4 Tips for Writing a Western Romance
Author Meredith Trapp shares her top four tips for writing Western romance, from the importance of setting to emotional tension.
Saddle up, writers, because these three tips are about to change the way you write steamy Western romances. There’s something so comforting about writing a cowboy romance.
Maybe it’s because it takes place under big open skies, but I find them irresistible to write (check out my own Western romance, Homebound!). Even more so when they’re set in Texas. Here are my top four tips for writing Western romance.
Make the romance (and the setting) swoon-worthy
Readers not only want to feel like they’re invested in the romance, but they also want to feel like they’re in the middle of a fresh, vibrant small-town where they can smell crisp open skies, see the oak trees, and taste the fresh strawberries picked from the farm. If the romance is the cake, the setting is the icing.
An immersive setting will pull the reader in, make them feel like they’re a part of the story, and not just reading from the outside looking in. Having an attention-grabbing setting that also feels familiar for small-town romance lovers is key to writing in this genre.
Lean into the tropes, but make them earned
Cowboy romances thrive on tropes: friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, grumpy/Sunshine. Readers want tropes, but the key is to make them feel earned.
For example, don’t simply throw in a one-bed scene because it’s what readers want, set it up so that the trope makes sense. Think about the emotional stakes you want to nestle into the trope, so that it leads to maximum romantic tension. In order to make the scene feel earned, the reader needs to believe there’s no other way they could have ended up in the same bed together.
Including tropes is key to writing any good romance, but always make sure those scenes advance the plot.
Do your research, but don’t get bogged down in the details
There is so much research out there about cowboys. From cattle ranch acreage, to rodeo statistics, to how to feed a baby goat, all you have to do is Google a question and a thousand articles will pop up.
It’s important to do your research to incorporate authentic aspects into the story, but don’t get bogged down in writing too many details. For instance, you don’t need to go into a detailed 10-page exposition about live-stock care.
It’s important that you know as the author, but readers don’t necessarily need that much detail, they care more about the budding romance. The details, the setting, the research, it all needs to be there, but the romance should always be the core of the story.
Focus on the emotional tension, not just the cowboys
We all love a whiskey drinking, smirking, swaggering cowboy, but the most important part of writing a Western romance is ensuring the romance has believable emotional stakes. Give the cowboy a reason for being grumpy–a compelling backstory. He can’t simply be swaggering around the barn with a scowl for no reason.
There needs to be emotional depth to his character to make him feel real. Otherwise, the character will risk coming off like a caricature of other tropes. You want your characters to feel familiar to readers, but with their own unique backstories to make them stand out.
I hope this helps anyone who is looking to write a swoon-worthy Western romance! At the end of the day, the best stories are going to be the ones you are most passionate about, so if you have a love for cowboys, Wranglers, or ranches, open up your laptop, brew a cup of coffee, and start writing!
