Tapped. Out.

I approach writing my weekly Risky Regencies posts as I do my fiction writing: I let my mind wander and seize on something that seems like it might go somewhere. Usually, it works, at least enough for me to get something tapped out on the keyboard.

But today? I am Tapped Out. I officially have NO IDEAS for this post. Which means, unfortunately for you all, I'll have to let my mind wander as I type, not just show the finished product.

Yesterday, my son, my father and I went to the Bronx Zoo, which is truly spectacular. It made me think about what zoos were like in the Regency--pretty pathetic things, I think, and I am pretty sure they were called "menageries," not zoos, and can you imagine how poorly the animals were treated? Horses were treated well, they had to carry the Men on their Important Hunting Expeditions, after all, but other animals did not get very good treatment. No wonder our heroines always befriend cats and dogs and the like.

I was also thinking about what made a plot good--sure, there's that catch in the throat when you're not quite sure the author is going to live up to the expectations of a romance, and are they really going to get together, because sheesh, it sure seems like there's no way they can get out of this mess, not without a lot of deus ex machina. And when they do, you're almost pathetically grateful to the author for making us breathe easier. Mary Balogh is the queen of this, and she makes my heart stop almost every time I read one of her books. Who does that for you?

And the weather--our heroes and heroines did not have the benefit of central air, heat, or Polartec fabric. It's gorgeous here on the East Coast now, and the crocuses are starting to spring up and the weather will be in the 70s today, and it fills one (meaning me) with a feeling of enthusiasm and joy. I wonder if our heroes and heroines felt the same, only moreso, because they were confined inside their drafty houses? Or did they combat their winter lassitude by doing all sorts of outdoorsy things that put a sparkle in their eyes and a healthy pink blush in their cheeks? Did they even talk about seasonal depression?

Now, here's the class participation part: When your mind wanders, what does it wonder about? What authors make your breath catch in your throat? And is it Spring where you live? If so, what's the part you like the best about Spring?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Still More questions from Bertie

Greetings! It is I, Bertram St. James, delighted to be here (as always). I know you Twenty-First Century folk do not much care to answer my questions, but I will nonetheless continue to ask them. Such as:

1. How can the United States of America call itself a republic, and yet have a queen? And what sort of a queenly name is Latifah, anyway?

2. Why would anyone pay eighty dollars to buy Obsession? Is not Obsession something one comes by naturally, and occasionally pays large sums to be rid of?

3. In my day, musicians had names like John and Nathaniel. Why do musicians today have names like N Sync and Eminem? And why do they play no instruments?

4. Speaking of musicians, if M.T.V. truly stands for "Musical TeleVision", why does it play no music?

If anyone can explain to me the answers to these conundrums, I will be most grateful.

Yours as ever, and exquisite as always,

Bertie the Beau

Beer, glorious beer!

Alfie Dolittle, who sings this in MY FAIR LADY, definitely would have agreed with Cobbett’s analysis of why beer is better than tea.

Put it to the test with a lean hog: give him the fifteen bushels of malt, and he will repay you in ten score of bacon or thereabouts. But give him the 730 tea messes, or rather begin to give them to him, and give him nothing else, and he is dead with hunger, and bequeaths you his skeleton, at the end of about seven days.

Proof positive. At least, that beer can fatten you like a hog. Did we really need Mr. Cobbett to tell us that?

I used to be exclusively a wine drinker, but I fell in love with English ale during the three years my husband and I were on international assignment in England. The first time we walked across the road to the Fox and Hounds, our neighborhood pub in Funtington, West Sussex, my husband ordered a pint of Ruddles Best Bitter. Intrigued by the deep color, I took a sip. He had to order himself another. Some time after that, we joined the Campaign for Real Ale and used their Good Beer Guide and Good Pub Food Guide to help us plan our weekend excursions.

Now I no longer have any excuse for the mistake of having a Regency hero dash angrily into a pub and order lager. (I cringe a little when I read such scenes, but won’t go as far as book-flinging.) During the Regency, they would have drunk "real ale". Here's CAMRA's definition:

Real ale is beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide.

Real ale is also known as 'cask-conditioned beer', 'real cask ale', 'real beer' and 'naturally conditioned beer'.

Here are a few of the terms to describe varieties and styles of real ale:

• bitters: well-hopped, copper-coloured, stronger versions are called "best" or "special"
• pale ales: premium bitters that are not pale, just lighter than brown ales
• India Pale Ale: pale ales adapted for transport to India, stronger, more heavily hopped
• brown ale: reddish-brown to dark brown, somewhat sweet
• mild: usually dark brown, lightly hopped
• stout: extra-dark, almost black, strong flavored
• porter: also dark, but lighter-bodied than stout.

