Horses and Writing (Now)

                                                by Laura Crum

            That’s what this blog is supposed to be about. I have deviated—A LOT-- from the theme, I’m afraid. My interest lately is all about what counts…what in my life is worth focusing on in the light of mortality. Ever since my husband died, my life has changed in many ways. And most of all in the sense that I only give my time to what needs to be done to take care of our little life here, and to what I do out of love. I still love my horses and I still write—I think these things are part of what counts for me. So I can give an update on my horses and my writing, I guess, if anyone is interested.

            Since I’ve owned horses all my life and I don’t dump them when their using life is over, I have (no surprise) a bunch of old horses. My horse property accommodates four horses easily, five is OK, and I’ve squeezed six in at times (not good). The way I feel these days, four horses is plenty. So I have my retired horse, Plumber (26), my son’s horse Henry, still a good walk/trot riding horse on level ground at 27, though no longer comfortable climbing hills, and my Sunny, somewhere between sixteen and twenty and still sound and a good trail horse.

 And I also keep my friend Wally’s Twister—19 and still going strong as a team roping horse. I’ve promised to take care of Twister just like he was my own if Wally dies. I don’t plan to acquire any more horses. My Gunner lived to be 35, and at that rate I have a lot of years of horse care ahead of me with these guys.

            All of the horses I have here have been with us many years. I broke Plumber as a three year old, and trained him to be a rope horse. He carried my son and me when my boy was little, and took good care of us.

 Sunny and Henry took us on hundreds and hundreds of trail rides and gathers for seven straight years—on the beach, in the hills, and in the mountains—without one bad moment.

             We owe these horses and I am glad to repay them by giving them the best life that I can. But my interest in riding isn’t very high right now. I’ve ridden a couple of times this spring with my son and we both enjoyed it. I’m still not drawn to make much effort in that direction. Our horses seemed to enjoy being ridden after such a long break, and I think they would be pleased if we rode a little more often, but I just don’t have the emotional energy to devote to this pursuit.

            Don’t get me wrong. I loved to ride and I’m so glad that I spent many years horseback. I don’t regret it at all. But I see now that the space and freedom that I had to give my energy to exploring horseback pastimes came a great deal from the content and security I felt with my husband. Even though he was not a horseman himself, he supported me (financially and emotionally), and his support gave me the freedom to enjoy my life with my horses in the way that I did. Thank you, Andy.

           

            My energy now goes into tending the garden (by which I mean not just the veggie garden but the entire property), making sure all critters are well cared for, and that my son’s life stays good. There just isn’t any energy left over for other pursuits. So though I sometimes feel sorry for the horses, and think they look a little bored, I have to tell myself (and them), life isn’t perfect for any of us right now. And their life is pretty good.

            They have plenty of room to run and play, they get fed grass/alfalfa hay three times a day, there are shade trees and sunny spots and soft ground for rolling, shelter from the rain, and plenty of equine companionship. Their feet are trimmed, they are wormed as needed, and we get them out to be groomed and to graze as much as we can. All of them are at a good healthy weight, pasture sound, and seem to feel fine. There are many worse lives that they could have as older horses.

            So that’s my horse life. Not too exciting perhaps, but I do enjoy having the horses here, I am grateful for the many years of reliable riding service each horse has given us, and I plan to take good care of them all until they die. This is what love means to me when it comes to horses. And they give me back love in return—just by their presence in my life. The nickers when I come to feed, meeting me at the gate to be caught, the soft sound of hay being chomped as I sit in the barn, the look, smell and feel of these big, gentle creatures. The willingness to carry me on their backs any time I choose to ride. Horses are still magical to me.  I can’t imagine living here without horses.

            As for writing, well, I still write. Like the horses, I can’t picture my life without writing. I don’t write novels these days, but I write these blog posts and I keep a journal, and I have written several memoir pieces. I posted one of them (My Life With Horses) in installments on this blog, and I have finished another one (Ordinary Magic). I’ve begun one about my husband’s life. Not sure what the ultimate goal/fate of these pieces is. I wrote them to please myself, but some of you said you enjoyed the Life With Horses story, so maybe I will eventually put the others up on this blog. We’ll see. You can let me know what you think—if you’re interested.

            I’m often asked if I’ll write more novels. The short answer is that I don’t think so. I wrote twelve novels in my mystery series featuring equine vet Gail McCarthy, and a dozen novels was always my goal for that series. If you are interested in my thoughts about horses and life in general, I wove many of my insights into this mystery series, which covers twenty years in the life of one woman—and took me twenty years to write. Serendipity. The series also covers different aspects of the horse business that I’ve been involved with—from cutting and reined cowhorse competitions through ranching, team roping, horsepacking in the mountains, breaking and training young horses, and trail riding here in the hills and on the beaches of the California coast. Not to mention raising a child with horses. So if you’ve enjoyed my blog pieces I think you’ll enjoy the novels, which are readily available on Amazon.

            And yes, that last bit was blatant self-promotion. I don’t bother with this sort of thing much any more. I don’t really need the money and I understand (from the little bit of local fame that I’ve experienced) that the admiration of strangers isn’t something that I need or crave. But the truth is that I DID put a huge amount of creative energy into my books—any little insight I ever had about life and horses got added to one book or another. My husband and son make appearances in the latter part of the series, and many friends and acquaintances have turns as villains, victims, or suspects. (I often cast people I really like in the roles of victims or villains because if a victim or villain is not a truly interesting character, the story will fall flat.)

            Anyway, for those who read my blog posts or have friended me on facebook—if you like my writing here I’m pretty sure that you’ll enjoy my novels. If you read on Kindle the books are very inexpensive. And if you don’t read on Kindle, I was able to buy the first book in the series for a friend (used hardcover in perfect condition) for less than four dollars on Amazon.

            The series begins with thirty year old Gail McCarthy beginning to practice as a horse vet in Santa Cruz, California, and ends with now fifty year old Gail deciding whether its time to retire from practice. Every single book has lots of horseback action and all the details were drawn from my life spent with horses. The order—for those who haven’t read the books and want to read them in order-- is:

            Cutter (cutting horses)

            Hoofprints (reined cowhorses)

            Roughstock  (roping and endurance)

            Roped (ranching and roping)

            Slickrock (horse packing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains—and overall reader favorite)

            Breakaway (trail riding and training a colt—also the darkest of my books)

            Hayburner (breaking a colt and finding a partner)

            Forged (trail riding on the coast and marriage)

            Moonblind (TB layup farm and pregnancy—non-moms don’t usually like this one)

            Chasing Cans (barrel racing and raising a baby—non-moms same as above)

            Going, Gone (an auctioneer and trail riding in the hills)

            Barnstorming (yet more trail riding and life choices)

           

            

Outlines: A Writer's Training Calendar

by Natalie Keller Reinert

Setting up a training calendar is easy, right? You pick a horse show date and you move backwards, working out a nice hypothesis of where you'll be in training each week running up to the show. Nothing to it, because predicting how quickly and how competently your horse will pick up your training (to say nothing of staying sound and keeping on his shoes) is just easy-peasy. Right?

