Word Wenches

The Gift of Friendship

Andrea here, As we head into the holiday season, with its festive gatherings replete with oodles of sweets treats and bubbly libations, I find myself thinking not only of all the scrumptious ways in which I can consume chocolate (okay, okay, I tend to think of that in any season) but also of the far more important meaning of the season. It's a time to reflect on the gifts we have in our lives. And one of the gifts for which I'm most grateful are my friendships.

Friendships lie at the heart of the books I write. My plots deal with solving a conundrum—usually one that starts with a murder—in order to ensure that Good triumphs over Evil. But one of the major threads that weaves through all the stories is how friendship—love, loyalty, trust, camaraderie—is key to giving my main protagonists the strength and courage to overcome daunting challenges and solve the crime. They can’t do it alone . . .

But I am digressing slightly from my main topic, since what sparked my musing today is not fiction, but real life.

Just recently, I went away on a long weekend with my college roommates. We’ve known each other since the first day of freshman year. It’s been a long time since then—don’t ask!— and while so many things have changed in our lives, what is an elemental source of joy that we are still the best of friends.

WWR—What We've Read in November

Anne here, and this month we have a bumper crop of recommended reads for you, from YA to timeslip, to Christmas treats, romance, literary fiction, crime and more.

We'll start with Christina: This month I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of books recommended by fellow Wenches. First and foremost, The Christmas Escape by Sarah Morgan which was exactly as wonderful as I had hoped. The fact that it is set in snowy Lapland in the north of Sweden was just the icing on the cake! I now long to go there to take sleigh rides through the forests and see the aurora borealis in all its glory.

Then there was Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was very happy to find that it was the first in a series penned by different authors, all connected through the fictional US college Moo U in Vermont. The second book in the series, Blindsided by Victoria Denault, was just brilliant! As well as keeping up with hockey practice and his studies, hockey star Tate Adler is trying to save his family’s farm by doing an illicit side job. Their neighbours the Todds have their own problems. They are sworn enemies so when fellow student Maggie Todd finds out what Tate is doing, she doesn’t hesitate to blackmail him. But whenever they meet, sparks fly and their chemistry is off the charts. Can they risk a relationship or will the feud remain forever? This love story was just explosive and I loved every minute of it. I’m now reading my way through the rest of the series.

A friend also recommended a brilliant YA series by L.J. Shen, starting with Pretty Reckless. It’s raw and angsty with a lot of misunderstandings, but I’m thoroughly enjoying these stories too. Penn Scully is from the wrong end of town with a drug addict mother and a deadbeat step-father, while Daria Followhill is a rich and spoiled princess. He believes she took away the only thing he ever loved and is out for revenge. When Penn’s mother dies, Daria’s parents decide to take him in as a foster son and he can set his plans in motion. As for Daria, she’s tired of always coming second in her mother’s eyes and wants to lash out at everyone and everything. But things don’t go to plan for either of them …

Next comes Pat, who says: If you’re in a literary mood, Anne Tyler is always a good bet.

In REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, Micah Mortimer, is a 40-something computer tech. He’s the youngest of a large, messy family, and in consequence, he’s a tad obsessive about keeping his personal life contained, so contained that he has a bad habit of shutting doors on the world. The story follows Micah through a series of events that opens his eyes to what he’s been missing all his life. There’s no violence, no sex, just a lovely journey of discovery told by a fabulously talented writer. It’s wonderful to settle in for the evening in safe hands—I didn’t skim a single page!  

Giving Thanks

by Mary Jo

Thanksgiving is a justly popular holiday because it involves family, friends, food, and no need to shop for presents. <G>  As you probably know, the holiday is a form of harvest festival so the origins are lost in the mists of time.  The difference between a good harvest or a bad one was literally life or death, so it made great sense to celebrate the bounty of the earth. 

I love Thanksgiving because it's secular and can be--and is!--celebrated by everyone, of all religious and ethnicities.  It's a time for families, but also for inviting friends, particularly those who might not have someone else to celebrate with.  Roast turkey is not mandatory. 

 

Reading Aloud

Anne here.

One of the earliest memories I have is of listening to stories — my parents and older siblings read books aloud to me; Winnie the Pooh, Pookie, The Borrowers and many more. But the minute I learned to read, that was it — I wanted to read everything myself. Pure impatience. I could read much faster than people could speak it. Of course I gained a whole world of books. I didn't realize it at the time, but something was lost in that switch. 

