Favorite Heyers

We've talked a lot about Jane Austen lately. But what about Georgette Heyer?

I suspect most Regency authors were first won over to Regency romance by Heyer -- and the rest are usually devoted fans too.

How about you? Do you love Georgette Heyer? Or is she just not your cup of tea?

If you are a fan, which are your favorite Heyers?

Your least favorite?

Have your tastes changed over the years?

I recently made a list of my ten favorite Heyers, and my ten next favorite Heyers. In case you're curious, here they are:

CARA'S TEN FAVORITE HEYER NOVELS
Black Sheep
Venetia
The Unknown Ajax
Friday’s Child
Cotillion
These Old Shades
Faro’s Daughter
The Convenient Marriage
Frederica
Death in the Stocks


CARA'S NEXT TEN FAVORITE HEYER NOVELS
The Masqueraders
The Nonesuch
The Foundling
The Grand Sophy
Sylvester
Arabella
Devil’s Cub
False Colours
The Toll Gate
The Corinthian


My least favorite Heyers would include April Lady and A Civil Contract.

How about you?

Cara
Cara King -- www.caraking.com
My Lady Gamester -- guaranteed to get your laundry cleaner than the leading Regency

Boo Hoo or Road Trip!

Halloween is all about scary things, and, let me tell you, writing a "Road Trip" story is enough to give me a fright!

It did seem like an excellent idea originally. Send my hero and heroine on a road trip. It put them into close contact, forced them to spend night together and seemed exciting, because the villains were chasing them. Great idea!

But I forgot I had to have them travel from real places, like Liverpool, Penrith, Carlisle, Edinburgh. At least I've been to Edinburgh and I did look out the window of the bus to see what the countryside looked like, but that had been in the summer and this story takes place in the autumn.

For this road trip, I had to figure out how what route the would take from Liverpool to Edinburgh. My friend Delle Jacobs (Her Majesty, The Prince of Toads) came to my rescue with the coaching route between the two towns. But then I had to figure out what the land would look like from one location to the other, and what villages might have been in between the larger towns.

The internet came to my rescue. I discovered that mapquest.com has UK maps and the little town names were right next to the highlighted line. Then I discovered Google Earth also would show the route and give a hint to the terrain as well.

Next I searched on the various town names to find as many images as I could so I could see what the villages might have looked like.

Then I had to figure out how my hero and heroine would travel on this road trip- public coach? mail coach? Post-chaise?
I decided to have them ride horses, which I know very little about, my experience with the animals being confined to pony rides as a child. My friends from the Beau Monde and the Regency Loop came to my rescue there, with decisions about issues such as sidesaddles and how far they could travel in a day.

Then, of course, I had to write the story.

My hero and heroine are not quite to Edinburgh at this moment, but they are getting there....

Do you even like road trip stories, now that I'm almost done with mine and it is too late to change it now?

Do you mind if an author accidentally puts in some moors where mountains should be? Will you forgive her such mistakes and trust that she really did try to get it right?

Cheers!
Diane

Coming to bookstores Nov 1 (That is THIS WEDNESDAY!), Diane's "A Twelfth Night Tale" in Mistletoe Kisses, Harlequin Historicals Regency Christmas Anthology

Boo!

Tuesday is Halloween! This is by far my favorite holiday--there are no presents to buy, no relatives to argue with, just candy and costumes and spooky things. What could be better? (As you can see from the photo, which is a picture of my parents' house decorated for the holiday, Halloween has long been a big deal in the McCabe family). It made me curious--what was Halloween like in Regency times?

A few factoids I found while scanning the Internet: Halloween has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated November 1, halfway between the Autumn and Winter solstices. This was a time of year for endings--harvests brought in, firewood laid on for winter. And, as the old was being "stitched" to the new, it was thought that the veil between this world and the next was very thin, and spirits, both good and eeeeevil, could roam among us. One of their traditions at this time seems familiar to us today--houses were lit by rustic lanterns known as "neeps," carved from turnips and rutabagas and beets (pumpkins came from the New World in the 17th century). Flickering lights were set out in hopes of welcoming homes the souls of loved ones and chasing away unwelcome bad spirits.

