Designer to the Stars

What's one of the main reasons I'm obsessed with Dancing With the Stars (go, Apolo!)? The clothes, of course! So sparkly and fringe-y and fun. I've always loved playing dress-up, and subscribe to way more fashion magazines than is probably healthy. The truth is, I can never actually afford Prada or Marni, and I would never try to squeeze myself into those Edyta-style get-ups from DWTS. But I can always dream! And buy spiffy dance shoes.

One of the earliest of the high-fashion, brand-name modistes was Rose Bertin, favorite designer to Marie Antoinette. Born in Abbeville in 1747, Rose Bertin set up shop as a marchande de modes (female fashion merchant) in 1773, in a luxurious boutique on the rue Saint-Honore. In 1774, she expanded her offerings to include what came to be known as the 'pouf,' wild headresses to go with the enormous dresses. These were made in conjunction with Marie Antoinette's equally snooty and extravagent hairdresser, Leonard, and were built on a scaffolding of wire, cloth, gauze, horsehair, fake hair, and the woman's own hair, teased up off the forehead. After being doused with powder, the coiffure could become the canvas for all sorts of still-lifes and props (ships, windmills, babies, you name it).

Through her rich clients the duchesse de Chartres and the princesse de Lamballe, Bertin came to the notice of Marie Antoinette, who had just become queen and was feeling her fashion wings (or wild oats). A style was born. One of their earliest collaborations was a pouf titled 'coiffure a l'Iphigenie' (to pay tribute to Gluck's opera), quickly followed by the 'pouf a l'inoculation,' to celebrate her husband's successeful smallpox innoculation. Bertin also designed the queen's coronation gown, an elaborate affair heavily embroidered with gold thread and sapphires, which almost had to make the trip to Rheims on a special stretcher (until the lady-in-waiting balked at carrying it).

Bertin's creations (which cost roughly twenty times what a skilled artisan would earn in a year) helped establish France as the center of the fashion industry, which has persisted to this day. But Bertin, reportedly an abrasive woman, was deeply resented, both by the aristocracy (who felt the queen treated her, a mere tradeswoman, with too much favor and distinction), and by the middle and lower classes. She was snooty to would-be customers (for example, refusing to outfit the 'wife of a mere prosecutor from Bordeaux!'), and the wild extravagence of her creations was derided in the midst of depressions and famines. As a woman, Bertin inspired particular resentment for taking precedence over her male colleagues, and was sneeringly called Marie Antoinette's 'Minister of Fashion' and 'Minister of Trinkets.'

During the Revolution, Bertin eventually moved her business to London, returning to Paris in 1795, where Josephine was one of her main customers. But fashions had changed, and she soon retired to her house in the town of Epinay sur Seine, where she died in 1813.

A great source for info on this period is Caroline Weber's Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution.

What are some of your favorite fashion eras or designers? Anyone watching Dancing With the Stars???

Spring Has Sprung

This morning, I am heading to New England for the NEC-RWA Conference. And since this week has been chock-a-block full of everything (sick kid, real estate, insomnia) but writing, I don't have a lot to say. At least not anything that's not profanity-laced.

BUT the weather has finally turned warmer, and I've seen crocuses all over the little front yards of Brooklyn, so I am hopeful that Spring will bring a fresh breeze of creative inspiration.

So a few easy questions: What's your favorite flower? What inspires you the most? When you feel like throwing in the metaphorical towel, what drags you back from the 'I'm giving up' brink?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Mrs. Leicester's School

I've just read a very odd little book--recommended to me by Pam Rosenthal--of children's stories by Mary Lamb.

Of the ten stories, three are written by Mary's brother Charles, and they form a collection of stories told in the voices of young girls who have just arrived at a boarding school. The describe who they are, who their families are, and why they were sent to school.

Some of them are quite charming--one of them prattles on and on about a visit to the country (ooh! pretty sheep! pretty cows! more pretty sheep!) until the tactful Mrs. Leicester intervenes, stopping her in mid flow: I thought I perceived some ladies were rather weary of hearing so much of the visit to grandmamma. Some of them have a macabre air: there's a girl who learns to read from studying the letters on her mother's tombstone; and a very odd tale about two girls, one born to a noble family and the other a commoner, who are exchanged at birth. They yearn for, and sometimes lose their parents, and often are sent on unexpected visits to distant relatives; now all of them have been parted from their families to attend the school.