As well as books, I loved to be told stories. "Tell me about when you were little," I'd say to Mum or Dad. Or, "tell me about the time when Jill ran away from home with the bathtub," which was a story about one of my sisters before I was born. I had my favorites, and would ask for them again and again, but I also loved hearing new, as-yet-untold stories that Mum or Dad would dredge up from their memories. I'd also pester my grandparents for their stories and memories. I wish now I'd written them down, because they're all lost now.

Some stories had been handed down over the generations. Dad used to tell the story of Timothy Mouse and Hector Owl and to this day I can hear him doing the voices — "mopoke, mopoke". It's not the story that Disney made a film of, by the way. I think it's a story his father told to him, but I'm not sure. A "mopoke" is a kind of owl we have here, and that's the sound it makes.

Storytelling is one of the oldest human activities. It bonds people, it shares stories and strengthens understanding within a group. It educates, but most importantly it entertains.

Fairy Tale Forests

Christina here. I’m still in Sweden and have been enjoying one of the things I miss the most about this country – the huge, deep forests. Sweden is fairly sparsely populated, and in the part where I grew up, most of the countryside is covered by woodland and thousands of lakes of various sizes. Going for nature walks or heading out to pick berries and mushrooms is a favourite pastime here and it’s something I used to do with my family as well. There is a law in this country called “Allemansrätten” which gives everyone the right to roam wherever they wish, provided they don’t trample crops, ruin anything or leave rubbish behind. It’s a fantastic privilege and one that most Swedes don’t abuse.

This time of year, the berries are all gone and most of the mushrooms too, but it’s still lovely to just go for a walk, as I did last week with my friend and fellow author Anna Belfrage. It’s hunting season, so there’s always the possibility that you might come across a panicking elk/moose, deer or wild boar, but that’s never happened to me. I just enjoy the peace and quiet, and the fresh scents of pine and moss. (I’m not getting into a debate about whether they are called elk or moose – I prefer the word elk because it’s a direct translation of the Swedish word “älg” which is what they are called here, but others seem to disagree.) (Illustration - "Skutt by Tuvstarr" by John Bauer 1913)

The Last Daughter of York

Nicola here. Yesterday was NA release day for my latest dual-time historical mystery The Last Daughter of York which was published in the UK a few months ago under the title of The Last Daughter. Central to the story is the 15^th century mystery of the Princes in the Tower – what happened to these young sons of King Edward IV, was their uncle Richard responsible for their disappearance and possible death, and why is this mystery still so powerful today, 500 years later. I’m a real sucker for a historical mystery, real or imaginary, and I love the idea of examining the historical story in the present and coming up with a solution to an age-old mystery.

There is a theme of disappearance in both sections of the book. In the modern-day story, Serena Warren returns to Minster Lovell, the place of her childhood holidays, to try and find out what happened to her sister Caitlin who vanished ten years before. As Serena starts to dig into the past and her memories, she uncovers a genealogical link to the Plantagenets and the mystery of the princes.

Ask A Wench—Our favorite research sources

Andrea here, putting together this month's Ask A Wench feature, which poses a particularly fun question from Wench reader Claire Phillips. (Thank you, Claire!): What are the best resources you've found for your research? What are the most fun ones?

Christina:  For me, both the best and most fun resources have been seeing historical reconstructions and trying things out for myself – in my case, Viking longships and houses, and some of their implements. Being able to take a short trip in a longship and help with the rowing was invaluable as I would never have known exactly how it felt otherwise. I couldn’t possibly have imagined how smoothly the keel cut through the waves or how easy it was to use the oars – I would have thought it was much heavier. It was good to know that as a female, I could have played my part and taken turns at rowing. To sit and lie down on a fur-covered bench in a reconstructed Viking hall also added so much to my picture of life a thousand years ago. And having a go at turning a quern stone gave me huge respect for the poor thrall women who had to use those all the time – it was incredibly heavy! When you experience things first-hand your senses are assailed in every way and you gain a more complete understanding of what it was like. I’m always thrilled when I get to do anything like that!

Sunshine for Christmas!

Sunshine for Christmas

By Mary Jo

It's Christmas novella season and I'm celebrating by releasing a freestanding e-edition of this story plus an audio version.  Not that Sunshine for Christmas is a new story.  It's one of five novellas included in my Christmas Revels collection, so if you have a copy of Christmas Revels, there's no need to buy a separate e-edition of Sunshine for Christmas.

But it was the very first novella I ever wrote and I started it with some wariness because I'd never written at this length before. (Most novellas are in the 20K-25K range, though they can be somewhat shorter or longer.) 

The trick is to get a whole, satisfying story within a novella length, and it can be particularly challenging for a romance, where it takes time (and words!) to build a convincing relationship.  This is one of the reasons that reunion/second chance at love stories are popular for novellas.  The main characters already have a relationship, for better and worse, so a lot of the emotional groundwork has already been laid. 

