Where to start your western
WRITING FOR THE BLACK HORSE WESTERN LINE

Ian Parnham

You probably won't go too far wrong if you use the principle Louis L'Amour adopted throughout his career:

Decide where your story starts, then start later.

How does this work?

Well, let's say you've decided to write a revenge western. In this story, a homesteader returns home to discover that his ranch is on fire and raiders have murdered his family, so he heads off an a quest for revenge.

Where does this story start?

You could argue that the hero's quest for revenge begins when he leaves home and so is unable to defend his family when the raiders attack.

So, many writers will start the novel before that point to set the scene and introduce the characters. They may start when the homesteader and his family head west in search of a new life, and the raiders may not attack until they've written a third or even a half of the novel.

Other writers will argue that you should start the novel when the raid occurs. On this basis, the opening scenes will have the hero leaving home, perhaps to search for some errant livestock, having warned his family to look out for raiders. Then the raiders will arrive, destroy the ranch, and kill everyone. The hero will return, discover what has happened, then head off after the raiders. The rest of the book will detail him enacting his revenge.

Both starting places are valid, but the problem with either opening is that they are very familiar to the western reader--maybe too familiar.

So, to intrigue your readers, why not apply the principle L'Amour adopted? Decide where the story starts, then start later.

Instead of starting the novel when the hero heads west, or when the raiders attack, why not start it when the raiders leave?

Or why not start it when the hero arrives home, or when the hero leaves to get his revenge, or when the hero finds a clue as to the raiders' location, or when the hero is closing on the first raider, or is closing on the last raider, or is holding the last raider at gunpoint?

Why not even start the novel when the hero has just blasted the last raider to oblivion and is faced with the problem of what to do after he has had his revenge?

You can outline any relevant, earlier details later. But these options will intrigue your readers more quickly than the pedestrian opening of setting the scene, or starting at the beginning. And if your readers are intrigued, they will continue reading.

And achieving that is your first challenge when you decide that you want to write a western.