What DID I write for Nano?
I had only two things in mind. I had a single line of dialogue, and I wanted Clint Eastwood in a poncho and hat.
I had just binge watched my Spaghetti Westerns one day, and in one, Clint shoots the bad guy who takes about ten seconds to die. no words are said.
And a line came to my head. “it is appointed to men once to die, and then cometh the judgment.”
Wow.
That should have been the dialog.
I have an idea for a novel.
That’s no problem – I have ideas falling out of my sleeves every day. Getting washed up for dinner I get ideas for novels.
This one I can’t let go of.
A Spaghetti Western. In novel form, they’re called Gunslingers.
I wanted to write something Clint Eastwood could have played. I borrowed a little Rowdy Yates, and a little Joe Monco and mixed them together. I found a picture of Colonel Mortimer (Lee Van Clief) and saved it to my computer. I wanted to name him Josiah – knew that right off the bat. So, look for last names in Scrivener (I have downloaded extra name lists some people have made), and the name Bratton pops up.
with the name I know him now. A Meticulous and Precise gentleman who lays out every item in his gun cleaning kit, perfectly layed out, evenly spaced. He wears a number of guns (Colonel Mortimer), favors the Colt Navy cartridge conversion, and carries a real Yellow Boy rifle, not a Sharps.
Then I remembered the scene where a bandit is shooting outside the edge of his range at Colonel Mortimer, and mortimer undoes the blanket roll on his horse, it unrolls, and there’s a Sharps rifle, a shotgun, and a Yellow Boy. Mortimer takes the Yellow Boy and shoots the man off his horse, then uses his Colt Army with a rifle stock to shoot him dead.
That and the pipe.
Garcia pushed open the door, letting it swing shut behind him. “We have trouble.” He said.
Wharton turned, the glass of bourbon still clutched in his hand. “What? What is the trouble?”
“That gunfighter Frank knows. I found out who he is.” Garcia said, holding up the letter. “My cousin is from El Paso. He told me about a US Marshal named Josiah Bratton who can shoot with either hand. This Marshal Bratton carries many revolvers, a rifle with brass on it. He rides a tall dark horse and wears a leather band on his left hand. In El Paso, they called him El Dinamite, because sometimes he fights with TNT. I think this gunfighter is this same Bratton.”
If you know the three Spaghetti Westerns, you just saw glimpses of Joe Monco mixed with Colonel Mortimer in that description.
And Josiah Bratton was born.
I wanted to introduce him as a tragic character, and then for the audience to see him as reluctant – he is forced into having to shoot people, when his conscience is troubled.
I wanted to make it realistic. What would really happen in El Paso if people were in the town when a gunfight took place, mixing dynamite and bullets?
People would get hurt. People would die.
Someone on my writer’s group suggested putting the novel in Lincoln, New Mexico. I had planned on Kansas City, but Lincoln suggested a lot. I could have it in 1884, or 1874. I originally wrote it 1884, but at this point it’s probably going to be a series.
Lincoln was brilliant. The wildest place in America. The President of the United States described Main Street in Lincoln as the most violent street in America.
So – here was my setup. Lincoln, probably right after Billy the Kid. Outlaws. Two gangs, one selling a Gatling gun to the other. Train heist. Gold from a railroad merger. A woman who owns a boarding house. Josiah with an aching heart. You had to have a scene with an Apache or Sioux warrior – but I refused to make them villains. I wanted one tragic figure to see another tragic figure. Who’s the Native Warrior who Josiah waves to, and he waves back?
Can you guess?
Cheyton Black, from Age of Empires III.
Another guest appearance – the old timer who runs the trading post in the middle of nowhere is the old man whose house is next to the railroad tracks in one of the Spaghetti Westerns.
I had to make the story force Josiah, who wants nothing more than to heal his aching soul. So that turns him into a Scripture quoting powerhouse who shoots with both hands (the shooting with both hands thing is where I stuck myself into Josiah Bratton – yes, I can shoot with either hand or both!).
By researching handguns, I came up with the idea of guns 5 and 6 being Smith and Wesson Model 3’s. The “Russian” at first was single action – you had to thumb back the hammer – and it was a beast, a heavy frame revolver designed for fast draw – and .44 caliber. The second run of domestically produced Russians were double action. Josiah was someone who kept his equipment up to date, so I elected to have guns 5&6 be a pair of double action Russians. By putting them high up on his chest, under his duster – it became a crucial plot point.
By rushing the story to finish it on Thanksgiving, I ended up with Josiah go into the big battle still not healed from his wounds.
And I was determined to put Piglet in the book. That idea I got on the first day. Not a little stuttering pig, but rather, the actor who played him. I decided to make him turn into a fast draw gunfighter. Later on, I concieved of Anthony “Goliath” Quinby. At first I was going to have a dramatic fistfight between the two of them, and Josiah winning. But then, the idea got too good for Goliath (six foot eleven) fighting Horace (5’2″).
I literally made two gangs that were abnormally huge – 14 members each. That meant they’d face up against 28 men at the close. That’s a lot. As the book progressed, I was constantly having people killed off and I needed a tracking sheet to determine who was left.
I also borrowed from the Seven Samurai, where Godzilla runs away rather than die like the rest. You can borrow from Samurai movies for Westerns – I’m just following in Sergio Leone’s footsteps.
Now I have to edit and re-write. But I’ve still got a few scenes left undone, and I’ll spend December doing those.