Of course we know that's nonsense. Horses look at calendars and laugh. They observe our ambitious plans and then they go out and look for a nice, innocent stick that they can use to injure themselves in astonishing and previously unbelievable ways.

Getting to a horse show takes planning. Writing a book is much the same!
Photo: flickr/dj-dwayne

In the game of planning for horse shows, the beginning is easy to see, and the end is fun to predict. It's the middle part that's hard.

Writing a book can be an awful lot like setting up that oh-so-charming training calendar. I like to outline, because I know my book's beginning, and I know my book's intended ending, but the middle part always bogs me down. You know, all that stuff that makes up the story? Moves the plot along? Gets the horse from green-broke to jumping courses? Yeah. That can be challenging.

Every book I've written since Other People's Horses has had an outline, and every subsequent time I write an outline, I find myself a little more dependent on it. That's because my desire to wander from the set course never, ever wanes. Like a horse bound and determined to lose his shoe before the schooling show on Saturday, I am absolutely hell-bent on diverting from my intended story with wandering trail rides, unplanned-for barn drama, and completely unpredictable bucking incidents.

And while this sort of convoluted wandering story process seems to work for some writers (George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame comes to mind), I really don't want to write 500 page door-stops that are meant to be set during one fateful summer in Saratoga, or wherever. That's why I have to force myself back to the outline. Because every wandering trail ride has to expose a new question in the plot, every unplanned-for barn drama has to be resolved, and every unpredictable bucking incident has to involve sorting out what set off the horse, and how to fix the horse's problem.

That's a lot of extra writing for me, and a lot of meandering "what happened to the plot?" for you, the readers.

So funny story, haha, you guys are going to love this, I wrote a masterful outline for Pride, which is the sequel to Ambition.

Sidebar: Originally Ambition was supposed to be a stand-alone novel, but I've gotten so many requests for a series that I had to cave to pressure. Readers have power! When you like something, say something! 

Anyway, I wrote this wonderful outline for a book which can stand up as the second novel in a trilogy about Jules, Pete, Lacey, Becky, and of course Dynamo and Mickey, plus a host of new riders and horses. It was here to make my life easier, this outline. To keep me on track and stop me from taking three years and half-a-dozen drafts to write, the way that Ambition did.

And I got midway through Pride, to about 45,000 words, which when you consider Ambition is about 111,000 words, you can see is that all-troublesome Middle Part that confounds both trainers and writers when we are making our plots and plans... and I started to wander. I quickly realized I was inventing some barn drama which was good, but which would need to be resolved or things were going to get way off track. I decided it was time to consult my written outline, since at this point I'd just been writing off memory of what I'd planned.

This was when I realized that I had lost the outline.

Oh jeez. 

Well, I stumbled about for a little bit, figuring I could find my way through without the outline, but the thing just started keeping me awake at night. What if I had lost my way? How was I going to fix this? What was the best use of my time? I'm on a tight deadline to get Pride finished and my work schedule outside of house is about to ramp up considerably. If I let this plot wander too much, I was going to be months behind.

Something had to be done.

I knew the ending still (that horse show date that I had selected months before, right?) and although my middle part had changed a little bit, that's just what horses do. It was time to be agile. I sat down, opened my writing program, and started creating chapters.

In Scrivener, which is the program I use, each folder becomes a chapter. And there's a little box where you can type out a synopsis. I'd never used it before, but there's a first time for everything. I typed a synopsis for each chapter I had yet to write, creating a little guide-map to every single folder, so that no matter when I opened up the manuscript to write, there would be no excuse -- the next step in the story was right there, ready to be fleshed out.

I created fourteen chapters in all, assuming that each one would balance out at about 2,000 words, and then on the edit/rewrite I would elaborate on them until they had more substance. Then, I started work on the first one.

That chapter stretched out to 5,000 words.

Outlines. The more detailed they are, it would seem, the easier my job gets.

It reminds me again of that training calendar -- on a good day, I can look at the calendar, assess where my horse is vs where I thought my horse could be, and then reassess. Once that's done, I can see what I want to do for the day, then get out there and make it happen... much more successfully than if I'd just mounted up without a plan, wandered out to the arena, and started trotting around waiting to see what would happen next.

That's good news for me as a writer. It's good news for everyone waiting for the sequel to Ambition, too. Hold on kids, Jules and Company are coming back for more!

The busy life of a writer

By Gayle Carline
Writer and Crazy Horse Lady

As usual, I am not here. This weekend I am driving back and forth to Long Beach, to attend Bouchercon, a mystery lover's convention. It's named after Anthony Boucher and is a huge event. Once that event is over, I will stop by a hotel in Anaheim and register for a leadership conference that I must attend for my position as a library trustee.

The following week, we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner.

At some point, possibly early January, I plan to sleep.

Everyone seems to think that a writer's life is one of leisurely writing. We do our chores, run errands, go to meetings and conferences, promote our books, and write. Every day. I'm not sure when they think we write.

There are memes on the internet about writing. This one is pretty accurate:

And then there's this one about horse riders:

Have a great weekend, doing whatever you think you do.

Horror Stories

                                                by Laura Crum

            Not too long ago I read a very gripping story about a “horse wreck”. I was riveted to the page (or screen), as was everyone else, judging by the comments. When I was done, I shook my head. Why is it we all like these horror stories?

            Anybody remember that scene where the truck hits the horse and rider at the beginning of “The Horse Whisperer”? That scene hooked readers on the book. Same principle. People are drawn to the horrifying. Why do we stare as we pass traffic accidents? Why do we have an insatiable love for “thrillers” that feature everything from serial killers to national disasters to pedophiles? Why do we just love to read about the horrors that have happened to others? Whatever the reason is, a great many authors have totally cleaned up exploiting this principle.

            Now, I have a confession to make. I cannot write this kind of thing. Though my books are mysteries, most of the actual violence either happens “offscreen” or is not “graphically described”. Has this helped with my success as a mystery author? No, I can’t say that it has. Does it make me a better writer than those who stoop to using that kneejerk, keep-em-on-the-edge-of-their-seats horror reflex? Not really. I’m not particularly admiring of that device, but I admit that it can be well done. The truth is I’m just repulsed at the thought of writing this stuff.

            I don’t want to write of some of the dreadful things I’ve seen happen in the horse world, of the panic and pain and blood and grief. I don’t want to go into an intimate description of the darkness of doomed horses, though I try to describe their plight in a way that lets a reader see the true picture. I just don’t force the reader to stare hard. Does this make me a wimp? Maybe.

            I guess I could tell horse stories of the training wrecks I’ve seen, and I have done this occasionally. But I do it to make a point, not to get the reader gripped by the violence of the situation. Those of us who have been in the horse biz a long time have seen many violent things involving horses. They do make gripping stories. But for me, that cheap knee jerk reaction of feeling gripped by the horror of it all always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’d rather read writing that told a simpler, cleaner tale.

