My sister pointed this out to me with a character in a car. He wouldn't put one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the back of the seat. It just doesn't seem natural, comfortable. So I got into a car and she was right. I moved one of the character's hands to the side of the seat.
And today I got a taste of a fictional cliche so powerful it hurt my eyes.
I rode off into the sunset.
Now it has been years since I have actually done this, if ever. I have ridden below a sunset, to the left and right of a sunset. But straight into one?
At 7:34 The sun was just touching the top of the trees on the horizon. It was so low that to cover it with the visor would be to block my vision of stop lights, even though I am three cars back. So I have to look at it. I have to ride into the sunset, because my destination is west and then south of me, and there aren't any diagonal street alternatives that would allow me to go southwest instead.
My eyes hurt. The muscles ache. I am squinting more than I should.
And then I turn south. But I have trouble seeing the road. There are so many blue circles parading across my vision that it looks like a ball pit at McDonalds. And then they turn dark purple and it's even harder to see. I blink a lot, as if that will help speed up the retinal healing process. It does not.
So what's up with cowboys riding off into the sunset? Those western romance writers like to torture their characters, that's what. Even with a ten gallon hat, the wide brim only works if you ride off beneath the sunset, not into it. And what about the poor horse? Thank goodness the horses eyes are on the sides of his head instead of in front. There is only so much pain a beast of burden can take.
If I ever write a western romance, my cowboy will ride off a little left of the sunset, or even better, about nine in the morning, when the sun is high, and it hasn't gotten hot or into that 10-to-2 sunburn time frame.
2 comments:
I say no one has ever experienced the true pain of riding off into the sunset until they have traveled down the LONG road of IH 40 going to Amarillo....at sunset. You're right, it is absolutely HARD on you! We have done it several times, and it's unforgetable. Anyway, it looks good from the back......I think that's the way it is with watching other people's lives. Somehow it always looks more glamorous looking at it than living it. Like when you are walking in the store with your cute little children and the baby has just been screaming non-stop for the past hour, so you decide to get out of the house.....Then this little old lady sees you and pats the baby on the head, commenting on how angelic the baby looks. (you think to yourself....if she ONLY knew!).... :)
That is a terrific observation -- very humorous, too!
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