The appeal of the misfit

This past weekend I had the chance to co-lead a writing workshop for some aspiring writers aged 10-12. I had a great time doing it and what a fun group it was!

But one thing that struck me was how each of the girls admitted to having been at times ridiculed or somehow labeled by peers at school and elsewhere. Hippy, goth, nerd, brainy freak: these were some of the assorted terms used to brand them as different, and not in a good way. Some of them reported teachers who must have felt threatened by the differences. One girl was told she couldn't have spiders and cats talking in a story--um, Charlotte's Web, anyone????

The co-leader of the workshop and I could recalled similar incidents from our own youths. The girls seemed happy to know they were not alone and not crazy (or at least crazy in a good way). :) Afterwards I reflected that while my writer friends and I have, by and large, found our places in various communities as adults, many of us were somehow "different" as children. These differences were not always appreciated by either our peers or our teachers. But while painful memories can block us, they can sometimes slingshot us into the work and provide source material. It's no wonder books and films are full of characters trying to cope with being different.

In romance we see a lot of "misfit" types: bastards (whether or not they turn out to be the Lost Heir), heroes with shady pasts, heroines who are hoydens or bluestockings, characters with physical imperfections or even disabilities. I love 'em all, as long as they are unique creations and not imitations of someone else's misfit character.

Not all heroes and heroines are misfits, of course. Sometimes they get together because of a threat is to the community they're both part of, or they belong to different communities. Interesting things also happen when one fits in better than the other.

Anyway, here are just a tiny few of my favorite misfits from historical romance:

• Phoebe in Georgette Heyer's SYLVESTER: she likes horses better than most people, acts like a hoyden and writes a novel featuring the hero as a villain. Her foil, Sylvester, on the other hand, is the perfect duke, obviously welcomed everywhere.
• Lady Alys Weston from Mary Jo Putney's THE RAKE AND THE REFORMER (a.k.a. THE RAKE). She's a tall woman with mismatched eyes, thinks of herself as a "great horse" and holds the unusual position of estate manager. The hero, Reggie, is an alcoholic trying to save himself. It's ironic to me that while some characters thought he took his drinking too far, it was a very socially acceptable vice. Reggie isn't really the one who doesn't fit in.
• The hero and heroine of Loretta Chase's MR IMPOSSIBLE are both misfits after a fashion. Rupert is a ne'er-do-well younger son who doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up. Daphne is a scholar with a fascination with Egypt and ancient languages.

Having been the nerdy kid with cat's eye glasses and her nose in a book, I know exactly why I relate to misfits. What I do wonder about is why they are so very popular. Are there really that many misfits who are readers? Or are there "normal" people out there who secretly relate to the misfit?

So why do you think misfits are so popular in fiction and on screen? Do you have any personal favorites?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Super (Regency) Heroes

When I was a kid, I loved superheroes. My brother and I would go to my mom and have her pin towels around our necks, and then we'd fly around the backyard and fight bad guys.

At first, we thought all superheroes could fly, and that the cape was the device which made this possible. (Yes, I can hear Edna from "The Incredibles" scoffing at me!)

When we were old enough to actually read comic books, we learned that there were many kinds of superheroes, with many kinds of powers.

Some of these, if you think about it, couldn't have been all that useful. Okay, so "Triplicate Girl" could split into three versions of herself -- but so what? Sure, she, could date three guys at once, but how could she save the world?

And some heroes weren't even "super", but had talents and gadgets -- like Batman, and Green Arrow, and Black Canary.

On the other hand, some heroes were so powerful -- Superman, Captain Marvel, The Green Lantern, Wonder Woman -- that I imagine it was hard for the writers not to have them win on page 2.

And so, you say -- what does all this have to do with the Regency?

Does it ever seem to you like there are Regency superheroes? The dandy who never attracts lint, the rake who always knows how to please a lady (any lady), the gorgon who has memorized the family trees of everyone in Europe?

So -- if you were creating a Regency superhero (or, even better, a whole group of superheroes with different powers, like the X-Men and their foes), who would you create? What would their powers be?

And what would their costumes and names be?

All responses welcome!

Cara
Cara King, author of MY LADY GAMESTER
starring Super Atalanta and her sidekick Tom

More on Covers--Men or Flowers?

