Westerns

icarus_suraki — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:35:56 +0100

Anyone else writing one? Historical, serious, dramatic, Spaghetti (that's would be mine!), adventurous, over-the-top, Peckinpah-esque...whatever it may be. Any other writers in the genre known all too often as "the kiss of death?" (Who cares about that? We're having fun.) So bring out your wandering gunslingers, your railroads, your horses and cacti, your men with no names, your desperate towns, your saloon brawls, your treasure-hunting, your bank robberies, or whatever else you have up your sleeve next to that spare ace.

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:05:18 +0100

I think I'm having a last minute novel change in which my pirates from a previous novel go 'round the horn and end up anachronistically in the gold rush. There might also be ninjas, just because.

Re: Westerns

jentus — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:15:35 +0100

Mine starts 300 million before present, but there will be a gunslinger period in the book later on. I am writing part 3 and the immortal will live through the old west. But it does not mean that the old west did not happen more than the one time that we all remember.

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:44:12 +0100

I am hoping to use Western themes in a Fantasy story. Wizard duelists replace the role of gunslingers. General magic usage replaces 'technology' in the society. There are a proliferation of people using 'combat' magic following the 'War' (unspecified war but similar to North South conflict). The result is many bandits using 'combat' magic to push people around in small towns. Keeping Range wars of cattle verses sheep. Keeping Rich cattle baron verses towns folk. Keeping organized group like Pinkertons of specialized combat mages that can be hired by the rich to help move their agendas. Keeping the personal sense of justice that is with the hero of the story.

Re: Westerns

Jagged Edge — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:28:56 +0100

Love the ideas DJR_tlof. :) I’m also working on a fantasy western. I like to think of the setting as a mix between the show Deadwood and the video game Fallout NV, but with my own unique flavour. There will be gunslingers and ghost towns, caravans and cultists, expanding city-states and roaming gangs of outlaws. And there will be magic, the scary, dangerous kind. I’m still ironing out all the kinks, but hopefully will be ready to go come November. YeeHAW! ;)

Re: Westerns

Teri-K — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 05:58:41 +0100

Well, I'm not writing one, but I like reading them. I used to borrow them from my guy friends till they all died or moved away... Guess I need to start getting them just for me. So, please write away. These all sound great, and I'd love to read them!

Re: Westerns

burroburrito — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:23:32 +0100

I thinking about writing one...! I once tried to write one with a seventeen year old outlaw as the main charater. I ony got like 500 words in. (haha) Clint Eastwood & John Wayne are my inspiration.

Re: Westerns

The_Halla — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:55:29 +0100

Part 1 of my three-part novel is an anachronistic quasi-Western set in Brazil, but with most of the usual suspects: cowboys, Confederates, buffalo soldiers, natives, railroads, and gunslingers.

Re: Westerns

whiteskwirl — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:51:17 +0100

I'm thinking about writing a Western. I've been wanting to write one and I have an idea for one, so I think I just might do it.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:09:37 +0100

I'm writing a western set 200 years in the future on a frontier planet. My challenges will be to include the kinds of technological and cultural advancements that would be commonplace most everywhere 200 years in the future someplace it took highly advanced technology to get to in the first place, while maintaining a sense of living by one's hard work, wits and strength; and also not ripping off Firefly. I'm reading and would recommend to anyone trying out the western genre for the first time a book called West of Everything by Jane P. Tompkins.

Re: Westerns

cloister — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:23:58 +0100

I guess mine's a western, in as much as no other forum genre really fits. It's a frontier/homesteader novel, though, rather than your typical gunslinger western. Also, it's YA. YA needs more historicals. In short: Maria, the daughter of German immigrants, must help save her family's homestead from corrupt railroad barons who would drive them off their land.

Re: Westerns

Ashton_Lee — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:30:37 +0100

Not for this NaNo, but I have a Peckinpah-esque in plan.