            I’m not advocating dodging reality—those of you who have read my books know that I directly confront the issue of mortality—both for us and our horses. But I don’t spend a lot of time wallowing in violent images. No doubt my books would be more popular if I did, judging by what sells. This just isn’t a path I chose to follow. Nor did I care to create a “super human” persona who can conquer in all sorts of outlandish situations—another thing that sells. I tried to keep my protagonist believable and based most of her experiences on things I have actually done.

            So the next time I start reading a book or a blog post where it seems to me the writer is just jerking my “horror reflex” with her violent/dark stories, I’m going to close that book, and/or click on the little “X” in the corner. Cause life is too short to spend my time hooked on horror. How about you? Do you love those violent stories we see everywhere? Or are you, like me, a bit repulsed by them?

My Career?

                                                by Laura Crum

            Someone asked me the other day if I was happy with my writing career. I have to admit that I was so taken aback that I didn’t know what to say. I ended up babbling something inane, like, “Well, sure. Sort of. There are worse things.” And then I spent some time thinking about it. So now I am going to answer the question.

            It’s true that I have had a good long run as a published author. My first novel, Cutter, was released by St Martin’s Press in 1994. Since then, I’ve had eleven other books published. I was paid (perhaps not a vast amount of money, but I got a check) for all of them. In these past twenty yeas, writing novels has been my “job.” So I guess you could call it a career. The thing is, I never really thought about it that way.

            I certainly have not become a “best-selling” author. My books have brought in the grocery money, maybe. I am very lucky that my husband has a job that keeps us solvent. My career as a mid-list author would certainly not have supported me. Does this make me a failure?

            I think it depends on how you look at it. Best-selling authors who make good money would probably say I was a failure. People who have always wanted to have a book published by a “real” publisher, but failed to attain that goal would probably say I was a success (twelve published novels and a good many readers over the years looks like success to the unpublished or self-published, I find). From my own point of view, I am content with the way the author gig worked out for me. I wouldn’t mind a few more readers and a few more book sales. I do believe there are horse people out there who haven’t yet read my books who would enjoy my novels, and I’d like to reach those people. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if my books paid for the groceries AND the whisky.

            The main thing in my mind is that I enjoyed writing those novels. I wove a lot of my own life into them and I was really happy to have a career that allowed me to stay home with my beloved animals and garden, and later, with my son. I was fortunate in that I didn’t need to make a lot of money, so the fact that I never did make a lot of money didn’t trouble me. I was just tickled to be paid for doing something that I genuinely enjoyed doing.

            And yes, there is the ego gratification factor. When I first started writing mystery novels (before I was published) I used to think that my life would be complete if I walked into a book store and saw my name on the spine of a book for sale on the shelves (this was before Amazon, too). And you know, it happened. Twenty years ago I walked into my local bookstore and there was a book with my name on it. Yes, it was very gratifying. But in the end, I realized that nothing had really changed. I was still the same person, with the same problems and the same strengths.

            Before I was published I would go to talks given by authors and think that if I were the one giving the talk, if the people were there to see me, my life would somehow be a different life. And now that I have many times been the one giving the talk, I can tell you that my life is not vastly different. Yes, I can say that I am a published author and that does impress people (at least a little), but nothing of real importance in my life has changed. I have good days and bad days, happy times and sad times, just as I did before I was published.
            The lesson here for me is that “fame” (and in my case it was a VERY small amount of fame) doesn’t do the things for you that you might imagine that it will. The admiration of strangers just isn’t as fulfilling as you somehow believe that it will be. That’s been my experience, anyway.

            In the end, writing the novels and having people read them and (sometimes) enjoy them and tell me so has been a very happy experience for me. Being paid (even a small amount) for doing this has been rewarding. It has been satisfying to express my insights about the world and describe the things that I’ve loved in words—words that are read by others. Being able to stay home with my family and critters and garden has been vastly rewarding. So I would have to say that I am happy with my “career.”

            I probably could have made almost as much money working an eight hour day five days a week for minimum wage for the last twenty years, just to be realistic. But you know, I do believe I’ll take being an author. Even a lowly, mid-list author. It suits me.

Thank you!

by Laura Crum


Just wanted to say a big thank you to all those who made my free book promotion such a huge success. We gave away thousands of books, with your help spreading the word. And I very much hope that all of you who took me up on the free book offer enjoy my horse-themed mystery novels. Happy reading and riding...and happy writing, too, seeing as it's now the "novel writing" month again!

Here's my resident great blue heron flying away just as the sun rose yesterday (he's after the goldfish in my pond), for something lovely and inspiring.

A New Writing Project

                                                by Laura Crum

             After giving myself a couple of years of breathing space since turning out twelve mystery novels in my series featuring an equine vet, I’ve finally settled in to my new writing project. I felt pretty sure I was done with writing mysteries. I knew I wanted to write a memoir, but I wasn’t sure what the point would be. I didn’t want to waffle on about my memories, I wanted to target some unique aspect of life that I was fitted to convey. Uhmm, it took awhile to work this out.

            In the meantime I wrote a brief memoir in a series of blog posts here on Equestrian Ink, about my life with horses. This piece of work ties into my mystery series and essentially gives the background from whence the books sprang—forty years of owning, training, competing and just sharing my life with horses. It was lots of fun to write and it will be up on Kindle shortly (as soon as I get the cover worked out) as a 99 cent special.

            Since then, I read a book (The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman) that clarified for me the subjects that I really want to write about now. And that would be life, death, magic, old spirits and God. Not that I have the skill to write about these things. But I have the desire. I am quite sure that my memoir will fall far short of Neil Gaiman’s wonderful book, but that’s OK.

            So I’ve begun, and I am really enjoying writing the book I want to write, constrained by no one’s concepts but my own. To tell the truth, I have grown quite tired of concocting a crime and then a plot that contains just enough excitement…etc. I am interested in writing the truth as I see it, whether or not it pleases anyone else.

            One of my friends asked if I would try to sell this upcoming book. I laughed. Because one of the things I am done with is trying to sell a publisher on my work, and I’m also pretty sure that this book will not appeal to a publisher. It doesn’t fit any popular niche. But…

            Because of Amazon and Kindle, I can put my memoir up myself, and because my backlist has a steadily growing readership, there are probably readers who will buy my new work. So yes, in a sense, I will sell my book.

            I have heard of authors who deplore this new system, and I have to ask: What is it you don’t like? What is bad about getting a 70% royalty on every book sold? What is not to like about getting a check every month that pays for the groceries? I have never been anything other than a mid-list author, and I am still a mid-list author, but for the first time in my writing career, my books are bringing in a steady, useful income. What is bad about that?

