Word Wenches

The times, they are a'changin'

Pat here:

I’m writing this in the week prior to Thanksgiving so I may enjoy next week with my family. Given all the uproar and hysteria in the romance world this week, I’m expecting to return to an industry in complete disarray. Or perhaps over the next ten days, all publishing will decide to pull up roots and move to Nashville. Or everything will have settled back to normal. So I’ll refrain from commenting upon the gossip flying about and wait to see the results.  (photos of disarray are limited, so this is as close as I can get to fruit basket upset...)

But I will use the lesson of Change for today’s ramble. The world changes every day. We can’t stop it or we would stagnate and all life would die.  If people didn’t change, they’d never learn lessons, never grow, and from my perspective, if nothing changed, the future would look mighty bleak because this world is far from perfect. Admittedly, a lot of change happening quickly can be terrifying, but technology has a habit of creating change, for better or worse, so we may as well get used to it.

It would take a doctoral thesis to relate how the changes of history have brought us out of caves into today’s world, but I’m not much interested in earning a PhD. What set off this train of thought was a book I recently finished reading.  I’d been looking forward to this story because it has all the wonderful topics I enjoy—ghosts and restoring lovely old houses and secrets hidden in the past. I was prepared to curl up in my chair before the fire and spend hours wallowing in delight.

Instead, I almost ended up heaving the book in the fire because the protagonist never changed. Never. Ever. She lived in a state of complete denial for three hundred wretched pages. She wasn’t that wonderful a person to start with, but I’m ready to accept flawed characters who grow and change and take their lessons gracefully. But this one never had an opportunity because she never asked questions. How can you have a mystery without asking questions? It’s insane! Is it possible to walk through life never questioning why? Just accepting that this is how it is and moving on?  Denying the evidence before one’s eyes and believing what others tell you instead?  What kind of dense, thickheaded idiot is that? And even if the character has reason to live in denial, what is the point of writing a book about someone who never grows out of a major flaw? The mystery solved itself, whoopee. Or maybe the ghosts solved the mystery, because this protagonist was too thick to think for herself. By the end, I didn’t care.

Have you ever looked forward to a book and suffered immense disappointment? Go ahead, rant away. I just did. Can you enlighten us and tell why you were disappointed?

And I would relate this to the uproar about vanity press and self-publishing that’s currently searing the internet, but I’m a little afraid the subject is too immense to tackle. How will we find good books in the future if everyone publishes everything on their own? Scary change.

Guest Carla Kelly

We are delighted to announce that Carla Kelly, popular writer of wonderful, heartwarming historical romances, will be joining us on Monday, December 7 to talk about her books, her writing, and in particular her story in the new anthology, A Regency Christmas. Don't forget to mark your calendars!

An Interview with Elizabeth Hawksley

Today it is my very great pleasure to introduce as our Word Wench guest historical author Elizabeth Hawksley. I discovered Elizabeth's books a while ago and they have become firm favourites of mine. Their combination of romance, adventure and history has been described as "suspenseful and satifying" by one happy reviewer and as "a real old-fashioned page-turner" by another.

Elizabeth describes herself as having a "portfolio career." She has had a dozen novels published together with Getting The Point, a punctuation guide for adults co-authored with Jenny Haddon. She also gives talks and workshops in creative writing, is a member of the UK Romantic Novelists' Association and reviews for the Historical Novel Society.

Elizabeth, welcome to the Word Wenches! First of all, I found the biography on your website riveting and was fascinated to discover that you were brought up in a Georgian manor house (Hall Garth, in the photograph below), an experience I am sure many of us envy you! Please could you tell us a little about what that was like?

I don’t think you’d like it, Nicola! Very much an Upstairs/Downstairs world. We children were banished to the nursery wing with Nanny and a nursery maid and saw our mother for an hour each day from 5-6 pm downstairs in the morning-room – on our best behaviour.

I didn’t eat downstairs in the dining-room until I was twelve, when, under my mother’s stern eye, I had to re-learn my table manners e.g. how to hold a soup spoon correctly (no lower-class nursery manners downstairs, thank you!), and that the butler always offered food from the left and so on.

My brothers, meanwhile, learnt to stand up when a lady entered the room and to remain standing until she was seated, and, of course, open doors for her when she left. Not to mention walking on the outside of the pavement (to shield her from any muddy splashes).

Then there was dinner party etiquette – complicated – including the business of ladies leaving the room at the end so that the gentlemen could enjoy their port and dirty stories. We, meanwhile, powdered our noses and then the butler brought us coffee.

I wouldn’t wish my childhood on anyone. But I admit that it has come in useful with my novels; at least I know what that world was like from the inside.

I must admit that this does sound very quelling for a child. The idea of old-fashioned manners in gentlemen is very appealing though! 

The picture on the left is of you being "finished" in Paris. I'm wondering whether your background led you into your career? What were the influences that led you to become a historical novelist?

With all the above – what else could I write but historical novels?! My childhood knowledge of the outside world was very limited. We had no television and no radio. Fortunately, we  had access to my grandfather’s splendid Victorian library. I wrote my first novel at ten, set in the English Civil War – I’d been reading Margaret Irwin’s The Stranger Prince about Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Jane Lane’s The Escape of the King about Charles II’s escape after the battle of Worcester.

I think you'll find plenty of other fans of those books here on Word Wenches! What do you consider to be the qualities that make a good historical novel?

The same as for any novel: a good story, believable characters and a cracking pace. Do your research but digest it – no information dumps.

Your novels have been described as a wonderful combination of history, adventure and romance. What is it about that combination of elements that appeals to you as a writer?

I write the sort of books I like to read: heroes and heroines need their mettles tested – hence the adventure. The historical bit adds social and sexual constraints to what they can do and how they behave – I find that useful. 19^th century ladies and gentlemen led pretty separate lives and met only in certain socially restricted settings. Result – increased sexual tension. 

For example, some years ago, I learnt to dance quadrilles – a dance with four couples. I quickly realized that, though you might be dancing with the dull but eligible Mr A., there were ample opportunities for eyeing the more attractive Mr B opposite. And, if your hand were squeezed discreetly by Mr B during the ‘chain’, nobody else knew – and certainly not Mama. I’m sure you can see the possibilities for yourself! My first thought was, I could use this!

You include real historical events in your books, such as the 1814 Frost Fair on the Thames. How do you decide which events to include? Is a result of your research – do some events simply shout out for inclusion?

Usually, as you say, something shouts out for inclusion. The 1814 Frost Fair is very well documented, which helps. I had a sudden picture of my villain, Balquidder, meeting a spectacularly nasty end on an unstable ice floe as the ice began to crack up …

In A Desperate Remedy, I used the arrival of four giraffes at London docks in 1836. They walked several miles to the new London Zoo and caused a sensation – again, it’s well documented. I thought: what if my heroine, Decima, sneaks out to see them and, in the crush, is coshed by two criminals who steal her clothes, purse and hair. She is dumped, unconscious, outside Drury Lane theatre, where Alexander (rich, but illegitimate) finds her. Her autocratic father promptly disowns her …

That description alone has made me want to re-read the book! Do you have a favourite amongst your books?

I’m very fond of Tempting Fortune, which has a theatre setting. I’d just done a lot of research into 19^th century theatre for my MA in Victorian Studies and it seemed a pity to waste it.

The story opens on an icy January day in 1826 when a foundling, the illegitimate daughter of Lord Fulmar, is discovered – and a curse is set in motion. Twenty-seven years later, Jack Midwinter, a rake and womanizer, sets out to find her. But Sarah, now a costume designer at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, has no intention of being temped either by Jack, or the ill-fated Fulmar fortune ….

It is one of my most romantic novels. I have a very soft spot for Jack and Sarah.

One of the things that I love about your books is the unusual settings and some of the heroes of your books are out of the common style as well and are not necessarily aristocrats. What draws you to writing “different” types of heroes?

I like setting myself technical challenges! In Crossing the Tamar, for example, my hero, Veryan Selwood, is a reclusive, priggish Oxford don with a very rigid notion of propriety. His sexual experience comprises a couple of embarrassingly inept episodes he prefers to forget. When he unexpectedly inherits old Sir Walter’s estate in Cornwall, he is horrified to find Sir Walter’s mistress, numerous bastards and a community up to its neck in smuggling. Veryan has a lot to learn – about life, women, and, in particular, his cousin Dorothea. Could I turn such unpromising material into a Hero?