Re: Westerns

thatwelearn — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:41:30 +0100

My novel is a post-apocalyptic western--25 years after modernish times where a series of unfortunate events (hah) have basically reduced America to rubble and gotten rid of most of the technology that we rely on, and so people are back to using horses to get around, sitting around campfires, and slinging guns as they battle against outlaws, looters, and delightful things like hellhounds. As for desperate towns we have survivor colonies who are speckled across America and the southwest (which was hit less hard during the war--due mostly to the lack of larger cities, etc), including the largest in Santa Fe. Also there will somehow be chaps. There is always a need for chaps.

Re: Westerns

Eruravenne — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:23:49 +0100

I'm doing a western! At first, I was trying to keep it very historical, but I was boring MYSELF, so now it's going to be more action adventure-y. Which is why I've all but abandoned the Historical Fiction forum and come here. Not that I don't like history. I love it. It's just... not very flexible... :/

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:35:07 +0100

I've trained a Pandora station to play soundtracks of Western films for me. What are the rest of you planning to listen to in November?

Re: Westerns

TheMinnowWatcher — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:28:14 +0100

I'm writing (I think, I might ditch it now...) a western. If you've ever seen the My Chemical Romance music videos for NaNaNa or Sing, that's sorta the idea. Plus more westerny stuff. :3

Re: Westerns

Stan1701 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:56:01 +0100

This will be my first time working on a novel and, obviously, my first time trying NaNoWriMo, but I'm fully in the western genre with a story about a cattle drive.

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:46:04 +0100

I just realized that I get to use "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." in a semi-serious context. Wheee!

Re: Westerns

scaramouche — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:56:57 +0100

This will be my third try at a Western. My outline is pretty skimpy: A Texas Ranger tracks his brother for murder. The Ranger doesn't know that the murder was accidental. And there's a bounty hunter after him, too. Who will reach the accused murderer first? Pretty lame, but I hope I can spice it up. Here's great site for all things western: http://www.truewestmagazine.com/jcontent/

Re: Westerns

Stripey_Jumper — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:45:49 +0000

Hi there! I was going to write an Adventure/Romance novel, and then I spent a whole weekend watching Steve McQueen movies and his old tv show Wanted: Dead or Alive. Well, Steve should come with a warning label, because now I can't get the plot and characters for a Western out of my head. My western is set in 1949, and the main character is a woman who served with the SOE in World War II (inspired by Nancy Wake). I'm not trying to write a serious histoical novel - it's all just ridiculous gun fights, neat horse riding, and avoiding talking about feelings. But then, doesn't that describe some of McQueen's greatest work too? :P

Re: Westerns

nurielm — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:15:41 +0000

So here's my idea: the classic spanish novel don quixote is based on a man who reads so many books about knights and chivalry of the 15th century that he goes mad and decides to become one in 17th century. problem is that he's riding a half-dead donkey and wears a bowl on his head as a helmet -- but he can't tell the difference since he's gone so mad. what ensues is a chronicle of his travels through spain, meeting confused members of every part of the country and of every social class seeking to contend with this outmoded hero. Which, iconically, includes windmills he takes to be giants. ironically, the book is, itself, written in the archaic style of a knight's tale. my novel is based on don quixote and follows a man who obsesses himself with the john wayne movies of the american west set in the 1800s, so much so that he becomes a gin-slinging, comache-killing, homestead-protecting vengeful sonofabitch himself. of course, he doesn't realize that he's nuts and that his steed is a rusty motorcycle and his gun inoperable. the book will be episodic and focus on his interactions with interesting and strange aspects of the American West (wind farms, casinos, air force bases, ghost towns, ranches, etc.) it will, itself, be written as a sparse and gory western with a twinge of surrealism/magical realism inspired by quixote's frequent and vibrant hallucinations. i'm so ready to go. TLDR: It's a western. it's an adaptation.

