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Monthly Archives: February 2007

Last week during Megan’s post on historical accuracy Cara and Kalen both talked about errors regarding horses, like the Bionic Horse that can gallop for hours nonstop. It got me thinking about some of the other howlers I’ve read.

Here are just a few.

Errors in terminology. The heroine who referred to the strap that held the saddle on as a cinch. That would be OK if she were a cowgirl but in English riding it’s called a girth. The words phaeton and curricle used interchangeably for the same carriage. A phaeton (left) has four wheels; a curricle (below) two.

But these are really minor gaffes compared to the abuse of terms for horses themselves.

Confusing a pony with a baby horse. A baby horse is called a foal (or colt if male, filly if female). This is a foal. No one in his right mind would put a child or small adult on its back.


Ponies are a type of horse that are small even at maturity. They are generally longer-lived and hardier than horses. This is a pony. As you can see it is not a baby. 🙂

(Image from RIDING ACADEMY, by Norman Thelwell.)

Sex changes. Yes, I’ve read more than once where a mare turned into a gelding or stallion during the course of a ride. It’s as if the authors just looked in a thesaurus to find alternatives to “horse”. Even if these were mistakes of the oops variety, where were the copy editors?

Testosterone gone wild. Most male horses were and are gelded, to make them more manageable and to preserve only the best for breeding.

Still I can’t deny there are few more virile and beautiful images than that of a powerful stallion and I understand why so many historical romance heroes ride one. Stallions can be extremely trainable and responsive mounts. While I was in England I was lucky enough to see Jennie Loriston-Clarke riding her glorious stallion, Dutch Courage. The rapport between those two was a wonder to behold.

However, stallions generally do require more expert handling than other horses. So I couldn’t help raising my eyebrows on reading about a hero giving the heroine her first ever riding lesson on his stallion or about the hero who kept teams of black stallions stabled along every major roads in England. My feeling is these authors are trying a little too hard with the sexual imagery!

OK, time to share. What are your favorite horse bloopers from Romanceland?

And which authors do you think get horses best?

My favorite has to be Julia Ross. The best horse scenes I’ve ever read are from her MY DARK PRINCE (read more at http://www.juliaross.net/mdphorses.htm).

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

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The first actual book I ever read was L. Frank Baum’s “Ozma of Oz.” I was in first grade, and my book-loving third-grade brother wanted to introduce me to the Oz books, which were among his favorites.

I turned up my nose at “The Wizard of Oz” — I’d seen the movie, and so I figured I’d be bored reading the book. The second Oz book, “The Land of Oz,” had a boy as the main character — and I wasn’t so interested in that. So I started with the third Oz book, “Ozma of Oz,” and that started me on a lifetime of loving books.

As a kid, I used to make lists of my favorite authors, and favorite books. Ten of each wasn’t enough — so it became “my ten favorite authors” and “my other ten favorite authors” and “seven others who are also really really good.”

At different points in grade school, my different lists included authors such as Edward Eager, Louisa May Alcott (always top ten), L. Frank Baum, E.L. Konigsburg, Joan Aiken, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Carol Ryrie Brink, Natalie Savage Carlson, Eleanor Cameron, Mary Norton, Noel Streatfeild (also always top ten), Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Alexander Key… By sixth grade, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were on the list, with Diana Wynne Jones to come along just a year or two later. (Hmmm, I see if I go on I shall need more than just a top twenty-seven!)

I read the Nancy Drew books too, and the Bobbsey Twins and Trixie Belden, but my favorite books were any sort of fantasy, or books set in the past.

So — what books turned you onto reading as a child? Which ones did you love best? Which authors stirred your imagination, or inspired you, or drew your greatest devotion?

If you’re a writer, which books made you want to start writing?

All answers welcome!

Cara
Cara King, author of My Lady Gamester, and obsessive reader and buyer of way too many books

Today we’re interviewing RITA award winning author Diane Gaston, who has been known to impersonate that other fabulous Risky author Diane Perkins on occasion. Learn more about Diane and her books at www.dianegaston.com.

Diane is going to tell us about her new release, INNOCENCE & IMPROPRIETY. Leave an original, meaningful comment for the chance to win one of either the Mills & Boon or the Harlequin Historicals versions of the book. Winners will be selected based on comments left between February 25 and 28 and will be announced March 1.

“For an engaging romance with moments of suspense and danger, I highly recommend INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY.” Jane Bowers, Romance Reviews Today

How did you think of writing this particular book? Did it start with a character, a setting, or some other element?

