Cowboy/Rancher Romances

Silver-Midnight · Feb 26, 2012

I was kind of inspired to start this thread due to thee boss-secretary romance thread.
I've seen a lot of these lately. I kind of just wanted other people's opinions on them I guess. Does anyone here write them?

I mean I personally don't write them. However, that's just my personal decision. I may do it one day, but as of right now, I really don't think so. But again, that's just me. It really isn't because I hold any stereotypes against The South or country/farming regions, nor people from there either. I actually live close to areas like that, and I pass by a lot of farms. Plus I'm, for all purposes, from the southern U.S. myself. But just for some reason, I can not really get in Rancher romances. I can't really explain it.

Anyway, how do you all feel.

firedrake · Feb 26, 2012

As soon as I've finished this current book, I have a cowboy novella to write. Cowboy romance is very popular. It may not be to everybody's cup of tea but not everyone is going to like everything.

brainstorm77 · Feb 26, 2012

I write them and love reading them and so do a lot of others as is evident from my sales of those specific titles. They're also a huge staple at Harlequin in just about every line.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 26, 2012

firedrake said:
It may not be to everybody's cup of tea but not everyone is going to like everything.

I didn't mean it come off as a bad thing; I know that not everyone will like everything. I started it just to talk about it.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 26, 2012

brainstorm77 said:
They're also a huge staple at Harlequin in just about every line.

That's something that I noticed too. They're really popular in their American Romance(or something like that) line.

brainstorm77 · Feb 26, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
That's something that I noticed too. They're really popular in their American Romance(or something like that) line.

They're big in just about every line of theirs. If you check out each line online and their monthly offerings, there are usually cowboy titles with the exception of of a couple of lines. Intrigue is just another to name one along with Super Romance, Harlequin Historicals and their Inspie lines.

elindsen · Feb 26, 2012

I have never read any but man, do I see the appeal

brainstorm77 · Feb 26, 2012

elindsen said:
I have never read any but man, do I see the appeal

Silver-Midnight · Feb 26, 2012

brainstorm77 said:
They're big in just about every line of theirs. If you check out each line online and their monthly offerings, there are usually cowboy titles with the exception of of a couple of lines. Intrigue is just another to name one along with Super Romance, Harlequin Historicals and their Inspie lines.

I didn't know there were that many. I knew there were a lot though.

Ann_Mayburn · Feb 26, 2012

My western romances sell really, really well and are a blast to write. Western is the only kind of historical I write and back in the day when I read my Mom's bodice rippers I would always nab the western ones. To me there is a lot more freedom to play around with the characters and I just really adore the western/frontier spirit, romanticized as it may be.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 26, 2012

I wonder why Cowboy/Western/Rancher romances sell so well.

CEtchison · Feb 26, 2012

There's really no rhyme or reason to it. People like what they like.

I have a friend who is African American, grew up in a tough neighborhood in the Los Angeles area. Her family and friends have had numerous run-ins with the law. She went on to college and received a masters in criminal justice. What does this have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing. That's the point.

This girl adores, and I mean, has read everything published known to man in the western historical genre. I don't think she's ever stepped foot on a farm or ranch. She's spent her entire life in the city and currently resides in Las Vegas of all places. But in her own words, if it involves a cowboy, a rancher's daughter/widow, petticoats and a tumble in the hay, she reads it.

elindsen · Feb 26, 2012

All this talk is making want some cowboys...
*swoon* the way their muscles are sculpted by reinging in horses and roughing it...

ladyleeona · Feb 26, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
I wonder why Cowboy/Western/Rancher romances sell so well.

This may only make sense to me, but I think it's a capability...uh, fetish? I really don't know how else to word it.

For many the 'west', or the wilds of big ranches without the convenience of a grocery store, Starbucks, etc. seem daunting, and therefore anyone who can hack it there against such adversity is appealing in a primal, rugged way. Like Mr. Cowboy who can rope/ride/hunt/fish and look good doing it seems pretty damn appealing to me. (Maybe it's a reconfiguration of the standard alpha male?)

I also think there's a beautiful dichotomy of capability/helplessness in ranchers. They have to be skilled and make hard decisions all the time. That's a given. But they are also helpless when it comes to weather and the elements, which adds an air of humility or vulnerability to them.

Factor in inherent beauty/romance of a harsh, secluded landscape and wild horses and I'm sold.

'Course, I caught m'self a rather capable cowboy, so I might be a little biased....

Captcha · Feb 26, 2012

I've only written one story (a short) that had actual cowboys in it, but quite a few of my books are being marketed as cowboy-fic just because they involve horses. So, yeah, I think there must be a pretty good market for it!

(Funny note - there's a reader on Goodreads who has a shelf for cowboys-farmers-shepherds, and whenever I see her shelve one of my books, I wonder about those shepherds. I don't think I've ever read a shepherd romance...)