When the Romans conquered Britain in the year 43 AD, they brought with them their own religion, but liked incorporating holidays already in place (not ones to shy away from a party, those Romans!). They added a celebration to their goddess Pomona, which leads to our bobbing for apples and eating candy apples. Of course, then the Romans in turn were replaced by the Christian Church, who went on to change the holiday yet again, trying to replace it with festivals of Christian meaning. All Saints' Day, a feast honoring all the saints who don't have their very own feast days, was November 1, with a vigil the night before. All Souls' Day was placed in November 2, a day for remembering lost loved ones still in purgatory. The night of the vigil, the 31st, was known as the "Hallowed Evening," shotened eventually to Halloween.

In 1786, Robert Burns' poem Halloween showed that even by Georgian times the holiday was going strong. The poem talks about the "tricks" of the day, as well as time-honored superstitions like eating an apple in front of a mirror in order to see your beloved (apples again!). Even though there wasn't really a Halloween as we know it in the Regency, there was a hige fascination with the Gothic, the weird, the spooky, with books like The Mysteries of Udolpho (and Northanger Abbey!), Frankenstein (1816), and, on these shores, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820). (I have a friend who pesters me every Halloween to watch the Johnny Depp movie with him, but I refuse, having been far too frightened by a viewing of The Shining a few years ago to ever, EVER, watch another scary movie!).

There are also a few Regency romances out there with Halloween settings--some that come to mind are Sandra Heath's Halloween Magic and The Magic Jack O'Lantern, Mona Gedney's Lady Hilary's Halloween (and Anne Barbour's book of the same name), and Teresa DesJardien's Haunted Hearts. I even did a couple of books that, while not set specifically at Halloween, feature ghosts and masquerade balls (A Loving Spirit and One Touch of Magic).

What are some of your own favorite Halloween traditions and books? And what is your costume this year? (I'm going to be a pirate!). Happy Halloween!

A Different Point Of View

I've read my fellow Riskies' posts on contests with avid interest this week. I saw Diane win the Golden Heart AND the RITA at the RWA National Conference, and felt a vicarious thrill that my Beau Monde friends have done so well.

Me, I've never won any contest. In fact, I've usually ended up somewhere below the halfway mark in anything I've entered.

But I still believe strongly that they are helpful for unpublished writers, no matter where you place. Let me explain drawing, as always, on my own experiences.

When I entered the Beau Monde's Royal Ascot, I thought I would final. I really did. This, despite my entry being THE FIRST THING I HAD EVER WRITTEN. This, despite knowing nothing of the caliber of writing from my fellow contestants. Shows how naive I was. I entered, I did not even come close to finaling, and I got my first taste of rejection. And then I read through the judges' score sheets. I went through my files recently and threw out all but one of those score sheets, so I can't quote what they said, but the judges who didn't like my work that much had excellent feedback as to just why they didn't like it. I listened, I edited, and I improved my manuscript and my writing knowledge. I thought those didn't-like-it-as-much judges were dead-on in their criticism, and it was really helpful to get. (small pointer: I judge now, and I seldom receive thank you notes. I always send thank you notes to all my judges, even from the rotten scoring ones. I think that's a courtesy that resonates.)

And then there was the judge who loved me. I got the highest score she bestowed that year, and in addition to my score sheet, she included a separate, single-spaced sheet of paper that started with this:

OK, here's the deal. You are going to be published one day, probably soon. I feel it in my bones.

The judge went on to detail what she saw as the problems in my manuscript--again, she was dead-on (and I STILL info-dump! Megan, will you never learn?!?). And she was right! I took all the comments, sat on them in my head for awhile (and no, that's not a visual you want to think about too much), and edited.

And then I sold the following year.

I entered a few other contests with one subsequent story, and again got excellent feedback, even though I was a mile away from finaling.

In my case, the key to finding a benefit to contests was being humble enough to realize I didn't know everything about my story, or everything about my writing. Even if I ultimately disagreed with what a judge wrote, I had to treat it as a legitimate criticism, and think of ways to respond.

It all made my writing better.

I entered the RITA, and once again got three judges who loved my book, and a few more who were 'meh,' on it, and two who really disliked it. I decided not to enter my published work in anything but the RITA since those kinds of contests wouldn't give me the feedback I wanted (the RITA I had to enter, just in case. I knew I wouldn't final, but I had to know for sure).

