After L'Amour I picked up Zane Grey. In my limited experience with westerns these two names loomed large. I couldn't get through Grey at first but kept coming back to him. I learned why he wrote the way he did: his era, his education, his interests. I learned why L'Amour wrote the way he did. When I understood the writers a little better, I was able to comprehend their work better. Now, Grey is harder than L'Amour, but you get the idea. I didn't do a lot of research on the men, just a little background check, if you will. And after the first few books, I began to see patterns to their writing that made it easier for me to get into and through their books – which is not a uniformly easy thing to do with any author, so I guess that's why I go into such detail with this interview.
From Grey and L'Amour I graduated out to other authors (listed in the next question), concentrating a lot on the old pulp authors, and really began to appreciate the western a lot more. I came to understand that, for me at least, the western is the purest form of story-telling there is, and the most American. Science Fiction and Mystery and even Romance have European origins. But the Western takes place in America, and only in America, and only during about 40 years of American history. It's unique and specific. But more than that, it's unadorned. There are no ray guns or space ships or any of the other gimmicks that populate the rest of popular literature. Westerns are simple stories. They have at their heart one or more of the seven classic (Aristotelian?) plots in all of literature. But the plots are bald, raw, plain:
man against man
man against nature
man against the environment
man against himself
man against society
man against machine
man against God
Many people dispute that plots can be limited to seven, or even defined in such simple terms. But it is because of this simplicity that I feel these seven apply. And it's because of this discovery I made that I like to write westerns.
Take apart any western and you'll find two or three of these intertwined in the story as major themes. Then combine this with my preference of writing about ordinary people set in extraordinary circumstances, and really the western was the best genre for me. Men and women, regular folk, moved west not to conquer or tame but to make a place for themselves, to get a second chance at life. They faced more in a day than many of us do in a lifetime. It is their struggle (not the continual rehashing of the OK Corral or Billy the Kid stories) that is the most compelling thing for me in all of literature.
Not to write about it would have been impossible.
WHO/WHAT ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
It's easy to say L'Amour, and he certainly started the ball rolling with me. But I think there are more significant influences in my writing. I love the depth of John LeCarre and the adventure in Bernard Cornwell's works. For old time adventure it's hard to think of anyone greater than Edgar Rice Burroughs, although I wouldn't write like him for today's audiences. Erle Stanley Gardner has taught me a little something about laying down clues. Lester Dent has taught me a little about moving a story forward. As for western writers, I've recently found H.A. DeRosso and I think that Ernie Haycox, for his depth of character understanding and complexity, may be the writer I aspire to be.
YOU WROTE SHORT STORIES BEFORE "THE VALLEY OF HATE". WAS THE TRANSITION TO NOVEL-LENGTH WRITING DIFFICULT?
Actually, I started out trying to write long form but had no idea what to do. I tried plays and screenplays, too. Short stories were a natural thing to write, and one any student starts with. The problem of course is that there's no market for short stories any more – it's extraordinarily limited. But my stories have always tended to be long, and I've written several novels. The first one was really bad, totally unsalvageable. The next was the western, mentioned above. The third was a science fiction yarn that may yet have a chance, after some hefty re-writes. So, I was pretty much used to dealing with lengthy stories.
WHAT WAS YOUR APPROACH TO WRITING "THE VALLEY OF HATE". DID YOU PLAN IT OUT OR JUST GO WITH THE WRITING TO SEE WHERE IT TOOK YOU?
Discipline is the most important thing in writing. It took me 30 years to learn that, and I'm still getting a handle on it. Writing any novel requires discipline. Of course the door has to be open to improvisation. Often my characters get up and do things I never planned, and more times than not it works out for the best. With most stories/books I plan out what I want to accomplish: design characters, create plots and subplots, figure out back story, that kind of thing. Mainly it's a framework, a bunch of points to hit along the way. But along that way the characters sometimes take turns.
With Valley I had a more complex framework, more specific points to hit along the way. The story takes place over two years, but with the word limitations of Black Horse books I couldn't examine every moment. I had to take highlights, key moments, and explore those. I divided the book into five sections and treated each like a movement from a symphony. That sounds highfalutin, but it helped me organize the story and kept me focussed. I even named the movements in my notes: Overture, Seeds of Suspicion, etc., etc. This gave me themes on which to hang the substory for each movement. Not all stories work that way, though.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE BLACK HORSE WESTERN SERIES?
