In the Pink with Lauren Willig

Cara/Andrea here. Today my good friend Lauren Willig has kindly consented to stop by and chat about books and history with us. Lauren is a real Renaissance Woman (and I don’t say that lightly, as you will soon see!) She’s a bestselling author, a historical scholar, a litigation lawyer, and—starting today!—a Instructor at Yale University, where she and I will be teaching a seminar on Historical Romance.

She has a new release coming out tomorrow, the sixth book in her NYT bestselling “Pink Carnation” series, a wonderful, witty set of novels revolving around a group of dashing Napoleonic-era spies (and the delightfully quirky modern grad student who is determined to make history by solving the mystery of their true identities.) So without further ado . . .

BEYOND THE BALLROOM—EXOTIC INDIA

CE: Your new book, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, takes us from your usual settings of England and France to India. What made you decide to set the story there?

LW: Six years ago, two unsuspecting professors hired me as a teaching fellow for a class on the Second British Empire.  At the time, I was working on the first book in the Pink series, which was set in 1803.  I was very struck by the fact that the Battle of Assaye took place that same year.  Hmm, I thought, that would make a good basis for a sequel (because, clearly, history arranged itself that way just for my convenience).  I made a note of it and then promptly forgot about it until two years ago, as I was trying to figure out what was going to happen to my wild child heroine, Penelope Deveraux, constantly in disgrace, constantly pushing the boundaries.  Why not have her push some geographic boundaries as well?  (To be honest, I was getting a little bored with Almack’s Assembly Rooms.  It’s not that I don’t like ratafia, but, well, you know….)

In the previous book, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, Penelope got caught canoodling one time too many and found herself packed off to India to give the scandal of her marriage time to die down.  The Betrayal of the Blood Lily opens with Penelope’s arrival in Calcutta with her ne’er do well husband, Freddy Staines, who has been appointed Special Envoy to the Court of Hyderabad.  Between the Maratha war raging in the north, political complications at the court of Hyderabad, a spy known only as the Marigold, and the fascinating and infuriating presence of one Captain Alex Reid, Penelope has no idea what she’s gotten into….

CE: Were there any special challenges in researching such a different world?


 LW: This is the first time I’ve researched a book where I don’t speak the key languages and where I haven’t been able to personally visit the site of the story.  For all my previous books, I’ve done on the ground primary source research.  Due to the timing of monsoon season and my own linguistic limitations, that was barred to me.  On the other hand, this wound up working rather well.  The story I was telling is seen through the eyes of an Englishwoman recently arrived in India.  Since I can’t speak Farsi, Urdu, or Hindi, the documents that were available to me were the journals, memoirs and travel narratives of those Englishmen and woman who lived there during the period, who would have had experiences similar to those of my heroine.  For Penelope’s viewpoint, what I needed to find wasn’t the reality of Indian culture at the time, but Indian culture as an English visitor would have perceived it.  I relied heavily on journals, such as that of Maria Graham, who traveled through India in 1809.  Her reactions provided an excellent guide for Penelope’s.  Likewise, my other viewpoint character, my hero, is an Englishman raised in India, sent off to be educated in England, and then returned to England to work in East India Company’s arm and then diplomatic corps.  For him, I had the memoirs of James Skinner and the correspondence of men like James Kirkpatrick, Resident of Hyderabad, who were similarly situated between two worlds.  I was also fortunate in having very detailed secondary works about the interactions between British and Indian culture at my disposal, most notably William Dalrymple’s White Moghuls and Maya Jasanoff’s Edge of Empire.

CE: Were there any historical discoveries that surprised you?

LW: I was also amazed to discover that there was, in fact, an active French presence in India at the time.  French generals throughout India planted liberty trees, led troops into battle under the tricolore, and cooked up elaborate schemes to unite the French forces in India against the British so that the French influence might reign supreme in the East.  In 1802, General Perron, in the nominal employ of the Maratha chieftan, Scindia, went so far as to write Bonaparte for French troops to deploy against the British.  He got them, too, a whole boatload of them, although they were sent packing before they reached their destination.  Lord Wellesley, the Governor-General (Arthur Wellesley’s older brother) used the French threat as part of his rationale for incursions against local rulers, radically expanding the scope of British oversight in India, which, until then, had been largely limited to the three Presidency towns: Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.  Although I did know that the Duke of Wellington had begun his career soldiering in India, I had never realized before that the Napoleonic Wars had been instrumental in the creation of the Raj.