This cover discussion begun by our Janet Mullany on Jan 25 is still intriguing me! I know that what makes a good cover is all really personal preference, but I thought it would be fun to continue the discussion

My position is that a handsome man on a romance cover is going to attract more attention than a cover without a handsome man, even if that cover has beautiful flowers on it.

Now, the handsome man does not have to be without half or all his clothes--those covers, I agree can be embarrassing. (So I guess I'm not really fond of "mantitty" covers, as Janet so cleverly called them), but if I am browsing the romance shelves, not in the market for any specific book, the books I'm going to pick up first are the ones with a handsome man on the cover.


This is why I LOVED my cover for A Reputable Rake. I could not have asked for a better cover, by far my favorite. The Rake is just so handsome and his expression perfectly represents the hero of the book.








My Mills & Boon cover for The Mysterious Miss M comes in a close second, because it had a handsome man in a very romantic pose. As my first book cover ever, I was over the moon about this cover and I still love it.









Now I prefer both of these covers to my cover of Innocence and Impropriety, arriving in bookstores March 2007. This cover has both the handsome man and the romantic pose, but it is a tad too sweet for me, and the book is not quite that sweet. Still, I like this cover. I love the setting of Covent Garden in the background. If it were on the shelf right next to A Reputable Rake, I'd bet A Reputable Rake would be picked up first.

I browsed the All About Romance Cover contest archives for examples. Take a look at these two beautiful Jo Beverley covers (the double image means they are "step back" covers).
















They are both wonderful covers, but which would I pick up first? The one with that very handsome man.


My cover for The Wagering Widow was nice because it was provokative and hinted at that handsome man by showing his hand. The black and white image is what you would see just inside the cover, so there was a handsome man and the romantic pose if you opened the book.







The same image appeared on Louise Allen's Jan 2007 Mills & Boon, Not Quite a Lady.

I cannot be objective, though. I don't know which I would pick up first, if they were side by side, Not Quite a Lady, with its handsome man in a romantic pose, or the provokative, A Wagering Widow?


What do you all think?
Does a handsome man on the cover influence whether you will pick it up, at least to read the back cover copy?

Do you want to vote for a favorite cover? Cover Cafe has a contest, formerly sponsored by All About Romance!

Speaking of handsome men on romance covers, in March, the cover model for The Wagering Widow and Not Quite a Lady, Richard Cerqueira, will be doing a guest interview with Risky Regencies. So let me know if there is anything you would like me to ask Richard about what it is like in a romance cover shoot.

Cheers!
Diane

Happy (belated) birthday, Byron!

We here at Risky Regencies want to wish Lord Byron a happy birthday! So we're a bit late (the big day was on the 22nd)--considering that it was his 219th, I don't think he'll mind. In honor of the day, here is one of my favorite poems by Byron, and a few fun links.

A birthday bash I'd like to attend

Byron Society

Byron Mania

Neurotic Poets

Stanzas for Music

There be none of Beauty's daughters

With a magic like thee;

And like music on the waters

Is thy sweet voice to me:

When, as if its sound were causing

The charmed ocean's pausing,

The waves lie still and gleaming,

And the lulled winds seem dreamin.

And the midnight moon is weaving

Her bright chain o'er the deep;

Whose breast is gently heaving,

As an infant's asleep.

So the spirit bows before thee,

To listen and adore thee;

With a full but soft emotion,

Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

What's your own favorite Byron poem? Or favorite "Byronic" hero from a romance novel (there are lots to choose from!)? And, on a totally unrelated note, who are you cheering for in the Oscars? I've only seen two of the Best Picture noms this year, but hope to make up the slack soon. And the Best Actress lineup looks especially strong this year--while Helen Mirren probably has it totally locked up, any of them would be a worthy winner! :)

Happy Birthady, Byron! And Mozart, too, while we're at it.

Diane's Style of Naming Characters

I meant to do this earlier in the day. Megan could not do the blog today so I volunteered but then I spent the day FINALLY finishing the revisions to The Vanishing Viscountess.

I promised my system for naming characters.

The Regency period was a more formal time than nowadays when everyone from salesclerks to telemarketers want to use your first name. First names were rarely used in the Regency era, except among family or schoolmates. Even so, a little boy with a title would be called by his title, even if he was a mere toddler. Think of it, in Pride & Prejudice no one ever called Darcy Fitzwilliam! and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet addressed themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.