           In a past post I've discussed the fact that authors whose work was chosen for publication by traditional publishing, as my books were, tend to feel a bit chagrined when self published authors want to claim the same bragging rights. It is sort of as if you went through the years of vet school and finally hung out your shingle, only to find a self-proclaimed vet next door, one who had never gone to vet school at all. However the discussion that resulted from that post clarified for me the basic fact that yes, anyone can publish a book on Kindle and call themselves an author. But in the end what counts is whether one can sell books on Kindle. Self published or traditionally published isn’t the bottom line. Does anyone want to buy/read your books is the bottom line. In my example of the self proclaimed vet, what really counts in the end is whether or not he/she is a good and effective vet. And if the years show that she is, well then, the traditionally schooled vet, if she isn’t too defensive, will just have to admit that her self-proclaimed comrade in medicine is all right. Which is exactly how I feel about all the self-published authors out there. Hey, if you are good to read, more power to you. And if you are not, well, I think the sales record will make this clear in time.  As for me, I am very grateful that sales of my books on Kindle have steadily continued to bring in useful money, and very happy to have a system that actually rewards authors for their work.

            So yes, my memoir will eventually be for sale on Kindle, and I hope that some of the fans of my mystery series will buy this book. And if many of you wish I would return to writing mysteries, rather than memoirs, well, I understand. I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed my mysteries, and those of you who have reviewed them on Amazon have my deepest gratitude. Because these same fans have rated most of my backlist between four and five stars, and been a big help in increasing my grocery money every month.

So today I’d like to say thank you to every reader who has reviewed my books on Amazon. I really appreciate you. If, just by chance, you have enjoyed my mysteries and haven’t yet posted a review, all I can say is that these reviews on Amazon are terribly important to authors nowadays. Every single positive review is appreciated…and I think that this is true for every author out there. If you can find time in your busy day to post a review (and I know it’s a pesky sort of chore), you have my gratitude.

I know many of you who read this blog are authors yourselves, and I would be interested to hear if any of you, like me, have reached a point where you are determined to write the book you want to write, rather than fitting your writing into a niche. Though I do understand that fitting a niche is, by and large, how you can bring in the grocery money, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Any thoughts?

Horse and writer

By Gayle Carline
Author and Horse Mom

Today is a multi-tasking post because my day to write this falls on a day when I'll be busy talking about writing instead.

So let's talk about the writing first.

This entire weekend (Sept. 20-22) I will be at the Southern California Writer's Conference in Newport Beach, California. This group holds two conferences a year, one over President's Day weekend in San Diego and one at the end of September in the L.A. environs. I'm teaching a couple of workshops, one on how to pace your novel and one on what do you do after you write "The End."

As a writer, I cannot recommend these conferences enough. They are working conferences, where you get to learn new stuff, to meet new people, and to share your work. Most important, in my opinion, is that the directors/organizers of the event, Michael Stephen Gregory and Wes Albers believe that you should get your money's worth. They constantly keep the conference fresh and on or ahead of the curve of that brave new publishing world we're seeing.

If you want more reasons on why you should go to this or any other conference, read Jennifer Silva Redmond's blog. She edited my book From the Horse's Mouth, and she loves horses. I suppose she might own one if she didn't live on a boat. Maybe she can get a seahorse.

Now let's talk about horses.

I'd love to hear from you about when you first realized that horses weren't just something you did in your spare time. When did you figure out they would always be a part of your life?

For me, I knew I wanted to continue being around horses during my first lesson, when I realized how relaxing the prep work was. No checking how much air was in my scuba cylinder while I was 35 feet underwater. No clomping through snow to buy a lift ticket and schlepping skis over my shoulder. Just a curry and a brush and a horse. And me.

When I bought Frostie, my first horse, and suddenly the writing I had wanted to do began to pour from fingertips to page, I recognized her as my muse, even if I didn't understand it. At that point, there was no going back to the horse-free life.

And here's where horse and writer meet.

I began with journalistic articles for Riding Magazine. Then I got bold and queried my local newspaper for a humor column. Then I needed more. I needed to write novels. I've always loved mysteries, so that's where I started. I've now got three full-length mysteries and a short story.

The Peri Minneopa Mysteries feature a 50-year old woman who gave up a successful housecleaning business to become a licensed private investigator. She wants to do background checks and surveillance, but of course she gets dragged into intrigue and danger. I'd describe my mysteries as light romps with a little humor, and nothing explicit.

I've also got two books of my humor columns, and of course, the Snoopy memoir.

I recently completed the rough draft of a mystery set at a horse show (AQHA, naturally), that I've tentatively titled Murder on the Hoof. I can't wait to share it with you all.

The Making of a Long Running Series

                                               by Laura Crum

            Even though this site is dedicated to both the craft of writing and horses, I usually stick to posts about my horses here, mostly because I love to write about horses. The very reason I got started writing my mystery series was because I wanted to write about my life with horses. But the other day a friend who is participating in the “National Novel Writing Month” (I can never remember the acronym-- NaNo something) asked me how I managed to “get through” twelve whole novels. This made me think a bit. And then I wrote the following post. So here you go, some writing about writing.

I think I’m entitled to say my mystery series is “long-running” at twelve books, yes? In any case, I did have some thoughts about what I consciously did to get through twelve books featuring one protagonist and her cast of friends and critters…without getting bored with her. And even more importantly, without (hopefully) causing my readers to get bored with her.

            I have to admit that a lot of my thoughts are concerned with what I DIDN’T want to do, based, sadly, on things I had observed in other series. And the first thing I determined was that I would not keep writing the series into infinity, even if I was highly successful with it (fortunately this was never a problem). Too many series trickle to a sad end after their former glory, and it is quite clear that no one, including the author, had much interest in the last three or four books. This was a fate I decided to avoid. From the very beginning, I set a goal of writing a dozen books, which seemed to me to be a goodly amount, and planned to quit when they were accomplished. (Oh, and by the way, I came up with this plan long before JK Rowling announced there would be only seven books in the Harry Potter series. No, I am not comparing myself to JK Rowling, but neither was/am I imitating her. I do think it’s a good concept…and incidentally, I loved the Harry Potter books.)

            I did not know, to begin with, exactly what would happen in each of these dozen books I meant to write, but I did sketch them out many books in advance. I had the titles neatly listed out. And before I got around to the last three or four books, I knew what they would be about and how they would round out and complete my series.

            Because I wanted my twelve book series to have a “form” as a whole, as one super-long story about a particular woman and her life with horses. And for this to happen, I needed to be clear how the series would end, and lead up to that ending appropriately.

            Another thing I was clear about is that my protagonist would change and grow throughout the series. If there is one thing I don’t care for in a series, it is the device of keeping the protagonist in the same “place” for book after book. You know, that place where she has a romantic interest that hasn’t quite come to fruition. Because, of course, that is the easiest phase of life to write about. All that glorious sexual tension, but you don’t have to deal with the actual bedroom. No messy details to work out concerning how your heroine can remain independently solving mysteries and still be a good partner. Yep, it is SO tempting to just stall your protagonist out in that one handy romantic space and leave her there for book after book. And a great many authors do exactly this.

            I’m sorry, but that seriously doesn’t work for me, no matter how talented the author and engaging the books. If I am reading a series, I want the thing as a whole to be going somewhere. To that end I was clear that my protagonist would change and grow. Grow older for one thing. Go through some major life changes, for another.

