j_cheney: (Plot Bunny)
J. Kathleen Cheney ([personal profile] j_cheney) wrote2008-10-13 08:52 am

PB story continues...

19K, and the horses are at the starting line....I do know which horse is going to win, BTW. I expect to finished the hideously sloppy first rough draft tonight, and it should clock in between 21 and 22 K.

Then I'll let it sit for a while, do some desultory research on horse racing and how you go about replacing your jockey at the last minute. (in terms of whom you have to tell...The Saratoga Racing Association?)

I'm dethroning the horse who actually won the Hopeful Stakes in 1905. However, I'll bet there would be a high percentage of people (if this ever gets published) who:
a) don't even know that there was a Hopeful Stakes in 1905 (say, 85%)
b) don't know there was horse racing in Saratoga Springs in 1905 (70%)
c) don't know that there really is a town called Saratoga Springs (60%)
d) don't know what a stakes races is (60%)
e) don't know what a jockey is (20% probably need the word 'disc' in front of it)
f) don't care about verisimilitude anyway.... (10%)

It's a terrible rough draft.

[identity profile] j-cheney.livejournal.com 2008-10-13 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, one of the few....I salute you!

I read all the horse books too. ;o)

[identity profile] snickelish.livejournal.com 2008-10-14 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Seriously, "horse books" might as well been their own subgenre. Judging from my children's librarian days, they don't seem to be as popular anymore - at least, the little being published seems to be mostly in series aimed at younger readers than I was when I lost interest. And I'm not quite sure what all that horsey literature did for me, except that I do know what a stakes race is...

(Also, to this day, I can describe all the genetically possible color combinations for offspring from a given pair of horses. Highly transferable skill, that. :p )

[identity profile] j-cheney.livejournal.com 2008-10-14 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
And you probalby actually know what a sulky racer is... ;o) How about that for an obscure term.

[identity profile] snickelish.livejournal.com 2008-10-14 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Gotta confess, I had to Google this, and then I remembered what it was. I knew the concept but had forgotten the term.

Tee hee. I just saw The Music Man last week and Robert Preston's line from "Ya Got Trouble" always makes me giggle: "Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin', not a wholesome trottin' race, no, but a race where they set down right on the horse!" And everybody gasps. :p

[identity profile] j-cheney.livejournal.com 2008-10-14 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
So many things that today's high schools students have no chance of understanding....

[identity profile] snickelish.livejournal.com 2008-10-14 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, and I hearby volunteer for a first read/critique, if you need one. Apparently I still have a bit of a soft spot for fictional horses...

[identity profile] j-cheney.livejournal.com 2008-10-14 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool, thanks. It might be a whiel before I get to it. I'm going to let it sit for a bit, now. ;o)