It's an interesting venture into the world of Georgian childhood, but even more interesting in light of Mary Lamb's life. She suffered from bipolar disorder and when she was twenty-two, murdered her mother. She was in and out of mental asylums for the rest of her life, and cared for by her brother and official guardian Charles, whom, sadly, she outlived. So when I read these stories, I was thinking of what I knew of Mary, particularly from reading Kathy Watson's biography of Mary, The Devil Kissed Her.

Has anyone read either of these books or anything by Charles Lamb? Or do you have any favorite books that evoke childhood for you?

Mary Sues

A couple of weeks ago, Megan taught me about McGuffins. I also recently learned about Mary Sues.

According to Wikipedia, Mary Sue “is a pejorative term for a fictional character who is portrayed in an overly idealized way and lacks noteworthy flaws, or has unreasonably romanticized flaws. Characters labeled Mary Sues, as well as the stories they appear in, are generally seen as wish-fulfillment fantasies of the author.” (More at Wikipedia. )

The term originated in the Star Trek fan fiction community but I think romance novelists, too, often skate a fine line with Mary Sues.

Consider these characteristics of a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu).

“The typical Mary Sue is always physically attractive, and her appearance may include an unusual but natural hair or eye color. Eye colour may also be depicted as changing according to time, place, emotion, or other causes. Mary Sue's name often has a special meaning, and if so, either she or the author will inform the cast or reader of it.”

“Mary Sue is beautiful, so Gary Stu is handsome.”

“Tragic backgrounds are also common among Mary Sues, and frequently include family abuse or neglect.”

“While Mary Sue is often bright and cheerful no matter what her past has dealt her, Gary Stu tends to be brooding and frequently violent.”

Dangerous territory for a romance author! Most of us try to depict our characters as attractive (though not always perfect) and to give them some serious problems to tackle. So when does a character become a Mary Sue?

I decided to put the heroine of my current mess-in-progress through The Original Fiction Mary-Sue Litmus Test.

Imagine my relief when she scored a mere 19 points, in the 11-20 “Non-Sue” range. :)

Then I decided to give the test a whirl with the heroine of Barbara Cartland’s HAZARD OF HEARTS. Even when I was a thirteen-year old reading this classic story of a heroine whose father gambles her away to the hero, I knew it was a guilty pleasure. I had to guess how Barbara Cartland felt about her characters based on things I'd read about her and tried to be conservative on those questions. But even considering that, and the fact that she has no paranormal abilities (other than surviving with chronic breathlessness), Serena Staverley scored a respectable 53 points. As I suspected, an Uber-Sue.

Given Barbara Cartland’s undeniable popularity, there were--and probably still are--many romance readers who love a good Mary Sue. Maybe Mary Sue heroines are wish fulfillment for some readers as well as their authors?

As readers, when do you think an author crosses the line between creating an attractive character with problems in his/her past to creating a Mary Sue/Gary Stu? Do you enjoy reading the occasional romance with a Mary Sue?

And fellow writers, do let us know what happens if you try this test on your characters!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Bertie's Guide to Being Beau

Greetings! It is I, Bertram St. James, Exquisite -- also known as Bertie the Beau. (Because I am. Very.)

Today I shall (attempt to) teach you all how to be more beautiful, more elegant, more....more...how can I put this?

Oh, very well, I'll say it. More like me. (Which is of course the goal to which you all aspire.)

First, you must shun all cats. Cats have one goal in life, and that is to ensure that you are as covered in cat-hair as they are. This proves that cats are selfish, vain beasts, and do not deserve the company of such beautiful creatures as us.

Second, you must get your beauty rest. Twelve hours a night should do, but if you insist on staying up late to watch the fascinating dramas on the TeleVision Device (such as Heroes, starring the very beau Hayden Panettiere and Sendhil Ramamurthy) and find you only have eleven hours for sleep, do take a nap the following day.

Third, wash your face in cream seven times a day. (This, by the way, is yet another reason not to keep a cat, who will take far too much interest in such a procedure--after which, one's face is sadly scoured and red.)

Fourth, you must pay your valet well. (Or your lady's maid, if you are a lady.) Allow your man to sneak a bit of your best brandy -- after all, pettiness never won loyalty -- but do not allow him to drink too much of it, or you will find your haircuts uneven and your coats poorly brushed.

