Loading a bow

I would describe it as nocking an arrow. A writer could add details as they see fit. "With shaking hands she nocked a silver feathered arrow to her bow."

 

I was taught to "load" a bow before trying to loose an arrow... To hold the arrow on the string and have a finger around the arrow at the bow, but with not draw on the bow...
I will grant that I associate "load" with firearms, but if it was used in the context of to hold a bow ready for use, then I think it works.... Load.... Aim... Loose!

 

Load feels like something you'd do with firearms or crossbows.

 

"Load" is definitely not the word I'd use for a bow. Instead of describing the singular action of "loading" the bow, I usually describe it using the stages--nocking, which is fitting the arrow to the bow, drawing, and then shooting. "Firing" a bow is also not the proper term. You fire a gun; you shoot a bow.

 

Load might fit crossbows, but otherwise I would use some variation of "nocking".

 

I have a great deal of experience with bows. Have never used the term loading for that, or heard it used for that. I don't think I have ever seen is used as a command in a manual or as a range command.

I would say "load" does not fit bows.

 

I have encountered: Nock, Draw, Loose.

 

"Nock, draw, loose!" is definitely the best-known phrasing for regular medieval and fantasy readers. And I second that a bow doesn't feel like it would be "loaded," but a crossbow might. (Or even a sling, fitting the stone into the pocket.)

In passing: it's interesting that the word "fire" caught on so fast and so completely the moment ranged weapons starting using torches and such to trigger them. No matter how far guns moved to self-contained explosions and such, we love using the f-word for a weapon. Because "nothing's cooler than fire."

 

I'd have to agree that "loading" a bow reads as incorrect for an ancient setting. Arrows aren't "loaded" onto a bow the way that lead balls are loaded into a musket or stones are loaded into a sling--the bow doesn't have a weight of arrows on it.

I gotta say, dude, why do you post questions if you're not willing to change your writing based on the answers?

 

"Load" is a firearm term, coming from the way you have to load the bullet into the chamber. It makes no sense in a standard medieval fantasy world.

Plus, even if your character uses it in everyday speech, archery-conscious readers are going to be twitching and wincing in pain. I actually put down a book once because the archers used terms such as "load", "fire", and "shoot" when talking about their bows. It drove me crazy.

Not only would it turn off archery sticklers, it would also make the author look like they didn't know what they were talking about, even if they used "load", etc, intentionally.

 

"I didn't know the bow was loaded. I was cleaning it and it accidentally went off."

The only way you load a bow is to put it into a wagon along with all your other gear. "He loaded his pack, his quiver, his bow, and his trusty sidekick into the wagon."

If I was reading a book and the character "loaded his bow," I'd spend the rest of the book thinking that the author had no idea what he was talking about -- about anything, even if he was dead-nuts on with every other technical description. Immersion is a function of subject matter expertise. If you fake it, someone will know and for that reader, the magic is gone.

 

The impression that I got from your reply to this thread and that one about ellipses, I think, was that both times you responded as though everyone in the thread had agreed with your initial opinion? I'm glad to hear that's not what you're seeing, but it might give a better idea of your decision process if you at least acknowledged criticisms in your replies. It's a little odd when people are giving detailed reasons why you shouldn't use a word, and your response is that it's "100% understandable meaning wise".

I don't mean to offend, though, and my original reply was poorly thought out. It's certainly an interesting discussion--I've never thought so specifically about the usage of "load" and "fire" for weapons.