Here’s one of my favorites: Morland's Old Speckled Hen (the website explains how this ale was named). Fortunately for me, it is not impossible to find on this side of the pond.

Have you tried real ales? If so, what are your favorites? If not, it's worth trying if only to better one's understanding of Regency beverages. Anything for research, I say. :)

Elena, beer connoisseur and tea slut, hoping Cara will not cut my acquaintance :)

LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, an RT Reviewers' Choice Award nominee
www.elenagreene.com

Evil, Evil TEA

William Cobbett, round about 1821, wrote:

The drink, which has come to supply the place of beer has, in general, been tea. It is notorious, that tea has no useful strength in it; that it contains nothing nutricious; that it, besides being good for nothing, has badness in it, because it is well known to produce want of sleep in many cases, and in all cases to shake and weaken the nerves.

Okay, so far, I slightly agree with Cobbett. Lack of sleep -- yeah, if you drink more than you're used to, or you drink late in the day, it can cause insomnia! But "shake and weaken the nerves"?

Cobbett continues:

It is, in fact, a weaker kind of laudanum, which enlivens for a moment and deadens afterwards.

Laudanum, which is opium dissolved in alcohol, being compared to tea??? Dude, what have YOU been drinking???

It is impossible to make a fire, boil water, make the tea, drink it, wash up the things, sweep up the fire-place and put all to rights again in a less space of time, upon an average, than two hours. . . . Needs there any thing more to make us cease to wonder at seeing labourers' children with dirty linen and holes in the heels of their stockings?

There you have it, kiddies! The poor are wretched not for any of the commonly held reasons (e.g. because they are poor, or because they are lazy, or because no one who labours in the fields from dawn to dusk has time or energy to darn stockings) but because they drink too much TEA!!!!

You heard it here first.

Cara
Cara King, Tea Drinker Extraordinaire
for more weird period details, see www.caraking.com

Ladies in Waiting Part Deux

Since I found so much interesting info (interesting to me, anyway!) on the lives of Georgian ladies-in-waiting, I decided to do a Part Two this week, continuing from last Monday.

The Countess of Harcourt became a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte in 1784, and she also became one of the Queen's few friends, staying with her until her (Charlotte's) death in 1818. Lady H. recalled one occasion when she said to the Queen, "I should like to tell YOU something, but pray promise never to let the QUEEN know it." The Queen laughed and answered, "Oh, no, SHE can have no business with what passes between us in our private unreserved conversation." But these lighthearted moments were an exception in what was considered a very dull Court indeed.

The Queen would receive at Court only women of unblemished reputation, "proscribing from her society all females of bankrupt or even ambiguous character" (Anne Somerset, from "Ladies in Waiting"). I don't think ladies of, shall we say, a more risky disposition could care too much about this exclusion. The Court was no longer a center of fashion, as it had once been, since the values espoused by the King and Queen were so far from those set by the leaders of fashion.

The Court was also bound by rigid, uncomfortable etiquette. Fanny Burney, the novelist and sometime lady-in-waiting, wrote after first visiting Court, "In the first place you must not cough...In the second place you must not sneeze. In the third place, you must not, upon any account, stir either hand or foot. If, by chance, a black pin runs into your head, you must not take it out. If the pain is very great you must be sure to bear it without wincing; if it brings the tears into your eyes, you must not wipe them off..."

Other rules include one forbidding anyone to initiate a conversation with the King or Queen, or to eat in their presence. Ladies could not leave the Queen's presence of their own accord, and when they did leave they had to back smoothly out of the room (with a train!). No one could sit in the Queen's presence, even if faint or pregnant.

Of course, their duties could have been worse. The Ladies of the Bedchamber didn't have to wait on the Queen at meals or assist with her toilette, aside from ceremonial; duties such as fastening her necklace. There were six of these ladies, drawn from the highest reaches of Society, each on call for two months of the year, usually only for formal occasions. The more day-to-day duties were now divided between the two Keepers of the Robes and their assistants, the wardrobe women (a whole 'nother article, I think!). Ladies of the Bedchamber were paid 500 pounds a year (rather unfairly, the hardworking Keepers got only 200, but they did have free accomadations). Though the King and Queen were always eager to reduce their domestic budget, the Queen, despite a reputation for parsimony, would never permit savings at the expense of her ladies. She even fought the Government's efforts to reorganize financial arrangements in 1812, condemning their proposed cuts as "shabby."

