As I just posted Showdown at the Saloon, I figured I’d give you all some background on the tale.
The story itself has been kicking around for a LONG time. In fact, I had the first half of the story written for more than a year now. It started, as a few of my stories do, as a dream. Now, in that dream two girls got into a battle behind a Tiki bar, and though I would have loved to make that work, somewhere along the line, I just got tired of wrestling with the difficulty of the whole open to the beach issue of a bar like that.
So, wanting to get away from that, I decided to make it a normal bar. But, when I saw a bunch of cute pictures of cowgirls, I thought hey — maybe make it a saloon! On a ranch of some sort. And make it a larger tale, as I was, at the time doing with my Penngrove University story-verse.
And though I immediately planned not one story (this one), but then 3 follow-ups, then spin-offs, and more follow-ups. And before I knew it I had a whole spreadsheet of Rivals Ranch stories. All of which, after a few weeks, became third, fourth, and fifth slot in my queue, and now, they aren’t even planned any longer — in any meaningful way.
That being said, this story, I had put some significant work into, AND, I really liked the idea. Add that to my recent discovery that my fans love titfights, and it just made sense to finish this story off. And so, now you have it.
In addition, I originally wrote the story straight, without the southern tone that it so clearly has. But, it just didn’t sound right. Its tone was too cold and clinical, for the western feel I was going for. And so, using a bit of cowboy, a bit of Rogue from the X-Men, and a bit of my recent trip to Atlanta and Alabama, I came up with a country accent to tell the tale in.
Was it exhausting to the tell the tale that way? Yes, very much so. But am I happy with it, yes, I am.
So, with all that context you didn’t ask for, please go read the tale, and send me your feedback!