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Monthly Archives: February 2010

Welcome, Laura Kinsale

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One of the most beloved writers of romance is back…. She’s better than ever, and she’s worth the wait! Her wit is laugh-out-loud funny and her poignant moments are so heartwarming. I’m glad she is back, and I do believe she is better than before and I know, like me, all her fans will be saying her new book was worth the long wait!

Amelia Gray, author of A Duke To Die For.

There is such intelligence and wit behind the perfectly English dialogue and French innuendos that the characters fairly crackle with energy and life. … Callie and Trev are tremendous champions for each other. I adore their story, and am quite sure they will find a place in your heart as well.

A big Riskies welcome to Laura Kinsale, who is here to chat about her new release Lessons in French. She’s offered a signed copy to one person who makes a comment or asks a question. So come on in and chat!

RR: Welcome, Laura, it’s great to have you visit. Let’s jump straight into the interview: What’s your favorite part of writing?

LK: That deep sense of flow and concentration, when I’m living in the story with the characters. It doesn’t come on demand, but when it does, it makes it all worth doing.

RR: What do you think the key to writing comedy is?

LK: Putting an unexpected twist at the end of a sentence or paragraph.

RR: If Lessons in French were made into a movie, who would play the leads (can be any actors at any time; mix and match, if you want)?

LK: I’m a fan of USA’s White Collar at the moment. Matt Bomer would be perfect for Trev, just that sense of devil-may-care elegance and mischief.

Callie, hmmm–maybe a very young Julie Andrews.

RR: Why do you love Heyer so much? What is your favorite book?
LK: My favorite Heyer is Sylvester, for the hero’s intense low moment and grovel. I love Heyer’s dry wit, mixed with a little craziness. It’s hard to top the Baluchistan hound in Frederica for finely-tuned character comedy.

RR: What’s your favorite part about Twitter? What’s the funnest experience you’ve had there?

LK: I secretly enjoy tweeting animals. My dog Ventoux (who tweets as me, oddly enough!) has a couple of particular friends, a great dane, @dooleybug8 and a horse in New Zealand, @stationbred . They keep life in perspective, tweeting back and forth about visits to the vet, opening gates, and how to get under Mom’s skin.

RR: (Aaaaw) (And the standard Risky question) What’s “risky” about Lessons in French?

LK: From a writing standpoint, the conflict. Callie and Trev are in love from the start, thought they don’t admit it to themselves, much less to one another. So the things that keep them apart have to be something the reader can comprehend as real obstacles that are true to the characters. I had to be very convincing in developing the characters, their beliefs about themselves and the world, because it’s largely those self-concepts that drive the conflict. That’s a fairly difficult writing challenge. But worth it. Readers seem to really like both the hero and heroine.

Thanks for having me on the Riskies!

Your question or comment? Ask away …

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The Jane Austen Ball 2010

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Hello, Riskies! I’ve missed you all in my time away from the blog (though I do stop in now and again to comment.)

But it’s just not the same. I miss the blog, and miss having the opportunity to air my opinions and force people to read my attempts at wit…

So when the Jane Austen Evening came around again, I thought “I really want to do another blog post at Risky Regencies on the ball!”

And the Riskies very kindly agreed — and Elena very very kindly offered me her day! (Thanks, Elena!)

I’ve posted here before about my experiences at the Jane Austen Ball which is held every January in Pasadena (and which is officially called the Jane Austen Evening, but I like to call it a ball because it really is a ball!) If you’re interested in my previous experiences, just click on the “Jane Austen Evening” tag at the end of this post to see my earlier masterpieces…

The festivities began at 4 pm with a grand tea. The food included tea sandwiches (cucumber, herbed egg, cheddar and carrot, and chicken cranberry — the cucumber was my favorite), two kinds of soup (including Mulligatawny), cottage pie, scones with cream and jam, and a variety of desserts, including my favorite: a very flavorful rosemary shortbread.

