Hi all, Anne here, introducing my friend English historical romance author, Nicola Cornick. We started off as "baby" authors at much the same time, and struck up a cyber friendship from our different corners of the world. Nicola's written twenty-three historical romances for Harlequin Mills and Boon (Harlequin Historicals) and seven for HQN Books. As well as being popular with readers all over the world, she's also had critical acclaim; she's been a RITA finalist twice, has twice finalled in the Romantic Novelists’ Association's Romance Prize and has been nominated for several Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards.
I am delighted to welcome Nicola to the Word Wench blog.
NC: Thank you very much for inviting me to blog with the Word Wenches, Anne! It’s a great pleasure to be here.
AG: Nicola, tell us a little about yourself.
NC: Well, to introduce myself - I was born in Yorkshire, in the North of England, of largely Scandinavian ancestry. According to the studies on personality types that apparently makes me practical, down to earth, very relationship-oriented and conscientious! It’s certainly true that I value family, friends - and pets - very highly indeed and that I work hard and fret over the stuff that doesn’t get done. The flipside of the character is apparently a tendency to sadness (not helped by all those long, dark northern winters) but actually I’ve found this useful for my writing! Romantic Times reviews frequently comment that my books are very emotional and I think I’m accessing that “northern melancholy.” But most of the time I’m a jolly soul because I love my writing life and consider myself very lucky.
When I’m not writing I’m usually to be found working for the National Trust at Ashdown House, more of which later, or training guide dog puppies, or travelling! I have American cousins and love to visit them and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world although I still have Australia and New Zealand on my “must visit” list!
AG: Oh, good, you must come one day — we'd love to have you. The Australian and NZ conferences are in August each year. (hint hint)
What drew you to a) writing fiction and b) historical romance?
NC: I never made a conscious decision to become a writer, which may sound odd but looking back I can see I was rather slow in working out what I really wanted to do as a career! After I graduated from college in London I became a university administrator and followed that career for 15 years. It was fine but it didn’t set my world alight. I wanted to work with history in some way and kept considering other jobs but nothing really appealed.
At the same time I was an avid reader and had been since childhood. Like so many historical authors I started out reading Georgette Heyer when I was in my teens (Devil’s Cub was my first) and I devoured books by writers including Anya Seton, Mary Stewart – both the historicals and the contemporary novels – and Victoria Holt. Then I discovered Mills & Boon historical romances at my local library and I was in seventh heaven! I read every Mills & Boon historical they had plus all the 1970s UK Regency authors as well such as Sheila Walsh, Clare Darcy and Alice Chetwynd Ley. I was desperate for new reading matter and I kept popping in to the library every week hoping that my favourite authors would have written something new. Eventually the librarians had to explain to me that it took longer than a week to produce a book!
By the time I was eighteen I had run out of historical romances to read so I started to write my own. It took me twelve years to be published, Mills & Boon rejected the book three times, but eventually it became my first Regency True Colours. I can remember the moment when I suddenly realised that this was what I wanted to do. It was so exciting – and hey, it only took me 12 years to work it out!
AG: I'm so very glad you persisted, and True Colours is a lovely book. Your passion for history is not simply related to your writing, is it? Tell us how history permeates some of the other areas your life, in particular your work at Ashdown House.
NC: Yes, Ashdown House is most definitely one of my passions! It’s a beautiful seventeenth century hunting lodge and I work there as a guide and a historian. I’m writing the history of the house and the Craven family who owned it. It’s taking me years and years because I keep getting distracted by obscure pieces of research and disappear off at a tangent! Not only is the house stunningly pretty and well worth a visit but the Craven family history is fascinating. The Regency Earl of Craven was the sort of man who could inspire a book. He had a successful army career, married an actress and sailed his armed schooner in the English Channel during the Napoleonic Wars, in defiance of the French privateers!
AG: He certainly sounds like a real hero. You and I were first published around the same time, and with the same editor, and I think we were some of the first non US-based authors to be published in Harlequin Historicals. Did this change anything for you?
NC: We were! You and I were the first two non US-based authors to be published in Harlequin Historicals. I remember feeling honoured to be chosen but also daunted as well. I knew very little about the US market and when I received my first reviews and started to hear from readers I realised how active and engaged the US romance community was. This was a total eye opener for me! I also discovered all the wonderful US and Australian authors writing in the Regency genre so as a reader it was amazing – seventh heaven all over again! It also made me feel the need to raise my game in a market where there were so many great books, and authors writing with such verve and freshness. So in terms of my writing development it was extremely good for me.
AG: Of course these days Harlequin Historicals and Mills and Boon historicals are both edited out of London. One of the things I always loved about the London office is that they're very open to different time periods and different settings. You yourself have written books set in a range of eras and locations – even writing a 1908 book for the Mills and Boon centenary. That sounds like fun — modern and yet not modern.
