Hi!
I've finished the first couple drafts of my YA novel, set in small-town northern Wyoming. My maternal family is from a similar town (~1200 people, Bighorn County), and I spent a portion of my 10th through 13th summers there.
Thing is, I haven't been back since age 15 (the age of my protagonist). Besides my love for the outdoors, I'm as different from a Wyomingite as they come -- liberal, So-Cal raised, would never shoot a squirrel, let alone an elk, etc. -- and yet, cowboy country is in my blood. There's a delicate balance: I don't want to offend with my portrayal of the different types of Wyoming people, but I also want my book to be genuine.
So far, as "research", I've used my memories, extensive interviews with my mother, and extensive Gretel Erlich and Annie Proulx. I'm planning a revisit of our old road trip in May, in hopes of adding more colorful details to make this book come alive. But I've already got an outstanding request from a Writers House agent for the book, which makes May seem so far away.
Here's were you come in. (If there are any of you!) What was your Wyoming experience? Or your experience being a teenager in any smallish Western town? Slang and dialect? Pastimes? What was taboo? How did you view different types of adults (ranchers, teachers, etc.)? How did you view pop culture and people from other states, other ways of life? Were you itching to get out? Any thoughts, memories, opinions you can contribute would be appreciated.
Grace, my MC, is intelligent and reflective, which probably makes her easier to relate to for people on this writing board. For a little more info on the book, here's a link to my query. Thanks so much!
I've finished the first couple drafts of my YA novel, set in small-town northern Wyoming. My maternal family is from a similar town (~1200 people, Bighorn County), and I spent a portion of my 10th through 13th summers there.
Thing is, I haven't been back since age 15 (the age of my protagonist). Besides my love for the outdoors, I'm as different from a Wyomingite as they come -- liberal, So-Cal raised, would never shoot a squirrel, let alone an elk, etc. -- and yet, cowboy country is in my blood. There's a delicate balance: I don't want to offend with my portrayal of the different types of Wyoming people, but I also want my book to be genuine.
So far, as "research", I've used my memories, extensive interviews with my mother, and extensive Gretel Erlich and Annie Proulx. I'm planning a revisit of our old road trip in May, in hopes of adding more colorful details to make this book come alive. But I've already got an outstanding request from a Writers House agent for the book, which makes May seem so far away.
Here's were you come in. (If there are any of you!) What was your Wyoming experience? Or your experience being a teenager in any smallish Western town? Slang and dialect? Pastimes? What was taboo? How did you view different types of adults (ranchers, teachers, etc.)? How did you view pop culture and people from other states, other ways of life? Were you itching to get out? Any thoughts, memories, opinions you can contribute would be appreciated.
Grace, my MC, is intelligent and reflective, which probably makes her easier to relate to for people on this writing board. For a little more info on the book, here's a link to my query. Thanks so much!