I've tried to adapt to this style in my books, so I pay attention first to title names and surnames. I make sure my male characters have title names or surnames that will sound comfortable as what we modern folk would think of as given names. So in my March book, Innocence & Impropriety, the hero is Jameson Flynn, but he is "Flynn" throughout the book. His employer is the Marquess of Tannerton or "Tanner" to everyone. (Tanner is the hero of The Vanishing Viscountess)

I often create title names by using The Incomplete Peerage . But I mix up the title names, taking the stem from one of them and putting on a different ending, so "Cornwall" may become "Cornworth." Then I google "Lord Cornworth" to make certain there isn't a real one.

My heroines are much more apt to get a first name. Have you noticed how my heroine names mostly start with "M"? My daughter's name starts with M.

For first names I go to a baby naming site and look up English or Scottish or Irish or Welsh first names, whatever I need. Or I go to a census of the time period and see what names are there. I do this for surnames as well.

I try not to repeat a letter of the alphabet in the book, so if the hero is Tanner, then his butler would not be Turner.

That's it. That's my naming style. And if that doesn't work, I just take a name from a reader--Right Mallory? Mallory Pickerloy is my heroine in The Vanishing Viscountess.

Diane

What makes you buy a book?

A month or so ago I blogged about the agony and ecstasy of finding a title.

Little did I know then, but the title search was to go on... and on. Because the marketing department changed its mind about the one they'd chosen, and took it upon themselves to find one. I was all titled out and happy to turn it over to them. And today, we finally settled on one--Pride and Prejudice. No, just kidding. It's The Rules of Gentility. Long ago I suggested Gentility Rules, which might be the sort of thing you'd find spray-painted on a wall in Highbury. (Another favorite was The Lady Vanquishes, apparently lost on a generation who didn't grow up watching Hitchcock.)

In all of this long, long process, I discovered I knew virtually nothing about how books are titled and the relationship of cover to contents, and now I think I know even less. I thought, for instance, that the cover had to reflect what was inside. Well, yes, sort of. I pulled some Jane Austen covers off the web to illustrate what may or may not be my point. Above left, Penguin Classics. The portrait is a detail of Double Portraits of the Fullerton Sisters by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and very nice too. The period is correct, but...wait. Aren't there six sisters? And if the one on the left is holding a drawing board, I thought the Bennett sisters were remarkably unaccomplished by Miss Bingley's or Lady Catherine de Bourgh's high standards.

Our next entry is the movie tie in edition. Or, the book of the film. You mean, there was a book first? You could read the whole thing before getting to the scene where Mr. Darcy appears with, gasp, coat unbuttoned and cravat discarded. In fact, that scene is missing from every edition I've ever owned.
The next two I found are even more puzzling. At left, I believe the original is a painting by Degas. Only about a century too late, and which one is supposed to be Elizabeth? Is the other one Miss Bingley? Is there a scene where they sat at a balcony together?

And the final one is of an interior with two characters in Victorian dress. Inexplicably, the gentleman is sitting while the woman is standing. My first thought, when looking at this, was that they were servants. It certainly doesn't look like any sort of courtship scene. It rather looks as though the woman is receiving a scolding. "Rats in the soup again, Cook, and not nearly enough of them..."

One thing I did learn from my experience was that the cover does not necessarily relate to the contents. The other realization was that we, as book buyers, are fooled and deceived when buying a book. The marketing strategy seems to be that if a sort of book cover has worked well, it will continue to do so until...look at all the trends we've seen in romance--clinches, Fabio, mantitty, cartoons, more mantitty, pink and shiny, bumpy bits (those last two are not related to mantitty), photos. Why does the public fall out of love with a particular style? I've no idea. My book is a funny book but its cover will not suggest that because readers of historicals don't like funny. The back cover copy will suggest it's funny, but probably will not declare A laugh on every page! The first Regency-set with a fart joke! So the buyer, fooled into thinking they're on familiar territory, will buy it.

None of the Jane Austen covers suggest that P&P is one of the wittiest books in the English language either. So it's a mystery of the publishing business.

What makes you buy a book? And have you ever chosen one based entirely on the cover and been bitterly disappointed? Or found a gem with a totally unsuitable cover?