I wanted to stay in the world I’d created with THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M, THE WAGERING WIDOW and A REPUTABLE RAKE, so I looked for a character from A REPUTABLE RAKE who needed a romance. I picked Rose, one of the courtesan students.

In A REPUTABLE RAKE, Rose wanted to be a singer and she had already sung at Vauxhall Gardens, so that was a logical place for the story to start. I just had to figure out who deserved to be her hero.

How long did it take? Was this an easy or difficult book to write?

I can’t remember exactly how long it took to write. I generally allot 4 months to write a Harlequin/Mills & Boon book, but that includes all the interferences life tosses at us (and a lot of Scrabble Blast playing).

There were difficult parts to INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY, but they also were the parts that make writing historicals fun. I had to learn about Vauxhall Gardens, well enough to move my characters around the Gardens, and I had to learn about Kings Theatre and the Opera and singing, all things I really knew nothing about.

“Brilliant writing, a classic reformed rake plot, and vivid depictions of the Regency period make this a compelling read for fans of this era.” Romantic Times BOOKclub on THE REPUTABLE RAKE

Tell me more about your characters. What or who inspired them?

I’d created Rose for A REPUTABLE RAKE, so all I needed to do for her was flesh out her character and backstory a little. It was a little more difficult to figure out who could be her hero. I like to stay true to my vision of what society was like in the Regency, so I did not think her hero would be a titled lord. Because she was Irish, I thought an Irish hero would be nice. Rose was strikingly beautiful, the most beautiful of the courtesan students in A Reputable Rake, so it stood to reason that she would attract male admiration. So I came up with the idea of a marquis who was smitten with her, but it was his Irish secretary who fell in love with her.

The original conflict was that the marquis, Tanner, wanted Rose for his latest mistress, but he needed his secretary, Flynn, to make the arrangements. The story needed more, though, so I threw in another rival. The sadistic Greythorne from THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M and my eHarlequin Daily Read, THE DIAMOND, was a tailor-made villain. He needed to be vanquished once and for all.

My favorite character was Tanner. By the end of chapter one I knew Tanner needed a book of his own!

Did you run across anything new and unusual while researching this book?

The other performers in INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY were real people who actually performed at Vauxhall Gardens and King’s Theatre. It was fun to include them!

What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book? How do you feel about it?

The biggest risk was choosing a non-traditional hero and heroine. An Irish secretary was not your typical Regency hero. Flynn was without the power of a gentleman with a title and I just wasn’t certain if readers would like that. Rose as a heroine was less of a risk, but again, as a singer, she was not typical of Regencies I’ve read.

I’m still wondering what readers will think of Rose and Flynn!

“Perkins takes a standard marriage of convenience plot and brilliantly turns it into an emotionally intense, utterly captivating story that will thrill readers to their core.” — Kathe Robin, Romantic Times BOOKclub on THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN

What are you working on next?

I just turned in Tanner’s story! (titled THE VANISHING VISCOUNTESS). Tanner rescues a lady fugitive from a shipwreck and decides to help her escape to Scotland.

I’m also putting the finishing touches on my next Warner book. Remember the Ternion from THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN? DESIRE IN HIS EYES tells Blake’s story. Blake meets a woman he cannot resist–an imposter and a thief.

How does your Gaston writing style differ from your Perkins writing style?

There is no difference in style between the writing in my Gaston books and my Perkins books. My Perkins books are slightly less risky and tend to have more traditional characters and settings. Of course, DESIRE IN HIS EYES has a con artist as a heroine. Not too traditional.

What did you think of 300?

Only 13 more days to go!!! Then I’ll tell you.

Thanks, Diane!

Remember to comment for the chance to win a copy of either the the Harlequin Historicals or Mills & Boon version of INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY! Contest ends February 28.

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Well, it has been a busy week at chez McCabe! I finished the Muse book and sent it off into the cold, cold world (aka the UK Harlequin office). I started an Intro to Samba class. Not yet ready for America’s Ballroom Challenge, but I do have a nifty new pair of t-strap dance shoes, and I’m going to samba roll those holiday pounds away! And I’m following Cara’s Shakespearean example and auditioning for a local production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream this afternoon. I’m a bit nervous. In high school and college I did some theater, but not much since. I do have some experience with Midsummer. Granted, I was seven years old and my one line was “Peas-blossom”. But I think it should count. We have to present a prepared monologue (I’m doing Titania’s “These are the forgeries of jealousy”) and read from the script. I would love to play Titania, but would be more than happy with “third fairy from the right.” Oh, and tomorrow night I’m having an Oscar party and still don’t know what food to serve. Wish me luck!

