Reading, Research, and Movies Helped Me Write: "The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley" - A Guest Post by Nina Romano

This month, Fabulous Florida Writers is pleased to welcome guest blogger Nina Romano.

Romano has authored a short story collection, The Other Side of the Gates, and has published five poetry collections and two poetry chapbooks. She was nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry and has co-authored Writing in a Changing World.  She is the author of the Wayfarer Trilogy: The Secret Language of Women; Lemon Blossoms; and In America. Her latest novel is The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley, a Western historical romance. Romano was out featured writer on November 8, 2017.

Research is a given when writing an historical fiction. In order to write The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradly, I read the history and geography of New Mexico and St. Louis, Missouri in the time period I wanted to write about before I decided to set my novel in these locales. I also studied many novels written by wonderful Western authors for background information and style. Some of these are: Willa Cather, Jack London, Zane Grey, Larry McMurtry, Charles Frazier, Cormac McCarthy, E. Annie Proulx, Louis L’Amour and many others.

Westerns have always been considered a genre that offers enthralling and spellbinding ways to integrate old ideas into modern literature. A well-portrayed Western novel should comprise what a reader expects of our old-formed ideas and traditions, but must also have a compelling plot. In order to drive the story, the motivations of strong characters with deep-seeded emotions must be employed, but settings, diction, customs, rituals, and behaviors should resonate in a way to make the story seem timeless.

My story began with a young boy being captured by Jicarilla Apache and being raised as an Indian in New Mexico in the 1870’s. His challenge was to conform to white society once he left his tribe. I used the technique of alternating chapter POV’s and flashbacks for back story in order to reveal character development, change and reversal.

To sound like an authority, it’s important to remain faithful to what has preceded and has been accepted as Western literature. To paraphrase author Frederick W. Boling, as a writer you should be reading whatever genre you’re writing in—good and bad alike. An author learns from the well-written novels but also discovers how to avoid pitfalls from the poorly expressed ones.

I read for background study purposes, and not only the classics. In order to craft a story or novel, I agree with Boling—read everything. I continue to read this genre: everything and anything. There are always lessons to be gleaned from anything written.

However, I was also fortunate enough to be able to travel to the places where I wanted to set my novel. Not every author has the wherewithal to travel—this is a huge perk—but again, I say that if you cannot travel then research and media can render what seems far-removed familiar.

Settings and descriptions play an integral part in devising the Western story. How else can one picture what happened in the glorious past of our Western Frontier and Expansion? Do what I did. For context and background, I watched and continue to view Western movies—old and new—classics and even B movies, including every decade of Western films produced by Hollywood and a few of those “Spaghetti Westerns,” too!

One of those old films might just deliver something to intrigue—action, lingo and dialect, clothing, settings, weapons. Movies are scenic. They show action and render dialogue envisioned for us on the big screen. These scenes are pictorials to learn from and utilize in writing. Cinema and moving pictures give us ideas of how to describe action from various positions in order to paint vivid images for readers.

For more information, visit the author's website at www.ninaromano.com
You can also find her on Facebook at https://bit.ly/2BFi38l  or on Twitter at twitter.com/ninsthewriter