Now, last week I asked if YOU would make a good lady-in-waiting. This week I wonder would your own heroine (or the heroine of your favorite books) do well at Court? Or would they be too rebellious? :)

Congratulations...!

Congratulations to the Regency RITA finalists for best Regency of 2005!

Drumroll.....

• A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston--Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited - Linda Fildew, editor
• Miss Whitlow's Turn by Jenna Mindel--NAL - Rose Hilliard, editor
• Just Say Yes by Myretta Robens-- Kensington Books - Hilary Sares, editor
• The House Party by Jeanne Savery--Kensington Books - John Scognamiglio, editor

I particularly want to congratulate my friend Jenna Mindel, a critique partner before she moved away from central New York to the boonies of Michegan (smile!). Jenna, I know how much this means to you, and I know how hard you've worked for this. A nicer person couldn't be made happy!

And for those who did not final--keep doing what you do. We are all winners, doing what we love, writing romances for the best readers in the world.

Viva the Regency!

Laurie
Lord Ryburn's Apprentice
Signet, January 2006

RITA-Mania!

Today is the day the Romance Writers of America announce the list of finalists for the Golden Heart and RITA awards. RWA says, "The purpose of the RWA contests--RITA and Golden Heart--is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding romance books and manuscripts." These two contests are the big fish in the little pond of romance writing.

Or, as I explain to my non-romance friends, it's like the Oscars, but for romance books. Finaling in either contest is a huge honor, at least among romance authors. I wonder, however, how important that "Golden Heart Winner!" or "RITA Award Winner!" emblazoned across the top of the book is important to readers (and no, I am not just saying that because I am doubtful of finaling myself). Reviewing the list of past RITA winners is impressive; reviewing the list of past Golden Heart winners is just as fun, especially since some of those authors have since been published.

But does it mean anything? I don't know, but I am still hoping against hope I get a phone call today from the RWA office in Texas. Barring that, I hope one or more of my fellow Riskies get the call.

So--have you ever been more interested in a book because it's won an award? If you're a published author, do you enter these kinds of contests? What do you get out of them? If you're unpublished, have you found contests to be helpful in forwarding your career?

And--before you answer any of that--wish us luck!

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

(Late) happy birthday, Bach!

Bach's birthday was actually on March 21, so I'm taking the liberty of celebrating a couple of days late. Also earlier this month, on March 11, we celebrated--or didn't, unless you're a very unusual person, the anniversary of Mendelssohn's revival of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829.

Yes, Bach was out of fashion bigtime in the Regency. Professional musicians appreciated his music--Beethoven, in a ponderously Teutonic joke (sorry, I just don't see Ludwig sporting a squirting flower and a whoopie cushion), reputedly said "he should not be called Brook, but Ocean." (Bach is German for brook. Get it? Whew.)

However, the revered Johann Reichardt--funnily enough, no longer a household name, or at least not in my household--in 1782 sniffed: Had Bach possessed the high integrity and the deep expressive feeling that inspired Handel, he would have been much greater even than Handel; but as it is he was only more painstaking and technically skillful. Ouch.

But back to Mendelssohn, boy genius. He was twenty when he rediscovered, rehearsed and conducted the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin, in collaboration with his friend the actor Eduard Devrient. The sold-out concert was attended by the King of Prussia, and such notables as Heine, Hegel and Paganini, and hundreds of people were turned away. Mendelssohn reputedly made the comment that it took and actor and a Jew to restore the greatest of Christian works to the world.

So...I guess I should have posted a picture of Jeremy Northam to spur on the conversation...any deep thoughts you'd like to share? Embarrassing public/musical experiences? I went to hear the St. Matthew Passion at the Proms once, and sat on the floor--a mistake since my leg went to sleep and at the end I stood up to applaud and fell flat on my face...

Janet

Moving into the body

In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron writes:

"Most blocked creatives are cerebral beings. We think of all the things we want to do but can't. Early in recovery, we next think of all the things we want to do but don't. In order to effect a real recovery, we need to move out of the head and into a body of work. To do this, we must first of all move into the body."

I follow the exercise routine from the Body for Life, with some adaptations. I work out six days a week, alternating weight training with swimming. Although I’ve found it harder to keep to the eating program (I just love food too much) and it hasn’t given me a Victoria’s Secret supermodel figure (ditto on loving food too much!) I’ve found it’s been helping my writing in ways I didn’t expect:

• It reminds me to feel the satisfaction of small accomplishments, the laps swum in the morning, the pages written later in the day.
• Since lifting weights, I’m less prone to back strain from sitting at the computer.
• Endorphins that fight the mild to moderate depression I feel from time to time.
• Better sleep equates to better writing in the morning.
• Rhythmic exercise soothes worries, frees up creative paths in the mind.