So while Janet would say she entered contests to final, and Diane got hooked on the thrill of doing really well, and Elena's a self-proclaimed contest slut (and I would be, too, if I finaled as much as she did!), I think the opportunity for someone to read your work who doesn't know you and give you constructive feedback is incredible. Of course you're going to get people who fuss about your margins, or tell you your hero isn't heroic enough. If you can separate the wheat from the chaff, your writing will improve, even if your contest finaling percentage does not.

And I am so, so grateful to that one judge. And all the judges who took the time to analyze my story and my writing, and let me know what worked, and what didn't.

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

The roar of the greasepaint...

...the smell of the crowd.

Or, why I love and hate contests.

I published as a result of a contest, when Dedication won the Beau Monde's Royal Ascot and the final round judge asked me for a full. In fact Dedication has been a contest cow for much of its existence--it won the Best Regency category of the NJRW's Golden Leaf contest a couple of weeks ago, to my delight. So contests have been good to me.

But I've never let them become too important in my life--I was smart enough as an unpubbed to realize that contests were their own thing. Here are my hard-earned nuggets of wisdom as a former unpubbed contest slut:

1. It doesn't matter how you place. Finaling is the most important thing.
2. Editors will not care nearly as much about fonts, margins, or header styles as first-round contest judges do--they like legibility.
3. It's possible to do very well with a ms. in contests but not be able to sell it.
4. Editors do not have nearly as rigid a view on what a romance is, should be, or can be, as contest judges.
5. The stronger your voice, the more widely divergent your contest scores will be (hint: enter contests where the lowest score is discarded or is sent for contingency judging).
6. It doesn't matter if there's a page missing in a final round entry. Honest!

All that said, I really urge any unpubbed writers to enter the Golden Heart. Once a finalist, always a finalist--you get on and off editors' and agents' desks fast (a mixed blessing) and you'll make some good friends--Diane is one of my many 2003 GH finalist friends, aka The Wet Noodle Posse. That's one way to crank up publisher interest in trads--particularly if you're subverting the subgenre and going for the unexpected. Show them there's life in the beast still--otherwise we may as well try to save unicorns.

Janet


Enter my contest all this month at roadtoromance.ca
DEDICATION~Winner, 2006 Golden Leaf Contest (Regency)

And from the Russian judge...

Overall, my own contest experiences have been wonderful.

I began my contest career with the Beau Monde's Royal Ascot, a contest for unpublished writers of Regency era romance. After entering just to get some feedback, I won it in 1999 with what became my first book, LORD LANGDON'S KISS. Since then, my books have won or finaled in the Booksellers' Best, the National Readers' Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, the Award of Excellence, the Golden Quill and the Golden Leaf.

Which means that, good Risky that I am, I'm a contest slut and have done pretty well at it!

However, my results haven't been consistent. Books that won one contest sometimes didn't even hit the finals in others (and often the competition was the same). In the RWA contests, the Golden Heart and the RITA, I've had very mixed scores. With 5 judges, I usually get 3 very high scores and 2 that are low to abysmal. I once got a 8.2 and a 2.0 for the same book, out of 9 possible. (Don't ask me why they don't use a scale of 10, maybe to keep us from getting swollen heads?)

Taking off my contestant hat, I'm sometimes surprised that books I've loved haven't always hit the finals. I mean, how could anyone not recognize Laura Kinsale's FLOWERS FROM THE STORM as one of the best historical romances ever, not just of that year? Julia Ross's historicals are amazing and have not hit the RITA finals either though they've won all sorts of accolades elsewhere. (It's possible these books weren't entered, though it seems unlikely.)

So how does one explain these discrepancies? I've got a couple of theories.

There's the polarizing writer theory. I use it to console myself when I get the love/hate spray of scores. I'd rather be a polarizing than boring. But controversial books have sometimes won. Laura Kinsale's SHADOWHEART is the best example I can think of.

Then there's the category expectations theory--that a book that is well-written but doesn't quite fit its category may also get mixed scores. I am guessing that some of my low scores have been from judges who don't believe there should be sex in traditional Regencies. I entered LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE as a Short Historical due to length reasons, and though it didn't final the marks were consistently high. (I'm taking this as a Good Omen.) OTOH sexy Regencies have won, including Sophia Nash's A PASSIONATE ENDEAVOR and our own Diane's A REPUTABLE RAKE. So it's not a definitive theory either.

