Romancing California - How I Write a Romantic Western Novel

Ever read a novel that seems like it came off the author's brain ready-made? I have. And having written a few I can promise the reader that it isn't as easy as it seems. It's like "Dancing With the Stars," a lot of sweat and muscle cramps before the big reveal. I though you might like to see how it's done.

Writing a romantic western historical novel is like taking a journey backwards in time. The author is as surprised as the reader about what happens. I love those surprises, but I make sure I'm ready for them by doing a huge amount of research. Sometimes I use 30 books, a timeline and lots of old photographs to set the story in my head. But the story comes first--always compelling, romantic and fascinating.

I write the technical story first. When the setting and elements of plot are in place then I start nuancing the characters and their stories. Then another pass for dialogue and character tics (one pass for each character.) Then a thorough read-through for how things hang together--to see if I have dangling details. This includes a "find and replace" for things like the name of my character's horse, the color of her beau's eyes, that stuff. This part might be easier if I used an outline, but my brain doesn't like the structure. I outline on a sheet of paper while I'm waiting for a waitress to bring dinner, or for the bus, but that's about all I do. The rest I keep in my head.

After it's the best I can do I send the story out to beta readers for their reaction. If they agree that something is confusing or annoying I change it. Afterwards I send it to my editor to see if she has any comments (She always has dozens.)

There are more steps, but these are the big ones. What are my must-haves? I love to write humor in my dialogue. I love to slip into a character's head and become him or her. I love to take a narrative paragraph or page and create a scene that "Shows" what I'm "Telling." I'll create dozens of scenes from the narrative that seemed good enough on first glance. It takes forever to get it right.

When I'm finished I feel like I'm leaving a community or a family behind. It takes awhile to let them go and start making friends with another character. Writers don't always choose their friends. And sometimes they don't treat their friends very well, all for the sake of creating tension for the reader. We mess with the reader's head while the characters mess with our. A writer's fondest hope is that the characters will ride with the reader for a while--hopefully for a lifetime--like a friendship.

I hope readers discover Ginny, Jeremy, Sancho and Maria Ines in Cholama Moon, my first book of the Central Coast Series Maria Ines is book #2 and will be released in late 2014. I'm already working on book #3, a story about Maria Ines' son, Miguelito, and his difficult life as a Salinian Indian trying to pass as a Mexican.

I'd love to hear from readers who have questions. Cholama Moon is my first published novel, although I have had dozens of short stories published, including winner of the 2013 LAURA Awards for best short fiction set in the West. I have five more unpubbed novels sitting on a shelf, but that's a story for another day.

Thanks for dropping by. I blog at http://anneschreoderauthror.blogspot.com. My books are available through bookstores, Amazon, Oak Tree Press, and on my blog, http://anneschroederauthor.blogspot.com.