I enjoy culture clashes, for example, between wealthy mill-owner Daniel Darke, intent on moving up in the world in The Belvedere Tower, and Cassandra Hampden, niece of the last Earl of Lavington. Daniel buys the Lavington estate – and finds Cassandra living in an Elizabethan belvedere tower in the middle of it. And he can’t get her out …

My interest here is probably inspired by my own family history. A great-grandfather on one side of the family was a railway navvy on the world’s first public railway, the Stockton and Darlington line. He ended up with his own iron and steel foundry. On the other side, a great-grandmother was the daughter of Lord Dunsany of Dunsany Castle, Ireland.

You have mentioned in some of your talks and workshops that you love creating villain characters. What do you think makes a strong villain and why do these characters appeal to you?

A strong villain needs to have his own aims and objectives.

I find a villain really useful. He can be a catalyst for change: exposing the heroine’s weakest point, for example, thus giving her the opportunity to learn things and move on. He can also challenge the hero - who can stand up to him and come good. Villains bring danger – invaluable for the dreaded mid-book sag. Let him chuck in a nasty problem and, instantly, the tension will rise.

 But beware: villains can seduce the author and infiltrate any emotional vacuum. They can be dangerously attractive.

I noticed you mentioned a hero of mine, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, as one of your dream dinner party guests. Who else would you invite to join you?

I’ve always admired the Victorian traveller and explorer in Africa, Sir Samuel White Baker – handsome, strong, dashing, and blond with piercing blue eyes (sounds promising!). I think he’d be an interesting dinner guest. He bought his wife, Florence, in a slave auction in Bulgaria (she was the sole survivor of a massacre) and took her with him on his travels. He wrote that she possessed ‘a share of sang-froid admirably suited to African travel’ and, after a particularly nerve-wracking encounter in the jungle, commented admiringly, ‘Florence was not a screamer.’

 I think I’ll invite Florence, too.

I’d love to meet the American Frederick Douglass, ex-slave and campaigner for the abolition of slavery. Interesting, charismatic and good-looking, I imagine him getting on well with Samuel and Florence.

Meanwhile, Rupert and I could enjoy a quiet tête-à-tête ….

 Okay, I'd do anything to infiltrate that dinner party! What is the best part about being a writer for you? 

When it’s working as it should, there’s an intoxicating balance – a sort of objective subjectivity – where one is playing with words and watching the characters to see what they do. It reminds me of creative juggling. I also enjoy the research and, again, if it’s working, serendipity usually comes into play.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

You can almost always start a conversation later and end it earlier than you think.

If you’re stuck, fling in a problem.

I follow Julie Cohen’s excellent advice: always write a scene from the point of view of the most vulnerable person there.

Elizabeth, thank you very much for sharing with us not only those fascinating details about a country house childhood but also so many useful ideas for writers both published and aspiring. Elizabeth's website is at http://www.elizabethhawksley.com/index.htm If you have any questions for Elizabeth she would be delighted to answer them!

Food, Glorious Food!

by Mary Jo

 Such are the intoxicating effects of handing in a book (Done, done, done!!!) that I couldn’t even read the calendar properly.  Or perhaps it’s because I had it firmly in mind that my blog was a day next to Thanksgiving, and since I’m mildly dyslexic, my mental hard drive naturally translated that to the day after, not the day before.  (Urk!) 

So I went off to have my hair done (finished a good book while under the hair baker, hence fun), then stopped at a grocery story (double urk!). And have only just cottoned to the fact that I have failed in my wenchly duty today.

Ah, well.  I’d been ruminating on the differences between being a good cook and a good baker, and Thanksgiving might be a good time to talk about that.  Because really, though most of us know the basics of cooking and baking, mastery of the two skills does represent different personality types.

A cook can be more improvisational.  If you lack mushrooms for that interesting chicken dish, you can probably do without, or maybe substitute bacon bits or something quite different. 

Bakers, however, can’t generally improvise as much, at least not without courting disaster.  You can add chopped walnuts to a cookie recipe and it will probably be just fine, but fail to have the basic ingredients—flour, eggs, baking powder, et al—and  the results may not be pretty.  Much less edible!  So following a recipe fairly carefully is usually advisable.

I always liked baking, mostly because I liked eating the results.  As a Yankee, I’m a pie person, as was my father.  (One definition of a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast.  Guilty!  <G>)  My father used to pay me a bit of extra allowance for each pie I made, so Saturday nights, I’d make two for Sunday dinner. 

I’ve been meaning to watch the movie Julie and Julia, which is about Julie Powell, a frustrated young New Yorker who decided to jazz up her life by cooking her way through Julia Child’s landmark Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  She blogged about the results, and got a book and then a movie out of it. 

The movie, I understand, intertwines the life of young Julie (Amy Adams) with Julia Child’s, the latter life based on the book My Life in France, which was compiled by Julia Child’s nephew from her letters and memories.  I listened to that book in audio, and loved hearing Julia’s stories.

What struck me most about My Life in France, though, was the realization of how modern cook books are.  Yes, recipe books been around for a couple of centuries, but at the same time, cooking was also an apprenticeship system.  You trained with a professional cook, or much more often, learned from your mother.  If you bought a cookery book, it was usually more for the recipes and it was often assumed that you knew the techniques.  (For example:  “Elk Stew.  Take one elk. Skin and dress.  Make stew.”)

What made Mastering the Art of French Cooking so remarkable was the way Julia went through the steps of creating a classic French dish so she could describe exactly what was done.  She cooked each dish over and over and OVER until she could describe each step clearly.  All of a sudden people around the world could work their way through the recipes, and learn a whole lot about good cooking.

I’m one of the people who did exactly that.  The book had been out for several years when I picked up a copy.  I was living in England, and while I certainly didn’t try to work my way through all the recipes, I learned how to make good stock by starting with bones and clumps of fresh herbs.  I made coq au vin, and chocolate mousse, and beef burgundy and lots of other dishes. 

These days I can buy first rate croissants at the local bakery, but then they were a rare and exotic treat.  So I followed Julia’s instructions to make croissants, which required layering dough and butter, rolling, flattening, folding, rolling again.  There were frequent resting periods in the refrigerator since the dough toughened too much to roll without more rest.  (I understood the resting part perfectly by the time I was done. <G>)

My croissants weren’t even remotely crescent shaped, but they had all the yummy flaky layers and were delicious.  Yet it wasn’t until many years later that I realized how much what I know about cooking came from those forays into Julia Child.  (My mother had many interests but cooking was not on the list.  Hence, not much of an apprenticeship for me.)

I haven’t seen Julie and Julia yet, though I will.  These days, my cooking ambitions are to have tasty, reasonably healthy food with the minimum of effort.  Here’s an example of the kind of cooking I do now.  I love making soup, and have a whole file folder within my recipe folder which is just soup. 

My Easy but Inelegant Italian Wedding Soup was inspired by visiting the café at the fabulous Missouri Botanical Gardens with Pat Rice in October.  The cup of Italian Wedding Soup that I ordered used beef stock, not the more common chicken stock, and I loved the cute little round balls of Israeli couscous, which is a baked pasta about the size of a BB in its dry form. 

So I came home, threw this together, and found it good.  It’s inelegant because the bits of meatball are chopped from larger commercial ones rather than made individually, but it sure tastes good.  And I did mention easy, didn’t I?

Easy but Inelegant Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients

4 quarts of beef stock
1 - 1 ½ lbs. pre-made Italian meatballs, cut into small pieces (Traditionally, Italian meatballs are made of a blend of beef, sausage, and veal.  My local grocer sells them cooked and made on the premises, but frozen bags should be in most supermarkets.  At least, they are in Baltimore, which has lots of Italians who like good food.)

about ¾ lb. of carrots, chopped fine.  (Not essential, but they add color.)

9 oz. package of fresh spinach, sliced.  (I sent it through the slicing attachment of my food processor.  Frozen chopped spinach would probably work pretty well, too.)

1-2 cups Israeli couscous or other small pasta like orzo  (but the little spherical bits of Israeli couscous look awfully cute.)  Vary quantity for desired thickness—two cups is a very thick, hearty soup.

Directions

1) In a big soup pot, bring beef broth to a boil and toss in chopped carrots and cut up meatballs.  Simmer half an hour or so until carrots are well cooked. 

2. Toss in pasta and sliced spinach and simmer for 10 or 15 minutes.  (Longer if you use a larger pasta that takes longer to cook; in that case, you might want to add the spinach a few minutes after the pasta.)

When all is tender, serve hot with grated Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Makes about 16 servings.  Good the first day, better the second. Freezes well.

So have a lovely Thanksgiving.   hope you have a warm and rewarding ime, abundant blessings to give thanks for, and not so much hassle that it isn’t a good time.