I honestly think it comes down to a combination of a good story and luck in getting the right panel of judges who appreciate it. I've heard debates on how to make judging more objective, but I doubt it's possible because reading itself is so subjective. I think it's best for a writer not to stress too much about contests, though that's easier to say than do.

A final thought...without the luck factor, awards ceremonies would be much less exciting, wouldn't they? So what are your opinions on contest judging? Do your favorite books usually win or not? Any ideas why?

Elena, proud contest slut
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, Desert Rose Golden Quill Best Historical Romance, 2006
www.elenagreene.com

Favorite Regency Rita Winners

So, what are your favorite Regency Rita winners? (Except for Diane's book, of course. We all like that best. It says so in our contracts.)

To refresh your memory, here are a list of the Regency Rita winners over the years:

2006 -- A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston
2005 -- A Passionate Endeavor by Sophia Nash
2004 -- Prospero's Daughter by Nancy Butler
2003 -- A Debt To Delia by Barbara Metzger
2002 -- Much Obliged by Jessica Benson
2001 -- A Grand Design by Emma Jensen
2000 -- The Rake's Retreat by Nancy Butler
1999 -- His Grace Endures by Emma Jensen
1998 -- Love's Reward by Jean R. Ewing
1997 -- The Lady’s Companion by Carla Kelly
1996 -- Gwen’s Christmas Ghost by Lynn Kerstan and Alicia Rasley
1995 -- Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly
1994 -- Deirdre and Don Juan by Jo Beverley
1993 -- An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley
1992 -- Emily and the Dark Angel by Jo Beverley
1991 -- The Sandalwood Princess by Loretta Chase
1990 -- The Rake and the Reformer by Mary Jo Putney
1989 -- Brighton Road by Susan Carroll
1988 -- Sugar Rose by Susan Carroll
1987 -- Lord Abberley’s Nemesis by Amanda Scott
1986 -- The Beauty’s Daughter by Monette Cummings
1985 -- The Lurid Lady Lockport by Kasey Michaels


Have you read any of these? Which did you particularly like? Are there books by some of these authors that you like better than the ones which actually won the Rita?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King -- www.caraking.com
My Lady Gamester -- with 150 % more card playing than the leading brand

Diane's Contest Articles

Here quick are two links to articles I've written about contests for the unpublished author. I forgot to include them yesterday but some of you might find them of interest.

Navigating the Contest Waters: Sail Your Career into Authorized Territory (Romantic Times, Nov 2004)

The Contest Empress Speaks (Washington Romance Writers Update, Dec, 2003)

Cheers, Diane

The Contest Empress Speaks -- Again!

I started entering Romance Writers of America contests with my very first manuscript. Several of RWA's chapters sponsor romance writing contests. I came in second in the very first contest I entered, Virginia Romance Writers Fool for Love contest, so I was hooked early. By the time 2002 came along, I was finaling in contests left and right, so often that my friend Kathy Caskie (How to Seduce a Duke, Sept 2006) dubbed me "The Contest Empress" and she gave me the sceptre to prove it.

That year my historicals came in 1st and 3rd in the Marlene Contest (my own Washington Romance Writers chapter) - the first place entry became my eHarlequin Daily Read (Jan 2006) The Diamond, and the 3rd place entry became The Improper Wife.

Above you see me with my Marlene Medallion, the prize for coming in first.

In 2003, I won RWA's Golden Heart contest with the manuscript that became The Mysterious Miss M. There I am accepting the Golden Heart at the RWA conference in New York.







And as Amanda mentioned, this summer my A Reputable Rake won the 2006 RITA, RWA's most prestigious award, for Best Regency Romance. Here I am accepting the RITA statue in Atlanta.

I made the decision to enter A Reputable Rake in the Regency category of the contest, first, because it fit the category. It was heavily grounded in the Regency time period, and had the right word count. I had always thought of this category as being meant for the TRADITIONAL Regency lines, but knowing those lines were ending, I thought I'd enter A Reputable Rake in that category, rather than short historical.

My decision turned out to be a very good one!

This year there will still be a Regency category for the RITA contest and I think any author whose book fits the guidelines ought to enter the book in the Regency category instead of Short Historical. I don't have a Regency this year, so I can't enter.

