The first chapter to the sequel of Rebel Yell is almost complete. The story will be called The Chase. In the meantime, in the spirit of sparking interest in the continuing saga of Jack Marson, I thought I would make a trivia chapter for Rebel Yell where I give some behind-the-scenes details about how I wrote the story, some trivia that you might not have known, and other fun facts. I hope you enjoy! I will have the first chapter to The Chase up by the end of the week.
The idea for Rebel Yell came to me not long after I completed Red Dead Redemption. I'd like to say that there's a long backstory behind it all, but it's honestly as simple as thinking to myself "What thoughts went through Jack's mind as he looked at his gun after his duel with Edgar Ross?" And things just evolved from there.
Before I had written the chapter where Jack fled to Mexico, I already had the rest of the story plotted out. Cole was only going to be a minor character until the last few chapters and Valentia was actually supposed to be Jack's partner through most of the story. What changed this was I received a message that said they enjoyed the Cole character and hoped to see more of him. I then ended up just letting the story run its course instead of sticking specifically to my plan.
Speaking of Cole, in Rebel Yell, he is in his mid-thirties. He was born in 1879, making him just six years younger than John Marston and sixteen years older than Jack.
The concept of Cole being a left handed gunman was just a random thought I had that I stuck with.
I based the character of Cole off of one of my favorite western characters. His appearance and fairly eloquent mannerisms and intellect were based on Adam Cartwright from the long-running TV western series Bonanza. Cole's willingness to fight and his loyalty were based on my own perceptions of what Landon Ricketts would have been like in his younger years.
I've always wanted to write a western, but every time I try to sit down and work on one, it either moves too slowly or gets to the point too quickly. With Rebel Yell, things felt so much more natural.
This is the first novel-length story I have completed. I wrote an original spy novella a few years ago (about 20,000 words shorter than Rebel Yell) but never got around to publishing it.
The Nigel West Dickens cameo was supposed to develop into something more. In fact, he was supposed to play a major role in the fight against Reyes. I didn't realize I forgot to add him back in until I completed the Mexico City siege chapter. By then it was too late. It still works as a humorous little cameo though.
In my original plan for the final Reyes/Jack confrontation, I had them duking it out in the rain on one of the balconies. Reyes would have overpowered Jack but be killed by Cole. This idea was eventually scrapped.
In the original ending, Jack is actually executed for his crimes. It was a very eloquently written ending and was originally what I was going to go with, but I couldn't bring myself to kill him off.
Parts of this ending, however, were incorporated into Jack's dream about his execution.
The trial was originally twice as long. My uncle is a lawyer so I'm familiar with quite a lot of legal jargon and proceedings. Most of the technical stuff was cut from the final publication and only the essential details of the trial were left in.
Western culture has long fascinated me. I've lived my entire life in the west and am a professional writer for a local historical society. I also watched a lot of westerns when I was younger, so I'm familiar with both the factual and the fictionalized versions of the Wild West.
Walter Morris was originally going to be an undercover spy for Reyes. This concept would have included an extra chapter where Morris kidnaps Jack and Jack attempts to escape. For obvious reasons this idea was scrapped.
Chief Nathaniel Covington was named for the Covington brand of shoes. (I was a shoe salesman at the time I wrote his character)
I used Google Translate for most of the Spanish text, so there is a good chance that some of it is not grammatically correct.
As you can see by the earlier chapters, I used to set chapter tracks to go along with each chapter. I stopped doing this because it was becoming too tedious to search for a single track that fit the tone of each chapter but I left the ones I had already done in there.
Most of Rebel Yell was written while I listening to the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack and a CD with saloon-style piano music. It may seem strange but it helped me think.
It took more than two years to complete Rebel Yell. Over those two years, I moved out of my parent's house, moved back in to my parent's house, moved to a studio apartment, moved back to my parent's house again, and finally moved to the two bedroom apartment I'm currently living in. I also had three different jobs within that time span: Shoe salesman, health insurance customer service representative, and pharmacy customer service representative.
I also spent a week away from home studying abandoned town sites and mine sites in my home state. I actually wrote some of the first part of the last chapter while on this trip.
I still have a document saved to my computer that contains the original path Rebel Yell was going to follow. I incorporated most of these elements in the story, but some were left out and not all were followed in chronological order.
The battle for Juarez was not a part of this original plan; it was entirely on the fly. The story didn't always write itself like that, I just lucked out with Juarez.
I spent hours researching Mexican villages that would have been on the original trail to Mexico City in 1914. Both villages that the rebel force visited after the destruction of Nosalida are real.
I almost considered writing a cameo for the famed real life gunman Wyatt Earp, who actually did live in Mexico around that time period. I decided against it when I realized there was no room for it in the story line.
Jose Valentia was based in part off of Pancho Villa, perhaps one of the most famous real life Mexican revolutionaries.
Most of Chapter 1 is just a recap of the events of the Red Dead Redemption side mission "Remember My Family". The only original content is the first part where Jack is drinking in the bar and when he talks to the bounty hunter. I wanted to include this recap as a way to delve into Jack's mind. We never hear his thoughts as we carry out the side mission in the game. I thought it would be interesting to portray those thoughts and feelings that were probably going through his mind.
Got any questions? Shoot me a message and I'll answer them. Maybe I'll even post a Q&A if I get enough questions. And again, thank you so much for the support. You guys have boosted my confidence in my ability to write fiction. The Chase will be out by the end of this week so stay tuned!