And if you have to do most of the work of preparing a feast—remember that you can always make a nice easy pot of soup at some later date. <G>

So—have you seen Julie and Julia?  And is it as much fun as I’ve heard it is?

Mary Jo
 

When A Man is Tired of London, He Is Tired of Life . . .

Cara/Andrea here,

I don’t know about you, but as the holidays approach and I begin the annual rite of choosing special gifts for family and friends, I can’t help but imagine the “dream” gift that would be tops on my own wish list. Well, Santa arrived early for me this year . . . No, glittering baubles did not fall down the chimney . . . Ioan Gruffudd did not appear to serve me breakfast in bed (Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?) However, something just as delicious dropped in my lap.

For you see, last month I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to travel to London, one of my favorite cities in the world, for a short research trip. Fabulous Museums! Historic Houses! Legendary Bookstores! Meandering through the same parks and streets that my Regency heroes and heroines tread! (Okay, and shopping the funky antique markets on Portobello Road) It goes without saying that I was “in alt.”

The fun actually began at the airport. It isn’t often that one can wax poetic about travel these days, but I told you this was a dream trip. I was booked on British Air business class, so was treated to the experience of awaiting my boarding call in blissful comfort at BA’s luxurious lounge. An oasis of tranquility amidst all the hustle and bustle, it offered a full range of wonderful amenities, including relaxing couches, world-class wines and hors d’oeuvres, as well as a sleekly modern dining room with gourmet entrées, artisanal cheeses and sinfully scrumptious desserts for those who preferred to have a bite before the flight.

Once on board, the pampering continued. I was served champagne in my own personal sleeper pod, along with a cozy pajamas and a duvet. A touch of a button converted the seating to a flat bed . . . but I was enjoying it so much I was almost sorry to go to sleep! A special added touch to the British Air experience is its Arrivals Lounge, where travelers can take advantage of the spacious private shower rooms.

Refreshed and revived, I zipped into London and turned down St. James’s Street, which Regency aficionados will recognize as the location for Brooks, Boodles and other exclusive gentlemen’s clubs of the era. The aura of masculine privilege lingers on the area—it’s still home to the legendary wine merchants Berry Brothers and Rudd and John Locke’s hat emporium, where one can see the head mold made for the Duke of Wellington. My destination was Duke’s Hotel, an elegant townhouse establishment discreetly tucked in a charming courtyard off the main thoroughfare. A shilling’s toss from Green Park, it was the perfect place from which to explore the heart of historic London (More on Duke’s in a later post—its bar was a favorite haunt of Ian Fleming and it’s said to make the best martini in the world. Alessandro, the dapper gentleman who presides over the polished wood and crystal glasses, will share his secrets with us in December!)

After stashing my bag, I strolled down the street to visit St. James’s Palace, the Royal residence in Regency times. (As you see, it’s far more modest than its nearby neighbor Buckingham Palace, which did not become home to the monarchy until accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.)

Alas, space constraints demand that I heavily edit my peregrinations. So I’ll preface my travelogue by saying that there are certain landmark institutions for all lovers of British history that I always visit—The V & A Museum, the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the British Library. But one of the things I really love about London are the smaller, less well-known museums, and this trip I was set on exploring some of them. So without further ado, here are a few of the highlights of my research wanderings:

Apsley House, bought by the Duke of Wellington in 1817 from his elder brother Richard, is a gem of a small museum located at Hyde Park Corner. Known as Number One London, because it was the first house seen by travelers after they passed through the toll gates from Kensington, it was designed by Robert Adam in 1770s, and is a beautifully preserved example of an aristocratic Georgian/Regency residence. Aside from the period furnishings and splendid architectural details, including Adam’s splendid circular staircase (which, by the by, is guarded by Canova’s 11-ft nude statue of Napoleon as Mars the peacemaker) Apsley House contains an amazing wealth of artistic treasures as well as personal items and memorabilia of the Iron Duke.

Many of the paintings on display were captured from Joseph Bonaparte’s baggage train after the Battle of Vitoria and then given to Wellington by the King of Spain. Perhaps even more impressive is Plate and China Room, which displays the gifts bestowed on the duke by the grateful monarchs of Europe after Waterloo. The porcelain, silver and ceremonial swords were  dazzling. But my favorite part of the house was Wellington’s “Warrior Valhalla,” a small room hung with an glittering array of military portraits—both his friends and his foes, Somehow I could imagine him sitting there in the evening with a glass of brandy, reviewing the tactics and strategies of bygone battles with the ghosts of the past.

An added delight was the audio tour given to each visitor. Along with a detailed description of the rooms and their contents, the recording also features the present duke recounting family reminiscences, including a very funny anecdote about the Napoleon statue during WWII. (The Wellesleys still reside in a private part of the house . . . talk about living history!)

As I’m working on a new Regency-set mystery book proposal involving the military, I spent a lot of time around The Admiralty (those of you who are fans of Patrick O’Brian and C.S. Forester will recognize the place) and Horse Guards (yes, that’s the name of the building), which housed the general staff of the British Army. Horse Guards is built on the old site of Whitehall Place, which was destroyed by fire in 1689, and its massive parade ground was the old palace’s tiltyard.

In Regency times, only royalty and those with special ivory passes from the monarch could pass through the building’s central archway leading from Whitehall Street to the formal entrance to St. James’s Palace via the Parade and St. James’s Park. Mounted guards still stand duty there, and though these days, the post is ceremonial, I learned a fun fact from one of the policemen guarding the side entrance to the building. (It continues to house high level military brass, so as you can imagine, security is quite strict.) When the command center radios an “okay” for a visitor to enter Horse Guards, the policeman is told that the person has an “ivory!” 

There is a tiny but wonderful museum on the history of the Horse Guards regiment adjoining the original stables, and an added plus is that you are able to watch the actual workings of the present-day soldiers tending their horses through a plate glass window. Very cool! The exhibits display uniforms, pistols, swords, medals, and saddles, along with diaries, war booty, and other personal mementos that create a vivid picture of life as an officer and a gentleman.

I also spent several hours in the nearby Guards Museum, which displays the history of the five Guards regiments—Grenadier, Coldstream, Scotch, Irish and Welsh—from the formation of the first unit in 1600s to the present. Again, the wealth of history is mesmerizing. I particularly loved seeing Wellington’s uniform and boots, as well as battle flags from Waterloo. And one always learns such wonderful, arcane bits of information—did you know that the ubiquitous pom-pom atop knitted ski hats originated during the Crimean War and was made to cushion a Guardsman’s head from his helmet?

In between museums, I walked and walked and walked, passing by such historic places as Hatchard’s Bookstore on Piccadilly Street and the antique markets of Portobello Road, where among all the other funky treasures, I discovered a stall selling magnificent original Georgian and Regency miniatures. Aren’t they gorgeous? Alas, they were way too expensive for my purse, but it was fun looking! And hey, I also went to Oxford for a day, but that will be covered in a future post.

I could go on and on, but I’ve rambled enough for now. Now it’s your turn—have you a favorite historic spot in London? Or is there a particular one that you are dreaming of visiting?

(1) Guest Elizabeth Hawksley (2) Winners

Next Friday, November 27, Nicola will interview historical author Elizabeth Hawksley.  Elizabeth grew up in a Georgian manor house with attics full of stuffed animal heads and old weapons.  Among other things, she'll be talking about what it was like growing up in a Georgian manor house.

We've had a slew of recent book winners.  Patricia Watters won a book from guest Linda Fildew.  Maggie Robinson and Joan Woods won books from Mary Jo Putney.  Marie Z. Johansen won a book from Susan King.  Congratulations to all our winners!

The Recycling of Jane

Anne here, pondering the notion of writing spin-offs of established works of literature — prequels, sequels, fan-fic and parodies.

    My first experience of it was years ago, when I first read Jean Rhys's novel, The Wide Sargasso Sea. In it she told the story of Mrs. Rochester from Jane Eyre — from Mrs. Rochester's point of view. In this story, Mr. Rochester was the villain. It was a fascinating read, and I really enjoyed exploring a well-known and loved story from a totally different point of view. 

    These days the taking of a long established, beloved work of fiction and rewriting it from a different point of view, in some other style, or with new elements added to the mix has almost become a genre in its own right. It's a very post-modern phenomenon.

    Of course it's always a famous novel that's being parodied, recycled or rewritten from a different angle. Part of the appeal is the audience's familiarity with the original work of art. There's not much point in parodying a work that few people have read. 

    Dead authors or those who have no living heirs or estate trustees are the most vulnerable, as they have no protection. It's doubtful whether living novelists would allow their works to be used for this purpose. 