These are the guidelines for Best Regency Romance: Romantic historical novels with primary settings during the Regency period, typically 1795-1840. The word count for these novels is 40,000-85,000 words.
Judging guidelines: The category includes comedy of manners as well as darker stories, and the books may contain a variety of story elements, such as sexual content, paranormal elements, mystery, suspense, adventure, and non-traditional settings.

Consider this.
1.The Regency category usually has fewer numbers. Fewer numbers equals less
competition. ( but we have to get at least 25 entries!)
2. The competition for all our non-Regency historicals is decreased, because the Short Historical category is not filled with Regencies.
3. Regencies will be judged against other Regencies, which honors the special quality of our time period.
4. RWA will learn that the Regency set historical is still going strong with wonderful, talented authors writing great books.
5. Who knows whether there will be this category again after the contest is revamped. This may be the best chance to reach the finals!
6. I'll get to stand up there and present some lucky author a RITA!! I already have a dress to wear.(I bought two for this year's Award ceremony, just in case.)

So, what do you think? Do you think the Regency period deserves a contest category all its own?

Cheers!
The Contest Empress

I'd like to thank the Academy...

No, this post isn't about Nicole Kidman, or designer gowns, or the Oscars (though I kinda wish it was! I can always talk fashion...) But it is about awards. Contests. Shiny trophies. Pretty medals. We here at Risky Regencies are on a mission to Save the Regency RITA category! With the loss of Signet and Zebra's traditional lines, we may have to dig a little further, think outside the box, to find enough titles for the category to help it qualify. But we're confident we can do it! The Regency is a more popular setting than ever before--the vast majority of historical romances feature the period, and readers love it. I know that the genre has a vital (if re-defined) future, and a great way to show that is to maintain the vitality of the Regency category.

Last year, our own Risky Diane won the Regency RITA with The Reputable Rake, a book that could easily have been slotted into the Short Historical category, yet fit well within the Regency niche thanks to its vivid, well-drawn setting (Diane will talk more about this on Monday!). I know that I've read several titles this year that would be great in the Regency category, and have also heard that some smaller publishers are starting their own Regency lines. So, if you have a 2006 Regency-set book of your own, or know someone who has, then please encourage them to enter. The deadline is November 30, and you can find all the info at RWA National.

One good point to make about a possible benefit to entering this category is that there may not be quite as much competition in a smaller category, therefore upping chances of being a finalist. There are so many great books out there, and we want them to be noticed! And, let me tell you, being a finalist is just plain fun. :) I've been a Regency RITA finalist twice, and both times floated through conference pretending to be Gwyneth Paltrow on the red carpet! It gets your books a little extra attention, gives a small ego boost, and looks great on a resume or author bio. Of course, the day inevitably comes when conference is over, the ego deflates, and the next book has to be written, but that's another post...

So, tell us about your contest experiences! Good, bad, ugly, we want to know. Any books or new authors you've discovered through contests? Let us know!

And join us to Save the Regency Category!

Tick . . . Tock.

This week, I sent a proposal for a Regency-set historical to my agent. This book is about an opium-addicted Marquess who meets the illegitimate daughter of a vicar. They get married in a Marriage of Convenience, and spend a bunch of time traveling from the Scottish border to London.

So I titled it

Road To Passion* (although its high-concept log-line is Leaving Las Vegas meets Jane Eyre).



So now what? Keep writing, yes, but wait for feedback from my agent, too. Tom Petty had it right in this song "The Waiting" when he said "The waiting/Is the hardest part." I have to wait to hear what she thinks, then revise, then send back, then hear what she thinks again, and then, and only then, hear what editors think.

It's a lot of waiting.

So meanwhile, I'll start writing another proposal, this one a contemporary about a Brooklyn mom who goes on the road with a revival of an '80s new wave group (I know. Musicians in romances are forbidden. What can I say?).

And then another proposal. And another. Because, after all, what else am I going to do? Go get a real job or something?!?

Thanks for waiting with me! What do you do to pass the time?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com
*The cool drawing is an ancient Chinese picture titled "Road Of Passion." Love Google!

Do you have a muse?

Do you have a muse?
What is s/he like?