Fifth, and most important: be born beautiful.

Those, in short, are my guidelines. What are yours? How do you recommend treating your valet (or lady's maid)? Do you have a cat, and, if so, how do you manage to stay beautiful?

Yours in elegance,

Bertie the Beau

Good News Monday

Yesterday the RITA and Golden Heart finalists were notified so it was a day of joy for many who received “the call” themselves or whose friends excitedly made their announcements.

The RITA and Golden Heart are Romance Writers of America’s highest awards for excellence in the romance genre. The RITA is for books published in 2006 and the Golden Heart is for unpublished manuscripts from aspiring romance writers. The winners of the awards are announced in July at a glitzy ceremony at the annual Romance Writers of America annual conference. I am so lucky to have experienced this excitement at its absolute fullest - winning the Golden Heart in 2003 and the RITA in 2006, so I know exactly how wonderful this recognition can be.

There was no RITA category for Best Regency this year, but Regency era romance did very well anyway! In the Long and Short Historical categories, I am figuring all but two were set in the Regency era, and one of those was set in 1750, pretty close.

Very special congratulations to Pam Rosenthal, one of our frequent visitors to Risky Regencies. Pam’s The Slightest Provocation is a RITA finalist for Best Long Historical. Hooray, Pam!!!










Another pal of mine, Tracy Anne Warren is a Long Historical finalist, as well, for The Husband Trap. The Husband Trap is also up for a RITA for Best First Book. What a thrill for Tracy!








Mary Jo Putney is also a finalist for Best Long Historical for The Marriage Spell. Mary Jo was one of the first published authors I met when I started writing and she has always been very encouraging and helpful to me.









Julia Quinn is there in Long Historical, too, for On the Way to the Wedding. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Julia at an RWA booksigning. She has hoards of very loyal fans, let me tell you!









Eloisa James’ Taming the Duke is a finalist in the Best Short Historical category. Eloisa is another author who has always been friendly and nice to me, ever since I met her years ago at the RWA conference when her first book created such a splash.







Here are the Historical finalists for the RITA:
Long Historical
Surrender by Pamela Clare
Lady of Sin by Madeline Hunter
The Marriage Spell by Mary Jo Putney
On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
The Slightest Provocation by Pam Rosenthal
The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren

Short Historical
The Barefoot Princess by Christina Dodd
She's No Princess by Laura Lee Guhrke
A Duke of Her Own by Lorraine Heath
The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James
Devil In Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Scandal In Spring by Lisa Kleypas
The Book of True Desires by Betina Krahn
The Devil's Waltz by Anne Stuart

You can’t receive a higher romance award than the RITAs, in my opinion, but the Golden Heart contest is special in its own right. When you are trying so hard to break into publishing, there are few high spots. Mostly you endure a series of rejections until that magic moment when “the Call” comes that an editor wants to buy your book. Finaling in the Golden Heart is a huge boost. It doesn’t always lead to a sale, like it did for me, but it helps you get closer and it lets you know you do write excellent stories!

In 2003 when I was a Golden Heart finalist a yahoo loop was started for all the finalists as it is every year. But in 2003, the group just bonded in a special way and remain a strong support for each other even now, four years later. We named ourselves The Wet Noodle Posse. The Wet Noodle Posse made a great showing in the announcements yesterday!

Terry McLaughlin’s Make Believe Cowboy is a RITA finalist for Best Long Contemporary.
Stephanie Rowe’s Date Me Baby One More Time is a RITA finalist in Best Paranormal.
Mary Fechter’s Beneath the Surface is a Golden Heart finalist for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance.
Ramona Thompson’s Accidental Truth is a Golden Heart finalist for Best Inspirational.
Theresa Ragan’s Return of the Rose is a Golden Heart finalist for Best Paranormal
Trish Milburn’s Coven and her The Wishing Tree are Golden Heart finalists for Best Young Adult Romance.

What a happy happy day!! Congratulations to all the finalists and may you enjoy well-deserved recognition of fine work!

Diane won the 2003 Golden Heart for the manuscript that became The Mysterious Miss M and the 2006 RITA for Best Regency for A Reputable Rake.