     A Swedish author whose book was promoted as a "sequel" to Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, was blocked from having a US release "because it too closely mirrors Salinger's classic without adequate parody or critique, a judge ruled."  The book showed the Holden Caulfield character 60 years on from the original story, breaking out of a retirement home instead of a prep school. (source)

    A spin-off of Nabokov's famous novel LOLITA is introduced on amazon.com thus: "After much legal wrangling with Nabokov's estate, Pia Pera's Lo's Diary has found its way to America." The Italian author, who was forced to split the English royalties with Nabokov's heirs, rewrote the novel from the point of view of the young girl character in the original Lolita.  Emily White said "This is clearly Pera's mission--to vandalize the literary institution that is Lolita, and in this she has succeeded. Her novel is like cultural graffiti that won't wash off the walls for a while, for at least a month or two." (source)

    Under English (and I think American) law, copyright protects the words and form in which ideas are expressed, not the ideas, or characters and not even necessarily the plot. So you can pretty much take someone's story, setting and characters and rewrite it and it's not regarded as plagiarism, but if you copy a handful of sentences from someone's novel or non-fiction book, it is. I've always thought that strange. I suppose it boils down to what's "provable" and copied sentences are.

     It's different if you're dead. Books like The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, all cash in on the fame of long-dead authors. 

    Jane Austen's handful of novels have, in particular, achieved an unprecedented popularity and have sparked a truly amazing number of spin-offs. Her books, life and writings have become the raw material for an entire new industry.

    It's not only her characters and settings and plots that have been recycled. In many cases it's her words. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, described as " by Austen, Jane (author) and Seth Grahame-Smith (author)" is described as an “expanded edition” of Pride and Prejudice in which 85 percent of the original text has been preserved but fused with “ultraviolent zombie mayhem.”  For more than 50 years, we learn, England has been overrun by zombies, prompting people like the Bennets to send their daughters away to China for training in the art of deadly combat, and prompting others, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to employ armies of  ninjas." (source)

    I must admit I haven't dived into the Jane Austen spin-offs. I've seen some of the movies, such as Lost In Austen, which left me luke warm, I admit. But there seems to be no end to the possibilities — Jane and zombies, Jane as a regency-era Miss Marple, even "lost sex scenes" from Jane Austen.

According to Elsa Solender, past president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen, by Arielle Eckstut & Dennis Ashton spoofs Jane Austen’s fiction by adding explicit, New Age sexuality to the ‘mix’ of issues she presented. At the same time, it pays implicit homage to its source by echoing her incomparable style with astonishing fidelity. In addition, the authors managed to retain the consistency of the Austen characters as they explored their erotic potential. While nothing is predictable, everything is supportable. Thus, we have some clues as to how Charlotte Lucas survived sex with Mr. Collins. 

Admittedly that last is intriguing. But what next?  

I have a "top ten" list of Austen spin-offs here from Sarah Sibley.

1. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, by Pamela Aidan, a trilogy of novels based on Mr. Darcy’s perspective of the events that conspired during Pride and Prejudice, namely his relationship with Elizabeth Bennett.

2. The Diary of Henry Fitzwilliam Darcy, by Marjorie Fasman 
This is very much a prequel to Pride and Prejudice, an exploration into Darcy’s character that may give the reader some perspective on exactly what made Mr. Darcy tick.

3. Mr. Darcy’s Daughters, by Elizabeth Aston 
This is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, focusing on the married life of Darcy and Elizabeth. Darcy has been sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople, leaving Elizabeth with their five daughters in London.

4. Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley, by Linda Berdoll
True to form, Elizabeth’s marriage to Mr. Darcy is just as she had hoped—full of passion.

5. Darcy’s Passions, by Regina Jeffers

6. Suspense and Sensibility or, First Impressions Revisited: A Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery, by Carrie Bebris

7. Jane Austen in Boca: A Novel, by Paula Marantz Cohen
If Austen’s Jewish fans are feeling left out, then this one is for them.

8. Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen, by Arielle Eckstut, Dennis Ashton 

9. Lions and Liquorice, by Kate Fenton
In this modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the roles are reversed.

10. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

I really don't know what to think about this phenomenon. In some ways I hate that people — some of them very mediocre writers — are riding Jane Austen's coat-tails to fame and fortune, mining and re-mining her books, life and letters and twisting them to their own purpose in the quest for new stories — and sales. I'm pretty sure I'd hate it if someone started writing sequels and prequels of my books, using my characters and the world I'd created.  Yet I also think people are entitled to celebrate something they enjoy, adding fun elements and playing "what if." So I'm ambivalent.  I'm not sure I understand the appeal, but would be very happy to be enlightened.

I haven't read any of the above list. Have you? What do you think about the endless revisiting of Austen? Had enough? Enjoying it? Want more? What's your favorite? 

This month's Ask A Wench

Cara/Andrea here.

As many of you may have noticed, we recently added a new  “feature” here. Our readers ask the Wenches such interesting questions that we decided to devote one blog a month to answering them.  Anne hosted the first “Ask A Wench” and this month is my turn. Nothing could be simpler, right? Just pick a question from the lengthy list, send it to the other Wenches asking that they write a short response. And that’s it—the blog is done.

Ha!

I chose a query submitted by Jennifer Yates, who asked:  “I would love to know more about some of the authors' favorite books.  Or maybe what was the first romance they remember reading?”  Out it went via e-mail . . . and it took about ten seconds for the ether to start crackling!

OUR FAVORITE BOOKS? In 200 words or less? Are you DEMENTED?

“Okay, okay,” I mumbled, ducking for cover under my desk. “Maybe we could, er, refine the question.” That engendered another flurry of e-mails as the Wenches debated among themselves on what was a manageable question. Should we make it just romance books? No, way too limiting, chimed everyone. Should we say our top five favorites? Another collective moan. Well, suffice it to say, the discussion raged for several days before we settled on a final version: “What are some favorite books that you have read recently?”

So thank you Jennifer for sparking such heated debate. I hope you enjoy the answers! (Be assured the second part of your question will be answered in a future blog.) As so, without further ado, here are some of the books that have tickled the Wenchly fancy of late:

Susan Fraser King:
I read a fair amount of nonfiction to sort of clear the palette when I'm writing historical fiction. Currently I'm reading EAT, PRAY, LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert. While not a historical by any stretch, it has its moments. Gilbert's memoir of her travels to three countries over the course of one soul-searching year touches here and there on the history of the places she visits--for example, how fascinating to learn that the beautiful Italian language was basically defined in Dante's Divine Comedy, written in vernacular Florentine. EAT, PRAY, LOVE is beautifully written, entertaining and thought-provoking. For all its depth and substance, it's surprisingly fun read. I'm loving it.

And last week, I zoomed through Mary Stewart's THE MOON-SPINNERS for the umpteenth time--I was home with a respiratory flu, lounging about, really not up to doing much. Any Mary Stewart novel, for me, is the ultimate comfort read. I'm much better now, so it must have worked!

Pat Rice:
What I’m reading and loving—Pratchett, Pratchett!  Sir Terry’s new book UNSEEN ACADEMICALS just came out and I pounced upon it with great joy and relish (a smidgeon of bacon grease and a soupcon of mustard….).  It’s so wonderful to dive into this deliciously bizarre world where soccer becomes a true street sport involving riots and murder and wizards in pointy hats!  Lovely wordplay, social commentary, and fantasy all wrapped up in one lovely bundle, it just doesn’t get much better than that.  (I love the Brit cover with the orangutan...)

Obviously, I’m on a fantasy streak because now I’m reading ON THE EDGE, the first book in Ilona Andrew’s new The Edge series. I adore her characterization, and she’s really outdone herself this time. The heroine is trying to scrape by in her magical dimension at the end of a rural Georgia road, raising two younger brothers—one of whom is a young lynx and the other a necromancer keeping their Grandfather alive in the shed—and trying to keep them fed and out of trouble when Prince Charming arrives and tells her she’s going home with him. And she resists!  Can you imagine? And he’s one hunky nobleman…

Jo Beverley:
Being on the move since July, and settling in since the beginning of October, I haven't read all that much. It wasn't just the move but the amount of writing I had to do at the same time. I toted around a handful of novels I wanted to settle to, but somehow couldn't, in part because for a lot of the time, when not writing, we either traveled long days and collapsed or were staying with friends and being sociable. Add to that, British papers can be so interesting that I spend a fair amount of times on them!