Another excerpt from THE ARTIST'S WAY could easily describe me.

“Every day, as she swims the aquamarine oblong of her neighborhood pool, her mind dives deep into itself, past the weeds and clutter of its everyday concerns—what editor is late with a check, why the typist persists in making so many errors—and down to a quiet green pool of inspiration. That rhythmic, repetitive action transfers the locus of the brain’s energies from the logic to the artist hemisphere. It is there that inspiration bubbles up untrammeled by the constraints of logic.”

At the risk of sounding preachy, please go out and find some exercise to do if you aren’t already. Swim, walk, run, bike, whatever works for you. It really does help!

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE
www.elenagreene.com

Pet Peeves

I'm always interested in hearing what verbal pet peeves people have. (I'm alliterative today, I see! Please pardon my prankish prose.)

Some people don't approve of a sentence like "Hopefully it will rain today" -- they think that "hopefully" should stop being naughty and start behaving like a regular adverb. I think it's fine and dandy, and this construction is extremely useful.

Some people don't like splitting infinitives. I think such reservations are ridiculous, and were introduced into English at a very late date anyway, so don't even have the weight of tradition behind them.

But just when I start to think I'm a language "liberal", believing (as I do, for the most part) that language change is normal and healthy, and there is no "right" way to talk (or write), I come face to face with my, er, tastes. Tastes? Perhaps I should be honest and call them prejudices. There are just some words, spellings, phrases, and grammatical errors that drive me bonkers. So I will share some of my pet peeves here, and please share yours too! And if you want, do go ahead and tell me my pet peeves are ridiculous.

WORDS, SPELLINGS, AND PHRASES I UTTERLY LOATHE:

alot
alright
bobbed wire (or bobwire)
congradulations
could care less (for couldn't care less, unless used sarcastically)
decimate (for exterminate -- decimate means killing ten percent)
infer (when imply is meant)
lay (used for lie)
literally (when used as merely an intensifier; e.g. "Paris Hilton is literally American royalty")
more unique, most unique


WORDS, USAGES, AND PHRASES THAT I KNOW ARE ACCEPTABLE NOW, BUT WHICH I HATE ANYWAY, AND AM WILLING TO JOIN THE ARMY OF RESISTANCE AGAINST:

comprise (in the modern American sense)
livid (meaning either red or angry)


Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. What are your pet peeves? Do any of my pet peeves strike you as small-minded? Please share!

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER -- out now from Signet!!!!

Ladies at Work

Last week, I started a new job. I think it will be all right, but right now I'm completely stressed out, trying to learn new computer databases, new procedures, and still find time to write at home! By coincidence, I've also been reading a book titled "Ladies-in-Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day" by Anne Somerset, detailing one of the few careers open to women (upper-class women, anyway) during the Regency--royal service.

Chapter Eight concerns the "Later Hanoverian Court". In the summer of 1761, it was announced that the new king, George III, would marry his cousin Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The king's mentor, Lord Bute, was immediately bombarded with requests for places in her household for wives and daughters. On July 23, Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann, "The new Queen's family consists of...the Duchess of Ancaster, Mistress of the Robes and first lady of the Bedchamber; the others are the Duchess of Hamilton, Lady Effingham, Lady Northumberland, Lady Weymouth, and Lady Bolingbroke" (he missed one addition, Lady Egremont). The Countess of Dalkeith had angrily turned down a position when she heard she would have to work with the Duchess of Hamilton, who had been one of the famous Gunning sisters. The Duchess of Bedford was also insulted--she was left off the list altogether. The husbands of both these ladies soon went into Opposition. Coincidence? I think not. :)

Princess Charlotte herself had hoped to bring with her a large retinue from her own country, as royal brides had in the past (Catherine of Aragon, for example, brought many Spanish retainers with her when she married Prince Arthur Tudor). But the king decreed "the utmost she can bring is one or two femmes de chambre whom I own I hope will be quiet people, for by my own experience I have seen these women meddle more than they ought to do." So, Charlotte brought two German ladies, Johanna Haggerdorn and Juliana Schwellenborg, who served as joint Keepers of the Robes. Haggerdorn proved to be " a placid amiable ladylike woman", but Schwellenborg was a different kettle of fish. In 1765, the king, irritated by her intrusiveness and arrogance, was only dissuaded from sending her home by the persistent entreaties of his wife! Among the other ladies she was seen as a petty tyrant. Novelist Fanny Burney, Haggerdorn's successor, wrote that S. was "noxious and persecuting." The Queen, however, adored her, calling her a "faithful and truly devoted...servant."

