Do monocles and magnifying glasses go with cowboy hats?

This is a follow up to my confession that, after years of disliking westerns novels and movies, I now find myself inclined to write one. Startling, yes, but the reaction of my family has been nothing short of…amusing. ;)
When I told my sister, who always reads my manuscripts first, she sighed dramatically and moaned, “Fine, but you know I wouldn’t read it in real life.” She will watch western motives, but won’t read novels of the genre. Of course, I don’t think she’s ever read a western…
Nothing could beat my mother’s reaction. She scrunched up her nose and began to beg me not to! I’m serious! She started listing all the other time periods that I could write about. That’s when I remembered that, while my previous opinion of westerns was general dislike, hers borders on abhorrence. Why? She grew up in a family that loved westerns in all forms and somewhere along the way she went into western sensory overload, declaring that it was impossible for her to like one.
I asked her if she would approach my manuscript begrudgingly because of the genre. Ever honest, she said yes, then sighed and added, “But knowing you I’ll probably end up liking it.”
Oh, the horror of possibly liking a western! Anything, anything but that! LOL
Well, we will just have to see if I can write a western that my critics can like. I am noticing, as my notes spill out before me, that I am being heavily influenced by some of my favorite British authors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers in particular. Perhaps a bit of P.G. Wodehouse as well. (We all need a valet, right?)
Sherlock and Lord Peter are particular favorites of mine (I love eccentrics), and their fingerprints are getting all over my storyline, but then I don’t think I’ve ever written a novel without a British author floating around in my head.
Hm, I do think I will end up doing my mother a service by reintroducing her to the western. During our conversation on why she doesn’t like westerns we discovered she can’t pronounce the word Bonanza. ;)

Visit my Contest Blog to learn how to win Barns and Nobles and iTunes gift cards.