But I have been dipping into one excellent non-fiction book. ECLIPSE, by Nicholas Clee (Bantam 2009) is "The story of the rogue, the madam, and the horse that changed racing," and it mostly takes place in the 1760s, the period of my Malloren books. It's very readable and full of period details, especially, of course, about horse racing. I began it thinking I might bring horse racing into a future book, but the treatment of the horses was quite harsh so I don't think it's going to happen.  Still, a fascinating and enjoyable book.

Mary Jo Putney:
Most recent reading fun? FLEDGLING by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, a couple who live in Maine with cats and computers.  I love their Liaden books—think space adventure crossed with Regency romance, and you won’t be far off.  <g>

Liad is a far-future planet with a culture of great formal complexity.  The books feature Clan Korval,  a wealthy Liaden house that produced incredibly smart, capable mavericks.   Almost all of the books feature a strong romance between well matched characters.  Lee & Miller do great characters—strong, witty, and admirable—and also great cats.  <g>

Fledgling is the most recent book in the series, the first in a duology whose second book, Saltation, will be out next March.  Young Theo Waitley is a school girl who seems awkward and clumsy on the very safe, carefully monitored academic planet where she is raised.  Theo’s unexpected Liaden heritage takes her to an equally unexpected future.  The book works just fine as both YA and adult.  Here’s a link for the Liaden FAQ, with suggested reading order: http://www.korval.com/faqliad.htm   I enjoyed Fledgling so much that I'm going back and rereading the Agent of Change books.  Wonderful comfort reads for an author on deadline!

Nicola Cornick:
I took the opportunity of my recent holiday in Scotland to sit down with a great big pile of books and really indulge my need to read. THE DIG by John Preston was a gem of a book. The setting is the archaeological excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, which took place in 1939 against the backdrop of preparations for the 2nd World War. The story is told through the eyes of different characters involved in the dig. It’s a gentle story and there isn’t a lot of action but it is so well observed and the characterization is so sharp that I couldn’t put it down.

Another book I enjoyed very much was CASE HISTORIES by Kate Atkinson. Kate made her name writing award-winning contemporary women’s fiction but her last three books have been what I would call literary crime fiction. This isn’t crime fiction in the police procedural sense, nor is it particularly gritty and violent. It’s all about the intricate family and personal relationships that lie behind a series of mysteries. The separate “case histories” of the titles are all intertwined and they are also profound, clever and moving. Oh, and the books have a very attractive hero in gorgeous rumpled Scots private detective Jackson Brodie!"

Anne Gracie:
I've recently branched out a bit in my reading to embrace paranormal romance, and I don't mean romance with a bit of magic thrown in, but real fantasy-style stories, specifically Nalini Singh's shapeshifter series. The first one is called SLAVE TO SENSATION, and I glommed onto the whole series, the sixth of which is out now. She doesn't repeat herself, and the world-building just gets better and better. 

CS Harris is also a relatively new favorite. She used to write historicals as Candice Proctor, but now, as C.S. Harris, she writes Regency era murder mysteries, with a continuing amateur detective, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. Wonderful writing -- you can really feel the atmosphere of Regency London -- the seedy and the glamorous. Highly recommended.

Another author I've been reading (and rereading) recently is Terry Pratchett. His universe is a splendid and I've read most of his books. THE COLOUR OF MONEY, GOING POSTAL and  REAPER MAN (when DEATH aka the Grim Reaper is given his notice to be replaced by a new modern system)  are simply splendid, but the most recent books of his I'm reading are young adult. The WEE FREE MEN is laugh out loud funny.

Cara Elliott:
I’ve been into historical mysteries lately, and have taken particular delight in re-reading the late Kate Ross’s Regency-set series featuring the debonair Julian Kestrel as an amateur sleuth. She creates very interesting, complex people who are very true to the era, and her depiction of London’s seamier side gives a good glimpse of life outside the gilded ballrooms of Mayfair. C. S Harris, who also writes wonderfully dark and gritty Regency-set mysteries, is another favorite author. WHAT REMAINS OF HEAVEN, the latest book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, is a terrific read.

I've also recently discovered a series by Barbara Cleverly that I 've been thoroughly enjoying. It’s set in the 1920s and stars an independent-mined young female archeologist (I’m a huge fan of the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters) who turns amateur sleuth. The historical background of her dig locations in both THE TOMB OF ZEUS and BRIGHT HAIR ABOUT THE BONE is fascinating, and she weaves it in seamlessly with the main murder plots.

And on a completely different note, I just started Christopher Buckley's LOSING MUM AND PUP, a beautifully written account of the complex nature of love, death and family. He is poignant, funny, and deeply touching as he muses on losing both of his famous parents in the same year. I am finding it hard to put down.

So, that that you've read what we've been enjoying, are there any books, new or old, that have tickled your fancy recently? Please share!

The first public museum in Britain

Last week I took a day out from my current manuscript to visit the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which has just re-opened after a major re-development. It was lovely to escape from my desk for a day and wander about amongst the collections - with frequent refreshment in the Ashmolean coffee shop! To be honest I probably didn't get to see more than about a third of what the museum had to offer because I spent so long browsing in each section, but that's all to the good since I can go back again to check out the bits I missed.

The Ashmolean was Britain's first public museum. When it opened in May 1683 even the use of the term "museum" was a novelty in English. A few years later (1706) the book "The New World of Words" defined a museum as "a study or library; also a college or Publick Place for the resort of learned men." The collection that Elias Ashmole presented to the public on this occasion had been founded half a century earlier by John Tradescant and featured natural and man-made objects from every corner of the known world. Tradescant had already exhibited his collection to the public for a fee at his house in Lambeth, which had been known as "The Ark" because it was said to contain an example of everything on earth. From 1683 the Ashmolean too was open to any member of the general public, a move that was by no means universally welcomed. One German visitor in 1710 commented with displeasure on the presence of "ordinary folk" in the museum and singled out the women for criticism in particular, saying that they "impetuously handle everything in the usual English fashion."

We weren't allowed to handle the objects in the collections, of course, impetuously or not, and there was an entire gallery devoted to conservation and to explaining the damage that could be done by light and touch and other factors, as well as the measures that the conservators took to preserve the items. I particularly liked the way in which the museum featured objects from different cultures across several thousand years. I love looking at objects that were important in people's lives, understanding how they were used and what they meant to individuals. The exhibition of "money" was fascinating because it featured lots of different items that people have used for barter and exchange - everything from glass beads, jewellery and animal teeth to gold and banknotes. There were all sorts of snippets of information that I picked up along the way too. For instance one gallery featured musical instruments alongside some fabulously decorative medieval wall-hangings to demonstrate how the two often went together because in many medieval castles the presence of hangings on the walls improved the acoustics.

I spent a long time looking at the hordes of Roman, Anglo Saxon and Viking treasure because when I see such collections I always wonder about the people who buried them. One of the hordes of Roman coins was the equivalent of 16 years of a Roman foot soldier's pay - no small sum to gather together and hide in the ground. I always wonder who hid these hordes, why they had to leave them, what they were afraid of and why they never came back. Whilst on many occasions I'm sure the owners were killed in battle or lost their homes through enemy raids or war, I wonder if sometimes people hid all their valables only to return later when it was safe and realise that they hadn't marked the spot well enough to find them again.

My favourite section, however, was the gallery devoted to items in Ashmole's original collection, which included several objects that the museum delicately explained were "of dubious provenance." There was one of Henry VIII's hawking gloves alongside a matching embroidered hood for the hawk, a lantern which Guy Fawkes was alleged to have used when he was hiding in the cellars waiting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 and a plate Charles II had made out of the wood of the oak tree that hid him from the parliamentarian troops after the Battle of Worcester. Whether these items were genuine or not, they fascinated me because they were tangible connections to the past and to people and events I had read so much about. On display was also a pair of gloves that weren't worn at all. They had been given to Queen Elizabeth I by the City of Oxford to mark a visit she made there, but she left them behind because they were apparently too big and unflattering!

Visiting the Ashmolean made me think about the objects that are important to us to keep and why they matter. I love anything that I feel connects me to the past, both in a general way (those historical items that I pick up in the fields around here!) and also in a personal one - photos of the family, my grandmother's jewellery. I doubt that I'll ever have a collection worthy of being incorporated into a museum but I think it's important for individuals to keep things that hold memories or have a special importance. The Ashmolean's theme is "crossing cultures, crossing time" and the items it holds tell a story. It made me wonder what the items are that are important to you and what story do they tell?

Touring the north

Hi, here's Jo and with a picture of Charlie and the toys with Lady Notorious.

