An interview with Lance Howard (Howard Hopkins)
CONDUCTED BY MEMBERS OF THE BLACK HORSE DISCUSSION GROUP

Howard Hopkins

Howard: I have written 30 Black Horse Westerns for Hale under the nom de plume Lance Howard, the most recent a late January release, Coyote Deadly. I am working on my 31st at the moment, which is nearly finished. I also write horror, children's horror, pulp, comic books and graphic novels under my own name, including The Chloe Files (a supernatural/mystery series) and The Nightmare Club (a kids' horror series) and cross over westerns.

I recently coedited/wrote for The Avenger Chronicles, which was an anthology of short stories involving a pulp crime fighter form the 1940s and my first widescreen graphic novel involving another pulp hero, The Spider, comes out the end of this month, with a regular sized comic book original Spider story, The Strange Case of The Spider and Mr. Hyde following later this spring.

Along with being the founder of the BHW discussion group and the Goldenperils group (a group for pulp fans) I also run a number of other lists and blogs, blah blah. Ok, everybody wake up now! Anyway, as I feel amazingly uncomfortable with bio stuff I'll post an excerpt from my latest BHW and take it from there.

Do you like your covers?

I generally love them. I have had some that were absolutely brilliant like The Comanche's Ghost, Ghost-Town Duel--generally the Faba covers are my favorites.

I read Ladigan a couple of weeks ago and you really don't cut the womenfolk any slack, do you?

Definitely not! I teat the males and females equal, and in a lot of cases I think females are a bit stronger than men. It's also very important to the theme of the book in the case of this one and Ladigan to point out the evils of abuse.

It was a tough time for women of that period, and I think that's why they had to be as strong or stronger than men within the bounds of their societal restraints. A prostitute's life then was even worse than it is today, and very often these women died or were used up very young. Many were drug addicted or riddled with disease. I think that's why it is important to have the lead female overcome very tough obstacles (as do the men).

I wouldn't have minded being a man back then, though. Some of those gals were cheap!

Oh oh, I think there might be a necktie party coming from the women on the list!

Do you prefer to deal with a romantic ideal of the Old West or an historically accurate one?

I definitely prefer the romantic one. While I try to be accurate, I do not let it limit the character or the story. I perfectly realize how hard things were, but in dealing with fiction I feel the tale comes first. There are purists who will not appreciate that, but then they probably wouldn't be my audience anyway. They are looking for something different. I don't write historicals or literature--I write--try to write--entertainment and escape. Most of my Black Horse Westerns, as brutal and as genre-bending as they may at times be, include a note of hope and a solid good over evil resolutions. I have made exceptions, such as my none BHW, Pistolero, but overall I prefer the romantic viewpoint.

How is your writing time constructed?

That is actually a tough one to answer, because I generally don't construct it other than when I start a novel I sit in a chair as many hours as I can until the draft is finished. The times may vary and other things that have to be taken care of, such as promotion, household things, gym and others sometimes get in the way, especially these past two years. I usually am up until quite late at night, 2 or 3am and writing at night has always been my preference. It's usually quieter and less likely someone is going to have a family crisis or need a favor.

In my older books I tended to plot for ten chapters, but constantly found myself having to leave out delving into villain's heads as much as I wanted. I kept blowing word length by a lot trying to. So now I plot for seven chapters, to give myself room to explore the psychology behind them a little more--and still go over word length more often than not. I have also found myself encountering some of these types in real life (though not to the same psycho killing degree usually) and have tried to understand them. Some of the things I have found get into my books. Some things I have found are almost too unbelievable for the books!

Do you generally try to keep your page count per chapter to a certain size or just go with what works on a chapter by chapter basis? Why does this approach work best for you?

I go with what works. I write in scenes, usually two per chapter, and when the scene ends the chapter does. There is a natural cut off point that you just sort of know when it comes. A lot of my story telling is based on "feel". And if I find I have blown that, I correct it--try to anyway--in the next draft or four.

You write westerns and horror novels. Have you ever thought of combining the two genres and writing a western horror story?

Actually I have many times. I did it in a couple of short stories as well as my novels Pistolero (which involves a Ripper and classic spy genre elements) and The Dark Riders, my vampire western. I love combining the two genres. It's like telling a ghost story around the campfire. Many of my Black Horse books involve a little bit of a mystery/horror hint, such as The Comanche's Ghost. Ripper Pass involves the actual Jack the Ripper.

I'd love a little more info on the Goldenperils group as I write some pulpy stuff myself.

