Setting Themes or Morals for Your Horse Story

by Christine.

For the Free Rein series which is aimed at 8 – 12 year olds, I like to have a theme or moral of the story running throughout each novel.  Alongside this, my focus is to provide educational facts about horses in each story and cover a different area of horse care.

I want the stories to be enjoyable for readers, but to also have a suitable ending, a lesson learned and some facts picked up along the way.  I believe a particular theme or moral to stories for younger readers can be a great thing to focus on.

If you are considering writing for the younger reader, perhaps this is something you would like to consider including, too.  Because the Free Rein series books cover horses and faith, I often try to tie the title in with a horse lesson and a faith lesson.  It can be a nice way to round out the story and to help focus the theme of the book on what it is called.

Do you enjoy children’s stories with morals attached?

Getting Ready for 2016

by Christine.

A short post from me to say that Free Rein books 4 and 5, Learning to Fall and A Dollar Goes a Long Way have been on Kindle over 2015 and it has taken me a lot longer than I hoped to get them sorted as paperbacks.  That said, they are now available in paperback form!

In Free Rein news, I am currently working on book 6 of the series and for those interested, updates are posted first over at http://www.freereinseries.com/ - you can also sign up for my author news!

For the adult reader, I am also working on a new novel set in Australia on a trail riding property.  For details on this, stay tuned to http://www.horsecountrybook.com/ - 2016 is planned for the release of two new books from author Christine Meunier.

I am also setting myself the goal of reading 150 books in 2016 and anticipate a lot of these books to be horse related - I can't wait to discover some new horse authors, read from some favourites and learn more about horses along the way!

What are your horse reading / writing plans for 2016?

It's Ok to Take a Break

by Christine.

I have previously written about writing goals and sticking to a schedule.  I believe it's important to motivate yourself in this way and see your writing moving forward.  However, there are times when you may just need to take a break from writing - and this is ok!

Perhaps it's a lack of inspiration or other things that are tying up your time; whatever the reason, don't feel guilty about taking a pause from writing.

I was planning to write the sixth book in the Free Rein series this year, but wasn’t pressuring myself to get started when I didn’t know what I wanted the book to be about.  Continuing on with my usual routine, it was when I was studying a particular area of Equine Health in my degree that I came across a topic that seemed like it would work perfectly for the context of book 6.

I was rapt!  The idea for the story and some parts of different chapters easily came together.

Once the book was a quarter written, I hit a writing slump.  That has been the case for the past few weeks and although it is unusual, I decided to not let it bother me.  There is always plenty of other work to be done to take up my time!

Cadence relates to the 'increase in a moment of suspension' in a gait.

As I was reading through the book Dressage Terms Defined I came across a definition for cadence and suddenly had an idea for the next chapter in my novel.  Once again, writing came easily.

Although it is important to set yourself goals and deadlines, I believe that at times you just need to take a break, not pressure yourself and wait for the motivation and ideas to come – even from the most unlikely of sources.  If you love being creative and writing, sometimes it’s just a question of exposing yourself to other avenues (reading, study, conversation, etc) to gain that inspiration.

What do you do when you experience writer's block?

 

Around the World with Horses

by Christine

One thing I love about horse novels – and indeed fictional works – is that you can travel around the world with horses and learn different cultures and hemispheres way of doing things.  There is so much to learn about horses!  Books can greatly increase your knowledge of them.

Me (far left) on a trail in South Africa

I thought I would focus this post on taking part in a blog hop titled Horse Travels over at Equus Education.  So I thought I’d focus on how we get to travel with horses in books.

In my debut novel Horse Country – A World of Horses, I explored four different women working in the horse industry or studying horses and their travels about the world.  Although the story was based in Australia (as I am), one character (Wes) travelled to Ireland to study horses and another (Maddison) travelled to England for awhile to work.

Because I have studied horses at the Irish National Stud in County Kildare, it was easier to write about the differences from Australia as I had experienced them.  Likewise, I had experienced working in a racing stable and was able to bring this into the novel.

In the Free Rein series I write for pre-teens, I explore running an agistment (boarding) property in Victoria as this is an area of interest and knowledge for me, too.  Currently I am also working on a new adult novel that explores running a trail riding business in the high country of Australia.  Updates on this novel are available through my Horse Country website.

The question of the blog hop is:

“If you could travel anywhere in the world for something horse related, where would it be and what would you do?”

I choose to travel to different parts of Australia that enable me to explore some of my favourite aspects of the horse world.  So in light of the question, perhaps you’d like to answer it?  Where would you travel and why?

Know Your Audience

by Christine

The latest book in the Free Rein Series

I have all of my books available on Kindle.  It’s great to be able to download the sales and lender reports each month and view which books have been purchased and from which country.

I am an Australian author and as such, my Free Rein series focuses on three young girls who have ponies in Victoria, Australia.  There are a lot of horse terms in Australia that readers from other countries may not be familiar with.  One such example is the word agistment.

Children’s author Deanie Humphrys-Dunne was kind enough to read and review one of the books in the series and separately she emailed me and suggested an inclusion of terms to my books.  The idea was that readers could turn to this and find the definition of such terms if they weren’t familiar with them.

This is a great recommendation that could improve my readers’ reading experience!  This is particularly so because my Kindle sales indicate that around 95% of my readers come from the United States and the United Kingdom.  I have now added an Australian Terms page to my Free Rein series website so that readers can do a bit of learning whilst finding out the latest Free Rein news.

What recommendation have you had regarding your writing that you’ve acted upon?

Writing Educational Horse Books

by Christine Meunier

Horse Country by Christine Meunier

When I was a young girl, I loved to read any horse book I could get my hands on.  I loved to read, period.  But as someone who didn't yet have a horse, I was learning horses via my reading.

Today I try to provide the same for readers of my books.  My debut novel Horse Country - A World of Horses, explores the lives of four women working in the horse industry - two as instructors, two in the thoroughbred breeding industry.  The book is very factually based, as I wanted readers to recognise what it is like working with horses.  I also wanted them to learn about these two equine related careers.

This was able to be written as I travelled North East Victoria in Australia, working on thoroughbred studs, as well as at a couple of riding schools in Melbourne, Victoria.  A stint overseas at the Irish National Stud increased my horse breeding knowledge and practical skills.  This knowledge went into my debut novel.

New Beginnings, by Christine Meunier

The same can be said for my Free Rein series.  Although aimed at younger readers (8 - 12 year olds) and a lot more fiction than fact, it is still factually based and contains realistic information with regards to keeping ponies, their care, and riding them.

I struggle when I read a horse book that isn't correct factually, so it's my hope that as horse crazy readers journey with me by reading one of my novels, that they will enjoy the storyline, but also enjoy the learning that comes with reading about horses.

For me, it's important that books although fiction, are realistic with any facts, whether they be about history, animals or a particular career.  I realise that even in horse books, terms can be misunderstood or different depending on the country the author originates from: my first horsey reads were the Saddle Club and once I joined pony club, my Australian riding mates were surprised to hear me talking about posting to the trot! (In Australia, it's known as the rising trot).

In a way, this is another thing I love about reading horse books - learning new terminology!  I needed to learn quickly in Ireland that the horse box was the vehicle we used to transport horses (a float in Australia) and not a stall that we house them in for a time!

What horse book or series have you read and learnt from?