Dusty Richards – A Major Force in Western Writing

Today, we “start” an interview with Dusty Richards.  I say start because this author is too big, his books too well received, his awards too numerous to be able to cover him in one blog.  To give you an example of what I’m saying, True West Magazine last year named Dusty the greatest western fiction writer alive.  So, we’ll need a couple of blogs to even begin to do justice to Dusty.  Let’s start.

Jim:  How do you respond to True West Magazine naming you the greatest western writer alive.

Dusty:  I carry no illusion that I am the greatest western fiction writer alive.  However it is nice to be recognized for my labors.

Jim: Let’s back up and get a little history on how Dusty Richards came to be such a writer.

Dusty:  I graduated from Arizona State University Class of 1960. My roommate and I moved to a ranch we had bought in Arkansas. Seven hundred thirteen acres (cost about thirteen thousand Dollars), a worn out grown up patch in the Boston Mountains.  I taught high school biology and science for two years.  Sold real estate and auctioneered.  I worked in management thirty-two years for Tyson Food.  I rodeoed, announced all over a four state area, was a farm reporter/weather man on a radio station and anchored the morning TV program in Ft Smith and Fayettevile for seven years.

I have worked as a director on the Springdale Rodeo of The Ozarks Rodeo Board since 1976.  I have been on the board of directors of Ozark Electric Corporation (a rural Electric COOP) for thirty years and serve on the statewide board for rural electric in Oklahoma.

I’ve been a rancher over all this time.  I’m now down to 15 acres—no stock and no dog—and my pet is a frozen chicken in the freezer.

Jim:  I can see you had a rather varied background before you began to write.  What prompted you to start writing?

Dusty:  I was so bored with high school I wrote stories in class.  Some teacher caught me doing it, took the notebook and read a page to the class.  He wanted to embarrass me into not doing it.  Some laughed, but several confided in me they wanted to read the book when I was done.  I don’t even recall what it was about—probably some western.

Jim:  I guess you grew up reading.

Dusty:  I read lots of paperbacks.  They cost a quarter and I could read one in a few hours.  I scoured the libraries for westerns and western history.  Some books, like the Wonderful Country by Tom Lea and The Blood Brother by Elliot Arnold, I really felt entertained me.  When I went back and read them a half century later, I felt so-so.  But by then I had read more authors and written 100 books of my own.

Jim:  You mentioned that you started writing in long hand. Is it true you didn’t even have a typewriter?

Dusty:  I wrote for years in long hand and I practiced my skills of creation in spiral notebooks.  Finally I had to wave the white flag and get a computer. In time my fingers became lightning fast on the key board.  Why rewrite it when you can type it in the first time. I had a Commodore first—finally got an Apple and I’ve had a bunch of them in line.  They are obsolete the day you buy one.

Jim: Tell us how you sold your first book, what led up to it and how it came about.

Dusty:  In the beginning, I had written lots of books. But I wanted to sell one in New York.  I saw an ad for a writers meeting in Branson, Mo,  The Ozark Writer League (OWL).  I drove up there really ignorant about everything. But I knew I could write. At that meeting I met Bob Magill and he pointed out Dr. Frank Reuter who had quit teaching and was a book editor for big NY publishers. Magill told me Reuter could make a writer out of me.  I spoke to Reuter and he seemed reasonable priced to me. I told Pat, my wife,I was going to send him a book

I did and the blood bank could have used his red ink all summer.  He wrote notes all over between lines, even on the back, about my deficiencies and my mistakes.  I used his critique to rewrite it. Book two he edited hard but there were pages that had no marks on them. I rewrote that book using his instructions.  Then after he edited book three I went over to his house and we talked.  He said he might not have critiqued it as hard as the others, because he was so busy reading it. Bang!  I knew I could sell that book.

The book opens in a snowstorm and the hero has just shot a buffalo and suddenly the ridge surrounding them is lined with Indians.  The book was titled Noble’s Way.  M Evans published it

That same day at OWL in 1985 Jory Sherman handed me a Western Writers of America membership because I had published several western short stories.  They accepted me and I attended my first WWA convention in San Antonio. Jory had written 100’s of westerns and was a good guide for me, answering questions about agents and the business.  I am grateful to him for all his help through all the years.

 Jim:  Dusty has passed the 120 mark in books sold, plus hundreds of short stories.  We’ll continue with his accomplishments in the next blog.  Stay tuned.  You’ll be amazed what he has accomplished.  It turns out he’s written, and published, better than a book every three months – and he’s done it for twenty-seven years.  And we’re not counting all the short stories and other articles he’s published.  We’ll get into some of the details next time.

In the meantime, you can find all of Dusty’s books (well, most of them)  at:  http://amzn.to/RMogAh

 

9 thoughts on “Dusty Richards – A Major Force in Western Writing

  1. I met Dusty at the first Northeast Texas (NETWO) writers’ conference I ever attended. He presented a workshop and I learned so much. Not only is he a great writer, he’s an entertaining speaker. It was nice to read about how he got started and to learn he’s still raking in the awards!
    Thanks, Jim for featuring him.

  2. WOW!! Dusty is truly amazing.. Thanks, Jim, for giving us the scoop — I’m new to WWA and when I met Dusty, I knew he was “big” but whoa! 120 books, and good ones to boot. So inspiring! A frozen chicken, HA!

  3. The rest of us will have to fun fast to catch up with Dusty’s output! What a prolific writer and an inspiration for new writers to keep going–gradually the “red ink” disappears and the story appears.

  4. Dusty honored me by giving me a great cover blurb on my book, “Devoted to Writing.” He is a friend to all who sincerely want to produce quality writing that sells. Great to see an interview with him and I have two words of advice for those who seek to succeed as he has: read and heed what he has to say.

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