Perhaps one reason for the queen's dependence on S. was the fact that she was never really at ease with her sophisticated English ladies (and not encouraged to develop close friendships by her possessive husband!). The Duchess of Ancaster stayed at her post until her death, but in 1784 the queen fell out with the Duchess of Arrgyll (formerly Hamilton), who was flirtatious and unpunctual, as well as the mother of a scandalous daughter. The Countess of Northumberland (a "vulgar woman" who liked "show and crowds and junketing") left way back in 1770. And Lady Bolingbroke had to leave when she and her husband divorced. I can't imagine these ladies partiuclarly mourned leaving court (except for the chances for family advancement and prestige), as the king and queen were known to be deadly dull (until the king went crazy, that is!).

There are so many interesting things to say on this topic, I may have to continue next week! In the meantime, how do you think YOU would have fared as lady-in-waiting?

Scones

I'm celebrating St. Patrick's Day a bit late--like today. I feel the same way about it as I do Valentine's Day. Much of it very tacky. I am not into green food coloring in my beer, will take the genuine Guinness instead, thank you very much. Also, my own heritage is Lithuanian (more people who drink a lot and sing sad songs), so I don't particularly feel the need to BE Irish for a day.

But there are some things I enjoy around this time. Celtic music: I put on my CDs of Loreena McKennitt, the Boys of the Lough, and others. Later today I'm going to a Celtic Songfest by the Binghamton Madrigal Choir. Meanwhile, my husband is going to make corned beef and cabbage. And I'm baking scones.

Here's the recipe I used last year, and it worked well. Hope they turn out as well this time!

IRISH SCONES

3 cups white flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 TBSP sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 cup raisins and/or other dried fruit
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. Lightly butter two large cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and sugar. Add butter and mix well.
3. Stir in milk. (Dough is heavy.)
4. Mix in raisins (use hands if necessary).
5. Press dough on a floured surface and roll out gently to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut scones into round shapes or triangles.
6. Beat the egg, brush scones with egg wash for shine.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE
http://www.elenagreene.com/

Writing and Worrying

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.Thomas Mann, German writer (1875 - 1955)


I can't do this. I can. No, I really can't. This is terrible. Why am I wasting my time? Why can't I be as good as [insert fantastic author here].

Yeah, welcome to the inside of my head. I've been working on a second Regency-set historical, and it is about 2/3rds of the way done. But--and this is a big but--I'm not sure if it's good. I've got a lot of ends to tie up, some to undo in the first place still, and I worry I'm just writing loads of words where nothing happens.

My case is not unusual. In fact, I doubt if there are any authors out there who haven't had the same derisive little voices lodged inside their heads (well, all except Barbara Cartland, who apparently thought she was all that and a side of fries). So--given that giving up is not an option, how do we rise above (which, of course, reminds me of hardcore band Black Flag's song "Rise Above," which is an anthemic triumph. But I digress--a natural problem when one is beset by insecurities.

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language", 1946, English essayist, novelist, & satirist (1903 - 1950)

Last week, I printed my whole manuscript out and read it over with a pen and some post-its in hand. I edited, wrote down themes and plot points I needed to bring in and/or flesh out, and this week I've been incorporating the smaller edits and am getting prepared to dive in for the bigger stuff. But what if it still stinks?

Keep writing. Keep doing it and doing it. Even in the moments when it's so hurtful to think about writing.Heather Armstrong, Keynote Speech, SXSW 2006

My mind has been chasing itself in circles, nutty dog style. Can I assemble a plotting group? Should I revisit the synopsis and try to nail down my story? Do I just plunge back in and start writing again and see where the story takes me (". . . to Stinkyville," my mind answers. Shut up, mind!).

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.
Isaac Asimov, US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

Stay tuned. I guess if I were secure, I'd be content with my stinky story, and wonder why my readers (if, indeed, this manuscript reaches the point of publication) didn't like it as much as I did.

We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.
W. Somerset Maugham, English dramatist & novelist (1874 - 1965)

And now--back to the work-in-progress.

Megan

www.meganframpton.com

A Night at the Opera

I do big chunks of writing on Saturday afternoons. That's when the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts live, and I find it interesting that opera, or the human voice, helps me write. Most of the music I listen to when I write is vocal, for reasons I can't quite fathom--sure, opera has all that passion and over-the-top emotion, and it's all about love, jealousy, revenge, murder, and dying twice in a sack.