And what is a Muse, anyway?
For the family history and definition of who represents what (and to be honest I'm not sure who represents fiction, although poets have a choice of several), go here. The Muses are a group of Greek goddesses, the offspring of Zeus and Mnemosyne ("memory," who may or may not have been another goddess, although Zeus had a tendency to get it on with anyone, or anything). They are the divinities who guide artists and scientists.


My personal Muse is a lady of a certain age. Wait, I'm a lady (or at least a woman) of a certain age. She's even older than me. She favors cameo brooches, sensible shoes, and tweed skirts and is a cross between Miss Costello, the headmistress of the English all-girls school I attended (she never seemed to wash her hair; like boytoys who maintain a three-day stubble, she always had the same grease factor), and Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marples. She is, however, much less agreeable than Miss Marples, given to sarcasm and the delicate raising of a single eyebrow for emphasis. She is very prim, proper, and upper-class.

"My dear. Surely you do not really wish to scrub beneath the kitchen sink rather than write?"

"Another look at the email? So soon? I think not."

And, this is the killer, comments made in reference to other writers:

"As the dear Count said to me the other day...oh yes, that Count; he didn't finish War and Peace by frolicking online during valuable writing time, you know. Dear Nikolai, dead but still writing..."

Well, you get the picture. That's my Muse. Tell us about yours.

Meanwhile, over at the Wet Noodle Posse I'm blogging today on what I like doing in bed.

Janet

Enter my contest all this month at roadtoromance.ca
DEDICATION~Winner, 2006 Golden Leaf Contest (Regency)

Embryos and NaNoWriMo

This week, I'm participating in a challenge with several writer friends. My goal is to finally finish the rough draft of mess-in-progress, which, incidentally, looks about as good right now as the embryo pictured here.

I know better than to worry about it. My first drafts are always incredibly clunky and they always clean up nicely by the fourth round of revisions or so.

But just because I know better doesn't mean I don't hate this part of the process. And I really shouldn't. Anna DeStefano taught a workshop at the NJRW conference where she likened drafting a novel to dumpster-diving. You have to sift through a lot of garbage to find the pearls.

And it should be fun.

But I have a lot of trouble cutting loose and having fun. Maybe it's the Catholic upbringing. Maybe it's the lack of childhood pets! :) In any case, I'd like to get over this. I'm frankly tired of the fear and self loathing. Why should I feel guilty about writing bad first draft?

An idea I'm toying with right now is taking part in the National Novel Writing Month challenge. NaNoWriMo is, accordingly to the website, "a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

So if I do this, I would put the completed draft of m-i-p on the backburner and try to blast through another story that's been niggling at me. Maybe the break from m-i-p will help me approach the rewrites with a fresh mindset. Maybe I'll end up with a good chunk of a new story.

Is it my muse talking or the procrastination devil? My inner critic (who rather alarmingly speaks with the voice of my elementary school principal) says this is a creative way to procrastinate on the rewrites for m-i-p. She thinks I'm just going to waste time hanging out on the message boards at NaNoWriMo. But I wouldn't do that. Would I?

My friends at Writer Unboxed are mulling similar questions. (Also, there's a lovely essay on the Death of the Muse by the winner of their Alphasmart contest.)

Am I nuts to think about doing this? Readers, what do you think of writers churning out 50,000+ words in a month? Writers, any of you planning to take the challenge?

The good thing is apparently they will take scrambled manuscripts for the wordcount verification. So if I do this, no one has to read my drecky draft!

Elena, who prefers not to die of shame

LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers' Choice, Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

Cats & Books

What is it about cats and books? Why do cats love books so much? Are they really the most comfortable beds around? Or are the cats actually reading on the sly?

Or do cats perhaps grow jealous of the attention we pay our books, and conspire to stop us from reading them? (Or, in a related theory, do they see where our attention is focused, and opt to lie there?)

Why do I ask? Well, after Lois won the biography of the Prince Regent here a couple weeks ago, she found she had to share the book with her cat -- as you can see in the above picture!

Very cute cat. I love cats. And books.

Hmm... Is there a link somewhere here?

Is it possible that we're dealing with more than just the love cats have for books?

Might it be possible that book people tend to be cat people? (Or is that a lie perpetuated by cat-lovers to bolster their own egos?)

What do you think? Are you a cat person? do you think readers tend to be cat people? If so, why? Or are all those cats in bookstores merely a coincidence, or evidence of yet another cat conspiracy?