CE: Did you meet any new (or not so new) historical figures who tickled your fancy?

LW: Oh, goodness, where to begin?  This book bristles with characters who would be impossible to believe if they weren’t true.  Among others, there’s the Begum Sumroo, a former dancing girl who rose to be ruler of her own principality.  She led her own troops into battle and continued to exert her fascination over men well into her declining years.  At the court of Hyderabad, where the bulk of the story takes place, we meet the mad young ruler, Sikunder Jah, who entertained himself by strangling his concubines with silk handkerchiefs; the courtesan, Mah Laqa Bai, who was considered one of the foremost poets of her day, and so renowned for her wisdom that she was awarded a seat on the ruler’s council of advisors; Mir Alam, a Machiavellian prime minister, once buddy buddy with Wellesley, but now slowly rotting away with leprosy and intent on revenge; and an English resident (basically ambassador), James Kirkpatrick, who had “gone native”, secretly contracting a marriage with a Hyderabadi noblewoman, a fact that pleased neither the Hyderabadi court nor Lord Wellesley, who launched an extremely detailed investigation into the love affair.  All of them play large roles in the book.  You just can’t make this stuff up. 

A HISTORY HOYDEN

CE: Speaking of research, you have an amazingly impressive academic background. Tell us a little about what attracted you to study history?

LW: My father is a lapsed historian, so I grew up on bedtime stories about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Sunday afternoons watching old Errol Flynn swashbucklers—with the appropriate scholarly interpolations, of course.  I quickly graduated to historical romance novels and the fat, historical epics so popular in the mid-80’s.  I longed to sweep through the corridors of Whitehall with Elizabeth I, to indulge in conspiracies to save King Charles from the scaffold, to whap importunate gentlemen on the wrist with my fan at the court of George II.  In short, I wanted to live in any century but the one I inhabited.  Leg warmers were just so… unromantic.  I wanted to bring these worlds that I loved so much to life—and what better way to do that than to write historical fiction? 

As an undergraduate at Yale, I majored in Renaissance Studies, on the theory that immersion in the history, art history, literature and political philosophy of a culture was the best training for writing about it.  But I still didn’t feel quite steeped in history enough, so off I toddled to the Harvard history department to pursue a PhD in English history, on the theory that graduate school would truly prepare me to write Absolutely Accurate historical fiction.  It didn’t work out quite that way (I made the disillusioning discovery in grad school that, if historians agree on anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as Absolutely Accurate anything), but it was certainly an interesting journey….  

CE: You write wonderfully entertaining books set in the Regency era. However your expertise is in other periods as well. Give us an idea of what other eras appeal to you.

LW: If I had to pick a century to live in, it wouldn’t be the Regency, much as I love it (sorry, folks).  My scholarly work was in the seventeenth century, my books are set in the early nineteenth, but, at heart, I’m an eighteenth century kind of girl.  I particularly love the early eighteenth century, amid all the intrigue directly before and immediately following the Hanoverian succession, as politicians conduct vigorous debates in the new coffeehouses, dissolute rakes form Hellfire Clubs, Alexander Pope writes his Rape of the Lock, Jacobite pretenders hatch conspiracies, fortunes rise and plummet in stock market bubbles, and clever women swish about court in wide-skirted gowns, directing policy behind the leaves of their fans.  It’s a rich, tumultuous, bawdy period, with so much going on in politics, in literature, in philosophy.  Not to mention that I’ve always wanted to be best buddies with Caroline of Ansbach, wife of George II, who is one of my absolute favorite historical characters.  You know you’re a history nerd when….

CE: Any plans to write in those time periods?

