[Photo provided to China Daily]

Blackcrane says the dogs in his camps are given away free to the herdsmen there.

"We can't keep asking for things from the grasslands, we need to pay something back," he says.

Literary critic Cui Xinping says that Blackcrane's language and details are based on his experiences.

"He is full of emotion and respect for the animals," says Cui.

Zhu Ziqiang, a critic with the Ocean University of China, says: "Blackcrane does not examine nature for the sake of writing about it. He is part of nature and he can feel it."

"So, we call his works 'literature in motion'," says Zhu.

Now, Blackcrane produces just one well-crafted novel a year.

He spent four years investigating in Inner Mongolia about the wild horses, and the result is the 120,000-word novel Blood Foal.

"I can write easily and smoothly, but that's not what I want," he says.