And what's your theory about why cats love to lie on books???

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King -- author of MY LADY GAMESTER, in which there is a brief mention of a kitten, but sadly little else in the feline line

The More Things Stay the Same

Last week I was researching my current WIP (work-in-progress), part of which will take place in Scotland and I was looking up information about the Clearances in Scotland, when the land was taken from the crofters and consolidated for bigger profits. Not that my story has anything to do with the Clearances, certainly not the Highland Clearances or anything Highland, but I needed to know just for a throwaway line.

I came upon this in a History of Scotland page:

In 1810 Scott publishes The Lady of the Lake, a stirring historical poem of love and adventure. Loch Katrine, in a rugged gorge of the Trossachs, is the home of the heroine, Ellen Douglas. The beatiful Ellen's Isle commemorates her, nestling in the loch against a background of high hills.

The poem is an immediate success. A new hotel is built to accomodate the rush of tourists, who wander through the landscape with their copies of the book, finding the exact spots in which to declaim the relevant passages. The Highlands acquire an aura for tourists which they have never lost.

The more things change the more they stay the same! I immediately thought of today's tourists scampering about Europe and the UK on Da Vinci Code tours! It is rather comforting to me that people are the same in so many ways, even if they lived a long time ago.

Here for a taste of what our Regency ladies and gentlemen read in that poem is the beginning of Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake:

Harp of the North! that mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung,
Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,--
O Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep?
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring,
Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep?

Cheers!
Diane

Words, words, words

My post this week is going to be a bit of a mish-mash (I know--what else is new??). Like Megan, I've been working on a new proposal, and have expended a lot of energy at the day job pretending to be entering sales data into the computer while actually revising my synopsis or looking at websites on Imperial Russia and Go Fug Yourself (shhh! Don't tell). I've also spent a lot of time watching Project Runway and Dancing With the Stars, my current obsessions in life. My thoughts are always occupied with things like "Is Laura right--did Jeffrey have help sewing his collection? And wow, that past drug addiction thing really explains those tattoos. And how can I end chapter two on a cliffhanger?" And, after reading Janet's post, "I must eliminate all 'manroot' from my WIP! And 'petals of passion.' And stop beginning sentences with 'and'."

Anyway, to get off the Irrelevancy Train and onto my post. My topics this week are inspired by Elena's post on the forthcoming Persuasion movie, and by Janet's post on language (sort of). I love costume films, and I'm not really terribly picky about what I watch. Good, bad, horrible, bizarre--if it has long dresses and accents of some sort, I'm there. On Megan's 'guilty pleasures' post, I could have listed a dozen. Not that I don't sometimes gripe about them afterward, or pick apart the details of the costume design and the sets, but that's all part of the fun.

And one thing I found to be a great deal of fun this past week was Masterpiece Theater's new version of Casanova (part two airing tomorrow night). I was wary after that dumb Heath Ledger/Sienna Miller movie a few months ago, which totally wasted the glories of Venice and some not--bad costumes on a film far too dull even to be a guilty pleasure. I'm also usually not much for the 'modernist' approach to costume drama--Moulin Rouge gave me a headache. But Casanova is charming and so full of giddy fun I totally enjoyed it. There's also genuine emotion, and a sense of exhiliration in some of the scenes (like Casanova's engagement ball with the former castrato Bellino--it's a long story, involving unexpected revelations of the sausage variety. The clothes are a swirl of reds, golds, and bright blues, with soaring music and unrealized love). It's not perfect--nothing ever is. I'm not entirely convinced that David Tennant (pictured above--he's also the new Dr. Who!) grows up to be Peter O'Toole. And Henritte's hairdo is VERY distracting. It must take hours to tie in all those bows just so she looks like she forgot to take her curlers out before she left the house. But it's all great fun. I can't wait to see what happens in Part Two!

