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This doesn’t have a name yet, but it is supposed to be a contemporary novel set in the American West with a plot similar to the old Westerns. This is not a book blurb, just an explanation of what it’s about.
Chara (Sh-ah-ra) Doran visits her uncle and aunt in Nevada. She is a five-foot-tall nineteen-year-old who is self-conscious about her small height and who gets disoriented very easily. After brother and sister Derek and Raelyn Leitner come to her and her uncle’s rescue during a hiking catastrophe, they become good friends, and she spends a lot of time with them. The Leitners own a ranch where they raise thoroughbred horses, but some of their horses have gone missing lately, and Chara rides out with her new friends to help them search for the horses. They encounter a man living off the grid who fires some warning shots, scaring them off, and they believe he has something to do with the missing horses.
Aaand, I can’t write a better synopsis than that. I haven’t really gotten all the details worked out yet, since I usually do that as I write. Basically, in the end she learns to find her way around and not get disoriented as easily, and she becomes (mostly) content with her height and they get the horses back, and help the off-the-grid man.
Anyway, does this sound interesting at all?
I will try to post a google doc with the beginning of it, to ask for opinions on whether it has a “compelling opening” or something. But right now I’m having trouble accessing my gmail account from my computer, so I am not sure if that will work out.
@seekjustice @dekreel @sam-kowal @jenwriter17 @daughteroftheking @skredder @notawriter @anyone-else"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Sounds interesting! I’ve read a few similar to this, but I like where this is going 😀
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
This sounds like my kind of book! I love horses and westerns!!! I agree with SeekJustice (and I’ve read a lot of horse books), but I think it could be interesting. 😉👍
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@rochellaine Hmm, this is kinda interesting. I don’t usually read western type stories, but this certainly has an interesting pull to it.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
@rochellaine This sounds really cool!
I like how you have given her height issues because it’s way different than the “tall and blond beauty from the city” that you usually see in that kind of book or movie. I also like how you didn’t give her a romance with the local boy who is “really cute and just happens to have horses and be perfect”.
Honestly, it just feels real, which is very refreshing compared to the other books and movies that I’ve seen set in the west/midwest. It’s frustrating to see those stereotypes in every single book about those things, so I appreciate and commend you for writing something… Fresh.
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/@rochellaine
Kike skredder, I don’t usually read westerns but it sounds like you’re off to a good start! 😀
I like how the plot doesn’t revolve around her friendship with one of the horses.and I was so confused
@rochellaine Sounds awesome! Is it set in today’s times?
I would love to read it! 😀
You can pronounce it however you want.
@rochellaine 😀 That sounds interesting.
I haven’t read many Westerns, but I would read that.
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.Okay, I’ve got a little bit of clarification to do. 🙂 Mostly because I took a lot of time off from writing for finals last month, and am just getting back into it, so I had kind of forgotten a couple of the plans I had made for this book. Therefore, when I wrote the synopsis I missed a few things.
@seekjustice and @jenwriter17 This is not a horse book – it is a Western. I love Zane Grey, William MacLeod Raine, and a few other really old authors that you won’t recognize, 🙂 and I am going to use the horses in the style they are used in the old Westerns. They are for transportation and livelihood, not for pets and friends and therapy. It’s basically the same as if they were using cars or bikes, except the horses are alive. Um…I think that didn’t come out quite right, but I hope you get my meaning. Anyway, this might help with the fact that you’ve “read a lot of horse books before.” 🙂 It’s a Western, not an Animal book.
@kaya-young Glad you like the female character, but *cringes* there will be romance. 🙂 I just remembered, however, that it’s actually not the Leitners who own the ranch, it’s some other friends they have. The Leitners are from someplace else and just visiting, like Chara is. So, Derek and Chara will have a connection, but at least he isn’t the “cute, local boy who owns horses.” Does that work? 🙂 😀
@notawriter Great! So do I – because I don’t know horses. 🙂 So I’ll have to do a lot more research, but at least the horses are not “main characters.”
@dekreel Yes, it’s set in modern times. I write mostly realistic, contemporary fiction. I got the idea when my family toured Arizona, Utah, and Nevada last August.
@skredder and @sam-kowal Thanks for coming over! My gmail account is still not working, so no google doc yet, but I hope to be posting the opening soon so you can get an idea of the style of the story."Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine don’t worry, I’m in no way, shape, or form against romance!
I just don’t like when something like this seems to have gone on in the author’s mind: “Ooh, now here’s an original idea! the perfect girl gets the perfect guy and they live happily ever after on their perfect horse ranch.”
So just as long as It’s a believable romance you’ll be fine, and I’ll totally read your book and watch the spin-off movie someone will make based on it. 🙂
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/@kaya-young Haha! I definitely agree.
Here’s a question: Have you ever read those “disclaimers” in the front of books that say “This is not based on any real person, and any similarity to a real person is unintentional on the author’s part” or something like that? Do you think that is ever actually true? Because I totally base my characters off of real people! Is that not a thing? I mean, I don’t actually make them exactly like the people, but I will have similarities that are there just because I feel that it helps me make the characters more realistic.
I would hope to watch the spin-off movie as well, but when I was little my mom taught me something about not counting my chickens before they are hatched…
😀
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine Yup! I wonder the same thing! I enjoy observing people and certain characteristics will come to mind while I’m writing. I guess I could put “This is not based on any real person, and any similarity to a real person is unintentional on the author’s part except the lady at the grocery store, the old man who sits in front of us in church, and my little sister.” lol
As a side note, I found a funny one of those somewhere online, here it is:
“All resemblance to persons, people, friends, relatives, quotes, cultures, artificial intelligences, inside jokes, pets, unclaimed personalities, sentient objects, extra-terrestrials, inter-terrestrials, and draperies living, dead, undead, or comatose in any of my work are purely coincidental, incidental, circumstantial, inadvertent, unplanned, unforeseen, and unintentional. There’s seriously no way I was referring to you. Honest.”
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/@kaya-young Hahaha! Love it! 🙂 🙂
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Oh, Hooray! I finally got around the quirks in my gmail account and have a google document with the opening of my book!
So please read it and tell me if after reading this much you would keep reading. Or something like that.
Right now I’m not looking for grammar and editing issues, but just trying to make sure that it’s a good idea to continue writing. 🙂
Anyway, here it is!
@seekjustice @jenwriter17 @skredder @kaya-young @notawriter @dekreel @sam-kowal"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine yeah, I get your meaning. When I said ‘horse book’ I just meant any book with horses in it. They didn’t have to be a main part of the story. I watch a lot of westerns and part of my love of them is ’cause they have horses in them. But yeah, I get what you’re sayin’
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com
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