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:07:54 +0000

I'm going to be writing a weird/gothic/spagetti-ish (glad I'm not the only one!) western this year. Since my plot mostly revolves around the travelers aboard a quasi-supernatural train it's going to be rather episodic. The lack of horses, however, is putting me in danger of losing the western-ness of the setting. D: I foresee much off-road searching in their future.

Re: Westerns

Satyric — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:21:23 +0000

My original plan was to do a far future Western, but I couldn't make it work out, so that got put on the back burner for next year. Instead I'm doing a historical novel based in the Odyssey. Next year, pardner. Next year.

Re: Westerns

OneWhoWrites — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:27:29 +0000

I've decided to try my hand at western writing. Specifically, a Fantasy / Quest / Cattlepunk (steampunk set in the Old West) Orama! It's right after the Civil War (1868) and my FMC is sent from Baltimore to find a doctor who stole a rare diamond obsidian from the Institute he founded (and where she worked) and is using it for time travel experiments. Loner cowboys, obsessed prostitutes, the Dougherty Gang, and weird creatures the good doctor has summoned from other times to stop her from finding him. Oh, and lots of airships :)

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:21:07 +0000

First day word count: blah blah blah First day body count: 1

Re: Westerns

TwilightSea — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:43:49 +0000

I'm writing a Western as well. It's more of Western/Fantasy, akin to Stephen King's Dark Tower series and a mixture of the RPG series Wild Arms. This is a series of novels I want to write and the one I'm writing for NaNo is a prequel/side-story of the main series. My Western series takes place in the fictional world of Di'er where this once prosperous war was turned into a wasteland eons ago. Monster roam the landscape but there are people who dare challenge the wastes. They are known as Drifters and they are easily recognizable in their 'Western atire' and use of firearms.

Re: Westerns

LittleCosette — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:38:12 +0000

I'm writing a classic whodunit murder mystery in a Western setting. You know, the type that usually take place in an English country house, where the lord of the manor is found murdered in the library. Same concept, except it takes place on a ranch (in Nevada, I think). The local law is stumped, so they call in a city detective; he's partly assisted by the local marshal, who doesn't know quite what to make of him. Westerns are my genre, plus I've always loved mysteries, and I plan to combine the two often!

Re: Westerns

peacekeeper — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:14:53 +0000

Mine is a steampunk/wierd west novel. The main character is a former Air Marine and it is set after the Civil War, which in this world lasted 12 years and Britannia(England) got involved. It involves airship privateers, renegade Confederates, voodoo, submarines, and a lost city beneath the sea. It is a sequel to last years novel which involved the same main character, airships, female were-jaguars, and a city of gold. This stuff is so fun to write

Re: Westerns

Lloiu — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:45:29 +0000

My novel covers quite a few pulp genres (costumed crime fighters, treasure hunters, spies) and the current portion I am working on is set in the West. I found the perfect writing music in "The Magnificent Westerns" album by the City of Prague Philharmonic. It's a little over four and a half hours long and is perfect for blaring in your ears while writing a rollicking Western adventure. Highly recommended.

Re: Westerns

Panoptikum — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:40:09 +0000

Next year I'm definitely thinking of doing something with my post apocalyptic/steampunk weird west world! Its history spans from tiny little homesteads to the growth of new cities and the rail road along with wolves battling humans in the far west, revenant feral vampires in the Northern wastes and all sorts of adventure with gunslingers and marshals.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:15:40 +0000

I started out in Historical Fiction, detoured through Other, which has a a Western thread, and now I'm here, as recommended by someone in Other.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:24:27 +0000

My wife found me this site, which is a blast to read even if you're not looking for the perfect Western word for something: Western Slang, Lingo & Phrases With a space western set in the 23rd century, I don't know if I can get away with using 19th century Western lingo, but somebody here might. Personal update: I'm slagging my way through a Wordy McTalksalot chapter that will probably be cut in half in editing. Just need to hang in there til the next confrontation.