The other part of my post has to do with language. Every year the Washington Post sponsors a neologism contest, where they ask readers to send in alternate meanings to common words. The results are always entertaining! Here are a few of my favorites from this year:
Flabbergasted: appalled over how much weight you have gained
Abdicate: to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach (sadly applied to me!)
Esplanade: to attempt an explanation while drunk
Negligent: describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown
Gargoyle: olive-flavored mouthwash
Balderdash: a rapidly receding hairline
Pokemon: a Rastafarian proctologist
(There was also a Style Invitational, where readers were asked to take a word, alter it by adding, subtracting, or adding one letter, and supply a new definition. Some favorites:)
Bozone: the substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating
Cashtration: the act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period
Sarchasm: the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it
Osteopornosis: a degenerate disease (this one got extra credit!)
Karmageddon: it's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the earth explodes and it's like a serious bummer

So, now it's your turn. Any new costume films you like? Or hate? Or any ideas for your own neologisms? I would try and supply one myself, but I'm afraid my mind is affected by the bozone layer at the moment, and entirely taken up with constructing my dreaded synopsis. Plus, wondering if Mario and Karina on Dancing With the Stars actually ARE an item off the dance floor, or if that's just a D-listed rumor. Plus, wondering if I have now spent far too much time reading D-listed.

Have a great weekend!

Dolt of Inspiration

Oh, no, it's Friday morning, and I've already had two cups of coffee, and I'm dressed and everything, and the house is quiet, since the son is at school and the spouse is at work, and things should be percolating (not just the coffee) in my brain because it's the only time I have to be creative, not counting the times I have to make up Adventure Stories For Pokemon and explain How I Managed to Make Lasagna Without Lasagna Noodles or just WHY I have so many books.

And I got nothing. I am still toiling away on my three chapters and synopsis, they're both almost done, but I am fried. Not good-fried, like a french fry or a deep-fried Milky Way bar (yes, a local restaurant offers those. No, I have never been so confident or depressed to order one). Bad-fried, like 'where is my head?' fried.

So now what? Hm. Of course I've got some writing triggers, like sitting at the computer and turning OFF the overhead light and turning ON the little desk lamp so there's only a small circular glow of light on the keyboard. And lighting a candle, somehow that makes me be able to pretend I'm a Real Writer, so I Really Write when I smell the candle.

But still. It's the end of the long week, I'm fried, and really, I got nothing.


When I get really desperate (like, um, now), I look at pictures of Clive Owen, and not just because I think he's totally foxy. See, he's what my hero Alisdair looks like in the chapters I'm writing. And the heroine looks like Maggie Gyllenhaal (who, coincidentally, just moved into my Brooklyn neighborhood).

And then I imagine them distrusting each other and then growing to love each other. You know--they meet, they have adventures, they fall in love and live happily ever after.

Hey, it's not so hard after all! Thanks for the help!

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Cliches and the English language

Or, why I am ambivalent about romance.
Why I am not always awestruck by the genre.
And why it's more than the story.

And following on, sort of, from our spirited discussion on Conversion to Romance....No one expects the Romance Inquisition..."Silence, Infidel! Cardinal Scarlett, bring out the comfy chair, the Signet Regencies, the nice cup of tea and the cookies! Later there will be a test..."

Recently, a well-known literary agent bemoaned the fact that queries were full of cliches--rekindled passion, beautiful but feisty heroines, and more--and although there might have been some good stories lurking behind the turgid facades, we'll never know. She rejected them. Who says language isn't important?

Over sixty years ago, George Orwell defined six points of good writing in his essay Politics and the English Language:

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. So why does so much romance use the same tired old cliches--the pebbled nubs, the hero who kisses the heroine senseless (quick, call Special Victims Unit!)? I know the argument is that we want to keep the reader in the flow of the story. We don't want the reader to stop, gasp with astonishment at our artistry, put the book down, and....

But can't we do better and keep the reader with us? We're blessed with an extraordinarily rich and subtle language--the same language Austen, the Brontes, Dickens, and Shakespeare used.

Here's something I love to quote as an example of startling, beautiful writing. It's the beginning of D. H. Lawrence's poem Figs. Yes, it's about fruit, sort of, and if you read the whole thing you'll find it has its moments but does wander off into DHL Crazyland:

The proper way to eat a fig, in society,
Is to split it in four, holding it by the stump,
And open it, so that it is a glittering, rosy, moist, honied, heavy-petalled four-petalled flower.

You might not want to drop that in the middle of a love scene. But you might want to come up with something of your own, rather than something someone else has used that is "safe." You might want to use something specific to your characters' experience, something that speaks to you--and to your reader.

So, yes, it's all about the love, the romance, the relationship. But for me it's about the words too.

Thoughts, anyone?

Janet


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