LW: My undergrad work was primarily on mid-sixteenth century Scotland (I wrote my senior thesis on the Queen-Regent, Marie de Guise, mother of Mary, Queen of Scots), and that’s an area I’ve always planned to revisit.  I still find Marie de Guise a fascinating and canny character, and, having spent some time living in Edinburgh, I’d love to go back.  My doctoral work is on the English Civil Wars, which is another period I’d like to write about some day.  Talk about swashbuckling and deeds of daring-do!  Um, and, yes, I do have rather a crush on Charles II, so the Restoration is also on the agenda for a book one of these days.  Part of the problem, though, is that I’m still too close to all of those periods academically, so it’s hard for me to get away from the footnotes and let the characters take over. 

CE: Is that doctoral dissertation on your list of future writing projects. What is it about?

LW: My dissertation, grandly titled, “Give Caesar his Due: Royalist Conspiracies during the English Civil Wars, 1646-1649” tracked the machinations of the displaced partisans of King Charles following his imprisonment in 1646 up through his decapitation in January of 1649.  I do seem to have a thing about Royalist spies, whether they’re wearing knee breeches or plumed hats.  There’s just something about men in cloaks and spurs clustered in the back room of a tavern, raising their tankards in a clandestine toast, “For the King!” 

THE JOB OF WRITING

CE: In addition to your Masters degree and dissertation work, you also have a law degree from Harvard—any similarities between law and creative writing? (she asks with an evil smile.)

LW: My first week at the firm, the partner for whom I was working (I was in the litigation department) sat me down and said, “We write stories; you write stories; now you will write stories for us.”  I’m not sure I’d quite agree with that—there was a lot less dialogue in my briefs than in my books—but there are some surprising overlaps between practicing law and writing historical fiction.  A lot of what goes into writing a brief is historical reconstruction, going through piles of documents, taking limited pieces of evidence, and trying to spin them into a convincing and persuasive story.  That’s just what we do when we write historical fiction.  We’re reconstructing a narrative from limited sources.  It’s also all about persuasion, about pulling the reader in and drawing her along with you.  In both cases, if you strike a false note and lose the reader’s trust, it’s all over.  The nice thing about writing fiction?  No more Westlaw! 

CE: I think all of us who write face the difficult task of balancing all our different roles in life and figuring out how to manage our time. Obviously, you’ve been tremendously successful in that department. Any hints you can give us?

LW: Time management is one of those things I still wrestle with, but I think what it comes down to in the end is being aware of your own work patterns.  When I started at the law firm, people gave me all sorts of earnest and well-meaning advice about waking up early every morning and writing for two hours a day.  Two problems: (1) my brain refuses to kick in until sometime after noon, and (2) I am incapable of writing in two hour chunks.  I made myself miserable for about a month, wrote the worst prose I’ve ever produced (and, yes, that includes the imitation Barbara Taylor Bradford novel I tried to write in eleventh grade) and then came to the blinding realization that, hey, I’m a fits-and-starts writer; I’ve always been a fits-and-starts writer.  Therefore, I was better off giving up on the two hour a day plan and locking myself up at home on weekends when I could write for forty-eight hours straight.  Learning how you work most productively and finding creative ways to implement that around your other obligations—without beating yourself up about what you could, would, should be doing—is about fifty per cent of the battle.

CE: At the RWA Conference last summer, you gave a great talk about making historical stories come to life. One of the things you mentioned was how an author can take advantage of all the specialized knowledge out there without becoming a doctoral candidate. We have a lot of readers who are just embarking on writing careers, so it would be great if you would offer some of you “inside tips.”

LW: Thank you!  There are a wealth of resources out there for writers of historical fiction, all the more so now because of the advent of the internet.  My favorite way of getting into a time period is to start with biographies.  That way, you get an individual eye’s view of life at the time—and you can shamelessly follow up on that biographer’s footnotes to work your way back to secondary sources about the period as well as contemporary diaries, journals, and letters, many of which (depending on the time period in which you’re working) are available in print form and can be accessed on-line, purchased through a used bookseller, or ordered through inter-library loan.  While we’re still on books, it’s also useful to have a shelf of quick references next to the computer (or, if you prefer websites, bookmarked on your browser).  My go-to guides vary for each book, but my standard next-to-the-desk texts for quick reference are The Oxford Dictionary of British History, The Companion to 18th Century Britain, The Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars, and several books of historical maps, uniforms, and costume.