In between dancing and reciting Shakespeare (often at the same time), I’ve been reading essayist Adam Gopnick’s Through the Children’s Gate: A Home in New York, the follow-up to his very entertaining Paris to the Moon. Gopnick riffs on art, food, mortality, family, post-9/11 New York life–and imaginary friends. In the chapter “Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli,” he discusses his three-year-old daughter Olivia’s imaginary friend (hereafter IF), the fabulously named Charlie Ravioli, and how he reflects modern urban life. Ravioli does seem a very New York-ish kind of IF. He lives in an apartment at “Madison and Lexington,” and never has time to meet with Olivia. She leaves messages for him on her toy cell phone, until they happen to “bump into each other” and “hop into a taxi” to “grab a coffee.” Ravioli also has an assistant who tells Olivia he is very busy, and a wife named Kweeda, who sadly dies of that dreaded urban disease Bitterosity (also prone to strike writers, I hear). Olivia also announces to her father that “Ravioli read your book. He didn’t like it much.” Everyone is a critic.

A famous set of literary IFs belonged to the Brontes, of course. A different set-up from the Ravioli gig, the young Brontes had a whole invented universe with their lands of Angria, Gondal, and Gaaldine. What sort of IFs would, say, little Jane Austen have? Young Thomas Hardy? Wee George Eliot? Small Virginia Woolfe (I might be scared of that one!)?

My own IFs were sadly mundane. A man named Bill, his wife Lila, their daughter Eve, and a Scottie dog named Mr. Scott. Their main purpose was to accompany me to the grocery store when I went there with my mother, so I could say “Bill and Lila think we should get Lucky Charms instead of whole wheat bran flakes.” Never worked. And they never did anything so dashing as hop into taxis, either. I think they worked in a library or something.

Anyway, the whole idea of IFs just seemed to tie into what I’ve been doing lately, writing and theater. With every book I feel like I create a whole new crew of Bills and Lilas (though hopefully more interesting!), who seem so real to me as we imagine new adventures together. I don’t usually argue with them in the cereal aisle, but they have been responsible for more than one missed highway exit. I sometimes tend to get caught up in plotting while driving, so if you see a red Toyota with a short brunette at the wheel coming at you, get out of the way!

What kind of IF did you have, or do your children have now? Did your imaginary worlds as a child make you more of a reader/writer? Any ideas on those IFs of famous people? Or suggestions for my Oscar party???

Happy weekend! Hope we can hop into a taxi and grab a coffee soon, even if only in our imagination.

Recently, I asked a much-more-knowledgeable-than-I friend, “Doesn’t it kinda make you sick that I’m writing Regencies, and yet I have no clue about some of this basic stuff?” It was during one of those frequent moments when I feel like a fraud for doing what I love. The plight of a lot of women, but that is not the point of this post.

Her reply, being a friend and all, was that no, it didn’t matter if the writing was good. And knowing me well, she went on to assure me that my writing is good.

And I’ve been thinking about that since, especially since I have asked both her and my dad (my research partner–hi Dad!) to answer some research questions for me: Towns and inns along the Great North Road, titles, Church of England common talking points, and a good first name for my villain (we settled on Elisha).

When I was in college, I took a course titled America Since 1945 (I minored in political science and religion). I came out of high school without a clue as to how to study, so when it was time for the first exam, I frantically memorized dates and events. But when the test came back, I did poorly. Why? Because while I knew the dates, I didn’t understand the why behind the dates. The dates themselves didn’t matter, it was the progression of history and various moments of cataclysm that mattered. I learned a lot that day, which might be why I am so laissez-faire about my own research; yes, getting it right is important if you’re writing historical fiction, but it’s not as important as getting the feeling right.

So while I am occasionally embarrassed about my mistakes, I feel as if I have the tone right, the feeling of the period oozes through every word of my writing. And I might never know the right way to address the daughter of a peer (Lady Megan Frampton, I think, whereas the married-into-it address would be Megan, Lady Frampton), but my characters are inspired by the time, which in my opinion trumps perfect historical accuracy every time.

Of course there are sore points for every reader; I roll my eyes when I read a book where the titled lord can decide to whom his title will fall when he’s dead, like he’s bequeathing a toaster or something (Carla Kelly does this, but I still LOVE HER WRITING). Others can’t deal with marriage details (special license inaccuracies? Guilty as charged).

What are your sore points? Do you fault authors who don’t get it right, or do you turn a blind eye if the writing is good? Have you pre-ordered the fabulous Carla Kelly’s Beau Crusoe yet? And which authors get everything right? Loretta Chase springs to mind; who else?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

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