Risky Sunday

Who knew that so many people loved that Fragonard painting! Maybe I should use it every week. :) I also had it hanging on my wall when I was child, and it's one of my favorites.

Rachel Reed, you are the winner of Love Letters! Please send your address to amccabe7551@yahoo.com and I'll get it sent out to you. Thanks to everyone for visiting!

Risky Saturday

This week, I (Amanda) am out of town. It was an unexpected trip, so I didn't have time to prepare a proper post. But I was thinking how much I enjoy having Risky Regencies as a place to visit every day, where there are always people who share a love of history, books, and hunky movie stars! So, I decided to share my appreciation of you, our Risky Readers, by having a little giveaway.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at our local Friends of the Library booksale and found a copy of a book I blogged about last month, Antonia Fraser's Love Letters: An Illustrated Anthology (as well as about 60 other books to pile around my living room, but we won't talk about that...) This is a gorgeous book, full of beautiful paintings and impassioned words! I already have a copy, so am giving away this new one.

Remember, this is an ex-library copy, so it has some stamps and a plastic cover, but it's in great shape! If you'd like me to send YOU this book, just leave a comment about what you like about Risky Regencies, why you enjoy visiting, maybe some topics you'd like to see us cover in the future or Regency factoids you'd lke to know. On Sunday afternoon, when I get home, I'll pick a comment at random to be the winner.

Thanks for reading! And stay Risky!

Panic in New England

Next Friday, I head to The Homeland (i.e. Massachusetts) to attend the NEC-RWA's Annual Conference. During that time, I will get to a) ride a bus with my friend Kwana, who is insisting on teaching me knitting (our other friend, Elizabeth, cannot stand buses, so she's training it there) b) not see Anne Stuart, who had to cancel as keynote speaker c) hang out with my friend Myretta Robens (known on my own blog as the Delightful Phone Friend), and d) look like even more of a ninny; see below.

See, during the Conference there is a party, a party where--wait, here's the description:

‘Bring Your Fiction to Life’ Costume Party!
Fun Is Mandatory...Costumes Are Optional

Choose any character from fiction past or present...whether from a favorite book, movie, or even your own manuscript.
Someone was inspired to create this fictional character. Come and show us why!

Oh, my lord (and my panic has nothing to do with the quality of the idea--the idea is fine; unfortunately, so is my panic). So who do I pick? One of my favorite characters is MTV's Daria (and I think I look a smidge like her, too), but--dressing up like a cartoon character for a party? A CANCELLED cartoon character? Might as well just wear the big 'L' on my forehead.

Hm. Who else could I be? Last Halloween, I went to a costume party dressed as Miss Havisham, which meant I donned my aunt's old wedding dress and put some tattered cheesecloth around my shoulders. Equally lame as the Daria thing. Plus Miss Havisham isn't really a favorite character.

Jane Eyre? Sorta plain garb, mud-soaked boots from tromping around searching her soul? I could do that, but it's hardly going to feel like I'm at a party. Unless it was an orphan party or something.

I know you're all wondering why I don't mention Elizabeth Bennet, but geez, I'm not 18, don't have Empire waist gowns lying around in my Brooklyn apartment, and I'm even less than tolerable. Back to the literary drawing board.

Godot? Harriet The Spy (I love tomato sandwiches!)? Lew Archer? Ack!

Who's your favorite literary character? Who would you like to dress up as?

Men and Brothers

This is a follow-up to Cara's post the other day about the movie Amazing Grace. Why, you may ask, did the movie industry glom onto what is still (and unjustly) a rather obscure bit of history? Because this year is the two-hundredth anniversary of the Slave Trade Act that came into law on March 25, 1807 (and we're nearly there and it's my turn to blog). This, by the way is Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of William Wilberforce.

I first became interested in this topic by reading Adam Hochschild's wonderful book Bury The Chains, which made me aware of what a burning issue abolition was for late Georgian society (and inspired me to write my October 2007 release, Forbidden Shores). Hochschild points out that it was possibly the first time that people cared passionately enough about a cause--something that would benefit strangers thousands of miles away who they would never meet--to make sacrifices themselves. Ropemakers in Bristol, one of the cities that thrived on the trade, petitioned to end the slave trade, knowing full well that their own livelihood would be threatened.

