Scottish Victorians & Brevity

Susan here, with thoughts on brevity and Victorians - opposites I'll now try to fit together . . . 

My Victorian trilogy -- the Scottish Lairds series -- is finally available in reissue, new as e-books this month. The first, Taming the Heiress, is set in 1850s Scotland. All three books are freshly revised editions with gorgeous new covers.

These newly edited versions preserve the stories and characters while much improving the text. I may have overdone the {cough} word count in the original print versions of these books, so it was nice to apply a little judicious editing. Brevity might not be a natural fit with an authentically Victorian voice and story, but taking a red pen after a few years to three stories I still loved worked out very well.  

That’s one of the advantages of digitizing a previous print edition. We can make old stories new again for a new audience, and update our books to be tighter, sharper, focused and just better books all around for readers who may have read them before, and for new readers just discovering them.

But even editing doesn't produce true brevity. Recently I’ve fallen in love with a little series of books that I’m collecting for my baby granddaughter (who doesn’t know one end of a book from another quite yet). I mentioned these books in our latest “What We’re Reading” blog. The series, Cozy Classics by brothers Jack and Holman Wang, makes classics like Pride & Prejudice accessible to little readers through the use of twelve simple words ("sisters," "dance," and so on) and photo illustrations of adorable little felt dolls in miniature sets. The perfect story essence and creativity of these wonderful little books is such fun.

And in the spirit of my made-new-again Victorians, now shortened, focused and improved -– I wondered what few words would perfectly capture my own stories. Let's give it a try.

First, here’s a little promo bit for Taming the Heiress: 

An engineer determined to build a lighthouse on a Scottish sea rock meets the wealthy island baroness intent on stopping him—but one night and an ancient legend of love and danger challenge their hearts . . .

According to Scottish legend, the kelpie, a magical sea creature, grants good fortune to the Isle of Caransay upon finding a bride on the sea rock. When Meg MacNeill spends one night on that rugged rock as local tradition demands, a handsome man emerges from the sea—and passion takes its course. Legend fulfilled, the mysterious man disappears.

Seven years later, Dougal Stewart, engineer and deep sea diver, returns to the Caransay to build a lighthouse on the very rock where he washed ashore—but Baroness Strathlin is determined to stop construction. Little does Dougal realize that the barefoot island beauty he often meets is not only the mysterious baroness herself, but the girl he once loved that memorable night—and the fair-haired boy with her is his own son.

WAY too many words! Now to find the story's essence:   

Island. Storm. Guy. Girl. Lighthouse. 
Baroness. Diver. Kelpie. Danger! Rescue?
Love . . .  

"An exquisite and magical Highland romance." ~Booklist, *starred review

Taming the Heiress is available now, and the other two books in the series, Waking the Princess and Kissing the Countess, will soon be ready via the e-book venue of your choice.

I’ll tell you a little about the rest of the trilogy in future blogs, including an interview with a gorilla keeper at the National Zoo. What does that have to do with a sexy, romantic Victorian Scottish historical? Stay tuned to Word Wenches to find out!

               

Your turn! In the spirit of the Wang brothers’ brilliant little board books, what few words would you use to describe a favorite book?  

~Susan 

 

Comments

[Mary Jo Putney]

What a fun game, Susan! Sadly, I am verbose and have trouble with doing single word stories. I can manage two at a time. For example, The Bargain:

Desperate heiress. Dying officer. Expedient marriage. Miraculously recovered officer! Real marriage?

As you can see, one bit is three words. I'm not good at writing short. *G* But lovely that this terrific trilogy of yours is now available in a sleekly polished new version with those GORGEOUS covers!

[Janice]

I hope you're braced for a mini-rant )

I can't like this idea :( It's like the Cliff Notes version of a book rather than the real thing. It's pared down to plot, like another CSI clone TV show. I miss the ambience, the feeling of being swept away to another time, another kind of existence. It's like picking up something in the bookstore, reading the first ten pages, then skipping to the last two pages, and then claiming to have read the book :(

The word game used here is what I do to keep one line notes so I don't buy the same book twice. It wouldn't induce me to purchase.

I like Georgian, Regency and Victorian writing; it's atmospheric, it's poetic, it's got shades and tones to it, it goes into things in depth. It's not all sex sex sex spy plot complication sex sex SEX!!! five children THE END -- all told in the simplest, most dumbed-down language possible. English is such a rich, nuanced language that I hate seeing it fall into disuse in a video-saturated era that increasingly dislikes reading if the reader has to bring anything to it herself.

[Susan King]

LOL, Janice, rant totally appreciated! And I'm with you 100%. The blog is an experiment. *g* Mary Jo can't do it either, and I appreciate that as well!

As for me - I can't write short. Never could. And so my Victorians are lush, detailed, sexy, atmospheric and full of nuance, visual description, romance and emotion and adventure ... well at least I like to think so!!

The first print versions, I admit, were verbose, and I've cleaned up some untidy sentence structures and unnecessary detail. I was glad to do that.

I do love and admire the simplicity of the baby classics that I'm sharing with my granndaughter -- but I fully intend to introduce her to the world of classic and beautifully written literature (and later romance!) when she's old enough, if her dad doesn't do it first. My kids love books and will pass that on to their kids. They like pages as well, books made of ... real paper. My work is done. :)

[Susan King]

Writing short is very, very hard for historical romance authors! Really I can't do it either. But it was fun to give it a spin in the blog today - a little challenge for the brain. And now the brain wants to return to Too Many Words, where it's quite happy. ;)

[Bona]

Sorry, one of my faults is precisely to be very verbose. That's why I've got a Twitter account to receive information, but I hardly write one it b/c I just cannot convey a good short idea.
BTW, I'm very happy about this reissue. I've seen wonderful reviews about them, so -three more books to my TBR pile.

[Susan King]

Hi Bona ~ We all seem to be in agreement about lots of lovely words in the books we read - and the books we write!
I'm glad you're looking forward to my reissued Victorians thank you. I so loved researching and writing these three novels, and it's great to be able to share the books in a new form - with gorgeous new covers (I'm thrilled with the covers!) :)

[Anne Gracie]

Bought! Looking forward to reading it.

[Michelle H]

God Bless The Wenches and every gorgeous, lush, emotional, sexy, sad, angsty, deep, atmospheric, moody, complicated BEAUTIFUL word you all have written and continue to write and yes, even edit.

And Susan, I just love the Cozy Classics. I want them all for myself! And I'm over (ahem) 60. ;)

[Michelle H]

I just recently read The Bargain for the first time. Wow. Loved love loved it.

[Michelle H]

OH, and I am putting the Scottish Victorian trilogy on my wish list today.

[Susan King]

Thanks, Anne! :)

[Susan King]

Michelle, thank you, what a lovely group compliment, and we all appreciate it! :)

I adore the Cozy Classics. I'd buy the whole set for myself too - really I am so far, because the baby is far too young to care! I also love their version of the Star Wars trilogy. Brilliant, and sweetly done.

[Susan King]

Thanks! Much appreciated, hope you love the stories!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Michelle, I'm so glad you enjoyed THE BARGAIN! It's one of my most enduring stories, and I'm glad it's still available.

Happy reading always!