Janet

Regency Naming Hell

I probably have more trouble deciding what to name my characters than most Georgians did naming their babies. Just yesterday I was working on the second draft of my work-in-progress and wasted a good ten minutes figuring out a name for a maid-of-all-work. Becky. Earth-shattering or what?????

Although I use lots of placeholders like (valet) or (aunt) in my first drafts, my heroes and heroines won't cooperate until I've named them correctly. I used to be thoroughly enamored of lovely and unusual heroines' names such as Georgette Heyer used (Venetia, Ancilla, Anthea) and wanted to do the same for the heroine of my first Regency, LORD LANGDON'S KISS. I decided her scholarly father would choose an obscure Greek name for her and came up with Melinna. Then a critique partner said it sounded African American. Ack! That spoiled it but it was a good thing as the name really didn't suit her. I renamed her Nell and the story just opened up after that.

Many of the Georgians also limited themselves to a small group of fairly traditional names. I've searched in vain for the original article but I know I've read that some very high percentage of men during the Regency had one of 5-6 royal names including George and Charles. Jane Austen had 5 guys named Charles in PERSUASION alone. Jo Beverley has an article on Regency names on her website. I totally agree when she says that to use an unusual name, one must consider why the parents would have chosen it.

I try to find something that evokes the character, something that is historically plausible and not too much of cliche. I avoid names for heroes that evoke "devil" and "demon": Damon, Devlin, that sort of thing, also names including elements of "hawk" and "wolf". I wouldn't fling a book with such names but they don't feel right in my own books. I no longer strive for very original names either. I'd rather use a common name and strive for originality in the characterization.

It does bother me when I see historical romance heroines with names that are gender neutral or historically masculine. While the heroine's name in WHITNEY, MY LOVE by Judith McNaught, isn't what has prevented me from reading it, it niggles. It seems like Courtney and Chelsea are not far behind.

Going sort of off-Regency, I've heard one parent say she named her daughter Courtney because she didn't want to limit her chances with an obviously feminine name. I have my doubts about that strategy, since once girls are given a certain name, people start avoiding using it for boys and it assumes a feminine connotation.

I suspect many readers of historical romance would be confused to read about a hero named Courtenay (the older spelling) or Evelyn. Georgette Heyer used both of these for male characters in her books but I doubt editors would permit such a thing now. I'm also not sure I'd ever name a character Fanny. It's historically accurate and quite pretty but I just don't know if readers can get over its various slang usages.

For surnames, I often go to a map of England and look for minor place-names that sound good. Sometimes I'll mash the beginning of one with the end of another (things like -wood, -hurst, -ton, etc...) until it feels right.

So for my fellow writers, how do you come up with names?

As readers, what are some of your favorite character names? What sorts would you like to see more of? Are there any you find off-putting?

And what do you think of modern day naming trends?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

The Jane Austen Ball

Todd and I attended the Jane Austen Ball on Saturday, and it was, of course, utterly fabulous.

This is me -- grinning.

Why, you ask, am I grinning? Because I finished the bottom of my dress. Finally. At the last moment. (With a lot of Todd's help.)

Do admire the bottom of the skirt. Can you see the intricate pleating?

No? Well, it's there. Took me way longer than I thought it would (I'm no seamstress!)

I could bore you all now with the entire history of the bottom of my Regency gown -- but I won't. (I was explaining it in great detail to one of my local RWA chaptermates who was also at the ball, and Todd sort of rescued her and implied that no human alive would want to hear so much about my hem.)

Here, also, are some pictures I took at the ball, mostly of people who have way better costumes than me.

And, yes, way better period hair. Though I was very pleased with my hair this year. I got some of it to curl!

Tea was first -- six kinds of tea, plus lots of food (my favorite was the rosemary shortbread, though the cucumber sandwiches were very interesting -- and I mean that in a good way, in an admiring way, as a woman who has tried several different recipes for cucumber sandwiches herself.)

Then there was a lecture on society in Jane Austen's England -- nothing I didn't know, but entertaining nonetheless, and delivered (by the inimitable Walter Nelson) with a great deal of humor.

Did I mention that many of the costumes were amazing??? These hussars in particular had everyone staring in admiration!