We're taking a little break at home between the book tour of the south of England and the upcoming one of the north. In the south we mostly followed the route Cyn and Chastity took in (My) Lady Notorious. (The UK publisher dropped the my.) The picture on the right is at Southampton, which they didn't actually visit, but as they swung south or their way to Winchester, they would have come close.

The handsome young men in their regimentals, which were the sort Cyn would have worn, are to intrigue the passers-by, which they did very well as you can see. You'd like a closer look? If you click on any of the pictures here you can get a larger version.

The tall one on the left is Mr. England. Andreas is 24, which is a good age for some of my heroes. The other young man was local and I forgot to get his name, but he was very handsome with a lovely smile. Alas, he isn't smiling on any of my pictures, but here's a close up of the two with Everlyn's PR genious, Claire.

Lady Notorious is the first book of my Georgian series about the Malloren family, and if you've wondered, I pronounce that with the emphasis on the first syllable. MALLoren. And Mall as in pal, not as in a North American shopping mall.

You do all know that The Mall in London is pronounced like pal, yes? Ah, those English pronunciations. So tricky.

I've blogged with pics on my personal blog Jo Talk but I'll repeat some details here.

We started in Shaftesbury,which is still a lovely old town with plenty of old coaching inns, most converted to other uses, as in this one. You can see the pinkish building with the big, arched doors through which a coach would go to access the inn yard behind.

Here's a picture showing a coach leaving through such an arch. The old woman in the basket on the back looks in danger of a bump on the head! This is from "A Visit To The Wells" in Tunbridge Wells (home of my eccentric old Trayce ladies in Winter Fire, who also turn up in The Secret Duke.) It's a wonderful place to visit. 

By the way, have you ever wondered what an EO table was? It's an early form of roulette with only even and odd. Here's a picture from A Day At The Wells.

We moved on to Salisbury, where Cyn and Chastity stay at the Black Horse. This old inn still exists, but cut down to the main building. The arch now leads to a parking lot for a nearby office block.

We had a lovely launch party there, attended by the mayor of Salisbury.

Then we were on to Southampton and Winchester, then Cardiff where Everlyn Books is based. There, one of my soldiers was Mark Tancock, Mr. Wales. You might enjoy the slide show of all the finalists.

Wednesday, 11th was Newcastle and Stockton. Thursday, Scarborough and Whitby.

Today is Blackpool, and Saturday is my home town, Morecambe.

All the details are here.

Here are a few more pictures from the tour. The Bear in Maidstone, mentioned in Lady Notorious. (The Saracen's Head, where they stays, has given way to a Marks and Spencers.) Thatched cottages in Shaftesbury. An old street in Winchester. A view into the Cathedral close in Winchester.

   

And in case you've forgotten,Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed is out now.

Cheers,

Jo

Regency hijinks

     Pat here:

I’ve just turned in the revisions for The Wicked Wyckerly (the book formerly known as Honest Scoundrel) and I’m muddling out the first draft of The Devilish Montague. 

Muddle is the best word for what I’m doing at the moment. The problem is that I’ve been writing Georgian historicals for over a decade now, and I need to wrap my head back in Regency dates. And not even proper Regency since Wyckerly is 1807 and Montague is 1808. Prinny isn’t Regent yet. Lady Cowper (must remember this is pronounced Cooper) and Lady Jersey are barely out of adolescence, although married and having children, or in the process thereof. I have to slap my hand from including Lord Byron quotes since the boy (he was only 20) had only just published his first collection of poetry to scathing reviews. (Yes, critics even despised Byron) I’m familiar with all these names and personalities, but keeping them to young adulthood seems to be throwing me for a loop.

Really, if you think about it, the names so familiar to Regency readers were nothing but an overly indulged brat pack in the early 1800s.  Lady Jersey (her mother-in-law was the notorious mistress of the Prince of Wales) and the Countess of Lieven were only 22 in 1807. Lady Cowper was the same age as Byron, 20.  In a few short years, the ladies will turn an old-fashioned casino called Almacks into the biggest snob club in London.  Can’t you just imagine all these wealthy, bored twenty-somethings deciding to form an exclusive assembly where they could reject everyone they didn’t like? My, how times don’t change. (Emily, Lady Cowper on the left; stylized Thomas Lawrence oil of the prince on the right above)

So here I am with this twenty-three-year-old heroine who knew all these snotty brats before they married their powerful husbands. It’s easy enough to play off the usual Regency stereotype of a bunch of idiosyncratic old married women running a Marriage Mart, but not in 1808.  This requires work. Research. Carrying scraps of fact to natural conclusions. While I struggle with a plot line that’s run amuck. When memory and fact clash, I can run into serious trouble! (Almacks on the right, Brummel below)

Does anyone know if any of the well-known personalities from this era ended up with a long, happy, honorable life? I think we all know how Brummel and Byron ended up, but what about the ladies? Their elders certainly weren’t good examples of living healthy, moral lives, but surely some of their offspring overcame their early training?

Do you think it was wealth or experience that drove these ambitious young ladies to polish their power-mongering skills at such an early age? When you were 20, what power did you wield and what did you dream you would become? Has life provided enlightenment or disillusion since then?

Title Terrors

by Mary Jo

I’m madly trying to finish my first young adult historical fantasy, so today I’ll attempt to do something that we Wenches have talked about on our private loop, but seldom manage to do in practice:  Talk short. <g>

I’m not sure I’ll be successful, but I’ll try, using a topic suggested by Wench regular Maggie Robinson, who asked this:

“I have a question about book titles. How successful are you in naming your own books, or must you submit to editors' titles? Is it a group consensus thing? Have you ever had a title assigned to you that you absolutely hated? And since you Wenches are so prolific, can you remember all your titles? *g*"

By chance, as I was drafting this blog another question about titles came in from Joan Woods:

“I would like to know who has the final say about the title of a book. The Author or Publisher?”

So I’ll address all the questions, and Maggie and Joan have both earned a a free book from me.

On to the topic:  Get a group of romance writers together, especially historical authors, and the topic of cover art will come up pretty fast, often accompanied by howls of misery.  There have been multiple WW blogs on the subject, including superb deconstructions of paintings by our art history experts. 

But titles?  I don’t recall that we’ve ever discussed the subject, yet like cover art, titles are a potent aspect of marketing a book successfully.  At the very least, a title needs to define what genre a book is in.  Hence, mysteries frequently have Death or Murder in the title, or some other crime-ish word.  (A Is for Alibi, Murder on a Girl's Night Out, et al.) 

Likewise, romance novel titles often have words like love and passion, and symbols like fire and flowers.  But a really good title goes beyond that to become memorable, and better yet, sounds like a particular author.  Diana Gabaldon does great, distinctive titles: Dragonfly in Amber, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, etc.

For mass market, it can be handy to have a short title so the letters can be large and easy to read on a smallish cover.  Nora Roberts’ early single title contemporaries had great, punchy titles based on   contradictions: Hot Ice, Honest Illusions, and others.)

"Dark" these days often means intense paranormal romance with sexy monster heroes, while Dixie Cash is branded as comic country contemporary with titles like Since Yo'u're Leaving Anyway, Take out the Trash.  . 

The current trend in historical romance is toward fairly wordy titles, which at least allows more possibilities.  My next book had a working title that was reasonably good and accurate: Always a Lady.  But it didn’t have a huge amount of zip, so I suggested Never Less Than a Lady, which means the same thing but is maybe punchier (and which doesn’t seem to have been used before.)

So you can see how complicated it is to come up with a bare handful of words that defines genre, tone, author—and will look good on a cover  Ideally, title and cover art work together to make a total package that will leap into the hands of potential readers.  And if all this makes the process of finding a title nightmarish—that is exactly right! 

Maggie: “I have a question about book titles. How successful are you in naming your own books, or must you submit to editors' titles? Is it a group consensus thing?”

Joan: “I would like to know who has the final say about the title of a book. The Author or Publisher?”

In most cases, finding a title is a collaborative process.  Some editors will accept an author’s working title pretty easily, while others will torture authors endlessly to find a better title.  This necessitates a Great Title Hunt, where the author e-mails her best buds and says, “Help! I need a title!”  Brainstorming and lists ensue, the author goes back to the editor with new choices—and one may or may not be accepted.  A few rounds of this and the author will be shrieking, “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU CALL THE !#$%&! BOOK, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Some authors have a real knack for titles.  Others—not so much.  Sometimes a great title that everyone loves will be accepted from the beginning, other times half the publisher's employees and all the author’s friends are enlisted without success.

Authors can become very attached to titles that aren’t very good.  Other times, the author, editor, and agent might agree on a title they love—and the publisher’s sales department nixes it, saying something snappier is needed.