I find, too, that real, hardcore opera fans are rather like trad regency fans in their enthusiasm and encyclopaedic knowledge. Just listen to the half-time, sorry, intermission quiz at the Met, where a panel of experts answer opera trivia questions.

So what was a visit to the opera like in the regency period? First, you got value for money. An evening at the opera was l-o-n-g, though not in the sense of Ring Cycle long. It wasn't entirely about the music, although people cared passionately about particular singers and might pause in their card-playing, drinking, or socializing to listen to a popular aria. Then as now, operas featured fabulous costumes and great sets and stage effects.

The major London theater for opera was The King's Theatre, Haymarket, renamed Her Majesty's Theatre (its current name) in 1837 when Victoria came to the throne. Like most historic London theaters, it burned down regularly during its history, and the Regency-era version, the second on the site, opened in 1791. It was the venue for the London premiers of many of Mozart's operas.


A popular star was Giuseppe Naldi, seen here as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, which made its London debut in 1812 (although the opera had had an amateur performance in 1810 and its tunes were already well known--the Coldstream Guards had adopted Non piu andrai, one of the opera's greatest hits, as its slow march in 1787). Naldi, not apparently a terrific singer but popular for his acting and warm personality, was something of a Mozart comic specialist, appearing as Leporello in Don Giovanni (which debuted at the King's Theatre in 1816) and Papageno in The Magic Flute.



Sadly the King's Theatre burned down again in 1867, but the Royal Opera Arcade, built behind the theater by John Nash and George Reston in 1816-1818 still survives.

But back to my original topic. What do you like to listen to when you write, or read? Do you have books you associate with particular music? Favorite London theaters, operas, great performances...?

How far can a heroine go?

First, a quick apology for the inherent bias in this question. It's so unfair, yet I've noticed that readers who complained about too much sex in my books always castigated the heroine. "Ladies didn't do that during the Regency" was a comment was directed at a heroine who dared have sex with her husband.

OK, I won't debate that one :) but these readers have a point, skewed as it is. Historically, women paid the highest consequences for sex, biological and social.

I love SEX AND THE CITY. In all the sexual exploration the four main characters go through, they are searching for something, even if they're not sure what it is. And when they find it, it's LOVE. BUT I think it's dodgy to translate their attitudes to women of the early 19th century. Not that they didn't have sex--and sometimes outside the rules--and sometimes enjoying it! :) But they were living and loving in a different world, with different stakes.

I admit to having trouble with the Regency heroine who experiments with sex lightly. With the heroine who keeps insisting to herself and everyone else that the hero is a loathesome jerk and the last man on earth she'd ever marry, yet repeatedly has sex with him without ever worrying about social disgrace or pregnancy or destroying her sisters' chances of making good marriages. Such heroines usually strike me as some combination of needy, confused, selfish or just TSTL.

Yet I love so many sexy Regency era romances.

Things that mitigate the "Lydia Bennet" factor: marriage of convenience, no reputation to lose, supposed infertility (though possibly reversible!), birth control (some forms existed, but it has to make sense that the characters would know about and use it). And emotional commitment.

There's also this mysterious thing: "heat of the moment". Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. I've written this whole post and I'm still not sure how some authors make me feel that it really is the right moment for the characters to go at it, and why sometimes it just feels too early. Is it just incredibly sensual writing? Or deep enough characterisation that I feel the love even if the characters aren't fully aware of it?

Maybe part of it is that I want some buildup.

What do you think? When has a heroine gone over from being human and vulnerable to TSTL in matters of sex? What makes "heat of the moment" work, or not? Which authors do you think handle this the best?

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE
www.elenagreene.com

The Clothes Make the Heroine?

Recently, I played the character of Celia in a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Celia and her cousin Rosalind are both daughters of dukes who, at the beginning of the play, live in luxury in a palace....until Rosalind is banished. Then Celia and Rosalind run away to the Forest of Arden -- Celia disguised as a shepherdess, and Rosalind disguised as Celia's little brother. Due to Celia's smart thinking, they've brought their "jewels and their wealth" along with them, so they take care of sheep the same way Marie Antoinette did, and have a lot of fun along the way.

So, you're thinking, what does this have to do with writing Regency romances? I'll get to that in a moment. :-)

I wore two costumes in this play. In the first picture here (photo credit: Jesse Sheldon), you see me in a very tight, binding, ouch-my-back-and-shoulders-hurt pale blue gown with a train, a gauze overskirt, trailing sleeves that almost reach the ground, (fake) fur trim, and (fake) pearls sewn all over the gown. I also have a heavy necklace, and a headpiece with a back veil that's so long it almost touches the floor.

