Three journals and one legal pad with early stories from middle school through college, undated

Correspondence, research notes and interviews, plot maps, chapter synopses, character outlines, editor’s revision suggestions, and two magazines document the career of Texas writer Rick Riordan spanning the years of 1997-2004. The bulk of the collection consists of manuscript materials for five of his novels: Big Red Tequila, Widower’s Two-Step, “Gunman’s Cantina” (The Last King of Texas), The Devil Went Down to Austin, and Cold Springs. The collection is arranged chronologically into seven series based on dates of publication of each book, with the seventh series consisting of promotional materials. Because of this, the author’s method of constructing and writing a novel from first notes to manuscript is demonstrated. The first series contains two magazines that featured Riordan’s short fiction, the first published in 1988 and a more recent piece published in 1998. The second through sixth series are dedicated to each of Riordan’s novels. Correspondence, research, and interviews particular to each novel are contained within that specific novel’s series. Most of the research notes and interview materials are for the Widower’s Two-Step, The Last King of Texas, and The Devil Went Down to Austin. The seventh series contains promotional materials for Riordan. In addition to showcasing the people and cultures of Texas through his writings, another important aspect of the Riordan Papers housed in the Wittliff Collection is that it shows the depth of research spent writing his novel as well as the processes of writing from start to finish.