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Thinking of writing a Western?
As genre’s go, this one’s tropes are relatively easy to nail:
- Set it in the American west during the roughly thirty years between 1865 and 1895.
- Mix in any/all of the following: cowboys, indians, bank/train robbers and outlaws, guns, squinty-eye stares, horses, and/or mules. (Have at least one WANTED poster hanging somewhere.)
- Make sure the good guys—in white cowboy hats—win.
[image credit:tenor]
In short, the classic Western was a shorthand for the things we Americans believed ourselves to be—adventurous, brave, and entitled as hell. Oh, and um—male. Wait…what? Only people with testosterone get to be western heroes? No wonder the poor saps were always wandering off into the sunset—GPS hadn’t been invented yet so y-chromosome owners weren’t allowed to stop and ask for directions.
But there’s a new school of western hero, and she doesn’t need to run all decisions past her dangly bits. With all…
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