I want to write a WESTERN - Writers Forum

scifi maniac · 11-26-2005, 07:30 PM

Although it seems to contradict my user name, I have decided to write a western. The only problem is, the internet offers very few tips or advice, and to date I have found only one VERY vague site offering pretty lacklustre tips. I'm wondering how I should go about the western, as I really don't know how to approach it. Any adequate tips would be appreciated.

journyman161 · 11-27-2005, 05:02 AM

If you don't know anything about the country & how people live close to the land, you either need to read a lot of westerns or maybe find a different genre - country people think differently! There is no way around it I can think of - city folk stand out like you wouldn't believe & westerns are about countyr folk

Go to your library & get out some Louis L'Amour books. He has written some of the best & most realistic westerns I have ever read. Zane Grey is anothr classic western writer; Jack London could also give you some tips.

mammamaia · 11-27-2005, 09:41 AM

'write what you know' is still the best advice for beginning writers... 'westerns' are, first of all, historical works about a certain type of folks who lived a century and more ago... so, you'll have to be something of a historian, to acquaint yourself with the life and times of the era, before even beginning to write about it...

you should also take jman's advice to read lots of the best westerns... bret harte was another prolific, award-winning western author... for a contemporary pov, we have tony hillerman's wonderfully-written views of life and sudden death among the navaho and hopi, in the great southwest...

for more info, go here:
http://www.westernwriters.org/

Stewart · 12-05-2005, 06:31 AM

Write a sci-fi western.