ACCURATE IMAGINATION

HORSEMANSHIP.  The sixth book in the Look For Me series is called Knew You Before and there is a wonderful scene in which one of the characters is a young, beautiful, innocent, vulnerable woman who is covered over with responsibilities.  The setting is 19th Century and she takes a chance and rides her horse at full gallop across a wide open field.

The experience is so exhilarating for both her and her horse that she releases the reins and puts her hands out as though she is flying.  If you can imagine the scene on the motion picture screen, here is this big, powerful animal with all his muscles flexing, hot with sweat, charging ahead totally free, hooves just pounding the ground and the character is hanging on with just her legs, dress flying in the wind (yes, she’s in a dress), hair trailing behind—if you can imagine that—then you will have an understanding of the character and how she feels at that moment in time.  Of course, then, the horse leaps over something and we see this magnificent image in slow motion.  Wow.  Can’t wait.

But what about reality?  What about accuracy?  Originally I had the character release the reins and hold onto the saddle horn with one hand.  But, I sent the scene to a young lady I know—because I knew she had ridden horses all her life—and she said, no, you would never hold on to the saddle horn as I described it.  Instead, what you’d do is loop the reins around the horn so they don’t cause a problem, and then, if you are an experienced rider, you can put your hands out and pretend you are flying.  So, I made adjustments in the scene and there you have it. 

Fiction is a matter of imagining things, but, you have to imagine them accurately.

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