Favorite Settings or Themes?

[Cav Guy]

Since we've had some different folks poking around of late, I thought I'd toss this one out to see what our favorite themes and settings are.

DEFINITIONS: For the purpose of this question, THEME is really the main character focus (cowboy, miner, settler, gambler, and so on), and SETTING can be either the time, location of the action, or a combination of the two.

I'll kick it off. I've got a couple of favorite themes: one being the Frontier Army (especially the enlisted men, who get precious little attention historical or otherwise); and the other being the war veteran heading West. The Civil War's impact on the men who fought it and their move West doesn't get near the attention it deserves. I also have a fondness for the gambler/gunman.

As for settings, I'm fond of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and parts of Utah and Texas. My timeframe is mostly 1866 through 1885, though I am experimenting with some earlier stories.

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

I'm mighty fond of the female perspective right now - women moving west post Civil War, pre Oklahoma Land Run, basically the same timeframe as yours, Cav.

[Cav Guy]

Good to hear, OFG! This is a perspective that needs telling, especially from the settler side.

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

Exactly. Until I started doing some research, I dangerously and very wrongly assumed that the only lone women who headed west were the shady kind or the kind who were accompanied by husbands, brothers, and/or fathers. There are some truly wonderful, interesting stories out there.

[Vanatru]

Theme: Soldier, ex-soldier (go figure) :)

Setting: 1860-1870 southwest and southeast

The areas I grew up at where big mine areas.....so I've always had an interest in the life and times of the miners and the politics of such. The Molly Maguires is a favorite.

[Bmwhtly]

I'm mighty fond of the female perspective right now - women moving west post Civil War, pre Oklahoma Land Run, basically the same timeframe as yours, Cav.It seems to me that I saw a documentary that had a bit on the female perspective of the Frontier.
*Sound of gears turning*

*Smell of burning brain cells*

Yes! that's where it was.
Narrated by Kevin Costner, the 30-odd minute documentary (focusing mainly on Free-Grazers) was included on the DVD of Open Range.

Just in case you're interested.

[Mr. Jinx]

For me I am pretty focused on California. In particular the San Francisco Bay Area. There are a couple of periods that I like within that context though.

The late 1840's is a particular favorite, from just before the Bear Flag Republic to the beginning of the gold rush.

Like Cav Guy I also really like the post civil war period of a veteran moving west. The old standbys of a cowpoke or gunfighter in the late 1870's is always entertaining and their is a fair amount of source material for it due that the popularity of the 1870s/1880's.

Lastly, I am fascinated by what kids went though growing up and getting some sort of education on the frontier.

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

It seems to me that I saw a documentary that had a bit on the female perspective of the Frontier.
*Sound of gears turning*

*Smell of burning brain cells*

Yes! that's where it was.
Narrated by Kevin Costner, the 30-odd minute documentary (focusing mainly on Free-Grazers) was included on the DVD of Open Range.

Just in case you're interested.


I am! Thanks! I taped the movie when it was on cable... I'll look for the DVD. Thanks!

[Vanatru]

I'm mighty fond of the female perspective right now - women moving west post Civil War, pre Oklahoma Land Run, basically the same timeframe as yours, Cav.

Ever read the the two books by Bill Crider?

Outrage at Blanco & Texas Vigilante

both from a female POV. The first book is about a woman who is raped and then has her husband killed by the same gang. She works her way out of the aftermath to hunt them down bounty hunter style. The second book is when she hunts down the brother of one of her ranch workers.......who kidnapped the workers daughter.

[dpaterso]

It may be that I'm the shallowest writer currently on this forum. :)

Right now I'm not tied down to any particular period/setting. I let my eagle-eye POV roam the land, so to speak, until I stumble across a somewhere, and a someone, and/or an event, that combine to suggest a story. The source can be books or online articles, or old maps, or maybe just a name -- whatever happens to tickle a thought.

Latest story, set one year after the War Between the States, features an ex-Union soldier turned bank robber languishing in a Texas prison, released into the custody of a pair of no-nonsense Rangers* who take him south into Mexico to track down his cheating partner who escaped with the bank loot... and is currently engaged in smuggling gun shipments thought lost in the War** to Maximilian's forces. Complicated by a fiery young senorita whose greedy landowner uncle has thrown in his lot with the French.

Yep, superficial pulp Western, but forgive me, that's the kind I like.

Now this fuss originally started off in Santa Fé (for a good reason, at least I thought so at the time) and the Rangers were Marshalls... but y'know, thinking further, it's quite a journey from New Mexico Territory to the vicinity of La Villa Rica de la Veracruz... so, a map adjustment made sense, moving the story beginning from Santa Fé to the much closer Laredo... and that meant the characters had to change too. Timing is pretty much determined by Maximilian's downfall in 1867. The year prior to this Maximilian knew he was in trouble and requested help from Napoleon III, and the Pope, which never came. No we don't meet Maximilian, his tribulations stay in the background, I don't want a repeat of Gary Cooper/Burt Lancaster's excellent Vera Cruz. But it's an interesting period of upheaval, so its attraction is hardly surprising. Themes are revenge and love, and how they play off each other.

* Those of you who are history buffs may see a problem with this. It's possible these fellows may have to revert back to Marshalls, seeing as how the Texas Ranger companies went through something of a rough patch after the War.

** Additional info was added along the way (as I learned it) which is helping to solidify the story and settings. That little article on Civil War guns I stumbled across the other day (see the Outlaw Josey Wales thread) gave me the idea of lost gun shipments, foiled by the Union blockage. But where did they end up after that? Can anyone say for sure?

...And just writing all that down solidifies the story even more! Thanks for your time and patience. :)

-Derek

[Festus]

These are very good inputs! I like them all. I stick by my theme of:

Westerns are a frame of mind with no limits to the imagination.

[JeanneTGC]

dpaterso may be the shallowest ;) , I guess I'm the the most eclectic.

Favored themes -- female outlaw, vampire/undead hunters, gambler/lawman detectives (my version of The Barbary Coast, I guess, only without the camp -- though I LOVED that show, and the camp), horror/western crossover, romance, post-apocalyptic, alternate timeline, futuristic/science fiction. I manage to find a way, basically. LOL

For those stories set in the real Old West, I tend to focus from the mid-1860's (either starting with the Civil War or right after it ends, depending on the story) and go through about the mid-1880's. I may take one series into the 1890's or even up to the roaring 20's, but no immediate plans at this point.

I'll cover any area that makes sense, but I tend to center in the Arizona Territory (gee, can't imagine why :tongue ) and the Southwest, though I do include Kansas and the states along the Mississippi for a variety of reasons. I "hate" going to a new state or territory because that means I have to research a new state or territory. It's amazing how much I know about Kansas from that time period now, as an example, when I never actually intended to know anything about it.