Museums, historic houses, and antique shops are a wonderful way of getting a sense of what your world would have looked like.  If you can visit in person, so much the better, but if you can’t make it there, many have photos from their collections on-line, or glossy catalogues that often seem to turn up nicely discounted at used bookstores.  There are also, I’ve discovered, societies for just about anything.  When I needed information of seventeenth century freemasons for my dissertation, I contacted a group that specializes in research on the freemasons.  They sent me back a five page long essay on the topic.  Not everyone will be quite so generous with their time, but I’ve found professors, specialist societies, other authors, and museum curators are extremely kind in sharing their expertise if emailed and asked nicely.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  All that being said, it’s also important to remember that we write fiction.  At some point, tempting as it is to track down just that one last detail, you have to press the “off” button on the research, sit down with that empty Word file, and just write.

CE: Your heroine Eloise has some very funny encounters in archives. Are there any humorous (or embarrassing, heh, heh, heh) real-life research incidents that have happened to you . .  . er, ones that you will share, that is.

LW: You mean other than spending forty-five minutes trying to figure out how to use the water cooler in the cafeteria of the Public Records Office?  Oh, embarrassment.  I did have some great moments, including getting hopelessly lost on the campus of the University of Nottingham, where I had been locked in the library all day with a seventeenth century journal.  Blundering around in the dark, looking for the bus stop (which was, of course, entirely in the opposite direction) I cleverly managed to lose my footing and roll down a hill.  The fact that I was wearing three inch heels and had somehow contrived to wander off the path onto a steep incline covered with wet and slippery leaves might have had something to do with it.  Fortunately, no one saw.  Or, if they did, I’ve blotted it out of my memory. 

Thanks so much, Word Wenches, for having me over!  It’s been a great pleasure to chat with you.

Note: Lauren has kindly consented to give away a copy of her new book to one lucky person who leaves a comment here between now and Wednesday.

Comments

[Linda Henderson]

I enjoyed your interview very much. I think it's fascinating the amount of research writers do to make their books so authentic. I enjoy learing about different time periods and I've learned a lot reading historicals. I will look forward to reading your book.

[Andrea Penrose]

Just a quick note to all our readers. As Lauren will be traveling to and from New Haven for her teaching debut at Yale today, she will be a little hard-pressed to respond to comments/questions until this evening. Sp please be patient and check back here later. She's really looking forward to "chatting" with everyone!

[Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe]

I absolutlely adore your books, Lauren.You've managed to combine historical and contemporary voices in one great package, and flip from one to the other cleverly and seamlessly (let's see---how many more adverbs can I use?). Anyhow, count me as a huge fan, but you make my head spin with all your accomplishments at such a tender age. Good luck to you and Andrea as you enlighten the Yalies!

[Lauren Willig]

Thanks so much, Maggie! I'm so glad you've enjoyed the books!

And, thanks, Cara, for giving everyone the heads-up about my otherwise mysterious silence.... I'll be back at the computer this evening after a full day of Adventures in New Haven, dying to read all your comments!!

[Heather Watson]

I so adore the Pink Carnation series and am eagerly anticipating the new book!

Thanks for the interview. I so enjoyed it.

[Lauren Willig]

Thanks, Linda! I couldn't agree more about historical fiction being a great introduction to other time periods.... I first got interested in India through M.M. Kaye (ah, "Shadow of the Moon"!). And watching the "Young Victoria" movie the other day sparked fond recollections of reading "Victoria Victorious" as a young 'un. Best way to learn, ever.

[Courtney]

This is my most eagerly anticipated release for 2010! Can't wait to read it.

[MJ]

I love the Pink Carnation series and will be at my local bookstore on Tuesday to pick up a copy of your new book. My question: How did your publisher react when you said you wanted to set a book in India? I know other authors have received very lukewarm responses with this setting. Is this still a setting that only best selling authors like yourself can use or are the NY markets opening up to such a setting for new authors?

[Meghan]

I've loved the Pink books since I first saw a blurb about them in the Metro when Pink 1 came out - local interest since LW was a Harvard grad student at the time.

I read that article, thought "I need to read that book", so I ditched class to hightail it to the Pru to buy it! I haven't looked back yet.

Thank you for brightening up my Januaries with book releases!