(Apparently they are in a group that rides horses in costume every week and -- er, that is, the horses aren't in costume, of course -- well, I don't think they are -- anyway, they ride, and train, and train others, and appear in movies, and all sorts of things. Their website, in case anyone is interested, is http://www.warhorsefoundation.com/index.htm)

Oh yes -- and there was dancing. Lots and lots of dancing. We did English country dances most of the time, plus one waltz.

The music was live and lovely, and I performed four different types of hey!

Some of the more colorfully-named country dances were "Mr. Beveridge's Maggot" (famous from the BBC/A&E Pride & Prejudice), "Irish Lamentation," "Rakes of Rochester," and "Lasses of Portsmouth." (Perhaps the rakes of Rochester jilted the lasses of Portsmouth, causing much Irish lamentation. But I confess I have no idea where Mr. Beveridge's maggot comes in!)

(Oh, I know -- it's a common problem on the "Dressed Ship," and on "Auretti's Dutch Skipper.")

Now I know that all of you are going to attend next year's Jane Austen Ball. Even those of you who live in other countries are going to fly out to Southern California to attend, right?

Right?

(For the date of next year's ball, see http://www.lahacal.org/austen/index.html.)

Question for the day: if you were inventing a Regency dance with an odd name, what would it be?

Cara
Cara King, author of MY LADY GAMESTER
Signet Regency -- still available through Amazon!

Various and Sundry on Monday

I promised my editor I would have my revisions to The Vanishing Viscountess to her today and I really slacked off over the weekend. So no time to give you one of my brilliant, exquisitely planned and executed blogs (Who’s laughing?????). I am, therefore going to give you a stream of consciousness blog--don’t look for any unifying theme!

Did you know we authors love to know readers enjoyed our books? Now is your chance to tell us!

EHarlequin is in the nomination stage for its 2006 Readers Choice Awards. Click Here to nominate your favorites. I’m honored to say that my A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston is mentioned under Favorite Historical and under Sexiest Hero on a Cover. Eventually there will be voting, I think, so keep watching.


All About Romance is also tabulating Reader Favorites and this time you can vote! Reputable Rake is there too, under Best Buried Treasure. Titles are starting to be eliminated and I’d LOVE for Reputable Rake to make it to the final round. So please vote for Reputable Rake for Best Buried Treasure and vote for your other favorites, too. There are plenty of Regencies to choose from and I think you can still add additional choices.
Start here to see who’s been nominated and eliminated so far.
http://www.likesbooks.com/interim2006.html#secondinterim
Go here to vote:
http://www.likesbooks.com/ballotannualpoll.html

Do you know of any other sites doing Reader Favorites?

Speaking of EHarlequin, my friend Melissa James has an online read there now, called The Homecoming. It isn’t Regency but it is a fun read. Melissa writes for the new Harlequin Romance line, the merge of the Silhouette Romance and Harlequin Romance lines. You’ll find Melissa’s story HERE




Speaking of The Vanishing Viscountess, the book of my revisions. It is scheduled for release in early 2008. I believe I have lamented before about this being a “road story.” The coolest thing, though. My son who is studying Geography and Mapping in college is going to do an online map of the places in this book! I’m not exactly sure how he’ll do it, but I’ll have it on my website eventually!

In my husband’s channel surfing he came upon a Japanese film with this premise: “A noblewoman agrees to sleep with a cassanova if he succeeds in seducing a chaste widow.” Wow, I thought. What a great premise. Then I realized it was the premise for Dangerous Liaisons. A day or so later, more channel surfing and he discovers the movie, Valmont also based on the same book as Dangerous Liaisons and released only one year later. It is pre-French Revolution, not Regency, but Valmont stars a young and almost impossibly handsome Colin Firth. Naturally I had to watch it. How’s that for synergy?

Have any of you seen Valmont?

Speaking of impossibly handsome men, it is only 44 more days until the release of the movie 300!

Cheers!
Diane

Gateway to Romance

The very bad weather here last week, and even into this weekend, has kept me indoors, working on the WIP (rough draft almost done!), doing some research reading, and snarking about the gowns on the Golden Globes. Yesterday, desperate boredom even drove me to do some cleaning. I cleared out my office area, sending old magazines to the recycle bin, and dusting and vacuuming. My mother would be proud.

But it wasn't all Cinderella-style drudgery! As I dusted my keeper shelves, I came across some old favorites. Some of them very old--the first romances I ever read, in fact. It made me wonder--what turns a person into a romance novel addict?

Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm a romance addict. Here is my confession.

It started out small, you know. A few Nancy Drew books here and there. I loved her great clothes and nifty roadster. Her boyfriend Ned seemed pretty useless, yet an essential accessory for any girl detective. A Laura Ingalls Wilder or two, just to be sociable. It was so sweet when Almanzo drove through the blizzard to rescue her from the crazy family she boarded with. Anne of Green Gables and that adorable Gilbert. Then things got a little harder--Sunfire YA historical romances.

I don't know if you remember those Sunfire books. They always had a girl's name as the title--Nicole (girl on the Titanic), Sabrina (girl in the American Revolution), Kathleen (Irish immigrant girl), etc. The covers depicted the eponymous heroine, usually in a poufy dress and very period-inappropriate hairdo (especially Elizabeth the Puritan girl and her perm), and the two men who vie for her affection. For some reason, there were always two, one a "suitable" boy approved by her parents, and one who offers her adventure and freedom. Which do you think she chooses in the end? But romance was not the only thing on the Sunfire girl's mind. She was also a Patriot spy, a frontier schoolmarm, or a nurse (against the wishes of her rich Gilded Age parents).

I loved those books, couldn't get enough of them. I read them when I was supposed to be doing homework, even traded them with my friends, thus involving them in my addiction and becoming a pusher. (Sadly, I lost most of my Sunfire collection in a move, but through the wonders of Ebay and some lucky library booksale finds, I'm rebuilding). Then things escalated. My grandmother became my unwitting supplier.

When we went to visit her one summer, she had a big box full of romances. Barbara Cartland mostly, plus a few Heyers, some Regencies by authors like Marion Chesney and Joan Smith. It was like a whole new world opened up. The Sunfires all had American settings, but these books were English. Regency. (A few of the Cartlands were purportedly Victorian or Elizabethan, but I couldn't see any difference). I was totally hooked. I checked out non-fiction histories of the era from the library, and never looked back.

Now, this addiction did have a few side effects. When I started dating, I had quite unrealistic expectations. My first boyfriend, a sweet, 16 year old band geek, just couldn't compete with those square-jawed, sardonic dukes with their high-perch phateons and perfectly tied cravats. But that's another story...

I flipped through some of these old friends as I was cleaning. The Sunfire girls were as spunky as I remembered; the Cartland heroines just as asthmatic. It's uncanny how much they resemble Madeline Bassett from the Jeeves and Wooster stories. I may have moved on to "harder" stuff, Laura Kinsale, Judith Ivory, Loretta Chase, and the like, but I'll always have great fondness for these, my gateway drugs.

What were your favorite early romances? Do you remember what your "first" was? Did you ever read Sunfires? And whose gowns did you love and hate at the Golden Globes? (My favorites--Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, America Ferrera).

Sing It, Baby!

First off, apologies for flaking on last week . . . I know ALL of you were at home, beating your chests, screaming 'Where is that Frampton Friday post?!? I will die without it.' And in other news, it was awfully frigid in Hell last Friday, too.

Second, this week I wanted to talk about voice. For me, voice is what makes or breaks a book. And a blog. The reason I started thinking about this was a post Abby Godwin made on her blog about blogs. There are a bunch of bloggers, and authors, I read just because of their voice.

The best example of this is ESPN's The Sports Guy. Yeah, I like some sports--basketball, mostly, 'cause I'm fond of tall, thin men, but I could really care less about most sports. But when writes about sports--and the latest Rocky movie--I care. It's because his voice is so powerful.

You know how some people say 'such-and-such an author could write a grocery list, and I'd read it'? Count me among those folks.

Even if the plot is weak, or ludicrous, if the voice is there, I'll be there, too. The best situation is when the author's voice AND plot are strong, but if there's a choice, I'll stick with the author who's got the former. And voice is such a nebulous thing; is it the author's personality coming through the work? Their distinct choice of language? Their sense of humor (or not)? It's all of these things, plus something more--something that makes the author (or blogger) unique.

So who's got the strongest author's voice you've ever encountered? How about bloggers? (my favorite blogs are in a sidebar on my Writer's Diary, go over and click around if you want. You don't have to, though. I'm just too lazy to write them all down here. So they're there.)