Re: Westerns

Furies88 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:27:42 +0000

I also started out in Historical Fiction, but this is the place to be! Spaghetti Westerns, Eastwood Westerns...love them all! However, my soft spot is for Native American "westerns", like Dances with Wolves and Last of the Mohicans. My NANO book setting is 1700s Texas before the Winchester rifles and Colt six-shooters. The Golden Era of the Horse Warriors, the Comanche Indians. I just introduced a Mexican character who is loosely based on the character "Tuko" from the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Word Count: 4441 Body Count: 5 (I love the Body Count idea, btw)

Re: Westerns

Furies88 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:21:07 +0000

One more thing to add. I love the Spaghetti Western music (Ennio Morricone) too, like most of you. I found a song recently by a Swedish female singer, Anna Ternheim, that had a real Spaghetti western feel to it. Thought I would share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFIwsHxFsmk Amazing how Europeans can do western music as well as "westerners" ;-) She also wrote a real nice love song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BoM9zCOlDk Needless to say, I'll be listening to alot of her music while I write this month.

Re: Westerns

burroburrito — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:33:39 +0000

Mine is set in 1876 Arizona. It is gonna be one heck of an adventure. :) I have a little more than 3,000

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 03:47:23 +0000

So for those of you who are writing a fairly spaghetti western, has anyone else bothered with coming up with an appropriate title? You know, something like "A Fistful of Dynamite," or "I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death," or even "Heads I Kill You, Tails You Die! They Call Me Hallelujah." (Honest to God that is an actual movie title.) They can really help with setting the mood and if nothing else, they're good for wordcount ;) So far mine's known as "At Midnight, the Iron Horse Arrives."

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 04:43:25 +0000

I'm writing a frontier/homesteading story too. I have to work on where and when they're going to be...

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:41:29 +0000

Have mercifully finished with the unaccountably wordy chapter and am heading into the part that includes a chance meeting on a dark street between our hero and the guy who almost got her killed. Before that I think I'll have him (the guy) kill someone else, good and proper, underscore how little regard you, the reader are supposed to have for him. So, hooray! Stuff is happening, again. 8,200 words. Body count still 1. Am reading Smonk by Tom Franklin. I read a review somewhere that called it what would happen if David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino directed Deadwood. A little more than halfway through and if anything, that's putting it mildly. It's hilarious, and then you realize what you're laughing at and you screw your face up and go, "ewww!" Recommended, unless you have a weak constitution.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:40:00 +0000

Picked up a Smithsonian Handbook / Horses at a library sale today, using it to decide what breed would have been imported to my sparsely wooded, hilly, rocky, grassy planet in the 22nd/23rd century (Kabardin FTW!). If anybody has horse questions w/r/t particular breeds, let me know!

Re: Westerns

Ryssa Towers — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:27:22 +0000

If anyone needs help with the schematics of the Western, I grew up on a horse ranch and have spent the last five or six summers in a covered wagon (think original version of the modern RV camper). ;)

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:45:05 +0000

First week (+1) body count: 2, finally! I'm really happy with my first (fight +) gunfight scene, which I finished last night. Any time you can use the phrase "hot, watery snot" in your writing, you're bound to be pleased.

Re: Westerns

L0VEjoy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:06:26 +0000

What exactly is a Spagheti Western?

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:54:31 +0000

My pirate crew finally reached the gold fields, so now it can actually be a western! They're spending some time in a San Francisco-like city to play some cards and get into trouble in a saloon, and then heading inland for some trail riding, cattle rustling, and ninja fighting. My wordcount is at 13440 and my bodycount is +1 since the first chapter.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:24:45 +0000

No body count so far, but my heroine has begun shooting people. She'll pick off some more later.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:27:29 +0000

I have a horse encyclopedia that I reviewed years ago, and I've spent a lot of time choosing colors and wondering what kind of draft horses were in the early days--in the 1840s. Shires? Anyone know? I do not want to use Clydesdales.

