Steve, that was great!
Part of the reason I switched from trying to write as a career to writing for my own enjoyment is precisely this. No one wanted to spend money on character development anymore. Nobody seemed to care about working a plot line. I do not think it was the readers, but it certainly was the editors. Even good non-fiction should have these things-- especially non-fiction if you are going to give an accurate portrayal. Mule Deer's right; it's become all about the cargo and not the trip.
I was thinking about McManus the other day. That is about all I miss of Outdoor Life since I gave up my subscription over the Zumbo fiasco. I always wanted to write more like him. Somebody wrote me the other day and said he thought I wrote like him, and it made my day
It matter a whit if you're shooting 30 WSM or 30-06, but if you can catch your guide slyly telling the other guy he's a doofus, and the other guy is too dense to pick up on it-- that's almost better than nailing any deer. Painting that picture and giving it honorable treatment is where it's at. At least it is for me.
As to McManus, he was the one thing I miss about Outdoor Life since I gave up my life-long subscription over the Zumbo incident. I always wanted to write like him. Somebody, the other day, wrote me and said I reminded him of McManus. I wrote back that he'd made my day. It does not match Steve's piece about his Grandfather, but here's something that might have caught me trying to channel McManus:
O.D. and Playing the Wind I've decided to chronicle my doings with my neighbors, O.T. O.D., and O.P. and the others here in the Trans-Bluegrass. Kentucky is the land of 4 million people and 5 last names. In our county, the deer probably outnumber the people 2:1.