            In order to make this work I kept careful track of the chronology of the stories. My horse vet is thirty-one in the first book, Cutter, and just beginning her career. She ages one year per book for the first ten books, which gets her to forty. At this fine age I presented her with a baby. (And yep, it was seriously challenging to create exciting mystery plots wrapped up with first pregnancy and then a nursing baby, and yep, some former fans did not care for my turning my vet into a mom. The battle lines seemed clearly drawn between those who were parents themselves and liked this development, and those who weren’t parents and didn’t. But if there’s one thing I know about writing, it’s that you can’t please everybody and its best to please yourself. However, I digress.) In the last two books, Going, Gone and Barnstorming, I allowed five years to pass between stories, thus effectively getting my gal to fifty, which was more or less my age when I wrote the last book.

            The whole thing fit together nicely. The series covers twenty years in the life of one woman, and I spent twenty years of my life writing it. The series begins with a thirtyish protagonist, and I was thirty when I started the first book. It ends with us both being fifty. Throughout the books I gave “Gail” many of the life changes that I went through myself, which kept the books interesting to me, and (I think) gave the ring of truth to her various adventures.

            Another thing I did to keep the series interesting was to take on a different aspect of the horse world in each book. Horses were the main theme of the books, and, since horses are a main theme in my life, I wanted to stick to that. But I did not want to write about the same things over and over. Fortunately I have done a lot of different things with horses in my life, so the books ranged through cutting horses and western show horses to ranching and roping and horse packing and breaking a colt…etc. I tried not to repeat myself in either the horse aspect or the plot.

            I characterized each plot with a theme. There is the “noble villain” and the “murder for greed,” the “murder for jealousy” and the “crazy serial killer.” You get the idea. Once again, I tried not to repeat myself.

            I also tried to show Gail aging. She is described differently as the books go along, and her way of thinking changes. In this I was aided by the fact that I was aging right along with her. So in the earlier books she is much more interested in clothes and what people look like physically than she is in the later books. In the course of the series she goes through a breakup and a depression as well as finding a life partner and having a child and raising him. At the end of the series, she contemplates retirement. I’d say I put her through quite the gamut of life changes. And that’s exactly what I set out to do from the beginning.

            So there are a few ideas I used to create my (reasonably) long running series. I’d be interested to hear what you like and don’t like to see in a series character, or a series in general. And I’m happy to try to answer any questions about how I structured either the individual novels or the series.

And, in more book news, here is a link to a really fun review of my third mystery novel, Roughstock, by Dom, of A Collection of Madcap Escapades, listed on the sidebar. Dom is a fine writer herself and a horse trainer by trade, so her review tickles me. I think she gives a great idea of what the book is like. The Kindle edition of Roughstock is available for just $2.99. So if the review makes you want to read the book, here’s a link to get it for less than three dollars. 

(The first two books in the series, Cutter and Hoofprints, are currently at 99 cents, so here is your chance to get the first three books in the series for just under five dollars. A great Xmas present for anyone who likes horses, mysteries, and reading on Kindle.)

            

Research....Or Not?

by Laura Crum

I hear a lot of authors talking about research. How they love research. How a trip to Europe can be called research and written off on one’s taxes. (That sounds very glamorous.) Sometimes research seems to mean looking things up on the internet…endlessly. (That doesn’t sound so exciting.) I have heard a well-known author say that she never writes about a country that she has not at least flown over in an airplane. (Amusing. But it left a funny taste in my mouth.)

Most recently a book was recommended to me (no, I’m not going to tell you what it was) as being a great story and “meticulously researched”. I bought the book. The underlying story was good, I’ll agree, but the book, which was exceedingly well-padded with all that meticulous research, was a very slow read and I ended up skimming it, thinking all the while, “get back to the story, dammit.” In my view the book was crammed with researched details in order to make it long enough to be a “best seller”. The actual storyline would have been much better served if the book had totaled between 100-200 pages, rather than the 300 the author relentlessly stuffed into it.

The truth is I do not care for obviously researched details in novels. I like a story to flow and not to bog down while the author shows off his/her knowledge of the subject at hand. Particularly a mystery novel.

Don’t get me wrong. I love description. I love detail. I just don’t love the stilted, wordy passages that are simply meant to convey some sort of authenticity. The ones that announce “I looked this up somewhere.” I delight in reading description that comes from the heart and reflects an author’s intimate knowledge of something he/she loves.

People often ask me what sort of research I do for my novels featuring equine veterinarian Gail McCarthy. My answer is that I don’t do research. My life is my research. This isn’t strictly true, of course, and I always have to admit that I do call my childhood friend who is deputy chief of police and pick her brain about what the cops would do under certain circumstances. And I call my old boyfriend who is now a vet and ask about the dosages for certain drugs and whether some concept I have regarding veterinary medicine is really plausible. I also ask him to tell me any interesting veterinary emergencies he’s been on lately. And this information is critical when it comes to writing realistic mystery novels. I’ve been tickled when former cops emailed to congratulate me on describing police procedure correctly, and expressed their irritation at the number of mystery novelists who apparently fail in this respect. And I have been asked numerous times if I’m a vet, quite frequently by veterinarians. So yes, I know research has it place.

But…I object, I actively object, to the notion of an author selecting a subject, or a country, he/she knows nothing about, and using it as a background/locale for a novel. The proverbial country the author has at least “flown over in an airplane” approach. A little internet research and hey presto, said author is an expert on the place or activity. That’s not the sort of novel I want to read. I’m interested in reading “been there, done that” stories written by people who really know the subject/place they are writing about (and are ideally quite passionate about it). I think the difference in the two styles of writing shines as brightly as the difference between night and day.

For me, this means writing about landscapes I know intimately, such as the central California coast and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, rather than setting a novel in Europe (which I visited once for two months and loved—but that’s not a very deep sort of knowledge). It means writing about aspects of the horse biz that I’ve actually participated in (such as cutting and roping and horse packing in the mountains) rather than setting my stories in the hunter/jumper world, say, or on the polo field. Yes, those are interesting and glamorous venues, but I really don’t know much of anything about them. My lifelong passion has been western cowhorses, and I can speak with authority and in accurate detail on this subject, having trained such horses for many years, and been a competitor in several different cowhorse events. Nowadays I mostly trail ride through the local hills, an activity I find fascinating, and these trails provide the backdrop for my latest novel, “Barnstorming”, due out this coming spring.

I’ve ridden the trails in all kinds of weather, in every season of the year. I know them as if they were my backyard, which, in a sense, they are. The steep and tricky switchbacks, the big views over Monterey Bay, the narrow singletracks through the towering redwoods—I’ve ridden them hundreds of times. I’ve met all kinds of strange and interesting things on the trails, from assorted wildlife to scary looking guys with machete in hand, and I’ve incorporated my trail adventures into my novel. So there you go, life as research.

What about the veterinary stuff, people ask me. The sad truth is that if you’ve owned horses non-stop for almost forty years, as I have, you’ve acquired a vast amount of veterinary knowledge. Horses are always having some problem or other, be it lameness or colic, or some odd injury. My husband calls it the “five horse” rule. Something is wrong with a horse at least 20% of the time, and if you have five horses or more, that means something is wrong 100% of the time. This is, unfortunately, more true than humorous. In forty years of horse ownership I have amassed enough veterinary detail to fill out my twelve mystery novels quite nicely, not even counting the things that have happened to my friends and been recounted to me. Once again, life as research.

