Why Write Cowboy Romance? ~ Raine Rochelle

I’m a British author, I’ve never met a cowboy, and yet I love writing stories about them. This appears a little odd to many people; it’s probably the number one thing I’m asked about when I get interviewed or just talk about my writing. The truth is, I love the idea of cowboys, probably for the same reasons as lots of other people do. They are portrayed as clean-living, wholesome and caring, at least in the books I prefer to write and read. And who couldn’t use a bit more of that in their life?

Perhaps the fact that I’ve never met one in the flesh, or even been on a ranch, adds to the appeal for me. After all, I can write from my own imagination and don’t have to worry about someone proving me wrong about them. I know real cowboys are just people, and people have flaws, but so do the ones in my books. They’d be pretty boring if they were perfect, after all, don’t you think?

Of course, I’d be a pretty poor writer if I didn’t do some research on the topic. The internet is a treasure trove of information, and I’ve studied countless articles, and several blogs and videos about ranches, as well as dude ranches—something I find fascinating. I’ve been in touch with several people who have attended dude ranches, and heard about the amount of hard work involved; not everyone’s idea of a holiday, I’m sure, but everyone I connected with loved it.

For many of us, a cowboy romance is a fantasy, and that’s fine. After all, we read fiction to escape reality most of the time. If it’s something that stays in the reader’s—or writer’s—imagination, then is that such a bad thing? It would be wonderful to envision these handsome, kind, salt-of-the-earth types as real people, and maybe they are, but in the meantime let’s enjoy the books for what they are: fiction; a figment of the author’s imagination. And… who knows? One day a real cowboy might just appear and prove me right about them all along…