Golden Perils was actually my pulpzine I published for 40 issues from the mid 80s up to about three years ago. The group is for fans of pulps. We have some of the experts in the field there, such as Will Murray and Tony Tollin.

When you're writing, do you shift from one project to another and back again or just go at the particular book/comic or whatever continuously?

I tend to focus on one at a time, though I wrote two of my Nightmare Club books recently together because one led to another. I don't multi task well when it comes to characters because I live so closely with them. There have been times when I have been forced to do a short story between because of deadlines, or a comic book because it had to be in fast, but generally I am a one book at a time pony.

It's obvious that you write not only to entertain but to offer glimpses of the human condition. Do you start with a theme or a character or a plot?

Almost never with plot. Plot is what gives me the most trouble. Some it's usually one of the others. I build plots around characters--or I should say they tend to dictate how things will go, whether I want them to or not. Sometimes I will have a theme in mind, usually something to do with spousal abuse or bullying, something I rail against personally. Ladigan came about that way. I had read of a person being set on fire on a NY street and nobody helping her. I was so utterly disgusted by that, I used it--transported into the old west--in Ladigan, though in this case I didn't use fire because the lead female had to survive.

Characters have a way of dictating sometimes, don't they? Do you have to rein them in while writing or do you give them freedom to see where they're taking you? Then revise the plan/book accordingly...?

I usually let them dictate things and revise accordingly. If I rigidly stuck to MY plan for them I think the end result would look like exactly that--forced. Sometimes they show the way. Characters originally supposed to die sometimes want to stay alive. In My horror novel GRIMM, Chloe was supposed to die at the end of the first chapter. She was designed to be an informant for the lead character and then get sacrificed by a cult leader. But when I started writing it she started telling me, "uh, no way you're going to toast me, you lowly writer guy!" And now she has her own series. And I think the book was better for it because she told me just where to go!

So do you plan in detail or loosely?

I use a very loose outline. First chapter might be nothing more than "Hero rides into town" or some such. That allows me not to panic when I sit down to a blank screen but by the same token gives me plenty of breathing room. I have a pretty good idea what I want to do most of the time this way, and on the occasions I don't something always pops into my head the moment I hit the keys.

So you just sit down and bash out the first draft. What do you do if you do get stuck in the middle? How do you get out of it? Do you have any tricks or techniques that you use?

I don't get stuck in the middle. I have an idea where the book is going so there's only ennui. The only time I ever really got stuck was near the end of Dark Riders, and that was more because I suddenly started doubting myself because the book was blending vampires with a realistic western setting. I had to take a day off to get my bearings. The place I tend to get stuck is on the plot beforehand (even though I use a very loose plot).

But often, middle to three-quarters through I hit a wall and get very tired mentally. Beginnings always have that new book enthusiasm and adrenaline, and ending are always, oh thank god I'm at the end, so you get an injection of energy. But that middle part...ugh.

It's during that hard few days, chipping away at the granite of the middle section, trying to form the shape that will lead you where you need to go that I think maybe bear wrestling is a better option that writing.

It's easier!

Do you have a different approach when writing short stories?

Short stories are a whole different animal. I had given them up for a number of years when I went to writing novels and it was tough being able to do one again. I couldn't keep the word count down and found I wanted to explore a lot more than I had room for. I have gotten back into it over the past couple years out of necessity--job offers!--but ss's need a much tighter focus and usually very few scenes and a faster pace. What you can say in a paragraph in a novel you need to say in one sentence in a short story. So I tend to keep in mind that I will have little space and have to use an economy of words in an SS.

Your narrators tend to speak in the vernacular, that is, the whole book is written as if spoken by one of the characters only the narrator is not a character. Some say the narrator can be closer to present day in tone while the characters speak Western. What's your take?

I do think the narrator can be closer to present day in tone (though I don't want to see a lot of modern slang or anything), and probably depends a lot on the author's voice as well. I definitely like to speak in the character's voice when focused on them. I found it much easier in my first person narrated Chloe books to use her tone throughout, though I ran into other unexpected problems.

Can you enlarge on the 'unexpected problems'?

The unexpected problems in that book dealt with those intrinsic to first person narration. Getting across information that would have been easy in 3^rd person but tough when it has to come through one lead character. I also found my self with some tense glitches I needed to fix. It was harder for me after writing almost exclusively 3rd person for some many years, with the exception of a few short stories.

I narrate in straight American English and sometimes let the characters speak in dialect if it is important to their character. I don't cut off any "g"s from word endings but I combine words like gotta and oughta. Most writing gurus say the same - the modern reader has little patience with it. An early Georgette Heyer is unreadable with that kind of thing...