Ok, I know many of you write—certainly my fellow authors on this blog do plenty of writing. And I'm guessing most of you who read this blog read fiction at least occasionally. What’s your opinion on research, and carefully and obviously “researched” details in novels? I love a good discussion.

An Editor's Job

By Verna Dresibach

Since its publication, I have been asked a number of questions related to the anthology, Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horses in Their Lives. Many writers are either creating a collection of their own, or hoping to get published by submitting their work to any number of anthologies. Some writers (and readers) believe that editing an essay collection is relatively easy. If you’re solely choosing stories and sticking them together in a book, then sure, that’s easy. I doubt it will bring much success or positive reviews, so I’d advise against it. An editor’s job is tedious and time consuming. One of my primary goals was to make sure that the stories I chose were diverse and unique enough for an entire collection, one that would keep the reader entertained and not feeling as if they’ve read the same story over and over again, 27 times. I had an innumerable amount of “first horse” stories and stories about horses that helped their owner through a traumatic event such as an injury or health issue. An editor is also at the mercy of the stories that are submitted. Because there were so many similar stories, I had to search out stories for a greater variety. Unfortunately, this is typically at the end of the submission period when an editor discovers that there might not be enough of a variety. And, if there’s a deadline to the publishing company, it can be a stressful time.

Of equal importance is to choose stories that are written well. As an editor, we have the option to include a wonderful story that isn’t written as well as it could and take a greater role in the writing of that particular story. An editor can’t do that for every story. There just isn’t enough time. I had to balance my time between those that needed very little editorial help, with those that I would have to ghost write myself. Only a few were submitted in near perfect condition. I did happen to have two writers who refused to make any changes to their stories and subsequently, they were not included in the publication. I didn’t feel as though they had gone deep enough into their story, lacking that necessary connection that would make enough of an impact on the reader. We can all enjoy our horses, but I was looking for the stories about the horses that helped shape us as women – helped to change the way we looked at the people and the world around us. As you can imagine, my job as an editor is far easier when I’m working with writers who are willing to revise and edit their pieces. And, my job as an editor is to work in conjunction with the writer so that they feel they’ve maintained the scope, purpose and voice of the story intact throughout the revision process – if it’s a major revision. All of the writers in the collection who worked with me and made the revisions themselves believe that they walked away from the experience with a stronger story. It is truly a collaborative effort and I enjoyed the experience immensely. I also believe I walked away from the experience a much stronger editor. I am grateful to the many women I worked with on this project.

Thank you!

If you missed the opportunity to submit to Why We Ride, you do have the opportunity to participate in the second annual Why We Ride contest sponsored by the San Mateo County Fair literary arts division.



DIVISION 337 – THE VERNA DREISBACH “WHY WE RIDE” NONFICTION

Sponsored by Verna Dreisbach

AWARD OFFERED:

$100.00 for the winning piece

Special Note: Verna Dreisbach is an author, educator, and literary agent. She is the editor of the Seal Press anthology, Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horse in their Lives.

Eligibility: Submit between 2,000 (minimum) and 3500 words (maximum). Open to all writers. Share an inspirational, funny or touching story that speaks from the heart and demonstrates our unique bond with horses. Submit according to the same entry guidelines for the general writing contests, using standard manuscript formatting, 12 pt. font, double-spaced; include word count.

Note: If you are new to writing, please review Why We Ride or other anthologies and literary journals to get a sense of the type of work that is being published. Website: www.vernadreisbach.com and Blog http://horsesandwomen.blogspot.com



Here is the latest link for the literary section: http://www.sanmateocountyfair.com/competitive-exhibits/departments/literary-arts. They are in the process of building a new and much better web site that promises to be user friendly. The catalog is being printed and as soon as that is complete, they will also post the actual entry requirements online. The deadline for entries is April 29th, no exception. I am told that submissions are accepted electronically, as long as they are also mailed in hard copy to the fair office, or “walk in” until 7 pm on April 29.

Here is the address:

San Mateo County Event Center

2495 S. Delaware St, San Mateo, CA 94403

650 574-3247



Good luck. I look forward to reading your stories!

Verna

The Writing Life

by Laura Crum

Alison mentioned doing more posts about writing, so I gave this a little thought. I’ve been a published author for sixteen years and am working on my twelfth mystery novel, so surely I should have some useful insights? You’d think so, anyway. In truth, I find that writing is a very personal thing and there are as many ways to do it as there are writers. It never helped me a lot to hear authors describe their own writing process, though I did get the occasional “aha” moment. What helped me the most, and what I advocated to my students when I taught a class on writing mysteries (which I did for many years) at the local community college, was to focus on finding my own voice and to be persistant.

Writers need to write, as riders need to ride. The hardest thing to accomplish, far harder than getting an agent or being published by a legitimate publisher (both hard enough), is to finish that first book length manuscript. To simply put in the hours of writing that such a project requires is a first step that most writers never manage. And yet, unlike being published or acquiring an agent, it is a goal that is entirely under the writer’s control. You, and you alone, can determine whether you persevere with your writing and finish that first novel. Its an achievable goal. But suprisingly difficult.

So there would be my first piece of advice. Pesist and finish your ms. The second piece has to do with finding your own “voice”. Because many writers, and certainly I was quite guilty of this to begin with, are conciously or unconciously imitating something they’ve read, that they admire. It may be that they are trying to write the “type” of book that fits a niche, or to emulate a popular author. In my case, my first book (Cutter) was a deliberate “western” take on Dick Francis, an author I loved. Many of my reviews mentioned the resemblance, some in a positive way, some rather less flattering. At the time, I was just thrilled to be likened to the master.

As time went on, however, I was concious more and more of needing to say the thing that I had to say. This sounds kind of silly written down, but we each have our own insights and way of seeing the world to bring to the table, and our books will be as unique and interesting as we are true to ourselves. This is my belief, anyway. So I encourage all authors to look into themselves, rather than at “what sells”, and try to write the book that YOU want to write and say what you have to say in your own voice. (And no, this is not necessarily a recipe for best sellerdom, though I think that most truly memorable writers do have very unique and authentic “voices”.)

Which brings me to something that Terri brought up: how much of your own life do you allow to creep into a novel?

I think this is totally up to you as a writer, and a part of finding your own voice. For myself, I use a lot of my “real life” as background, and I find it helps to keep my books real and alive and prevents the so-common problem of novels that descend into the trite, predictable, and basically boring world of typical genre fiction, peopled with unrealistic characters. I try to base all the details of my novels on things I have really seen and experienced, and I keep my eyes open all the time for scenery, background and characters (human and animal) that would enhance and enliven my books. When I ride the trails I am alert for moments that can be part of my next novel, and when I have real life experiences that are memorable/moving, I keep them in mind to incorporate into future stories. I enjoy putting my real horses into my books, and trying to describe them as accurately as possible. When I send my heroine on a horseback chase scene, I usually try to send her over terrain I have actually covered on horseback myself. No, I may not have gone at the dead run, but at least I've been over the ground and can describe it accurately and intimately. To my thinking there is nothing duller than fiction that is not truly “felt” by the author, and my way of bringing feeling to my work is to use many things that I have experienced myself in my novels.