I want to be clear that when editors or sales departments reject a title, it’s because they genuinely believe a different title will work better for the author in the marketplace.  And often they’re right.  Telling a great story doesn't automatically mean one can come up with great titles.

So in general, finding a title is a group process.  Sometimes contracts specify that titles must be mutually agreed upon.  But basically, it is the publishers who have the ultimate say because they're in charge of production. Very few authors have the clout (or the contractual power) to say “No WAY will my book be titled Lust's Flaming Fling!"

Luckily, it’s much more common to have a title that everyone is okay with, even if not everyone loves it. 

Maggie: “Have you ever had a title assigned to you that you absolutely hated? And since you Wenches are so prolific, can you remember all your titles?”

For my part, I’ve had some titles I didn’t love, but none that I really hated. Sometimes it takes a while for the official name to sink into my mind, especially if there have been several working titles before reaching a final choice, but eventually the official title is how I remember the book.  And yes, I do recall all my titles, though I can’t say whether that’s true of all the Wenches. <G>

So that’s the behind the scenes story of finding titles.  Are there particular titles or series of titles that you’ve loved?  That you’ve hated?  Titles that have made you want to pick up a book, or titles that have made you refuse want to pick one up?  I’m looking forward to what you come up with! 

Mary Jo, who has reasonable success with her titles (including One Perfect Rose), but is far from batting 1.000.

Book Tours and Bookmarks

Sherrie, here.  Jo is busy with her book tour, promoting the Everlyn reissue of Lady Notorious. The tour is designed to hit many of the locations visited by the hero and heroine in Lady Notorious.  You can view Jo's booksigning schedule here.  If you're going to be at any of these locations, do stop by and say hi!  One person who did just that was Nicola!  Above is a picture of Nicola and Jo.

Thanks to the ever-talented Cara/Andrea, we now have two new beautiful bookmarks available for downloading.  Just go to the Additional Pages sidebar on the right side of this page and click on Printable Bookmarks #7.  <--- Or you can click on this link.  These latest bookmarks are for Mary Jo's Fallen Angel and Jo's Lady Notorious. 

         

Historical Honesty

Funny how things bubble up in the news that reflect something we're already thinking about. I saw an article that touches on what's on my mind again lately, writing-wise ... the question of historical accuracy vs. historical honesty in fiction.

Mel Gibson made a new comment on William Wallace, all these years after the film "Braveheart" (1995 - woh, has it been that long??) ... he was quoted in the UK news saying that in reality Wallace was not the hero depicted in the film--but a "monster" and a berserker, and that the film was not historically accurate.

Not accurate?! Not too surprising for those interested in medieval history, or for those who've seen the film -- the writer and filmmakers made stuff up about Wallace, basically. It's a necessity in creating historical fiction -- enhancing the historical record, speculating, extrapolating, obscuring fact or inserting fabrication. And it's a constant dilemma for writers of historical fiction (books or films) -- to tweak, or not to tweak?

Braveheart is beautifully done, with enough basic facts in place to powerfully evoke character, emotion, a pulse-pounding story with heroics, complexity, a deeply romantic side and a solid sense of authenticity. It masterfully evokes a historical era and a powerful cause in history.

But Gibson's comment, and the kerfuffle over whether or not the film accurately depicted Wallace's life and times, raises an interesting question. Should we expect total accuracy in a book or a film about a historical subject? Sometimes we do want the facts -- and some historical novels provide all the grit and the nasty stuff, the ugly truths, major and minor, the long gaps in the actual timeline, the complexities of history intricately interwoven with the elements of story. These are rich novels and big reads, for the most part. The pitfall in a book like this tends to be pacing, and the risk of information overload.

Sometimes, though, we want a galloping, rollicking good story that informs and entertains --  even if it is history streamlined, dynamic, distilled to its most essential facts and qualities. Historical fiction does not always have to account for every truth in the scope of the subject and the story -- it is uniquely capable of evoking and conjuring the past, even if that means taking shortcuts and bending truths here and there.

I'm a stickler for accuracy in my own historical writing and I will go a far way to make sure the details of what I'm describing are right. But I am not always a stickler for historical truth in every aspect of the book. Story and character come first: I am a novelist before I am a historian. 

Does it matter if the movie was accurate to the real Wallace? We know only a few intriguing facts about Wallace. True, he was probably never the hero in his own day that he's become now. With or without the film, Wallace is half legend in Scottish history.

Yet he committed some heinous acts (he flayed the skin from the English treasurer killed at Stirling and made a purse of him; OK, so he had a sense of humor...). It's accurate, but did it belong in the movie? Wallace had his bad moments, but he wasn't a monster - he had good moments, too. As a rebel and a freedom fighter, he initiated an effort that eventually helped liberate the Scots from English oppression at the time. The situation was far more complex than could have been presented in a two-hour film.

There have always been quibbles about "Braveheart" -- the kilts aren't right (the kilt we know wasn't worn then, but they were using plaids as cloaks and wraps) and Wallace was more Lowlander than Highlander, so he would have worn chain mail armor as a minor knight rather than a Highlander. Princess Isabella was a child; Wallace was possibly 6'7" (Edward I was 6'6", so of course the Scots claimed Wallace was bigger, yet there is some evidence to support it); the battle of Stirling was fought at a bridge, not on a field; what about that blue face paint...and so on.

My guess is that historical accuracy was never the point of the film in the first place. There's accuracy. and there's authenticity. A writer often must decide between what will improve the story and what will detract from it. Story must be folded in with facts, but ultimately the result is fiction.

Here's my favorite Mel Gibson/Wallace story... Several years ago in Scotland, I met a historian who had met Mel Gibson during the filming of the movie. This older gentleman did not know who Mel Gibson was as he answered questions about Wallace, Bruce and the Scottish war of independence. He learned that Gibson was making a movie about Wallace, and directing the movie. Then he asked who was playing Wallace, and Gibson answered, "I am."

The historian paused, looked him up and down, lowered his glasses to the end of his nose, and said tactfully..."Did ye know Wallace was a big man?" 

Ah, but there are camera angles. And there is the skill of evoking. There is authenticity over accuracy. And sometimes we learn more, and find more substance, through characters, plot and emotion than we do with just the facts.

How important is accuracy in historical fiction to you? Is less more in a good historical read -- or do you find a detailed read more successful?

Susan

P.S. Book giveaway! I'll send an autographed copy of my historically accurate yet judiciously fictionalized novel, LADY MACBETH, to one of the readers of this blog -- post a comment and add to the discussion of historical fiction before midnight on Sunday, Nov. 8, and you'll be entered in the drawing!

And we're racing...

Anne here, where it's Melbourne Cup time and horse racing is in the air. The Melbourne Cup a cultural phenomenon, unlike any other race in the world, I suspect — not because of the racing, not because it's the one of the richest turf races in the world but because of the way it touches people all over the country who normally have no interest in racing. 

The Melbourne Cup is billed as "the race that stops a nation" and it's not just advertising hype, it's actually a pretty fair description of the race that's a national institution. In Melbourne, where I live, Cup Day is a public holiday and has been since 1877.

On Cup Day  at 3 o'clock, the time of the race, hundreds of cars on freeways all over the country simply pull over (illegally) while the drivers listen to the race. 

In workplaces and social groups across Australia, people who normally never listen to or watch a horse race, who've never been to a racecourse or laid a bet in their lives, will participate in a Cup Day Sweep where, for a sum of money you get to pull a horse's name out of a hat. The money is divided between 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with a small prize for last. And at 3 o'clock they'll stop work to watch the race on TV or listen on the radio.

In Melbourne, people come from all over the world to attend the race. Locals will also go to the racecourse, some from the early morning for an event called "breakfast with the stars" — the stars being the horses— others to have champagne picnics in the car park out of their car boots. 

But most don't go to the racecourse, they have picnics and parties, where sweeps will be drawn and hats will be worn. Hats are a huge part of the Melbourne Cup -- ranging from the glamorous to the ridiculous, and worn by men and women. It's said the Melbourne milliners flourish because of the Cup.

Even those who don't go to parties still incorporate some Cup fun into their day. This year some of my writing buddies and I were on deadline so we didn't go a-partying, but we still had an on-line sweep and sent pictures of cyber hats.

I love the Melbourne Cup, and yet I've never been to it. Pretty much all I know about about horse racing is from Dick Francis novels and from a very funny comedy show on radio years ago, called Punter to Punter. So why does this particular horse race, of all the other races in the year, appeal to me and so many others? I think it's because this race, more than most, is about stories. And stories touch people in a way that simple racing and betting doesn't.

