the booksigning. Many times a shy customer will bypass you, but look for the book on the shelf or in the racks.

Don’t presume your buyer realizes you’re the author, even though you’ve got the book in his hand and told him it’s yours. He thinks it’s yours, as in ownership, and you want to sell it to him, not that it’s yours, as in authorship, even through you still want to sell it to him. Many times he thinks you’re a bookstore employee. Even these “not-so-quick-ones” may have the $5.95, and may become fans. Usually they’re not really slow, just distracted by the need of a new pair of BVD’s.

If you’re selling a Western, don’t be bashful about calling it a Historical if it’s a woman buyer, or a man who has expressed a dislike for “Westerns.” Or if she says she only reads suspense, your book is suddenly a suspense, in a western setting. Cross genre lines, you may do us all some good.

Dress the part. They want to see a star, give them a star.

Don’t be offended by anyone. Tell those who say they’ll wait until it’s in the library that you hope they do and to please read it when it arrives there, or those that want to wait to buy it in the used bookstore to make sure they tell their friends if they like it. Go on to the next live one. What you’re doing, after all, is not just selling, but selling in order to spread the word and build your readership. So spread the word, even if you don’t make a sale.

“I don’t read that crap,” is the worst you’ll normally get by being assertive. You must then assume he’s stupid because he probably doesn’t read any crap, not only your crap. Or more likely that his hemorrhoids are flaring up--as yours will be if you sit there unmoving and un-selling for two hours.

Get a signing partner if you’re so inclined. I sell a lot of books to ladies Kat stops, who don’t read romance or romantic suspense; and she sells a lot of books to women (and even men) I stop, who’ll buy for themselves or for mom or sis or grandma. But make sure you don’t step on each other’s closes.

Sell those books, and that two hours on a hard seat won’t even be noticed.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll win a few faithful fans.