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:44:37 +0000

I finally had my first kill on screen and it was violent. Huzzah! (Fantasy Western) “Well, Thomas, the thing with medals is that you got to be real careful pinning them on a fellar so you don’t end up pricking them with the pin.” As the last words left the stranger’s lips, he moved faster than a rattlesnake up the last two steps and crossing the six feet between him and Thomas. The sudden speed of movement caught Thomas dropping his jaw and by the time that he was sigiling to fire off his Copper the stranger already had a hand on Thomas’s wrist and was shifting the aim. Luke was also caught off guard with Thomas covering the stranger. He’d thought there was no way the stranger could cause trouble. The sudden movement had Luke late to the draw as he’d bare got his Copper raised a third of the way up when Thomas finished his spell. Bright red marks opened in the pattern of some language that weren’t English all over Luke’s body. They tore through his clothes and into his hide. Blood seeped from the wounds. Luke screamed, “No. Oh, Lord, No!” Then a black mist appeared behind Luke as he stood frozen in fright and a huge hand reached out of the mist and pulled him into the mist. Thomas gaped horrified at what he’d done to his friend. A few moments later a mashed up corpse was tossed from the black mist which then dispersed filling the air with rancid smell of burning sulfur. Feeling the fight have gone out of Thomas, the stranger let him go.

Re: Westerns

crazybooklady — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:24:14 +0000

My story surprised me by unexpectedly having a landslide (or maybe it's a mudflow) bury the whole town. Does anyone know of a good historical resource about landslides/mudflows/mudslides? So far all that my surreptitious workplace Googling has gotten me are bare-bones pages that all seem to have been paraphrased from the same source, lists of mudflows that took place in the last year or two (and only in other countries), and a Wikipedia entry that was so bad I stopped digging through search results to re-edit part of it myself. Body Count: 2, by way of a roaring wall of wet red clay (and boy did they deserve it!)

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 07:10:24 +0000

Belgians? Thanks. I know something about them, but I missed them in the encyclopedia. I'll have to check again. They might be the right ones from what I remember. Thanks again. I'm using mules--one mule anyway--elsewhere, btw.

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:05:52 +0000

About time! Words: 16,559 Body Count: 8. Although these were in a dime novel so I can't really count them. :/ Oh well, there will be some "official" ones coming sooner or later.

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:49:51 +0000

I'm at 28,900 and I now have a respectable and growing body count. 1 suicide 4 people beat up 2 seriously injured (one missing a hand and an eye) 5 dead though I'm thinking in the next few hundred words that one of the seriously injured will do something silly and join the quick and dead.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:24:48 +0000

My body count just went up, but my heorine didn't get to kill them. Maybe next time.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:48:43 +0100

My western, Detour Trail, is scheduled to come out in early 2013. Whoopee!

Re: Westerns

Usha R. — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:03:27 +0100

Hooray! I found this thread! My story's not a traditional western, but the setting is very much in a western town with gunslinging and rattlesnakes and rawhide.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:56:30 +0100

If there's gunslinging involved, I am all for it.

Re: Westerns

Usha R. — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:18:01 +0000

And the rawhide. And a whole mess of cornbread. Can't go wrong with cornbread.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:37:21 +0100

You can't go wrong with ninjas.

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:05:55 +0100

I know, right? Also, explosions: when in doubt, blow things up. Who else is planning to make good use of train derailments and TNT?

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:43:59 +0100

I...hadn't been planning on it before, but I think I might be now--!!

Re: Westerns

Eruravenne — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:24:20 +0100

I adore this idea. I want to read it! XD

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:45:45 +0100

Sounds like great fun for a novel. Best wishes on your novel.

Re: Westerns

moonmomma — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:02:18 +0100

not my NaNo novel, but I wrote a western fantasy this summer. Frontier settlers who wanted to get away from the wizard-dominated civilized lands, a gunslinger bounty hunter who hunts for rogue wizards (he's a wizard too), a feud between ranchers and miners who are being paid by an outlaw wizard to dig up this ore with dark magical properties, a rancher's daughter with a secret, and shootouts. At least three, if I recall correctly. I think this one's going to turn into a series :-D so I"m looking for more western tropes and plots to add magic and wizards to.