Yes, dialog imitation should be used sparingly. One of the better books on western writing is by Matt Braun and has a chapter on it. He's the one who taught me shore for sure. Dropping the g is very common in westerns and I think you need it for flavoring. It's also common in Maine where I live. If you read some of the old pulp novels though, you'll find where authors went on and on with total imitation of speech (usually stereotypical speech) and it's very difficult to read. It's like anything with too much spice. And it should be kept consistent with the character throughout the book.

Do you have a theme or concept for your books? The theme for the one I just finished was "Honor Conquers Revenge."

Yes, I have a theme or concept in mind when I write them. I don't always crystallize it, but I try to make everything in the book revolve around it. Sometimes will use subtheme too. In Coyote Deadly the main theme dealt with domination and suppression of another crushing individuality, growth and courage. There was a subtheme of accepting ourselves as we are. In this case the lead female is heavy and considers herself worthless because of that, unmarriable and unworthy of love.

What's your opinion on killing off a well-developed character half way through the story?

This is a tough question. The woman in the prologue of Pistolero is obviously a throw away character in a sense and obviously toast at the end of the chapter. She is never meant to be more than a set up piece, hopefully though one that elicits a bit of sympathy. Killing off a character halfway through depends on the character, the impact on the story you are telling and making sure it's not done simply for shock effect. You obviously do not kill off the hero halfway through unless you want to lose your readers. But anybody else could and should be fair game if it is natural to the story you are telling, so you don't risk becoming to formula. Basically look at a show such as LOST. You never know who is going to get killed and sometimes a character people are fond of dies (like Charlie or Claire) but if you killed Jack...well, you might lose some viewers. It is a balancing at so that the reader does not feel cheated. Gerdy was not important to the story in any other way otherwise than to give a few minor clues as to the actual villain, and set up the premise. The main character is introduced in the next chapter. I do this in some of my BHW as well.

Agreed. Sometimes killing off a major character can be a brilliant plot device to catch the reader unawares. And force them to read on to see what happens next.

You almost have to sometimes to keep from getting stale and formulaic. This actually does happen somewhere in Pistolero and I have gotten it from both sides on the particular character. Some screamed at me for killing the person and others said it was exactly right thing to do for the story and really made them hate the villain more and made the ending more poignant. Sometimes you have to step out of the reins of genre fiction and just do what the story tells you to do.

I remember reading an essay about this once in the old days of Fear magazine. The writer used a Dean Koontz novel to illustrate the concept of characters he called shreddies because they only existed to be slaughtered. Apparently this Koontz book had a chapter building up the character, I believe chapter one, and then pulled the rug out from beneath the reader with the characters/shreddies death.

That's pretty much it, and I used the technique in westerns. For a while in horror is was practically a requirement if you wanted an agent to look at your book! King does it too. The trick is doing it so it doesn't look like you are doing it. Making it natural. Because in real life when you have a ripper chasing you...somebody is going to die first before police or whoever investigate.

Usually in real life, you get the person's backstory AFTER the body is discovered and the media plays it up. In fiction you want to get that empathy as the event is occurring. Now, this is totally different from the characters used in horror slash movies who are just meant to be killed because nobody cares. They are there as fodder for the axe killer or whatever. Friday the 13th is a good example of that. The naughty girl is going to get it. The "gimp" is toast. It's more about how they get it than anything else. But that's what that particular audience looks for. In a book you want the person to matter, I feel. You want that death to mean something and resonate and make the point that a life wasted is a terrible thing.

So, how was it for you, Howard? Painful, fun, interesting, hell will freeze over before I do that again?

Well, if you want the truth it was a bit like running a marathon. Fun and interesting too, and there were some excellent questions. I don't know about others, but I have written four novels and a ton of other stuff since writing Coyote Deadly, so I had forgotten some of what was in it!

I kept hoping I wouldn't get a question about one of the characters I couldn't remember! I have a habit of immediately forgetting my books after the first draught--I trained myself to do this way back so I could revise with a less jaundiced eye, but it's become a detriment when somebody wants to interview me about a book that has come out roughly a year after I wrote it. I really look forward to the upcoming authors and their views on things.

Ok, I guess this seems like a good place to end and thank everybody for participating and for the great questions asked. Well done, Howard. You made it through to the other side and very interesting it was too. I am very much looking forward to the authors we have coming up. So thanks again to everybody and "Ride on, Pilgrims!"

Coming 1 March '09: Jack Giles.