It was also a movement that cut through divisions of class and gender; ordinary housewives boycotted sugar. Wedgwood produced this plaque (it reads Am I not a man and a brother?) that appeared on many artefacts.

The abolitionists introduced the tactics of the modern political campaign--slogans, investigative journalism, slogans, and powerful visuals like this depiction of a slave ship.

Of course, the major question is why did this happen? What made ordinary--and not so ordinary people--care so passionately about this cause? Hochschild's answer is rather interesting, and one that made me think entirely differently about the Gerogian and Regency periods. Georgian England was seen, and saw itself, surprisingly, as a fairminded and democratic sort of place--the monarchy was mostly benign, and the concept of Magna Carta operated as a sort of unofficial constitution. Few could vote, but ordinary men had the power of the petition. The country had a great infrastructure, because of the Royal Mail, a high level of literacy, and dozens of newspapers. The dealbreaker of the 1807 act was a new petition bearing several thousand signatures, collected in the north of England and delivered to Westminster in a matter of hours. Hochschild suggests, too, that people in England felt an affinity with the Africans whose communities were devastated by slaver raids, because something similar happened in their own ports--the press gang, which enforced men to serve in the Navy.

As I said, Hochschild's book made me rethink the Regency, and I'm wondering if you have come across something, a book or movie, that revealed an unusual facet or layer to your understanding of the period.

Silliest servant blunders

Actually, I'm not talking about the mistake of taking on a career tightening Prinny's corset, though I think this poor fellow deserves combat pay for his efforts.

I'm talking about the more egregious mistakes regarding servants I've seen once in a while in Regency-set romances.

This past weekend I listened to a children's song by Tom Chapin in which a royal footman sang in an imitation Cockney accent. But what I can deal with in a children's song I find harder to take in a historical romance. I have read stories in which a butler or valet spoke Cockney and I have to admit that grates. It's as if the author felt it was necessary to clarify the differences in social status.

Yet some authors make the opposite error. In one book I read a scene where the hero, on returning home, warmly and publicly greets a man on the stairs using his first name. For a moment I thought there was a brother or good friend the author hadn't mentioned before. It turned out to be the butler. It didn't ruin the book for me but it did confuse me for a scene.

Yet I think this is something that is easily researched or even just absorbed through enough reading in the period. It's not hard to learn the names and roles of various servants. Maybe the relationship between them and their masters is a bit more of a subtle thing. The way I understand it, servants often took their tone from the households they served. In a respectable household, the servants who dealt most closely with the family members (and as you can see some of them had to deal quite closely!) and also those who dealt with guests were expected to be respectable and well-spoken themselves. Of course, in a more ramshackle household the servants could run amok, too. It's all part of the characterization.

Georgette Heyer wrote some of the strongest servant characters in her novels, like the domineering old Nurse in VENETIA, or Keighley, the groom in SYLVESTER. I don't think I've read a romance in which a servant had a romantic role but I've read a few in which the heroes or heroines pretended to be a servant. Probably my favorite of those is Loretta Chase's THE SANDALWOOD PRINCESS.

So what are some of your favorite servant (or pretending to be) characters? Do you like it when an author plays with class differences in a romance? Are there errors in depiction of servants that grate on you?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Amazing Grace

I recently saw Amazing Grace, a passionate (and romantic) film which does a nice job of turning the story of William Wilberforce's late 18th century fight against the British slave trade into an entertaining movie with a beginning, middle, and end.

The film is by no means perfect. To turn Wilberforce's struggle into a nice plot arc, there's a lot of jumping forward and backward in time, which confuses some viewers.

There are also some definite alterations to historical fact.

These, of course, are likely to be met with the same reception they always get -- some people will care more, some less, and some not at all. Some will say why bother at all it you're not going to do it right? Some will mind the costume errors but not the other changes, and some will mind everything but the costume errors.

Overall, I really liked the movie.


To start with: the cast! Oh, what a cast. We have Ioan Gruffudd as Wilberforce: charismatic, dogged, brooding. (First picture.)

We have Ciaran Hinds as Banastre Tarleton: angry, snide, sharply intelligent. (Second picture).

And because we can never have too many handsome, dark-haired actors, we also get Rufus Sewell as rebellious anti-slavery crusader Thomas Clarkson. (Third picture.)

And -- yes! Albert Finney (fourth picture), as John Newton, who wrote the famous hymn. (Yes, who'd have pictured Tom Jones grown up so anguished?)