Re: Westerns

johnnydaring — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:25:02 +0000

Wow, I would LOVE to read your story. I'm both a fan of westerns and post-apocalyptic stories. Please keep me in the loop. I think it would be a fun read.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:11:12 +0000

[quote=Teri-K] Well, I'm not writing one, but I like reading them. Max Brand is one of my favorite western authors, though I teethed on Zane Grey.

Re: Westerns

Jagged Edge — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:31:47 +0100

Thank you. Good luck with yours as well. :)

Re: Westerns

Jagged Edge — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:38:48 +0100

You had me at Firefly. ;) Kidding! Well, not really. lol I adore that show. Your story sounds fascinating though. I love the idea of gritty frontier worlds set in the future. If I didn't suck at SF, I'd be doing a space western myself.

Re: Westerns

moonmomma — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:08:48 +0100

kertwang: have you ever seen the anime series "Trigun"? Very western-feeling, set on a distant planet in the future, most of the technology used to get there was destroyed when the settlers crash-landed on the planet. from the sound of your story, I think you'd enjoy it, and it might give you some good ideas. gunslinging outlaws, bounty hunters, the weirdest steam engine ever, itinerant preachers, saloon girls, people struggling to make it by their wits and hard work. And insurance agents.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:15:49 +0100

YA needs more of everything, but historicals in particular. And the frontier/homesteader era often gets overlooked in favor of times with, well, more wars. I fully support your idea. I want this to work!

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:16:13 +0100

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter (wait, what?).

Re: Westerns

Jagged Edge — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:31:06 +0100

Nice! Post-apocalyptic settings with western vibes are right up my alley. =) I'm trying for something similar, but in a fantasy world not earth.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:53:57 +0100

I feel you. I so feel you. This is exactly why I'm here with my messy and inaccurate but terribly fun Spaghetti-Western-style story. Who cares about accuracy? We're in it for the ride!

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:47:34 +0100

My favorite stories-around-the-campfire artist, Mark Knopfler! My condolences if that song that plays constantly in the background of the otherwise righteous High Noon comes on your station and sticks in your ear.

Re: Westerns

thatwelearn — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:57:05 +0100

I listen to pandora: the last five years, mostly. Not exactly western, but good music for writing!

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:08:19 +0100

I'm going to be looping as much Ennio Morricone as I can possibly get my hands on and, no, I am not ashamed. (Okay, maybe I am a little...)

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:44:58 +0100

That does sound good. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:56:27 +0100

You could also look at the anime "Gun Frontier". It is a bit of a spin off of Captain Harlock; so, there is some interaction of the space characters with the western characters. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=854

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:22:32 +0100

Be not ashamed! I aimed Pandora at the themes from Maverick and the Magnificent Seven, and I was thrilled the first time it pulled up an Ennio Morricone tune. The Ecstasy of Gold has always been a favorite of mine. My Pandora station also plays a lot of John Williams, but I don't mind that, either.

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:56:58 +0000

No shame there! I aim to do the same as i need all the help I can get.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:35:20 +0100

I have a terrible weakness for "The Trio (Il Triello)". That may be going on loop come November 1st. John Williams can come too!

Re: Westerns

emma_johanson — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:28:57 +0000

This is also my first time with NaNoWriMo and writing a novel, but I love reading Westerns so I'm writing one now! Mine isnt a cattle drive though, its a little farther back on the timeline with the Wagon Trains

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:42:29 +0100

I'm awfully excited to use the word "whickered."

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:52:25 +0100

Howdy! Y'all! Dagnabbit! I'm also very excited about having horses. There could have been horses in the first installment if they'd been on land enough, but they were at sea or stranded on an uninhabited island for most of it. My outline contains a heading that just reads, "HORSIES!"