It started with the first Melbourne Cup, back in 1861, when Victoria was a brash new colony, flush with money from the 1850 Gold rushes. There were 17 starters and at that time the prize - apart from the money (170 pounds ) - was not a cup at all, but a hand - beaten gold watch. 

That first race was a dramatic affair: one horse bolted at the gate and three more fell during the race — two of them died and a jockey was injured. Archer, an outsider from Sydney won, and the crowd marveled when they heard that to prevent the theft of the valuable horse by bushrangers, Archer, had been walked all the way to Melbourne by back roads and across country, a distance of 500 miles (800km.)  At least, that was the story everyone was told. Recently it came out that in fact the horse was brought to Melbourne by ship, but by then the legend was well established. 

 Since then more legends have emerged and I think these stories are what keep it in the public imagination. That and the glamour and fun of it all.   

In order to attract a bigger crowd to the fledgling Cup, the first secretary of the Victorian Racing Club, Robert Bagot (c. 1828-1881) decided to issue members with two ladies tickets, calculating that "where ladies went, men would follow". This was to prove a stroke of genius, and added a great deal to the party atmosphere of the cup. 

Click on the link to see a marvelous image of the Melbourne Cup of 1889. You can see that sophistication isn't a recent phenomenon. But it's not just a day for the rich and glamorous; the fact that it's a public holiday and some fun traditions ensure Cup Day is "the people's day."

These days we have 'Fashions On The Field'  with hundreds of entries, from top models and celebrities, to office workers and suburban wives. It's judged by international fashionistas and substantial prizes are awarded for the best-dressed man and woman. It's also a dress-up day in other ways, people wearing outrageous or silly outfits, group outfits or simply shorts and t-shirt.

But it's not just the glamour and party atmosphere that makes the cup catch the imagination of a nation — after all,most people aren't dressed up and at the races — it's the stories associated with the cup, starting from Archer, and continuing, stories of hardship and sacrifice and great strokes of luck, and mysteries, and dreams shattered and dreams come true.

Probably the greatest of all is the story of Phar Lap, in his day, the most famous horse in the world.  It was the depression, and Phar Lap, an awkward looking colt who started his career with a few unpromising starts, won his first race and then went on a winning streak that caught the public imagination. He won 37 of 51 races he entered in his short racing career and became a huge favorite with punters. 

    He won the Melbourne Cup in 1930, despite the handicap of carrying a huge 138 lbs (61.5 kg.) The following year there was public outrage when the handicappers forced him to run carrying an unheard-of 150 pounds (68 kg) and he came eighth. 

     Phar Lap was then taken to race in North America, but he died there in mysterious circumstances — murdered by the Mob, it's said -- and the whole country grieved. Such was the regard he was held in that his body was brought back, his great heart preserved and on display in the National Museum, his skeleton returned to his birthplace, New Zealand, and his hide stuffed, and mounted in a glass case in the Melbourne Museum where, nearly eighty years later, it's still the most popular exhibit.

    There is a bronze statue of him at Flemington Racecourse (where the Melbourne Cup is run) and I once saw a drunken young man climb up on it, cheered on by his equally drunken friends. An old chap stormed at him; "Oy, you young lout!  That's sacrilege, that is, climbing up on Phar Lap. Get off him at once, d'ye hear me?"  And the young man meekly climbed down— and apologized. 

  But that's just one of the many stories that make the Melbourne Cup more than just a horse race. Each year there are more; stories of humans and horses, hopes and dreams, euphoria and heartbreak — what more could a lover of stories ask for?

    So what about you.  Do you like horse racing?  Is there a special horse race in your area? Or have you a racing experience to share? Tell us your story. And if you're an Aussie, tell us what you did on Cup Day.

Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (with apologies to James Boswell and Samuel Johnson)

By Nicola

"The roads are neither rough nor dirty; and it affords a southern stranger a new kind of pleasure to travel so commodiously without the interruption of toll-gates. The carriages in common use are small carts, drawn each by one little horse; and a man seems to derive some degree of dignity and importance from the reputation of possessing a two-horse cart." So wrote James Boswell and Samuel Johnon of their 1773 trip to the North of Scotland and the Western Isles. A couple of weeks ago my dh and I set off in our motorised carriage to follow in their footsteps! 

Our first port of call on the journey up to the Hebrides from Glasgow was the town of Inverary. Inverary Old Town, a Royal Burgh, was swept away between 1753 and 1776 when the 3rd Duke of Argyll decided to replace his ancient castle with a beautiful new mansion complete with landscaped grounds and in doing so relocated the ancient town so he could have a bigger garden! Inverary New Town is absolutely charming, painted black and white with some impressive arches over the road and a gaol where you can experience the full eighteenth century prison regime. It struck me as a wonderful place to set a book. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell stayed at Inverary Castle on their travels. Johnson wrote:  "At last we came to Inverary where we found an inn, not only commodious, but magnificent. The difficulties of peregrination were now at an end. Mr. Boswell had the honour of being known to the Duke of Argyle, by whom we were very kindly entertained at his splendid seat, and supplied with conveniences for surveying his spacious park and rising forests." We surveyed the spacious park under our own steam but have to agree that lunch in the pub at Inverary was excellent! 

From Inverary we headed to Oban, where we embarked on the ferry for Mull. We were staying at "The Library" in Carsaig, a house which belonged to the MacLeans of Duart Castle, with whom Boswell and Johnson also stayed on their trip to Mull. The MacLean family crest, with its wonderful motto "Virtue Mine Honour" was on all the buildings at Carsaig, including this ancient boathouse. Of more modern note was the connection between Carsaig and the classic 1945 film by Powell and Pressburger "I Know Where I'm Going." In this photo I am channelling the heroine of IKWIG as she looks out to the island of "Kiloran" from the pier at Carsaig! In reality "Kiloran" was the Isle of Colonsay and it was visible from our window. I also persuaded my dh to retake other stills from the movie, including the iconic "telephone box beside the waterfall" shot. We wanted to visit Moy Castle, another of the sites featured in the film, but it is being restored and isn't currently open to the public. Instead we went to the ruin of Aros Castle which is extremely atmospheric. Two strange writing co-incidences occurred at Carsaig - one was that I discovered that the pier had originally been built by French prisoners of war in the early nineteenth century and the POWs in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars is the background to my current manuscript. The second odd co-incidence was that I read that Robert Louis Stevenson had written his classic adventure story "Kidnapped" just down the road at Erraig and I had brought with me a copy of my own book Kidnapped, which is set in Wester Ross and the Isles and is a "homage" to the RLS book.

Also on my "Castles tour" were Duart and Torosay. The picture is of the splendid formal gardens at Torosay. The two castles formed a perfect contrast to one another in my opinion, Duart being the classic sort of "ancient" castle with battlements and dungeons, and Torosay being a Victorian country house. I loved the friendliness of Torosay and the fact that you could leaf through the family albums and even sit down in their drawing room if you needed a rest from all the overwhelming Victoriana, the mounted stags' heads and stuffed birds that had been shot on the estate!

Later in the holiday we set off in the wake of Boswell and Johnson again, setting sail on the ferry for the Isle of Iona which was probably quicker and more comfortable than B & J's little sailing boat!  Like our predecessors we walked along the pilgrim route to Iona Abbey, the Sraid Nam Marbh or "street of the dead." The wonderfully peaceful and beautiful abbey was a ruin when Johnson and Boswell visited. Both of them wrote at length about Iona, Johnson noting that the abbey ruins were full of rubbish and that the nunnery chapel was being used as a cow-shed! These days the abbey has been restored to glory and the nunnery ruins are set within a lovely garden.

After lunch we embarked for the Isle of Staffa. Johnson and Boswell had tried to land on Staffa to visit Fingal's Cave but had been beaten by heavy seas. We were luckier; we were able to spend an hour on land and approached the cave along the rather hair-raising walkway. It was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen with its vertical basalt cliffs. One of my fellow tourists was an expert on the romantic poets and the composers who had been inspired by the cathedral-like cave and the music of the crashing waves.

Samuel Johnson commented on the "unkind climate" of Mull but we had some lovely weather whilst we were there and if our holiday diary is not perhaps up to the standard of Boswell or Johnson's writings we have at least recorded our wonderful trip so that we can relive it in the future! I was struck anew by the beauty of the Scottish landscape. We've asked it before and no doubt we'll ask it again: Are there any other places that can rival Scotland as a romantic setting for historicals or does it win hands down on romance and history and pure rugged wildness? What do you think?