Inspired (somewhat) by Carolyn’s post yesterday I’ve been over at History Hoydens today talking about eels and thought I’d talk today about summer and summer foods.
First, here’s a great link to some recipes from the online newsletter from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, including the delectable Anne Elliott’s Apricot Ice Cream.
The modern recipe you’ll find there is based on one in Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Housekeeping Made Plain and Easy (1756):
Pare and stone twelve ripe apricots, and scald them, beat them fine in a mortar, add to them six ounces of double refined sugar, and a pint of scalding cream, and work it through a sieve; put it in a tin with a close cover, and set it in a tub of ice broke small, with four handfuls of salt mixed among the ice. When you see your cream grows thick round the edges of your tin, stir it well and put it in again till it is quite thick; when the cream is all froze up, take it out of the tin, and put it into the mould you intend to turn it out of; put on the lid and have another tub of salt and ice ready as before; put the mould in the middle, and lay the ice under and over it; let it stand for four hours, and never turn it out till the moment you want it, then dip the mould in cold spring water, and turn it into a plate. You may do any sort of fruit the same way.
Another delicious morsel you might have missed was Jonathan Yardley’s article in the Washington Post, Pride. Prejudice. Perfection, one in a series of rereading favorite books. His article is a lovely tribute to his mother, a lifelong admirer of Austen, who, like Mr. Bennett, with a book in her hand was “regardless of time.”
Oh, wait. Summer. A great time for reading and re-reading, for eating delicious seasonal foods (peaches, anyone?). I have finally read Naomi Novik’s latest, such a sad book, but with some phenomenal battle scenes, and writing (although not nearly enough) and not getting nearly enough ice cream.
We Riskies love to showcase debut Regency authors. Today we welcome Kit Donner! Kit is one of Kensington’s Debs, a program that offers readers the chance to read new authors at the special price of $4.99 per book. For one lucky commenter, though, Kit will give away a signed copy of The Notorious Bridegroom. So, Everyone, give a big hello to Kit Donner!
1. Kit, tell us about your debut book, The Notorious Bridegroom.
The Notorious Bridegroom takes place in 1803 when Napoleon was planning an invasion of southeast England. I’ve always been intrigued by spies, so I came up with a plot where my sweet but naive heroine, Miss Patience Mandeley, believes my good but disillusioned hero, Lord Bryce Londringham, is a French spy and has accused her brother of treason. In order to prove her brother innocent, she’ll spy on the earl, and collect evidence to show the local magistrate. It’s a good plan in theory. She disguises herself as a maid in Londringham’s estate and sets her plan in motion. Only, she hasn’t a clue what she’s doing, so before long, Bryce has uncovered her disguise but not her real name. To trust or not to trust? Bryce finds himself falling in love with a woman named Patience who acts suspicious and ke eps secrets he longs to discover about her. Patience is falling in love with the enemy. How can she love a French spy? But is he? Together, they’ll have to learn to trust each other if they plan to capture the French spies and save England from an invasion, and have their own happy ending.
This is a well written historical romance with wonderful and eccentric characters set in a turbulent time in British history. The author makes good use of this throughout the story and has an excellent grasp of the time period and the customs of Regency society–Coffee Time Romance, 4 Cups
2. We love to hear about a new author’s journey to publication. Tell us about yours and include your “The Call” story! I wrote The Notorious Bridegroom in the early nineties (which began life as When a Heart Surrenders and To Catch a Spy) After three years of writing and research, I put it to bed, determined to get on with my life. You know, find a career, a husband, a home, live a little. Flash forward to 2007 where I’ve achieved many of my goals, and I pull the old disks out of a box, and download to a newer model computer and put the manuscript back together again with LOTS of changes and revisions. It was still a good story, but I had grown as a writer, and improved the new manuscript considerably. I gave the manuscript to my sister-in-law, who enjoyed reading it, and a few other people as well. It eventually ended up in the hands of my Kensington editor. She called me on a very hot day last August to offer me a 2-book contract. (I was sitting in my car with the windows rolled down.) On the way home, I called friends and family and gave them the good news.
3. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book? How do you feel about it? Probably writing many secondary characters who are memorable and not just “dressing.” I make sure they don’t take anything away from my primary characters and their story and romance, but I try to give them a life of their own.
4. Tell us something about your other research for the book.
The main research was about Napoleon’s plans for an invasion and how England prepared the country for the possible attack. Sea fencibles were created (the first line of defense) along the southeast coast. These were mostly volunteers and militia who had little weaponry but they could man the lighthouses and alert anyone in the vicinity if they saw the flotillas being launched from across the Channel.
5. What is it about the Regency era that draws you to it? More than anything is the language. Whether it’s a Jane Austen character or a Wordsworth poem, Frankenstein, or Keats’ Ode to an Urn, the words are like music to my ears.
6. What’s next for you? My second book, The Vengeful Bridegroom is scheduled for release next fall, and I just finished my third manuscript, The Wrong Bridegroom.
7. Anything else you want to tell our readers about you or your book? Where else can readers find you? I really hope everyone will take a look at the book trailer my sister created for me. It’s not what you normally would expect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNn0LBj966g
My website is www.kitdonner.com and I’m on Twitter and Facebook under my name.
Kit, thanks so much for being our Riskies guest. Readers, don’t forget to comment. Tell Kit what you think of her book, of her sister’s booktrailer, or ask her a question. Remember, one of you will be selected at random to win a signed copy of The Notorious Bridegroom.
Ruh-roh. I totally forgot today was Friday, and therefore my time to speak here.
