(Here are notes from a workshop I presented at the Women Writing the West Conference in Colorado Springs. This article appeared in the WWW newsletter, Spring, 2007.)

                                                      
                                           AHAA, ATTAGIRL, WHOOPEE AND WOW! 

               Ask the average woman reader what makes a compelling book and she probably can’t tell you. Ask a reader of western novels and she might not be able to articulate it in words—but she knows it when she sees it.  It's a combination of elements I call Ahaa, Attagirl, Whoopie and Wow! 

               Ahaa is the “I never thought about it—but she’s right!” factor that we multi-faceted gals need in our novels. The deep primary storyline that pulls us through new territory—or gives us a fresh look at nuances of human experience that we recognize, but haven’t spent a lot of time musing over. It’s writing fresh solutions to old problems. It's framing our ancestors' actions in a way that connects us to them. We begin with a premise that everyone does the best they can with the information they have, then we dig into our research and write a story that debunks myths and defends their hard choices. 

            Attagirl is the Action element of a novel that keeps the story moving forward. We begin with a compelling female character and we give her a unique personality that might include quirky mannerisms, grit and determination, a handicap, a seemingly insurmountable problem, fallen virtue—whatever moves her quest forward. Then, using the maxim that we do the best we can with the information we have, our heroine encounters larger-than-life setbacks while she pursues a solution to her story problem. 

            Whoopee is the Romance and the Sex. Every story needs it, but not always to the same degree. Often western writers shy away from the romance because they want to be taken seriously and not be seen as a romance writer. But they forget that the relationship aspect is important to women readers—and vital to a well-rounded story.
            The writer’s cardinal rule is to make the story true to the character—and at the same time, to write for the reader.
            There are lots of tools to bring in romance without writing a torrid “Love in the Sun” scene. If the devil is in the details, so is the romance. Try nuanced dialogue and sweetness—a shy man thrusts a tin mug of water at a girl and spills it over her, leaves her a wilted wildflower on a wagon seat, brings a dripping, unskinned rabbit as a supper gift. The key is to tuck those little surprises throughout and to portray a well-intentioned wooer who has more daring than sense.
            Wooers can be clumsy and unsuccessful. A girl can lose in love. She might reject her suitor or spoil her chance. She might choose single life. She might don men’s clothing and become a muleskinner, but the romance needs to be shown—maybe by addressing her sadness as she watches a "town girl" who took the other path to wife and motherhood. (Regrets are part of romance, too.)

           Wow! is the grandeur of the western setting. Setting and place are central. (In the true western genre with a man-against-nature theme, setting is a main character.) But strive for authenticity! Western deserts have their own rules for those who would survive. Mountains and plains have other rules. Coastal states have earthquakes, fog and torrential rain. Farmers and ranchers endure different struggles within the same seasons. Women have a different way of relating to nature—often the more difficult chore of waiting and worrying. Because pioneer settlers’ existance depended on the vagaries of weather, setting and circumstance, a compelling western novel should begin with the soil and work outward. 
          
            So there you have it—Ahaa, Attagirl, Whoopee and Wow!