Ken’s review of A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction > Likes and Comments
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I see novels as draught horses myself. Or maybe oxen.
path wrote: "I imagine that there is a point at which the advice in books like this start to overlap, but maybe I'd be surprised. Do you find that the "writing advice" books differentiate themselves on the cont..."
Ponies have a rich history when it comes to being horses of another color. I did a little digging and see that the expression "one-trick pony" has a slightly negative connotation in that the "pony" is very good but lacks broader skills. It comes from the circus, of all places, where ponies were often taught one trick (chiefly "playing possum," to continue our animal metaphors) and that was that, thank you for your entrance fee and there's the egress (what, not a bird???).
As the Archilochus quote goes (with Isaiah Berlin taking it to new heights): "The fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one big thing."
So now I give you the hedgehog as second cousin twice removed from our one-trick pony.
Paul Simon also wrote a song called "One-Trick Pony," and then there's Pony Boy of The Outsiders fame. That book was written by the one-trick pony S.E. Hinton. Her trick was YA books with male protagonists. Period.
As for what novels are, I cede to Nick, who's published one. His one novel trumps my three poetry collections. It's like Boardwalk on the Monopoly board, where players bang out chapters for donations.
Nick wrote: "I see novels as draught horses myself. Or maybe oxen."
Worker bees, in other words!
I love these type of books. I haven't taken the novel- writing- plunge yet but I just can't seem to stop reading about it.
Jean wrote: "I love these type of books. I haven't taken the novel- writing- plunge yet but I just can't seem to stop reading about it."
Catnip for dreamers, isn't it?
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I see novels as draught horses myself. Or maybe oxen.
path wrote: "I imagine that there is a point at which the advice in books like this start to overlap, but maybe I'd be surprised. Do you find that the "writing advice" books differentiate themselves on the cont..."Ponies have a rich history when it comes to being horses of another color. I did a little digging and see that the expression "one-trick pony" has a slightly negative connotation in that the "pony" is very good but lacks broader skills. It comes from the circus, of all places, where ponies were often taught one trick (chiefly "playing possum," to continue our animal metaphors) and that was that, thank you for your entrance fee and there's the egress (what, not a bird???).
As the Archilochus quote goes (with Isaiah Berlin taking it to new heights): "The fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one big thing."
So now I give you the hedgehog as second cousin twice removed from our one-trick pony.
Paul Simon also wrote a song called "One-Trick Pony," and then there's Pony Boy of The Outsiders fame. That book was written by the one-trick pony S.E. Hinton. Her trick was YA books with male protagonists. Period.
As for what novels are, I cede to Nick, who's published one. His one novel trumps my three poetry collections. It's like Boardwalk on the Monopoly board, where players bang out chapters for donations.
Nick wrote: "I see novels as draught horses myself. Or maybe oxen."Worker bees, in other words!
I love these type of books. I haven't taken the novel- writing- plunge yet but I just can't seem to stop reading about it.
Jean wrote: "I love these type of books. I haven't taken the novel- writing- plunge yet but I just can't seem to stop reading about it."Catnip for dreamers, isn't it?
Incidentally, I love the perhaps unintentional image of a "poetry pony" that you offered. It reminds me of a local figure in my area called the "Poetry Fox" who bangs out bespoke poems on an electric typewriter for donations.