The reason I decided to submit to Robert Hale and Black Horse was because of the package they produce. I had never heard of them, but getting to know another writer (and fellow pulp fan) Howard Hopkins I decided to check them out. I bought several from a dealer in the States and read them. I enjoyed the stories and was impressed by the production values. And a company that produces up to 100 westerns a year has got to be doing something right. Actually, the British reading public also impressed me. I had no idea there were so many western fans in the UK.
ARE YOU WRITING A FOLLOW-UP TO VALLEY OF HATE? CAN YOU GIVE US ANY DETAILS?
Not a specific follow-up to Valley, but I have finished another western titled Bloody Montana. I'm going to try the American market this time as I wait for Valley to get into print. This one is much more traditional in its approach, no symphonic movements, just a tight time frame.
TELL US ABOUT ANY OTHER UPCOMING PROJECTS.
I run the ShadowPDF website on which I post the original Shadow novels from the 1930s and 1940s set up in PDF format along with the original drawings. Another pulp fan buddy of mine lit a fire under me and got me to write a new Shadow novel. This
was posted a few months ago. It's gotten some very good response from
readers and it has been downloaded about 7,000 times. I had hoped to get
pulp style drawings to accompany the story - just like the old pulps - but I
haven't had any luck with artists. They've been either unreliable or they've
had the wrong style for what I wanted. Still, the story is a lot of fun.
I also hooked up with a guy who's trying to get a new pulp magazine off the ground. I'm writing the lead feature for that – a sort of distaff version of Doc Savage. Each story will be a novella, a little more than half the length of Black Horse books. Six have been written and I have plans for a dozen more. But as I suspected, it was a long shot that we would ever appear in print. So I've started posting these fun pulp stories on my ShadowPDF website, free for the downloading.
While waiting for Montana
to be accepted (see above) I wrote two more westerns. The first has been
accepted by Hale and is scheduled for publication in August 2004. This
one is titled Saddled For Vengeance and
is very different from Valley.
Rather than deal with a sweeping saga (albeit a condensed one), I took a fairly
pulpy approach and filled the story with action and danger and death. Vengeance
is a hell bent for leather kind of tale that starts with a beating and a hanging,
rushes headlong into the blistering desert, and ends in a shootout. It's
a marathon at breakneck speed, and everybody wants our hero dead - even our
hero! The other western is now making the rounds to the New York publishing
houses and it will be some time before I hear yeah or nay about it. I'm
ready to start on another Hale western using a character from Vengeance and
hope to have it done by November, which will leave me enough time this year
to start a mystery I've been champing at the bit to write.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
Finishing. I mean it. When I've done the last spell and grammar check, input the last comments, made my own final changes it is a great relief. No matter how much I love the story, I'm thrilled that it's over. Of course, the next moment I drop it in the mail and another whole set of worries start up.
ANY ADVICE TO ASPIRING AUTHORS?
The one disingenuous bit of advice I hear a lot of writers give is simply this: Don't. Don't get started. That's a crock. Most people think they can write. That, too, is a crock. Simply knowing – with passing familiarity – the English language does not automatically make one capable of writing. Show them your book and they say “Oh, that's nice. I'm going to write one, too.” I don't have to advise that type because they never will.
But if you're burning to do it, if you've got stories to tell, characters to unveil, plots to unfold, then do it. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Don't let them tell you “But you need to have something to fall back on.” Just sit down and do it. Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead. Because if you equivocate, if treat it like something you do in your spare time, it'll never be more than a hobby and you'll fail. You've got to give it your all, especially when you're young, or it'll never happen.
Here, though, are some specific pieces of advice:
1. Treat it like a job. Do it every day. Set goals, and achieve those goals. And work to excel, as if your next raise depends on it. If you don't it's just another hobby that you'll get to when you have the time.
2. Research – this can mean library work or simply reading a bunch of westerns and then spending a lot of time thinking about them, talking to others about them, and then thinking about them some more. Most of writing takes place in your head. By the time you sit in front of that computer and start typing, much of your story is already done.
3. Look at your work through someone else's eyes. We all have the stories we write about in our head – full, complete, captivating. But somewhere between our spark of internal inspiration and committing words to paper something happens. We've forgotten something, didn't write a scene clearly enough, or made some plot and/or character choices that were just plain stupid. We need to see those problems clearly and to exorcise them dispassionately.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD?
Nothing else, except to thank you for including me. And, of course, I hope everyone who reads Valley of Hate when it comes out in February
2004 will enjoy it. Early in the year I hope to have a Clay Burnham website up where people can go to read some free stories and check out what's coming next.
In the meantime people can reach me at clayburnham@comcast.net.
THANKS, CLAY