There are 2 camps of opinion about the issue of fiction writing. One camp says that a writer can't write well unless he writes about a subject he's absolutely at home in. The other camp ridicules this idea, as it propounds that an author delivers most when he's learning as he is writing. I'm certain that both camps have it right, because I believe an author can simultaneously write about what he already knows and learn more as he writes.
I do have one exception, though. I don't think writing about horses is something that can be done satisfactorily by an author who is on a learning curve. Only an author who has lived horses for a long time can do justice to the topic. The author should have been around horses so long and so deep that they're capable of telepathy with them. And that kind of depth doesn't come with racecourse or show experience watching from the stands with a pair of binoculars.
One way you can make out an inexperienced writer is their inclination to use terminology that's not really part of day-to-day life in horse circles, regardless of whether they're correct vis dictionary definitions. Each human field of enterprise has its own lingo, and so does the world of horses. When a beginner writer incorporates terms in their writing that can appear sensible, but are just not used by the genuine experts, that writer is diluting the impact of their writing. Take for example the word corral. It is a correct word that can be used in the right horse context. It is just not a word used by what I will refer to as horse persons. Horse persons use the word paddock. To the novice writer, horses are turned out into corrals, to the real horse person; they're turned out into paddocks.
Or take the word blinkers and blinders. To the beginner author, they are jointly changeable. But the horse person knows that blinkers are used on race horses and blinders are used on horses drawing carts or other vehicles.
Authors slip up in so many descriptions. The arena of horses has its characters, both equine and human, but no true rider would ever lead their horse from the right or mount it from the right side, unless in some kind of dreadful emergency. In all my years as a horse person, I have never been able to figure out the importance of mounting your pony and riding off into the sunset. The sole reason you would actually do that is if you are attempting to catch up with the sun, and a horse is not really the best transport for that purpose. I can just think the riding-into-the-sunset eventuality makes for good visuals in westerns.
I also feel a bit like laughing my head off when I read about or see in a production or a TV series people sneaking into a barn full or horses and slinking off with one or two of them with nary a murmur. Try it, and you'll be surprised by the din the other horses can raise. Every other horse in that barn would be yelling at somebody to dial 911, sorry, that was just made up. In reality, each other pony in that barn would assume that you entered the barn to give them an early breakfast, and would nicker and harumph in expectation. One or two horses doing that in unison would sound like the charge of the Light Brigade.
When talking, a novice would show himself or herself with his or her tendency to use ten words instead of 2. The true horse person will be in a position to get his or her message across with the least amount of words. The wannabe horse person will tend to be long-winded and detailed.
I do have one exception, though. I don't think writing about horses is something that can be done satisfactorily by an author who is on a learning curve. Only an author who has lived horses for a long time can do justice to the topic. The author should have been around horses so long and so deep that they're capable of telepathy with them. And that kind of depth doesn't come with racecourse or show experience watching from the stands with a pair of binoculars.
One way you can make out an inexperienced writer is their inclination to use terminology that's not really part of day-to-day life in horse circles, regardless of whether they're correct vis dictionary definitions. Each human field of enterprise has its own lingo, and so does the world of horses. When a beginner writer incorporates terms in their writing that can appear sensible, but are just not used by the genuine experts, that writer is diluting the impact of their writing. Take for example the word corral. It is a correct word that can be used in the right horse context. It is just not a word used by what I will refer to as horse persons. Horse persons use the word paddock. To the novice writer, horses are turned out into corrals, to the real horse person; they're turned out into paddocks.
Or take the word blinkers and blinders. To the beginner author, they are jointly changeable. But the horse person knows that blinkers are used on race horses and blinders are used on horses drawing carts or other vehicles.
Authors slip up in so many descriptions. The arena of horses has its characters, both equine and human, but no true rider would ever lead their horse from the right or mount it from the right side, unless in some kind of dreadful emergency. In all my years as a horse person, I have never been able to figure out the importance of mounting your pony and riding off into the sunset. The sole reason you would actually do that is if you are attempting to catch up with the sun, and a horse is not really the best transport for that purpose. I can just think the riding-into-the-sunset eventuality makes for good visuals in westerns.
I also feel a bit like laughing my head off when I read about or see in a production or a TV series people sneaking into a barn full or horses and slinking off with one or two of them with nary a murmur. Try it, and you'll be surprised by the din the other horses can raise. Every other horse in that barn would be yelling at somebody to dial 911, sorry, that was just made up. In reality, each other pony in that barn would assume that you entered the barn to give them an early breakfast, and would nicker and harumph in expectation. One or two horses doing that in unison would sound like the charge of the Light Brigade.
When talking, a novice would show himself or herself with his or her tendency to use ten words instead of 2. The true horse person will be in a position to get his or her message across with the least amount of words. The wannabe horse person will tend to be long-winded and detailed.
About the Author:
Horses are Heather Toms
passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of
articles with other horse lovers http://horsehorses.net/
passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of
articles with other horse lovers http://horsehorses.net/
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