Re: Westerns

Satyric — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:17:55 +0000

An American Don Quixote. That is made of awesome.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:14:36 +0000

This sounds amazing. I would absolutely read this book.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:12:38 +0000

It's the best mood music--for this mood, at least.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:13:41 +0000

Supernatural train, yes! That feels a little weird-wild-west to me, which is a teeny tiny little genre that I always enjoy.

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:10:06 +0000

Oh it's DEFINITELY a Weird-West story. Towns that aren't on any map, a possible werewolf, at least one revanent type, a sorcerer, a coal black train that only arrives at midnight, and someone that has flat out impossible luck. Angling a little more towards the Gothic though as all the weirdness is uncommon enough for people to be skeptical of the reports, but known enough for them to believe it with good proof.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:24:43 +0000

Cattlepunk is a thing? If it isn't, I want it to be a thing. It should totally be a thing. I've been calling something similar "cowboypunk"--maybe it's the same thing. Either way, I love the idea of Old West Steampunk--it deserves more love (it's hard to find). Airships make everything better, too.

Re: Westerns

icarus_suraki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:23:02 +0000

This sounds like good stuff--! I hope it goes well for you. I'm cheering for you.

Re: Westerns

OneWhoWrites — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:57:03 +0000

I don't remember where I came across the word (wikipedia, probably. Or maybe TV Tropes) but I latched on to it and said Yes! This is what my novel needs! I love steampunk and though I haven't written anything of it before, I figured the no-holds-barred environment of NaNoWriMo was the perfect time to do it. That, and the western. I'm interested to see how this pans out.

Re: Westerns

L0VEjoy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:08:24 +0000

The old show (and movie with Will Smith) Wild Wild West is like that

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:47:14 +0000

Wordcount: 5256 Bodycount: 15-ish? I didn't specify. Two of them aren't actually dead, though!

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:26:11 +0000

Wordcount: 1013 Bodycount: 0 I feel so behind. ;_;

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:56:21 +0000

You're going to kill more than 100 people at this rate! Can I be a beta reader? :)

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:06:52 +0000

Wordcount: 2600 Bodycount: 0 I did mention a suicide that occurred prior to the start of the story (you do need a reason for vengeance). Then again, I'm not expecting a body count to even hit 10 and 6 is much more likely. I expect more fist a cuffs in my Western and walking wounded then dead and buried.

Re: Westerns

L0VEjoy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:09:05 +0000

Wild Arms I Loved That Game!

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:26:52 +0000

I opened with a battle at sea. It feels weak after opening with a supernatural cataclysm at sea last year and killing most of the crew of a much larger ship. But this year's was just an excuse to make the pirates decide to go 'round the horn to the old west where the real fun begins.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:34:15 +0000

LittleCosette, I love combos like that! I hope to read it onw day.

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:32:30 +0000

The concert band I'm in is playing the theme from The Magnificent Seven this year, which is great for writing a western to, so I set up a Pandora station to play music like it. It's also playing a LOT of music from The Magnificent Westerns and a lot of Ennio Morricone. Also some Pirates of the Carribean and Star Wars.

Re: Westerns

Jagged Edge — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:58:11 +0000

I like the sound of your world. And I especially like how your wastes are to the north. A refreshing change from the usual 'savage south trope', which I happen to be guilty of myself...oopsie!

Re: Westerns

Jagged Edge — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:53:43 +0000

Ooo nice site! Thank you for sharing this. :)

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:45:17 +0000

Hah! I just watched the first episode of "Hell on Wheels" and I am very glad I had thumbed through this index beforehand. I am also going to have to work in someone playing "Driving the Nail."

Re: Westerns

burroburrito — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:29:36 +0000

that sounds really really cool.

Re: Westerns

pedjo1 — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:09:03 +0000

I'm working on something inspired by "The High Chaparral" series, something with a gothic twist. Not quite sure how it will work right now.