Toby Jones plays the Duke of Clarence, the naval son of King George III (and later King William IV) as a clever and witty bon vivant.

And Michael Gambon plays Fox (fifth picture).

And for true Regency-fan coincidence (yes, you heard it here first! A Risky exclusive bon mot!), Wilberforce's cousin Thornton is played by Nicholas Farrell...and Thornton's wife is played by Sylvestra Le Touzel.

There, isn't that amazing???? :-) (Just curious -- is there anyone here as movie-obsessed as I, who sees something odd there?)

Oh, okay, I'll out with it. In the (really quite boring) 1983 BBC version of Mansfield Park, Nicholas Farrell played Edmund Bertram, and Sylvestra Le Touzel played Fanny Price.

So these two actors played Fanny and Edmund falling in love in 1983, and they play a married couple here. Wonder if they had fun reminiscing?

As I said, I really loved the film. I loved its color, and commitment, and intensity. I loved that we saw sides of this period that we too seldom see. (The scenes in Parliament were all splendid.) And I loved the actors.

And though I don't have a picture of her here, I liked Romola Garai's performance as Wilberforce's love interest quite a lot. Her character is intelligent, forthright, articulate, and Garai carries off both the dramatic bits and the lighter moments equally well.

As for the historical changes I mentioned above...I have mixed feelings here. They mucked about a bit with costumes and hair (as is usual), and though I noticed some of it, it didn't much bother me.

What did bother me rather more was that Pitt and Wilberforce were sitting in the House of Commons together with the Duke of Clarence and "Lord" Tarleton. Yeah, just weird. And even weirder -- the real Tarleton was never in his life a peer anyway! Years after the end of the movie, he was made a baronet -- still not a peer, of course! But throughout the movie (and on the official movie website), he is consistently referred to as "Lord Tarleton." And I really can't think of a single good reason why. (I have thought of one bad reason... Aristocrats are by definition selfish and evil, so they supported the slave trade, so Tarleton had to be made a peer...???)

So... Have you seen the movie? Do you intend to?

Which actors or actresses in it would most tempt you to see it? Or would the setting or the subject most convince you to take the plunge?

All comments welcome!

Cara
Cara King, author of My Lady Gamester and movie fanatic

300 and the Regency

What does the movie 300 have to do with the Regency period? Other than my eager anticipation, that is. I’ve now seen the move THREE times and, needless to say, I LOVED it. Not only was it visually stunning (and I’m not referring to the Spartan abs; one quickly accepts the undress as costume), it was marvelously acted (Gerard Butler was superlative. He totally inhabited the role of Leonidas), and quite emotional. It also was very violent. I talked my friend Katie in to seeing the movie with me by saying, “The violence is so stylized, Katie, it won’t bother you.” Then watching the movie with her, I suddenly saw the blood and carnage. There are reasons it is rated R.
For those who may not know, 300 is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. It tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, when 300 Spartans sacrificed their lives battling the largest Persian army ever assembled. This battle is considered a pivotal event in history preserving Western Civilization. The movie was filmed against a blue screen; the setting and special effects were computer generated, making it a whole new movie-going experience. This is, however, a Risky Regency blog. So what does 300 have to do with the Regency?

1. Regency education included studying Greek and Roman texts. I could imagine Regency boys reading Herodotus’s history of the Battle of Thermopylae and being as enthralled as the young guys in the movie theater. After the movie, one of them said, “That was awesome!”
2. I also imagine that military men in the Regency studied the Battle. King Leonidas chose the High Gates, a narrow passage through the mountains, as the best place on which to fight the Persians. The terrain gave the massively outnumbered Spartans enough advantage to cause huge Persian losses. Wellington also used terrain to advantage. He picked the location of Waterloo for its advantage and at a crucial moment in the battle hid his troops behind a hill, surprising the French and helping to turn the battle around to victory.
3. The Spartan’s use of the phalanx formation, forming a line of shields and spears that made them impenetrable by the attacking Persians. In the Napoleonic Wars, when infantry formed squares, they were similarly impenetrable. At Waterloo, Wellington's squares held over onslaught after onslaught by French cavalry.
4. After the Persian King Xerxes won at Thermopylae, his army pillaged Athens and destroyed its temple. The Parthenon replaced that temple. During the Regency, Lord Elgin rescued (purloined??) the marble friezes and took them back to England hoping in vain, to earn a fortune for them. The Elgin Marbles remain in the British Museum, and, coincidentally, 300 premiered in London March 14.
5. In 1823 Lord Byron traveled to Greece to join the movement for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. Before he could participate in battle, though, he died of fever. In his Don Juan canto, he wrote about Thermopylae:

Must we but weep o'er days more blest?
Must we but blush? -- Our fathers bled.
Earth! render back from out thy breast
A remnant of our Spartan dead!
Of the three hundred grant but three,
To make a new Thermopylae.--Don Juan, Canto iii, Stanza 86
On March 20 on the Wet Noodle Posse blog and the Warner Women blog, I’m going to talk about what the movie 300 can teach us about story-telling.
About love scenes
About minor characters
About theme

Have you seen 300 yet? What did you think? Can you think of any other connection to the Regency?

Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time--King Leonidas

Diane

A Bit o' Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I grew up with Irish grandparents, so this was always a BIG day in my family. My grandmother would make corned beef and cabbage, my grandfather would hang a big Irish flag up over the garage, and there was a lot of singing of folk songs (never mind that no one in my family can actually sing!). It was like "My Big Fat Irish Holiday."

Today, I'm going to go to a parade this afternoon, and a concert of Irish music tonight. There will be no singing, and probably no corned beef, and definitely none of those tall green hats, but maybe some Guinness.

A few factoids. This is the feast day of St. Patrick, who lived from around 373 to 493, and who died on March 17 (the best way to commemorate this, of course, is green beer!). The biggest parade in the US is in New York City, where an estimated 2 million people show up. The first public celebration of SPD in the US was in Boston in 1737. In New York, the Crown and Thistle tavern held a party in 1756, and in 1780 George Washington allowed his troops a holiday on March 17 (later known as the St. Patrick's Day Encampment).

I hope you all have a bonny day! Does anyone have any fun plans?

And, in case you feel the urge to bake, here is my grandmother's soda bread recipe (I don't give this to just anyone!):

Irish Soda Bread

5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

I tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp, cut into cubes

2 1/2 cups raisins

3 tbsp caraway seeds

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter heavy, ovenproof 10 to 12 inch diameter skillet with 2 to 2 1/2 inch high sides. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Add butter; using fingertips, run in until coarse crumbs form. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds. Whisk buttermilk and egg in medium bowl to blend. Add to dough; using wooden spoon, stir just until well incorporated (dough will be very sticky)

Transfer dough to prepared skillet; smooth top, mounding slightly in center. Using small, sharp knife cut 1 inch deep X in top center. Bake until bread is cooked through and tester inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool bread in skillet 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

MacGuffin

Some of you movie fans might know the term "MacGuffin" popularized by Alfred Hitchcock:

"A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story. It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers."

MacGuffins spur the action in romances, too (it was author Carolyn Jewel's post on the topic that inspired me); for example, how many women seeking their family heirlooms can you think of? The heirlooms themselves don't matter; what matters is that she needs the hero's help to pose as a courtesan/governess/schoolteacher in order to infiltrate the villain's lair. Sometimes the villain ends up being the hero, so she doesn't get his help in the first place, but you get the idea.

Or there are some spy secrets that need to be divulged to the British government to help win the war against Boney (Wellesley/Wellington being too busy arriving after 11:00 at Almack's to help), and our h/h have to scurry across England and France to find them.

Basically, as I think I understand it, a MacGuffin catapults the everyday into the extraordinary. The best example is Janet Leigh at the beginning of Psycho; you can see she's just stolen some money, and is on the run, but that doesn't matter once she encounters Anthony Perkins.

My WIP opens with a man buying a woman at auction. It's not necessarily a MacGuffin, since the reasons behind her being sold are pertinent to the story, but the fact that he bid on her (versus the farmer with the bad teeth) sets my story in motion.

Do you like big bang opening scenes? Do you care why the hero and heroine are together, or are you willing to suspend disbelief if presented with a compelling enough MacGuffin? And what's your favorite Hitchcock movie (mine's Notorious--a stunning Ingrid Bergman and a caddish Cary Grant? Be still, my heart!) And what's your favorite fiction MacGuffin?

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