That said, the plots of my mysteries are all completely fictional, though some real life experience may give me the idea for a plot. But unlike Gail McCarthy, the equine veterinarian who is the protagonist of my series, I do not find a dead body a year. (Now isn’t she just someone you’d like to have out to your barn on a vet call? Sort of like inviting the Angela Lansbury character in “Murder She Wrote” to dinner.)

Finally, a lot of people have spoken about getting caught up in endless re-writes and “fiddling” before they finish even one complete ms. This is a very common trap and easy to fall into—believe me, I know the temptation. But I can tell you that one thing that separates “authors” from “writers” who have not been published is the deep-seated knowledge that you need to push on through that first draft. Its never easy—at least its always difficult at some points—and you inevitably reach a spot where you think the whole thing is absolute rubbish. I’ve reached that spot on every single one of the eleven books I’ve completed, and am quite sure I will be hitting it soon on the book I’m currently working on. The trick is not to start re-writing. Just keep going. Finish the story. When its done you can fiddle with it all you want, and most of us do quite a bit of fiddling with our first drafts. The finished book sometimes differs hugely from the first version. But you have to finish the first draft.

So I guess, in the end, my first point and my last point are the same. Finish that ms. Then you can evaluate and edit or decide its worthless and start another one (something I have done). But finishing it is the first and main thing you can do to become an author.

OK, now I’ll get off my writing soapbox (though if anyone wants encouragement or advice, feel free to ask—I’m happy to respond) and say that I have been riding far more than I’ve been writing and have had some lovely autumn trail rides. Sunday we took a two hour loop through the hills on a crisp but not chilly October afternoon where the very air just sparkled and the sun was warm. We saw some brilliant yellow leaves and Monterey Bay was a vivid, deep blue. The horses behaved perfectly, we did not see another human on the trails, and even crossing the busy road seemed relaxing and not scary. Days like this, horses are such a joy that I forget all the difficult times.

And for those who are interested, I have visited Smoky several times at his new home and he seems content and is getting tons of attention, far more than I could have given him. He’s still lame, but slowly improving and there is lots of hope he’ll have a future as a walk, trot, lope riding horse, which is all his new owners want. I am crossing my fingers that he can yet have a good life.

Happy riding and writing--Laura


PS—My 10 year old son wishes to review Linda’s book, “The Horse Jar”, which Linda very kindly sent to him after he expressed an interest. He says: “I liked this book a lot. It has a happy ending and I think any kid my age who likes horses would enjoy it.” Thanks again, Linda, for sending the book.

Winter, Horses, Books, and Life

by Laura Crum


Its that time of year again. The days are short and chilly and we have rain (or snow) and the horse corrals are muddy (or frozen). Most of us aren’t riding as much as we were and its easy to feel guilty about that (see my previous post on “Taking a Break”). Its also easy to feel down this time of year and focus on problems, like my saintly kid’s horse who wasn’t a saint on his last few rides (see my previous post on “The Lazy Horse”). These last six months have brought me the loss of three friends—two to death and one to disagreement, and its easy to feel sad about that. My husband and son have colds…well, I could go on, but I won’t. Suffice it to say that the winter season can get you down.

But Monday night was the solstice. We lit candles together as a family and acknowledged that we’re turning the corner…now the days will begin getting longer. We’re headed toward spring. And I thought about all the things in my life that are beautiful and delightful, as the candles sparkled in the winter night.

My husband and son are happy and (besides the colds) healthy, as are my horses, dog and cats. Henry may be lazy, but he’s hale and hearty, after going through colic surgery at the age of twenty. How grateful I am for that. We built a little addition to our house this summer—a small separate house with two rooms and a bathroom—much needed, as we live in a 650 sq ft house. This new little house turned out great and we’re so happy with it. I’m grateful for that. We live in a beautiful place where I can keep my horses at home and go trail riding out my front gate. I’m really grateful about that. I have the use of a lovely pasture just ten minutes away to keep my five retired/rescued horses—I’m thrilled about that. I have good friends and family around me. My life is great—I’m very lucky. I try to say “thank you” every single day.

On the writing front, the eleventh book in my mystery series about equine veterinarian Gail McCarthy comes out this spring. Titled “Going, Gone”, it revolves around the murder of a livestock auctioneer, and includes kill buyers, rescue horses, and a heroic horse blogger. Not to mention, for those of you who are fans of mugwump chronicles, “Going, Gone” features illustrations by mugwump herself. I’m sure you will all agree that the book is worth its purchase price for Janet’s drawings alone.

I hope that those who have enjoyed my books in the past, or enjoyed my blog posts on EI, will read “Going, Gone”. Many of my horses are used as characters in the story, and my local trails provide much of the background. I think you will find lots to interest you, and I’d love to get your reviews. The book should be out in April—it can be ordered from the usual sources or directly from the publisher—ordering info is on my website.

Currently I’m hard at work on book number twelve. The publisher has agreed to buy this book and release it in Spring 2012. Since my goal has always been to write and publish a dozen books in this series, I’m pretty tickled to be working on number twelve, knowing it has a berth. I’ve been very fortunate in my writing career, and I’m grateful for that, too.

Finally, I’ve very much enjoyed writing blog posts for EI, and getting to know those of you who write back. Season’s greetings to all, and I hope many blessings come your way. The earth is now tilting back toward the sun, for us in the northern hemisphere; may the coming year be a good one. Cheers--Laura

Fiction and Horses

By Laura Crum



Recently a friend gave me a mystery, saying that she knew it wasn’t my sort of thing, but she thought I might enjoy it, and “it has horses in it.” I read the book. I did enjoy it. It wasn’t my “sort of thing”, being one of those mysteries that has much to do with the inner workings of the police department in a big city, a subject that usually bores me. However, this author had a light touch, and was wonderful at dialogue, and I thought her book was quite entertaining. And it did, indeed, have horses in it. And there was the rub.

Because these horses, which belonged to the protagonist in the story, behaved as no real horses would ever do. The protagonist behaved as no real horse person would ever behave. The climactic scene featured a particularly unbelievable bit of horsey action. I was left rolling my eyes.

It was still an enjoyable book. But it would have been much better from a horse person’s point of view if the horses had behaved realistically. For the first two thirds of the story, the protagonist feeds them and hangs out with them and the whole thing seemed fine. She described the horses as becoming very agitated whenever a stranger drove in, which seemed unlikely but possible, and I didn’t think much about it. It was only late in the book, when she decides to go on a trail ride with two friends, one an “experienced” rider, one a complete novice, that I got the first inkling. The experienced rider decides that his horse’s wish to hurry home for dinner is a good reason to let the horse take off and go home at his own pace. We are left to imagine said horse bolting home at the out of control gallop. This horse is described as “spirited”. I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone describe a horse who is acting up as “spirited”, I immediately assume this person knows nothing about horses. So, strike one.