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 05:05:47 +0000

Mine's just called Mangy. I tried having a long title for my pirate novel last year, and I just couldn't cope, and neither could my file names. I figured I'd start out short this year, even if it's perhaps not quite as evocative as "God Forgives... I Don't!"

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:51:27 +0000

My title is "Spellslinger: The Revenge". I figure that I have to come up with something better but for now it works for my Fantasy Spagetti Western based on things like Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:45:54 +0000

You're my new hero! I have a couple niggling questions: 1) this is probably a stupid question, but if you or I could smell gunpowder/gun discharge in the air, a horse could too, right? 2) what terminology would you use for portably watering your horse on a long ride, when you can't count on potable water being available? Is there a specific name for a specific kind of... thing you would carry? (Not water, that part I get) Thanks! I'm jealous of the covered wagon thing.

Re: Westerns

crazybooklady — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:29:48 +0000

A canteen or a water skin? I've read a lot of stories where someone pours water into their hand out of their canteen/water skin and lets the horse drink out of their hand.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:43:11 +0000

:) I have HOW DVR'ed, still unwatched. It was good?

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:42:14 +0000

That would work, and so probably would my fudging it by just saying she watered her horse and nobody cares how. I just wondered if there were a particular terminology. E.g. "they had been riding for an hour and a half, with no potable water in sight. She stopped and dismounted. Rummaging in her saddle bag for water and her foldaway Port-A-Whinny(tm), she watered her grateful mount." Thanks!

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:34:28 +0000

I've seen folding buckets described by other authors to use to supply their mounts. I've also seen in westerns like Red River where the wagons travel along with large barrels of water on the outside where it is easy to access for people needing a ladle of water in the middle of the day.

Re: Westerns

Nylaba — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:00:52 +0000

Hard to say, there were so many ads during the online version that It was hard to keep with the plot which seemed to move a bit slow at times. However, I liked the characters enough and the realisim was fantastic. The sets and costumes are great as well. So on the whole, I am definitely interested enough to give it another shot (pilots are notorious for not being the best after all.) TL;DR Beautifully done and hope it picks up speed. Watch it, but without commercials.

Re: Westerns

DJR_tlof — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:38:10 +0000

Spaghetti westerns usually refer to the westerns that were filmed by Italian directors. Films like the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or a Fist Full of Dollars are examples. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Western

Re: Westerns

lachattefatale — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:56:00 +0000

Also, I've been minutely adjusting their speech patterns from salty to western, and it will shift more strongly over the course of the current chapter. This is fun.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:22:18 +0000

It sounds like fun. I would still like to be a beta reader. I wrote a scene in a saloon, and the saloon door instead of being those batwing swingy things I had it slide open automatically with the sound the doors make in Star Trek. Or Futurama. (Space western, set in the 2200s). I chickened out, though and took that part out. It's hard to describe that sound, for one thing.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:09:52 +0000

Saw it on the DVR. Commercials, but the fast-forwardable kind from the original showing. Agreed, you can really sink your teeth into the realism, other than the dynamic w/r/t the main recently freed slave character, which seems a little contrived and Frankensteined after the fact so as not to offend the 21st century viewer. Plot could use some chooglin'. Will continue watching.

Re: Westerns

crazybooklady — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:51:21 +0000

Belgians, maybe? And I know people also used to use big, sturdy mules for that sort of work, too.

Re: Westerns

kertwang — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:15:11 +0000

Got me the guide to horse breeds I mentioned on page 2. Where does your story take place, geographically, terrain, climate, etc.? IIRC Clydesdales only started to be bred in numbers large enough to be likely draft horses in the later 19th c.

Re: Westerns

Pagadan — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:11:12 +0000

I liked "High Chaparral." Great premise. All the best with your story. I'd like to know more about it when you're farther along.

Re: Westerns

kunaineck — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:10:12 +0100

Congratulations! (Newbie Westerner here...)