The Ranch Boss

The Ranch Boss

Dusty Richards Ponders the Release of his 150th Novel and His Transition to the Silver Screen

George “Clay" Mitchell, Saddlebag Dispatches Associate Editor

This article ran originally in our Spring 2016 Issue, two years before Dusty’s death. We bring it to you now in remembrance of the man Dusty was in his prime, with the author’s reflections today nearly eight years later.

HIS ROUTINE OFTEN HAS him up before sunrise to write before the day begins. Even on the morning of this interview in mid-February, he’d already written out ten pages of his newest book.

“I’m just grateful to have written a hundred and fifty books,” said Richards. “I like to write. Early on, I just didn’t know how to put it any order. I still don’t have complicated stories.”

Richards approaches the main character as himself in the role but observes as an artist.

“When you write that someone is riding a horse, the reader will know what that looks like,” said Richards. “What I believe, all that I have to do is to try to make the reader believe that character from the inside out. What are his thoughts? Is he sad? Is he happy? We all have experienced the lack of confidence. It’s human nature. So, when my characters experience that, the reader knows what that feels like. My people are not Supermen, but they do have to be extraordinary humans.”

DUSTY PROUDLY SHOWING OFF THE POSTER FOR HIS 150TH NOVEL, THE MUSTANGER AND THE LADY, SHORTLY AFTER IT WAS OPTIONED TO BE ADAPTED FOR THE SCREENPLAY PAINTED WOMAN.

Kelly D. Willis

Richards writes his books with the audience in mind. The first thing he does when he starts a new book is to establish where the character begins and goes from there. “Never let a reader ask the question: Where are we? You want them to think about the character.”

Richards takes the reader inside of one character instead of bouncing from different points of view to tell his stories. “It’s just my style and how I write. I want the reader to live for this person.”

Richards is home within the Wild West. He spent his early years in Washington state but was mesmerized by the early cowboy serials. When his folks moved to Arizona, it was just another step in Richards’ long journey to become closer to being what his mother always dreaded for him... a cowboy. “She used to tell me that I was going die in a bunkhouse without any family. It wasn’t until I sold my first western did she really stop worrying about me.”

He did well in school growing up with A’s and B’s, but never really studied and skipped school a few days. While he did graduate college, taught school for a bit, worked as an auctioneer, rodeo announcer and at Tyson Chicken for over 30 years, it was his love for the Old West that kept drawing him back.

His work on a ranch—and even at the rodeo— throughout his life only augmented his storytelling. “It adds to what I’m telling. Knowing about windmills and knowing how to fix them is something cowboys would have to do. So, that helps me with my writing.”

If it’s not something he has done, Richards has researched it. From revolvers to rifles to mining. He added that he learned the most about the Old West from reading old newspaper articles.

Richards launched into a rise of the American West after the Civil War and how it was tied to moving cattle from Texas to the other parts of the United States. The nuance of cattle trails from Texas to Kansas City... how the railroad stretching across the country created the collusion of two worlds... and how the railroad stops could make or break early towns and settlements if they stopped at the town or not... was as artfully told as any of his stories.

“It’s American history, our history. Those cattle drives were our crusades,” Richards said. “It was cheap to buy cattle in Texas and sell them for a big profit in Missouri, but it required going across tough country.”

Richards spends his time writing, teaching writing to budding authors, and traveling, especially touring Wyoming and Montana. When in school, Richards made up westerns for his book reports knowing his teachers wouldn’t look it up to see if the books were real. “There was a disdain for westerns back then. The teachers didn’t like them, so I knew I could get away with it.”

Richards felt his latest release, TheMustangerand theLady, was good enough to be published, but initially it was turned down. So, he worked on it some more and set it aside. It wasn’t until Oghma Creative Media founder Casey Cowan got a hold of the manuscript did it find new life.

“Casey thought it was a John Wayne story,” Richards said. The book is slated to become a motion picture, the first one of his stories to make it to the big screen.

Richards said he wrote six to ten books before he sold his first one. “Don’t give up. Keep writing. Find yourself a writer’s group and pay attention to what works and what doesn’t work.”

—GEORGE “CLAY” MITCHELL is an award-winning reporter and photographer, as well as a founding partner of Saddlebag Dispatches and its parent company, Oghma Communications, where he serves as Chief Publishing Officer.