The protagonist is left walking home with the beginner, who is riding one of the protagonist’s horses. The horse is described as grazing and walking, alternately, “heaven for horse and rider”. Uhmmm….more like hell for a rider, actually. No horse person with much skill lets a horse graze under saddle. It’s a terribly difficult vice to break, and it will make a trail ride H E double hockey sticks for the poor rider who constantly has to tug the horse’s head back up. The protagonist in the book seems to condone this annoying behavior, rather than addressing it in some form or another (in the same situation, I’d put the horse on a pony rope and make him come along, if the beginner couldn’t control him). Strike two.

It was the climactic scene that really got to me, though. The protagonist is attacked in her home by the villian, in classic mystery form. So far, so good. But what does the protagonist decide to do? Run for the horse corrals. Well, at first it didn’t seem like a bad idea. She might be able to disappear into the dark; people who don’t know horses are frequently afraid of them. Maybe she can lose the bad guy. So, I’m completely on board so far. Protagonist runs into horse corral with bad guy pursuing her. Horses are agitated and start charging around. That’s believable. But then, horse number one attacks the bad guy, rearing up and lashing out at him with his front feet. Uhm, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t fly. Horses are prey animals. They don’t attack intruders to protect their owner.

I have seen horses “attack” someone in their pasture, but the reasons were pretty specific. Herd aggression at feeding time and not wanting to be caught being possible causes. I’ve seen a horse attack a dog that came into his corral. But never have I seen or heard of a horse attacking a human intruder in defense of his/her master. Not to mention domesticated horses rarely rear and strike at humans—a possible exception being a nasty stallion (as I wrote about in my 9th book, Moonblind).

OK, so maybe it’s a freak thing. But then, horse number two dashes up, turns its butt and kicks bad guy in the head, knocking him out cold. So now we have two attack horses. It’s a bit much.

I’ve used the device of a horse kicking a human in the head and knocking said human out. By itself, that’s believable. I’ve been kicked in the head by a horse and knocked out. I can attest to the truth of that concept. But, again, horses do these things for certain reasons. Protecting their owner from an intruder isn’t one of them.
At this point I’ve decided that the author of this book doesn’t know much about horses. Did it ruin the story for me? Not really. Just made me think the conclusion was a little silly. Readers who are not horse people will never know the difference.

But it got me thinking. I, too, have manufactured a great many climactic scenes involving horses. In books number three, five, six, seven, eight, ten and eleven of my mystery series, my heroine gallops across rough country, either being pursued by or pursuing a villain. In three of these chase scenes, she is bareback. Is this believable?
Well, kind of. I have galloped cross country popping over small jumps bareback myself, in my younger days. Gail McCarthy, the protagonist in my series, starts out in Cutter as a thirty-one year old woman who had horses in her youth, gave them up in her twenties while she is off getting an education, and has just acquired a three-year-old green broke colt. She learns to team rope in books number three and four. Its just barely believable that she could survive such bareback chase scenes. I do have her fall off in book number ten. Score one for realism.

The truth is that my horseback scenes are believable (if they are) because every single one of them is based on an experience I have had, or a friend of mine has had. Ditto for the horses. Everything that happens involving a horse (in my mystery series) is based on something that actually happened to me and my horses or to someone I know. Thus real life is the basis for all the exciting and dramatic horse scenes, which lends them a bit of credibility. When Gail gallops through a rainstorm in my forthcoming book, its based on my own experiences. And no, I haven’t galloped across country in a downpour pursued by a villain with a gun. But I have galloped flat out through the pouring rain in pursuit of another racing critter (I entered a team roping contest that didn’t get finished before a storm broke, and our final runs were completed in a drenching, blowing downpour), and I have ridden cross country through the rain many times on mountain pack trips. So I have enough experience of the reality to write the scene.
Anyway, for those of us who write fiction involving horses, the issue of making the horses believable comes up a lot. I’d love to hear about how others keep their fictional horses credible, or hear examples of books where the horses’ behavior parted company with reality and what effect that had on you as a reader.

Cheers—Laura Crum

One Road to Publication

by Mary Paine

Happy New Year!

I’ve seen in the comments section of Equestrian Ink that people are interested in how we got started as authors. My path to publication was windy to say the least. I always had a love for writing and music. I was editor in chief of my high school newspaper, worked on the literary magazine, was active in the choral and drama clubs…Well, you get the idea.

By chance I had an opportunity high school to volunteer at our local hospital and a job in the emergency room followed. Fate is funny, right? I abandoned my intrinsic leanings toward all things artistic and decided health care was the career for me. My father, despite the cost of eleven years of music lessons, was determined to be supportive, although I’m sure he had a mental picture of all those dollars spent on my music sprouting little wings and flying out the window.

I did, and still do, love the health care industry. I earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in epidemiology and was working toward my doctorate when fate stepped in again. The research I had been working on for more than two years lost its funding source and I was informed I would have to start over with a new research project for my doctorate.

Disillusioned to say the least, and not sure we would be staying in the United States as my husband had taken a position with a British company, I took a job doing research for a medical communications company. My boss decided I had a flair for writing and nurtured it. (Hmm…seeing something circular here?) I wound up building a career in medical editing and informatics and before I knew it I was running a large editorial division of a medical communications company.

Still, in my heart I had always yearned to write fiction. The next questions was what kind of fiction did I want to write and how do I get started. Since I was on bed rest with a twin pregnancy, I had lots of time on my hands so I started in writing a novel that wouldn’t require a great deal of research (since I was mostly restricted to the four walls of my room) so I came up with the idea for an equestrian novel, since I know the horse world inside out. The next thing I realized was people want something to hold their interest. Well, I figured romance always holds my interest and mystery comes in a close second. Thus, A Dangerous Dream was born.

Having a completed novel in my hand, my next question was ‘Now what?’ Being a researcher by training, I took to the Internet. I discovered Romance Writers of America, became involved with the organization and learned how long the road was between writing your first book and publishing it. There were a number of routes people took. Some started with smaller e-publishers. Others continued to refine their work to aim it at New York. My husband came up with a good solution for me. He pointed out how much I’d learned from A Dangerous Dream. He said if I published it with a small publisher, wouldn’t I continue to learn from it?

I couldn’t argue with the logic of this. I sent off two query letters to reputable e-publishers and got a contract offer! The experience of publishing was invaluable. I learned a great deal about marketing, promotion, and the importance of developing a ‘platform.’ I also had the opportunity to interact with many wonderful professionals in this industry and begin to build a network.

The best surprise of all was the positive reviews I received for A Dangerous Dream! Praise is a marvelous thing and the knowledge that people enjoy reading my books gave me the incentive to keep going. I’m working on my third novel now and can’t imagine ever stopping.

So for anyone out there who is working on a novel or has completed one and is seeking publication, keep going! You’ll get there!

Warmly,
Mary


www.marypaine.com