But with the sad passing of director John Hughes, I gotta talk about iconic pop culture, and what shaped people of a certain generation. Like a lot of people, I identified with many of Hughes’ characters, perhaps most tellingly with weirdo Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club. I liked her transformation, but also appreciated her pre-makeover look.
The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink–all three of those films define what it meant to be a teenager in the ’80s. But beyond the particular era-based specifics, they define what it means not to belong, which a lot of romance books touch on, also. How many of us (I am raising my hand!) love books about the not-as-pretty-as-her-sister heroine who somehow captures the attention of the handsomest guy around? Or sympathize with the too-smart-for-his-own-good hero who can’t believe she’s talking to him?
Those movies capture the poignancy of youth and teenage angst perfectly. I think that poignancy is what makes so many romantic books compelling, too.
Which Hughes character is most like you? Which of his movies are your favorite? What teenage angst pop culture item (book, movie, song, whatever) best describes your teen experience?
If you’ve ever had a conversation with me for, say, longer than three minutes, or attended the workshop Pam Rosenthal and I occasionally give, Writing the Hot Historical (or, as we call it, Pam and Janet Evening) you will have heard it:
The Rant About the Pebbled Nub.
To quote William Blake, I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand until I have achieved, not Jerusalem, but the eradication of this most overused, tired, and trite cliche. Yes, it was probably nice and boat-floating the first time it was used, but now it’s all over the place, shamelessly recycled and a great stumbling block in the boudoir.
Worse, it has spread from above the waist to below the female belt (if you know what I mean and I think you do) so that each heroine potentially has three of the darned things for the hero to lave. And that’s another one. Lave? Is something wrong with the good, old-fashioned, venerable and in-your-face lick, derived from the Old English liccian? Why resort to a Latin-based word? Latin lovers may be sexy, generally Latin-based words convey the opposite; just one of those strange English-language things. (Lave is next on the hit list.)
But let us return to the pebbled nub: 1594, variant of dialectal knub, probably a variant of knob: 1373, knobe, probably from a Scand. or Ger. source (cf. M.L.G. knobbe “knob,” O.N. knyfill “short horn”). Meaning “knoll, isolated round hill” is first recorded 1650, especially in U.S.
Then there’s the equally overused nubbin (ugh): “dwarfed or imperfect ear of corn,” 1692, Amer.Eng. dim. of nub.–to my ear it somehow suggests a piece of sewing equipment, like bobbin.
But it’s not the word’s origins I take exception to, it’s the use and misuse, the kneejerk laziness inherent in using a term that has long since lost its impact. The counter argument is that everyone knows what a pebbled nub (or nubbin) is; it’s a familiar reference term, a landmark on the way to the HEA. It keeps the story going. It doesn’t pull (most) readers out of the moment and the building sexual tension. In other words, within the context it works, or it can work. Substitute a stupendous and original metaphor and the reader will stop, ponder, gasp in awe and lose the flow. I think there has to be a solution. Instead of relying on tired old cliches, it’s our job as writers to create something so hot and squirmy-in-the-seat and relevant to the character’s voice that it pulls the reader further into the story.
Because it is after all the character’s voice and experience that make the story. Would your heroine really tell her best friend the morning after that the hero laved her nubs? No? I didn’t think so.
I’ve used here one of my very favorite sources, the Online Etymology Dictionary . I wrote to them a few years ago trying to solve a language problem and I’m pleased to say that their research came up trumps, when I was trying to find a term for a particular item of the female anatomy that doesn’t really seem to have a vernacular. Search tickler and see what you come up with.
What are your least-favorite cliches? What pulls you out of the story or sucks you in? (No, Caroline, we don’t need the long s here, thank you very much.)
No, I’m not finished the book, the one that was overdue and the one I was going to finish before RWA. I gave it a good try but finally had to email my editor at midnight the day before going to RWA that I wasn’t going to make it. I also realized during the conference that I’d made a misstep in the plot so I had to go back and fix that. Then I received the copy edits for Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady (Dec 2009)…So I’m just now back to writing the last 50 pages of the book. With luck, I will turn it in on Friday.
I’ve been thinking about what makes for a satisfying ending of a book. In Romance, of course, it is the Happily-Ever-After. I guarantee that will be a part of my ending. I see the ending of the book as starting with the “Black Moment,” the moment in the plot when it seems like the hero and heroine will never wind up together. The end, of course, is when the hero and heroine are together and nothing can tear them apart again.
Besides this happy ending, what else is important?
1. The ending should tie up loose ends. Subplots need resolving. Story questions need to be answered. This doesn’t mean that everything works out fine. In real life not everything works our perfectly so I like to leave some things imperfect. I think that makes the ending more memorable.
2. The hero and heroine should bring about their own happy ending. This is not the time for the friend to solve their problems for them. The hero and heroine have to figure it out and take action.
3. The ending should not be rushed. It has to be developed at a pace consistent with the rest of the book. I think this is hard to do. At this point in the writing process, most of us just want it to be over.
4. The ending should be logical and foreshadowed. This is not the time for a Deus Ex Machina to show up, the person or event created by the author to pop up and solve the ending, even though there was no inkling of this at the beginning of the book. The reader should be able to look back and realize the elements for the happy ending were in the plot all along.
5. Not an essential, but something I like to strive for is a parallel to the beginning of the book. I like to try to recreate that first scene in the ending.
What do you think is essential for a good story ending? What mistakes have you seen made?
I have absolutely nothing new on my website, but there is still time to enter the new contest.