In romance, I'd say authors Carla Kelly, Anne Stuart, J.R. Ward, debut author Meljean Brook, Jennifer Crusie, and Mary Balogh.

In Blogland, I'd mention (okay, so I'm not as lazy as I look) Cindy, Suisan, Ilene and of course the Smart Bitches. There are many more (and I did not include any authors' blogs), these are just some of the strongest voices whom I'll read, even if they're talking about vegan desserts.

How important is an author's voice to you? Are you willing to overlook plot and other problems if you like the voice? Who's got the strongest voice? What blogs do you like to read, even if the subject is not your favorite?

Thanks for reading!

Megan
www.meganframpton.com
P.S.: The painting is by John Singer Sargent, one of my favorites. Just because.

Have They No Shame?

One of the advantages--I guess it's an advantage--of having a twenty-something move back into the house (upon graduating from college, hooray! This is not a picture of her--the cakes wouldn't last a minute in our house) is that you get to see a lot of tv you wouldn't generally. And, yes, I'm talking about the American Idol auditions, which we have been following with horrified fascination. What makes those people think they can sing? What makes them so eager to expose themselves to humiliation and ridicule?

And what on earth does this have to do with the Regency? (And, incidentally, why is Marie Antoinette's maid wearing a late Victorian uniform?)


Well, I started to think about the Regency period as one of ostentatious display and a certain lack of shyness in self-revelation--Harriet Smith's Memoirs, for instance; Lady Caroline Lamb--yes, I could see her auditioning and berating Simon Cowell for being sarcastic, and leaving in floods of tears. What, he didn't like me? Me?

It was a period represented both by the vulgar exuberance of Prinny (seen at right being laced in for the day) and the uh, jewel in his crown, the Brighton Pavilion, as well as all that elegance and self-restraint and gorgeous classical design.


Beneath his severe, beautifully tailored coat, your hero might well be sporting a lavishly embroidered waistcoat--and he'd make sure everyone would catch a tantalizing glimpse.

That's what I love about the period, the contradictions and the sense of change--it might all be about the tailoring and the classical line, but it was equally about decoration for decoration's sake. My theory is that this all ties into the developing sense of domestic privacy that began in the eighteenth century.




Houses were now designed so that family members could sequester themselves into private rooms--no longer was the typical house plan one where you had to go through everyone else's room to get to the lord's chamber, the seat of power in the house, where his bed was displayed as the best piece of furniture. Bedcurtains had always been to provide warmth and now they also provided that new luxury, privacy; chances are your servant would have his own sleeping quarters, and not a trundle bed in your bedchamber (a fairly new word in the English language).

I'd be interested to hear your take on the growth of privacy and ostentation vs. restraint, and also how you think your favorite Regency character, fictional or real, would do in his or her American Idol audition!

Janet

Happily Ever After

Last week I blogged about tear-jerkers and bittersweet endings. This week I want to talk about Happily Ever After. I love HEA myself—if I didn’t I’d be writing in the wrong genre! I find it interesting that people criticize romance endings as unrealistic.

I know some people who bash romance endings haven't read the books and seem to think they're all a romp in a flowery meadow or something. They don't realize that in a good romance the hero and heroine deal with the "bitter" in the course of the story. They earn the "sweet" at the end.

It’s also a bit like what Paul Gardner said about painting: “A painting is never finished – it simply stops in interesting places.” Romance novels end at a happy spot.

I figure the hero and heroine will likely face some more rough patches, though nothing as bad as the author has already put them through. I doubt anyone wants to imagine one of them dying of cancer a year after the story ends. (At least I hope no one wishes that on my characters!) But they still have life to deal with and that means problems. The thing is they’ll face them together. Is that so unrealistic?

Romance readers don’t always agree on what constitutes a happy ending either.

Often the HEA involves a huge brood of children, angelically cute and well-behaved. In a Regency this would certainly be historically accurate as many though not all couples did have large families. (One can also imagine servants handling many of the messier parts of parenting.)

Even contemporary romances frequently include children in the HEA. Jennifer Crusie’s BET ME generated a lot of discussion because the couple in that story chose to have a dog instead. I liked that, as a change, but more because I felt that was what was right for those characters. I also read a lot of reader comments to the effect that it was a more romantic ending because children ruin everything.