[morningstar]

Thanks for a most informative and very interesting interview, Lauren! You are an inspiration to us all. But - don't you ever sleep? //grins//
morningstar

[Sherrie Holmes]

From Sherrie:
A woman after my own heart! She rolls down hills in her high heels! (pumping arm) YES! (Says she who lost her slip in the crosswalk in front of a busload of morning commuters)

The thing I love about this blog is that it has introduced me to so many fabulous new authors I've never read before. It's like having a personal book advisor. Lauren, I can't wait to read your Pink series. (Pink happens to be one of my favorite colors!) Cara/Andrea, thank you for bringing another great author to my attention!

[Utujm]

I'm so jealous of everyone that is able to take that Seminar. Can't wait until tomorrow!

[Katie]

I really enjoyed the interview. I'm a huge fan of your books and I love history. I really don't have much of a background on what was going on in India at that time but I'm sure your book will spur me to go out and learn more about it.

[gretchen fucio]

Sherrie is right- this blog has helped me find so many great new authors. I am now off to track down as many of the "Pink" series as I can. Thanks!

[maryjoputney]

So nice you could visit us here at Word Wenches, Lauren! I'm glad to see that your intrepid characters are now off to India. The subcontinent is so intertwined with British history, and the material there is marvelous!

Good luck at keeping so very many balls in the air. *g*

Mary Jo

[Jane Bigelow]

Thanks for the details about your writing and researching processes! I've emailed the comparison between writing briefs and writing fiction to my friend the (retired) lawyer and avid fiction reader.

Jane

[Tracygrant.wordpress.com]

Wonderful interview, Lauren and Cara! I researched early 19th century India a bit years ago for the backstory of the half-Indian hero in a book I wrote with my mom, and I learned just enough to be hungry for more. I'm so excited to read this book, both for the background and to see what happens to poor Penelope and what's next in the Pink mytharc. Also eager to hear about today's class!

xoxo,
Tracy

[Leslie Carroll]

Fabulous interview, ladies, and I can't wait to get my copy of "...Blood Lily"!

And, oh how I wish I could be an auditing little fly on the Yale walls!

[Suzanne]

I, too, hate Westlaw & wish I could be as well rid of it as Lauren. Absolutely wonderful interview & I'm very much looking forward to the release of "Blood Lily" tomorrow!

[ElaineK]

I've enjoyed all the Pink books, but especially the first one since I didn't know what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. The narrator of the audio book did a good job with it.
Your research sounds fascinating, Lauren, and I am in awe of what you have accomplished. If you had to settle on just one focus, what would it be--writing, teaching or law?

[Louis]

Interesting interview.

Love your combination of Historical and Contemporary Romance. Looking forward to reading "...Blood Lily".
Have it on order.

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks Tracy and Leslie! The class was beyond fun! We have a great group of students who were eager and enthusiastic—the discussion was terrific and 2 hours just whizzed by. It's going to be a terrific experience working our way through the reading list.

[Erin]

I loved reading about your writing process and am so amazed by how much you get done. I can't wait till tomorrow!

[Lauren Willig]

Hi, all! Sorry to be away all day. I was off with Cara/Andrea in New Haven, teaching our very first class. Lots of time on the train both ways, but totally worth it!

[Lauren Willig]

Sherrie, I love your slip story! It reminds me of another of my more stellar grad school moments. I was crossing the street right in front of Harvard Yard, weighed down by library books (ah, Widener), hit a patch of ice, overbalanced, and managed to land flat on my back in a foot-deep puddle. Right in front of a busload of Asian tourists. All of whom started taking pictures of the Harvard student in the slush. Not one of my more photogenic moments! It wasn't so great for the library books, either....

[Lauren Willig]

Meghan, I haven't been to the Pru in way too long! Feeling all nostalgic now....

[Lauren Willig]

MJ, my publisher didn't bat an eye at the India proposal. They took it very much in stride. I don't know if that's because my series has country-hopped before, so they figure that my books are all over the place anyway, or because there is a growing demand for non-England set books (like Meredith Duran's "Duke of Shadows" or Sherry Thomas' "Not Quite a Husband", both of which came out quite recently.) It's an interesting question.

[Lyn S]

I have wanted to hang out with Caroline of Ansbach since I read the Baroque Cycle. Now I want to hang out with Lauren Willig too.