In the second picture here (photo credit: Jesse Sheldon), I am royalty pretending to be common. My green dress still has some trim, but it's much simpler, and much more comfortable. I skip, I run, I lie down under a tree at one point. I can do pretty much anything but bend forward too far (this dress has a pretty low neckline). :-)


What I found right away was that the first dress very much changed the way I moved. It kept me upright. It kept me from walking backwards (unless I carefully handled my train while doing so.) It very much restricted how I could move my arms (which I could hardly raise). And sitting on anything was problematic -- the "pearls" which adorned the dress are everywhere, so sitting involved sitting on a lot of large beads -- rather uncomfortable!

Once I got used to the restricted movement of this gown, I learned its advantages. The long trailing sleeves made smooth, graceful arm movements very dramatic, and highlighted any hand gestures beautifully. The train, sleeves, and long veil clearly stated that this was an important person -- and a wealthy one. It was true conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure in one costume.

This leads me to think about the aristocratic ladies of the Regency period. I think one's first impulse is to assume that all of those empire gowns were just so comfortable. But if you think about it, some of them were fussy...some had trains....some had huge headpieces with feathers...some were probably quite tight...and the stays certainly would have kept things like bending at the waist, and certain sorts of twisting, to a minimum...

So our heroines, particularly when dressed up for balls and such, probably moved and stood in a very different way from women who were servants or shopkeepers. Our elegant heroines would know that a small hand gesture or a graceful inclination of the head would speak volumes. Our young, tomboyish heroines might chafe against such restrictive clothing, and keep trying to do things they really shouldn't (and getting in trouble.)

I'm sure none of this is new to most of you -- but it's the sort of thing that wearing a costume can make one ponder yet again! So what do you think the advantages and disadvantages of Regency costume were? What character or plot elements might a heroine's costume cause, or reveal? Can you think of any dress-related plot points in Regencies that you've read?

All comments welcome!

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER -- out now!

The Hotness Factor

Warning--today's post will be Very Shallow and Not At All Edifying. Mostly because my spring allergies have kicked in, and my medicine has me even fuzzier-headed than usual. But also because of a book I just finished reading.

The book was "Kiss and Tango" by Marina Palmer, a memoir that had not a single thing to do with the Regency, but was a tale of the author quitting her dull advertising job in New York and taking off to dance the tango in Argentina. (Can this be my new career ambition, too???). She also had hot sex with many hunky tango guys, which leads me to this.

Palmer says "...this city [Buenos Aires] contains the most beautiful men per capita (we're talking both quantity and quality). To that end, I have devised an index that will hopefully enable others to draw their own conclusions.
The Beautiful Men Index Per Square Mile:
Athens 0
Rio 4
New York 8
Paris 15
London 17
Venice 79
Buenos Aires 86"

She then goes into her reasons for these numbers, which makes me really want to go to South America. I then got the idea (this was excellent time wastage, BTW) to scan my romance "keeper" shelf and devise my own hot guy index based on favorite heroes. here goes:
Medieval/Renaissance 16
Regency 26
Victorian 9
Misc. 11
Paranormal 6

I will have to analyze these statistics as soon as the Benadryl wears off.

In the meantime, what are some of your favorite "great hero" books? Or "beautiful men" cities? (I'm especially interested in hearing about THAT...)

As for the Orlando picture--well, it's Monday, and I just felt like it. :)

Forgotten Regency

It seems puzzling to me that the English Regency period is so neglected in popular culture. Certainly it has been celebrated in the movies based on Jane Austen's books, and there are also the modern Regency romances to consider. But I can rarely find the English Regency represented in other forms, while the Victorian era is everywhere.

A few years ago I became interested in collecting figurines. I wanted to find porcelain ladies dressed in Regency fashion. I have found a few, but for the most part current collectable "lady figurines" are of the Victorian era. The same goes for collectable dolls. The odd thing is that if a Regency figurine or doll appears on the market there is a high interest in it—if my experiences on eBay are of any significance. Believe me, you need your Big Girl panties on (or Big Boy boxers) if you are going to join the bidding!

Another area that demonstrates the popularity of the English Regency and the French Empire period is old fashion prints. Again, the most sought after seem to be those of the English Regency/French Empire era. There are many listings of Victorian fashion plates, but as far as I have been able to see, it is the Regency era prints that generate the most interest.

But still, the Victorian era rules in promotion. Romantic decorating? Magazines seem to equate romantic with Victorian. If a photo of a room with Empire influences is shown, I usually miss seeing a mention of the era. Often the antiques used in a room otherwise decorated in Victorian style are pieces that were also used in the Regency period—Queen Anne, Hepplewhite, Chippendale, and even Regency style.