 

Regency Theatre Clubs and Secret Societies

Nicola here. There’s a new series of one of my favourite TV programmes on at the moment, the BBC genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are. From connections to royalty to Dame Judi Dench’s links to Hamlet, there’s always something fascinating in people’s family history. Last week part of the programme focussed on one of the largest fraternal organisations in the UK, The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. I must admit I don’t tend to think of the UK as being big into fraternal organisations other than the Masons and the “Buffs” as they are known, was new to me. However their origins and history turned out to be really interesting and got me thinking about the popularity of groups like these, why secret societies were so popular, and their decline in the modern day.

The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes was founded in 1822 during the reign of George IV. It sprang out of the theatre trade and was set up in the Harp Tavern in Covent Garden which stood opposite Drury Lane Theatre. Covent Garden was and still is the heart of London theatre land and The Harp, which has been demolished since, was a favourite drinking place for theatre people. Edmund Kean, the actor, was a famous habitué in the Regency period and Sheridan, the actor and playwright, hung out there in the earlier part of the Georgian era.

The Magic of Standing Stones

Christina here. There are certain places that feel timeless and really evoke the past, and stone circles, standing stones and cairns always have that effect on me. What is it about them that draws us in and has fascinated people for so long? Perhaps it’s the sheer mystery of the how and why? Because we can’t be sure exactly what they were used for, they make our imagination run riot. It’s easy to picture ceremonies honouring the sun, moon or stars, perhaps featuring druids in flowing white robes, chanting and dancing. Who knows if that ever actually happened, but it’s a nice fantasy.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to come across two places featuring such ancient monuments, and each time I found myself spellbound. They have a certain aura and just being among them gives us a feeling of awe and of stepping back in time. Most such monuments were built thousands of years ago, but they are so well constructed they’ve survived and stood the test of time. It’s mind-boggling when you consider the enormous amounts of work and manpower that must have been required, and the primitive tools in use back then. I never tire of watching programmes with theories as to how it was accomplished.

Travels in Italy--Part Two

Pat here, still rambling about our Italy trip. (The Vatican's masked Swiss guards to the left just because) In my last segment, I was so eager to get to hill country that I forgot to mention Rome at all. We’ve visited Rome several times over the years. It’s still a very busy city, much of it walkable if you’re staying in the forum area, which we were. The beauty of this visit was that the number of tourists was waaaay down. The lines at the forum and the Vatican were, at best, maybe fifteen minutes long. The guides—just now getting back to work after our long Covid vacation—were ecstatic about how much more they could show us without crowds.

Naming Characters

Anne here, and today I'm talking about how I go about naming my characters, which I've been asked on several occasions.

Firstly I need character names that fit the time period and geographic location. So no obviously Irish or Scottish or European names for English characters, for instance, and certainly no modern, or even modern-sounding names. Though you'd be surprised how some names that sound very modern have been around for centuries. But that's a blog for another time. 

Next I need the names to fit the characters in my head. There is no hard and fast rule for this — not even any logic at times. If a name is too strongly associated with a person I know — or worse, some little ratbag I once taught — I can't use it. Interference would happen.

The thing is, the character's name needs to evoke the character lurking in my mind — even before I start writing. I have been known to change a character's name half way through a book, when the character isn't working for me. I did that with Tallie's Knight — she was originally Serena, but Serena was quite self-possessed and maybe a bit too perfect and I didn't much like her. I ditched Serena, dug around in some Greek myths, chose one of the Muses — Thalia — to name my heroine — they did that a lot in those days. Poor girl what a name to be saddled with! And my heroine sprang to life as Tallie, young, warm-hearted, impulsive and the book was off and running.

The sound of a name is also important. Repetitious sounds can lead to confusing characters, so I try not to start character names with the same letter or sound. Even the echo of a similar sound can do it — I'm currently writing a novella with two sisters, Sally and Josie, and I found I was getting them mixed up, so Josie became Juliet and now there's no confusing them.

Titles and surnames are pretty important too. Georgette Heyer used the names of villages, towns, rivers and so on for some of her names and titles. The heroine of The Grand Sophy is named after the village of Stanton Lacy, for instance, and it's fun spotting her character names on the map. I have used that technique often — though it's important to check that real living lord and ladies don't have that title, for titles were generally attached to land. (click on the map to enlarge it.)

So I choose some possibilities and then google them. I also check The Peerage surname index, and have sometimes found that my chosen title, while it did exist at some point, had been abeyance for many years. So I feel free to use it.