"Do you see what's wrong here?" John asked, shoving the magazine down the table to me.
I put down my coffee cup and studied the picture -- a farmer working in the 'baccer. The mule looks like our Ol' Pete in his younger days. The sun's going down, the pretty white house has smoke rising from the kitchen chimney, and Mama's on the back porch, calling Pa in to supper.
Hmm. No kids around -- maybe they're in doing homework or back at the barn doing chores. Nice barns and out buildings. It's an idyllic scene -- change the hound to a collie and it could be an episode from "Lassie."
Hmm. No kids around -- maybe they're in doing homework or back at the barn doing chores. Nice barns and out buildings. It's an idyllic scene -- change the hound to a collie and it could be an episode from "Lassie."
Then I spot it -- and wonder how many other readers of Progressive Farmer are groaning. Maybe some of you farmers or ex-farmers will see what's wrong. Right click on the picture to biggify it for a closer look. It's not something tiny; it's up front and is akin to a mystery writer saying a revolver had a silencer -- just doesn't happen. At least, this wasn't the way Our Mentor taught us.
The devil is in the details they say. I remember once painting a picture with mountains in the background and a barn in the foreground. I used two different photos to work from and it wasn't till I'd finished the picture that I realized why it just didn't look right -- the shadows on the mountains showed that the sun was to the right while the shadows in the foreground . . . yep, the sun was to the left. Just doesn't happen. (I'm not totally happy about the shadows in this picture either -- but that's not the error that caught my husband's eye.)
As a writer I really try to get my details correct. (Thus my recent research into teenage slang which caused some of your answers to be identified as naughty spam.) You never know what slip -- the revolver that fires ten times without reloading, the quilt being pieced, not quilted, on the quilting frame (this was in a best seller), the shotgun that later turns into a rifle, or the DNA report that's back in 24 hours -- is going to cause your reader to fall out of the story and fling the book against the wall, shrieking "Just doesn't happen!"
Oh my goodness -- I just found another thing wrong with this picture. This is something I pay attention to in my books -- not having things blooming in the wrong season. Anyone see what's bugging me here? You western NC or east TN folks might get this.
The devil is in the details they say. I remember once painting a picture with mountains in the background and a barn in the foreground. I used two different photos to work from and it wasn't till I'd finished the picture that I realized why it just didn't look right -- the shadows on the mountains showed that the sun was to the right while the shadows in the foreground . . . yep, the sun was to the left. Just doesn't happen. (I'm not totally happy about the shadows in this picture either -- but that's not the error that caught my husband's eye.)
As a writer I really try to get my details correct. (Thus my recent research into teenage slang which caused some of your answers to be identified as naughty spam.) You never know what slip -- the revolver that fires ten times without reloading, the quilt being pieced, not quilted, on the quilting frame (this was in a best seller), the shotgun that later turns into a rifle, or the DNA report that's back in 24 hours -- is going to cause your reader to fall out of the story and fling the book against the wall, shrieking "Just doesn't happen!"
Oh my goodness -- I just found another thing wrong with this picture. This is something I pay attention to in my books -- not having things blooming in the wrong season. Anyone see what's bugging me here? You western NC or east TN folks might get this.
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