I admit that this is all my unstudied opinion, and I know the English Regency was short—but it seems to me that there is more interest in it than marketers realize. It is more than our traditional Regency romance novels that seem to be overlooked by those in the business of deciding what we want to buy and bringing it to market.

Opinions?

Laurie
LORD RYBURN'S APPRENTICE
Signet, January 2006

Go With The Floe

Over the past few weeks, my fellow Riskies have discussed research, historical accuracy, and how nitpicky is too nitpicky (or not), as well as how easy it is to get swept away by research. I am in the middle of writing a Regency-set historical, and am having some of the same problems, but from another angle: I don't want to do the research.

It's not that I'm not interested, because I am terribly interested in all the stuff I should be researching, it's just that time is at a premium, and any time spent away from writing is . . . time spent away from writing. I already have a procrastination issue, I know how easy it would be for me to dive in to do the required research, not to surface for several weeks. Since I don't plot in advance, and I always forget to take notes when inspiration strikes, I panic at the thought I might lose a thread of the plot, or a really good idea for the next conflict. Time spent away from the writing--well, you get the idea.

In my opinion, the best historical romances are those that are imbued with the whole world of the time period, not necessarily the ones that reveal the most knowledge. My favorites are those that only show the tip of the research iceberg--going with the floe, so to speak. I feel fairly confident I get the historical tone right in my writing, but I know I have fallen down on the research job (my dad is my research partner, and he put in all the work on A Singular Lady, but I did not double-check his notes when it came to titles and special licenses, my two most egregious errors. Definitely my bad, sorry Dad).

Right now I have to spend some time finding answers to some of these questions:

What were people who came from the Ottoman Empire called during the Regency? Turks? Ottos? Footstools?

What were relations like between the Ottoman Empire and England during the Regency? Did the government take any official stand on the Ottoman Empire's holding of Greece?

What was banking like? The stock market? (I read A Conspiracy of Paper, but that is about sixty years too early, and I don't recall the details, just that it was a good story).

If there was a public ruckus, who came in to break it up and haul the miscreants off to be punished?

Could a man unbutton a lady's gown if he were standing in front of her? And if he could, could he do it with one hand?

What did practicers of The Fancy (boxing) wear to practice?

And now? I have stalled enough. Before I get back to writing, I have to--darn it--go do the research.

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Round and about the weather

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Originally this was going to be a post about weather during the Regency weather, something I was determined to blog about before the official arrival of spring, although here (near Washington DC) it's warm and sunny and daffodils are blooming. I did however do some digressions, some of which turned out to be more interesting.

England in Jane Austen's time was in the grip of a minor Ice Age that had begun in medieval times and lasted up until the mid-nineteenth century--hence the snowy cold winters of A Christmas Carol and the Pickwick Papers. It was cold enough for the river Thames to freeze over completely, which it did for several months in some particularly cold years. In the sixteenth century Henry VIII traveled from London to Greenwich along the Thames by sleigh. What better opportunity for the enterprising merchants of London to set up shop on the river, thus creating Frost Fairs, the most famous of which (featured in Orlando by Virginia Woolf) was held in 1608.

The Frost Fair of 1814 was the last of its kind, and featured an elephant being led across the ice near Blackfriars Bridge (according to one source I found), donkey rides, and the roasting of a whole sheep on the ice. People had to pay to see the sheep roasted and then pay for a portion of "Lapland Sheep." Nine printing presses churned out souvenir items. This fair only lasted four days until a thaw set in.

The weather, of course, is always a safe conversation topic--particularly if the man of your dreams has appeared unexpectedly:

But it was then too late, and with a countenance meaning to be open, she sat down again and talked of the weather.

That's Elinor, from Sense and Sensibility, whose keen sense of the appropriate phrase gives her a certain affinity with Jim's aunt in A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas:


And when the firemen turned off the hose and were standing in the wet, smoky room, Jim's Aunt, Miss Prothero, came downstairs and peered in at them. Jim and I waited, very quietly, to hear what she would say to them. She said the right thing, always. She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the smoke and cinders and dissolving snowballs, and she said, "Would you like anything to read?"

I have to mention a couple of fascinating sites I came across while trying to find a good Jane Austen quote about the weather (the one I was originally looking for, about a stupendously cold snap in London, is in Emma, I think). There is for your edification, a site with a search function for Sense and Sensibility, and other books too, Tilneys and Trap-doors, and that site also includes the Henry Tilney Fan Site--yes, the man who knows how to wash muslin. Who would've thought it.

Any polite comments on the weather, liter