The Last One
I realized recently that I've written my last Western. I've drifted from them for a long time, preferring historical fiction, but still wrote one now and then. No more.
The Westerns I grew up with, read constantly, and later wrote, were profoundly different from the ones on the racks now. There is a widening gulf between early and modern westerns. Much of it has to do with violence. The coarsening tastes of our times demand more violence, depicted graphically, and without the moral or social restraints of the past. In the older westerns, heroes resorted to their weapons reluctantly and only in grave circumstances and the violence itself was veiled. Today's heroes have an entirely different attitude.
These modern novels are gun porn. The plot and characters are largely props to display the real meat of the novel, which is killing by various means. These modern stories have much to do with male rivalry, and less to do with character. I have always preferred character-driven stories, but those are mostly absent now on the Western racks.
The new, violent sort of Western story is popular, and its authors are earning good money writing them. I've read the reviews they give one another, and there is no doubt in my mind that they earnestly believe they are writing excellent novels. I won't argue that with them. If they believe a fast pace with "action" on each page is the definition of good storytelling, that is simply how it is. I think this shift of values is somewhat generational, though not entirely. And if, in turn, they find my somewhat slower, character-driven stories unsatisfying, that too is understandable. We inhabit different literary worlds.What it means, for me, is that I have no wish to write stories that might please jaded contemporary readers of genre Western fiction.
My other problem with the contemporary variety is staleness. The names and places change, but the stories are much the same, a ritualized form of male warfare. The sameness that grips Westerns is not true of mysteries. Even though the basic format of most mysteries is the same-- the protagonist must find out who did the killing, and bring him to justice--mysteries depend heavily on human nature and its infinite variation. So most mysteries are fresh. The complex characters, their relationships, and their behavior, keep the stories fresh and absorbing.
So, I'm done with Westerns, which have been an important, and treasured part of my life. And in spite of my disappointment with the stories on the racks these days, I wish their authors success. It takes skill and courage to survive as a professional genre novelist, and these younger people have that in abundance.
The Westerns I grew up with, read constantly, and later wrote, were profoundly different from the ones on the racks now. There is a widening gulf between early and modern westerns. Much of it has to do with violence. The coarsening tastes of our times demand more violence, depicted graphically, and without the moral or social restraints of the past. In the older westerns, heroes resorted to their weapons reluctantly and only in grave circumstances and the violence itself was veiled. Today's heroes have an entirely different attitude.
These modern novels are gun porn. The plot and characters are largely props to display the real meat of the novel, which is killing by various means. These modern stories have much to do with male rivalry, and less to do with character. I have always preferred character-driven stories, but those are mostly absent now on the Western racks.
The new, violent sort of Western story is popular, and its authors are earning good money writing them. I've read the reviews they give one another, and there is no doubt in my mind that they earnestly believe they are writing excellent novels. I won't argue that with them. If they believe a fast pace with "action" on each page is the definition of good storytelling, that is simply how it is. I think this shift of values is somewhat generational, though not entirely. And if, in turn, they find my somewhat slower, character-driven stories unsatisfying, that too is understandable. We inhabit different literary worlds.What it means, for me, is that I have no wish to write stories that might please jaded contemporary readers of genre Western fiction.
My other problem with the contemporary variety is staleness. The names and places change, but the stories are much the same, a ritualized form of male warfare. The sameness that grips Westerns is not true of mysteries. Even though the basic format of most mysteries is the same-- the protagonist must find out who did the killing, and bring him to justice--mysteries depend heavily on human nature and its infinite variation. So most mysteries are fresh. The complex characters, their relationships, and their behavior, keep the stories fresh and absorbing.
So, I'm done with Westerns, which have been an important, and treasured part of my life. And in spite of my disappointment with the stories on the racks these days, I wish their authors success. It takes skill and courage to survive as a professional genre novelist, and these younger people have that in abundance.
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