NC: I totally agree that it is one of the great strengths of HMB that they encourage authors to write historicals with such diverse backgrounds and periods. I’ve written two books for them that were set outside the Regency era. My first was Lord Greville’s Captive, which was set in the English Civil War. It’s a period of history I would love to revisit with my writing because it was a time of such intense conflict leading to equally intense passions and loyalties. The other book, the Edwardian-set one was a lot of fun to write. In some ways the period reminded me of the Regency, with its conspicuous consumption and glittering high society. What surprised me was that so many aspects of our daily life were already in place a hundred years ago. For example the London Underground was operating and was already known as the Tube, cars were becoming more frequent on the streets and if the King wanted to visit his friends he would telephone to let them know! I loved researching the fashions as well.
HMB have also published a first person Regency of mine that came out in March this year which is called Kidnapped: His Innocent Mistress. It’s good to know that I can refresh my writing by doing something different and writing a first person book was definitely different!
AG: I believe you've also written a story for Harlequin's new "Undone" e-book line. Tell us about that.
NC: It was lots of fun writing a Harlequin Historical Undone for the launch of the new line! I like writing short stories so to be asked to write one that was super-hot was super-fun! The Undone imprint really sizzles, it’s very naughty and a great way for writers to draw on their wild side! To my mind the challenge is to create something that is short and sexy but also very romantic, to build convincing characters and create a meaningful relationship between them, and all in 15 000 words max!
AG: Do you have a writing routine? You have a dog and two cats, who no doubt supervise much of your writing.
NC: Yes, they do! I imagine lots of authors find that their pets do this, including yourself! They are arch-manipulators and have me perfectly trained to fit my writing around their requirements rather than vice versa! My cats try to steal my office chair each day and really resent being thrown off. Monty, my dog, is an expert at staring. If I am so engrossed in my writing he will come up and put his head on my lap and stare fixedly at me until he breaks my concentration! I’ve written about how my writing routine is dictated by my pets on my website at: http://www.nicolacornick.co.uk/day_in_the_life.htm
AG: What's the difference between your Harlequin Historicals and your books for HQN?
NC: Well, first of all it’s a huge privilege to be able to write for both lines because they give me different challenges. My Harlequin Historicals are the ones that are more diverse in that they are set in different eras or I can try something experimental with the style, like the first person narrative.
I started writing for HQN in 2006. My editor had pointed out to me that my Harlequin Historical Regencies were becoming more and more like single titles – they were getting too long for the word count and I kept introducing secondary characters and complex sub-plots. I was very fortunate that Harlequin had established the HQN Books imprint around that time to publish mainstream romance so now I write my Regency Historicals for HQN Books and throw in secondary romances and sub-plots to my heart’s content!
AG: Lovely. It's also great that the HQN Nicola Cornicks remain available to buy longer than your series books. Will you share an extract from one your HQN books, please?
NC: Of course. Here is an extract from my most recent HQN Regency historical, Unmasked:
“I know it was you in the fountain,” he said softly, whilst her trapped mind ran back and forth over the possibilities. “You may protest if you wish but I believe I would recognise you anywhere.”
A shiver ran along Mari’s nerves and she drew the silver shawl more tightly about her shoulders. Oh yes, he recognised her from the gardens but did he know her from the tavern as well? It felt as though they were already deeply involved in a game of hunter and hunted and any admission she made could be so very dangerous.
Challenge him. See how far he will go, what he will give away…
She had always been a gambler. She had had to be in order to survive. Sometimes to throw down the gauntlet was the only way.
She gave a little shrug. “Very well. I concede that I was the woman you saw in the fountain. I thought I was unobserved. It was… careless of me.”
He flashed her a smile, a disturbingly attractive one. Her toes curled instinctively within her slippers and her heart did another giddy little skip as though she was a schoolroom miss developing a tendre rather than a mature woman of five and twenty.
“I like it that you do not pretend,” he said. His voice was intimately low. “Ninety nine women out of one hundred would have claimed not to understand me.”
If only he knew. Sometimes she forgot where the pretence began – and where it ended.
She gave him a very straight look. “Of course they would, and who could blame them? A reputation dies all too easily, as you must know, Major Falconer.”
When he remained silent, watching her face, she raised her brows. “Was that all?"
She saw his lips twitch into another smile at her attempted dismissal of him.
“No, it was not all.” He reached forward. His fingers brushed against her neck very lightly and lingered, warm against her skin. “You had better hide that curl if you do not wish anyone else to guess your secret. Your hair is still wet. You must have rushed home and dressed in a great hurry.”
Nicola is giving away a copy of Unmasked and her previous HQN title, Lord of Scandal. To enter in the draw for one of these books, answer the following question: Which historical era fascinates you the most and what is your favourite book set in that era?
And to learn more about Nicola and her books, go here.