OK, they often do! Babies certainly have some sort of sixth sense for detecting when parents are trying to make love, even a few rooms away. Maybe it’s a survival mechanism to ensure there aren’t younger siblings too soon! And all too often “normal” family life is a façade of happiness with a lot of repressed tension. There are certainly bratty kids around, the result of people who didn’t really want them in the first place, maybe.

But functional family life shouldn’t be an unrealistic goal. We aren’t perfect, but my husband and I try to keep it fun and not let things fester. Our kids are pretty fun to be around, at least 80% of the time. I can certainly think of adults with a far worse fun-to-be-around ratio!

Of course real life HEA with children is hard work. Exhaustion battles lust at times. You call a dozen sitters just to set up one night out. Maybe not everyone’s idea of HEA. Sometimes it’s not mine either! Sometimes I yearn for the life Crusie gives the BET ME characters. But that book works for me also because of the realistic characters, the heroine who predicts she’s going to put on weight in middle age, the hero who finds her sexy anyway, the way they nurture his nephew.

Which sorts of HEA do you like? Fairytale? Do you prefer to see her as always slim and him with all his hair, (no matter how much he's raked his fingers through it, as romance heroes are wont to do)? :) Or more realistic? Are there some HEA elements that you find too perfect to enjoy? Or are there elements of reality that spoil the romance for you?

Do you ever try to imagine characters’ lives after The End?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

P.S. Image is an illustration by Eleanor Vere Boyle, from Beauty and the Beast: An Old Tale New-Told. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1875.

Bertie Goes to the Ballet

Hello! Cara here. Have you ever had one of those Mondays... You know, the kind after a long and very busy holiday weekend... The kind of Monday when you think, "I'll go see what Diane posted today on the blog," and then you do -- and then you sit there puzzled for a moment, because you know you read that post yesterday?

The kind of Monday that you suddenly realize is actually Tuesday?

Tuesday... And your day to blog?

Not that that's ever happened to me.

However, as (coincidentally, of course) it is my day to blog today, and I'm sitting here with my tea (not earl grey, not very hot, but lovely nonetheless) and needing a topic for my post, I shall interview everyone's favorite Regency time-traveler, Bertram St. James, the self-titled Exquisite.

Welcome, Bertie! How are you today?

Beautiful, of course! But oh, so cold.

Here, I'll make you some more tea. So, did you enjoy the modern American version of Christmas?

Quite a bit. It was rather like the King's Birthday -- everyone was celebrating. Oh, and the best part was when I saw that Nutcracking Ballet Thing.

I take it you enjoyed it?

Quite a bit! The music was entrancing. I am still humming it. And the grace and elegance of the dancers was a thing of beauty unparalleled in my poor experience. (Dancing was nothing like that during my day, I fear!) However...

However?

Well, I did keep wishing I had seen a more prosperous troupe of performers.

Prosperous? Why do you think these weren't?

Oh, please. To begin with, the ladies were wearing ragged costumes, which were so old that the skirts had all been (I blush to say) rendered rather shorter than even modern decorum would dictate.

Moreover, it was painfully clear that none of these dancers has had a decent meal in a very long time. I felt compassion every time one of the twig-like ladies stretched her arms upward, as I imagined her imploring the heavens -- or perhaps Mr. Santa Clause -- to give her a little food. A pizza perhaps. (I adore pizza. It was worth coming to this century purely for pizza. Particularly pizza with pine-apple and anchovies.)

Ah, I hear the kettle whistling. Thank you for joining us here today, Bertie dear! I'll go make the tea.

My pleasure, as always.

Cara
Cara King, author of My Lady Gamester, and brewer of tea

Are There Ebooks on your TBR Pile?

Okay. I confess. I have a googlealert on my own name. Well, on Diane Perkins, Diane Gaston---and Gerard Butler. A google alert sends a message to your email anytime something new comes up on whatever topic you select. As you can see, I've selected three of my favorite topics for this service!

This week Diane Gaston popped up on my googlealert email, and I discovered that my RITA winner, A Reputable Rake, is an ebook! Harlequin has bundled A Reputable Rake with Nicola Cornick's The Rake's Mistress and Georgina Devon's The Rake into an ebook available for order on eHarlequin and other ebookstores such as Fictionwise. It is called Rapturous Rake Bundle.

I'm delighted to enter the ebook market! A number of years ago I saw a