I think cowboys are just a rugged version of the alpha male. They're sexy. That's all.

Nightmelody · Feb 26, 2012

I may one day write a western historical, but my research has been more for the 1920s and 1930s. I taught a century old one room school in eastern Montana, and taught in a nearly as old two room school in western Montana. Heard the stories about the gin mills and hidden roads to the mountain stills.

Modern ranching doesn't seem romantic to me--my hubby works for John Deere here in WY, my best friend from college married a rancher. Hard working and admirable people but it doesn't draw me as a story teller.

Edited to add--some of those older ranchers are in decent shape and have a cute twinkle in the eye, hahaha..

lizbeth dylan · Feb 26, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
I wonder why Cowboy/Western/Rancher romances sell so well.

If you knew some of the cowboy/rancher/good ol' boys that I've met, you wouldn't wonder! Lol! Appealing blend of charmer, bad boy, get-it-done kind of guy. Usually has a melt your bones smile and tight fitting jeans.

EzzyAlpha · Feb 26, 2012

Cowboy romance sounds delicious. I would probably be all over that if I liked bare romance.

Though, a romance subplot with a cowboy would certainly please me.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 26, 2012

lizbeth dylan said:
If you knew some of the cowboy/rancher/good ol' boys that I've met, you wouldn't wonder! Lol! Appealing blend of charmer, bad boy, get-it-done kind of guy. Usually has a melt your bones smile and tight fitting jeans.

I don't know. Haha. I usually go for musicians and artists. Haha. :ROFL:

I know that writing Cowboy Romance, like many other things, is just a matter of taste and opinion. I don't want to say that I won't ever write one, because there are some writers out there who don't write for their "kink". So, that really can't be an excuse; I just have to make what I write believable. But at the same time, I mean I don't know if it's really for me. I don't like Alpha males, for reading or writing. That seems like a big part of Romance, especially Cowboy Romance. Even though, it is not a requirement to have.

frimble3 · Feb 26, 2012

I don't read much romance, but I have relatives who have farmed and ranched, and I'll bet the 'Ranch Romance' skillfully deletes most of the actual work in ranching/farming. Especially anything set in a pre-running water/labour-saving-device era.

Captcha · Feb 26, 2012

frimble3 said:
I don't read much romance, but I have relatives who have farmed and ranched, and I'll bet the 'Ranch Romance' skillfully deletes most of the actual work in ranching/farming. Especially anything set in a pre-running water/labour-saving-device era.

The books I've come across tend to include enough work to get the men all nice and sweaty! Often with an artful scuff of dirt just on their cheekbone, you know the spot? (Although possibly that's just in my imagination...)

But, yeah, most seem to gloss over the effects of all that sweat, day after day, without much in the way of bathing facilities or even clean clothes...

FoamyRules · Feb 29, 2012

Well for me athletes, men in uniform, and businessmen are more my taste, but I do see the appeal in cowboys and ranchers

. I mean, I have thought about writing a western romance, but I don't know where to start. It may turn out to be a fun project.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 29, 2012

Every time I see this thread title I start hearing bits of Oklahoma . . .

RichardGarfinkle · Feb 29, 2012

Medievalist said:
Every time I see this thread title I start hearing bits of Oklahoma . . .

The farmer and the cowman should be friends...
with benefits?

romancewriter · Mar 2, 2012

Well I stopped picking up cowboy contemporary romances a few years ago because - and I mean no offense to anyone who likes the stories, writes them, ect - but every one I picked up had the same conflict. The hero had some woman in his past - wife, girlfriend, mother - whatever the case may be, who just absolutely hated ranch life, and of course she was always portrayed as a major bitch, but because of this he was convinced everyone woman he met would have the same dislike for that kind of life.

Now my other big issue with this is - and again sorry if any of you have written these types of stories, my apologies but we all have our pet peeves - how would the hero had felt if he went to live in the city to because of some woman? He'd probably have hated it too.

So again its been a few years, probably at least ten since I've read one, and I'm talking like Harlequin type stories, but I seriously hope today authors are coming up with fresher ideas. if anyone knows of one let me now. I'd be interested in reading it.

Cowboy/Rancher Romances

Silver-Midnight

firedrake

practical experience, FTW

brainstorm77

practical experience, FTW

Silver-Midnight

Silver-Midnight

brainstorm77

practical experience, FTW

elindsen

Zombie lovin'

brainstorm77

practical experience, FTW

Silver-Midnight

Ann_Mayburn

Smutty McTitters

Silver-Midnight

CEtchison

elindsen

Zombie lovin'

ladyleeona

fluently sarcastic grandma offender

Captcha

Nightmelody

lizbeth dylan

EzzyAlpha

Unable to write straight females.

Silver-Midnight

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

Captcha

FoamyRules

Hamtaro Rules

Deleted member 42

RichardGarfinkle

Second Edition and Second Laughter

romancewriter