[Lauren Willig]

Yay! I'm so glad I'm not the only Caroline of Ansbach groupie!!

[Andrea Penrose]

You guys got me curious, so I've just gone and read a brief bio of Caroline of Anspach—and now I want to hang with her posse too!

[Patricia Barraclough]

What an interesting post. I have one of your books upstair in my TBR pile. I first heard about your books when I was looking up something on the Scarlet Pimpernel. It will be very interesting having you branch out into India. That certainly opens a lot more plot opportunities. I look forward to reading the whole series.

[Anne Gracie]

Fabulous interview, Cara/Andrea and Lauren, thank you so much. I am in awe of anyone who can wear three inch he--er do such excellent research. ;)

I love reading old journals and diaries -- if the write is interesting, that is. I've come across some extraordinarily lively and expressive writers in my meanderings. I expect a lot of them will be turned into e-books in the future and become more accessible, so we don't have to read them in some secure reading room somewhere.

Re the Indian setting, it does seem as though publishers are more willing to take that risk. For a while there it was as though they couldn't see outside London -- except to Scotland. I personally love exotic settings, and I'm off to order some of your books.

[Margay]

I love the detail with which you write. Pink Carnation came highly recommended to me and let me tell you, it is one of my favorite books now.
Margay

[Julie]

I enjoyed the interview and all the detailed research that was revealed (my inner academic is very gleeful). Thanks for the chance to win!

[Sherrie Holmes]

From Sherrie:
Lauren, I laughed out loud when I read how you fell into a mud puddle in front of a busload of Asian tourists. I can just visualize it! I can tell by the tone of your interview that you have a sense of humor.

You're one up on me. So here's another one from me. I had dropped off my car at the shop during my lunch break, and was waiting on the street corner for a co-worker to pick me up. I happened to be standing on the sidewalk of a seedy hotel that was right next doors to the car shop. It was on a very busy street. The co-worker was late, and I got bored standing on the street, so I decided to get a little exercise by walking up and down the sidewalk. I was wearing a floaty dress and heels, and one of my other co-workers drove by and honked. I waved back at him. I noticed that the Asian hotel manager had been glowering at me, and he finally came out and made indignant shooing motions, telling me to go away. He had a thick accent, and it took me awhile to understand that he was saying, "New management! No hookers! Go away!"

[Keira Soleore]

Lauren and Andrea, what a great interview! Looking forward to picking up LILY soon. I remember how we talked about the titling on your Facebook page. That was so much fun.

I'm dying to hear how your first day of seminar went. And I'm jealous as all heck about those folks who are able to take the class.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, Sherrie, we need to do an interview with you about funny incidents. You are too much! LOL

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks, Keira! The class was really fun! We have a great group of students and I think we're going to have some wonderful discussions. We'll you all posted.

[Sherrie Holmes]

I'm really looking forward to hearing about your class! I'll bet you learn as much as your students do. That's what I love about in-person classes (as opposed to online). You get that exchange going between students and teachers. You guys are breaking ground and giving romance a good name.

[Sherrie Holmes]

**Oh, Sherrie, we need to do an interview with you about funny incidents. You are too much! LOL **

It's Lauren's fault. She started it.

[Lyn S]

Anyway after the course is over we could get a reading list? As if I really need more books to read :)
Lyn S -- who for some insane reason started her EdD

[Andrea Penrose]

Lyn S, we're working on a "master" reading list, which is taking on a life of its own! We hope to whip it into a manageable length, and then share it with everyone. Stay tuned!

[Tracy]

I am a huge fan of the Pink Carnation series and imagine my delight when I discovered the release of the next installment. I can't wait to read it!! I want to add that reading your interview revealed to me why I really love your books. Being an academia myself, I really appreciate your attempt to bring history alive through historical fiction and your devotion to scholarly research to support your writing. I always follow up reading historical fiction with a check of the facts. It's a great way to learn about history. The last comment I want to make is your choice of an alternative period in which to live. I enthusiastically agree with your choice and for much the same reasons you stated. I can't wait to consume your future writings and if you ever need a good researcher to support you, I'd love the job!!

[cialis online]

Indian maps are great.

[home teeth whitening]

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