Oh, and there was tea, of course! Keemun, Queen Catherine, decaf Queen Catherine (yes, I know, not very Regency! but that’s what I had, or I’d never have slept that night), chamomile, and blackcurrant.

During the tea, we had a performance by a musical gentleman who called himself Beethoven. Yes, modern music! Quite shocking.

After we’d all eaten far more than we’d intended, and had a bit of trouble fitting into our clever Regency clothes (oh, very well, I’ll admit that some of us had only-moderately-intelligent Regency clothes), and gossiped more than we ought, we went off to freshen up and make ourselves ready for dancing.

Because…oh, yes, there was dancing. And more dancing! Quite four hours of it.

I scandalized everyone by dancing more than twice with a dashing gentleman, and scandalized them still more when they learned he was my husband. (Yes, I confess, I danced with him four times! It’s not strictly correct, but I am the daring, rule-flouting sort, as you all know.) (And even if I’m not, I can pretend to be for one night.)

The dances included several that have featured in Jane Austen adaptations, such as the always popular Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot (which was Lizzy and Darcy’s dance in the BBC/A&E P&P), Shrewsbury Lasses (from the same P&P, and fondly nicknamed “Other Way, Mr. Collins!”)

I’ve attended the Jane Austen Evening something like seven times now (and also attended about five or six other such balls), and I’m always interested in the changes I see. Every year, there seem to be more and more experienced dancers, which is delightful! It may be because there are so many flourishing English Country Dance groups in Southern California…or perhaps it’s because the ball sells out earlier every year, so that only the most dedicated get their vouchers!

I’ve also noticed a higher and higher percentage of attendees in some sort of costume. I don’t mean to imply that there weren’t many to start with — there were, with many fabulous costumes to be seen — but the number of attendees in modern clothing seems smaller every year.

Is this, too, because only the most dedicated get a ticket? Or because folks have had years to work out a costume? Only Jane Austen knows for sure…

Speaking of costumes…I saw a lot of feathers this year! They must be all the rage. And so many utterly gorgeous fabrics!!! I had so much fun just walking around and looking at all the gowns…

Speaking of fabulous costumes…here are some of the many photos I took this year! (Don’t you love digital cameras? if only Jane Austen had had one, we’d know for sure whether Mr. Darcy looked like Colin Firth, Laurence Olivier, David Rintoul, or Matthew Macfadyen!)

So…have you ever attended a period ball?

What did you think of it?

What did you like best?

If you’ve never been to one, what part of the ball do you think you’d like best?

Would you wear feathers?

Would you dance with Mr. Collins?

What sort of sandwich sounds best to you?

If you had unlimited money and were going to create your own Jane Austen ball, what sort of food would you serve?

What would you wear?

Thanks for sharing my fun!

Cara
Cara King, scapegrace and hoyden

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Breast Intentions

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A lot of writing guides say to ‘write what you know.’ In my case, my heroines tend to be insecure, slightly neurotic, smart, witty and acerbic. So? What’s your point?

But one way, I’ve realized, that I don’t write what I know is in my heroine’s appearance. Namely, her boobs. See, I’m not so busty. I used to be, about twenty years ago, then I lost a bunch of weight and realized I wasn’t really all that much. But my heroines? They are stacked. Their breasts are gorgeous. My heroes notice their bosoms, too, which is fun to write about–a female fantasy, if you will.

But oddly enough, in my contemporaries, my heroines are built a lot more like me (but cuter). They’ve got some junk in their trunk, and not so much on top. I hadn’t really thought about it much, but when I figured it out, I think I decided it’s because my historical books are way more fantastic world-building, whereas the contemporaries mirror my own life much more. Because, see, I haven’t been to Almack’s in forever.

Anyway, it’s fun to create a person who is who you’d like to be, in appearance at least. I guess that’s why most of those ’80s sturm und drang romances had impossibly beautiful heroines, which rings so false to current readers–those authors were creating a total fantasy, writing a heroine who was perfect–too perfect–in many ways. We’re a lot more realistic now, but I’m still going to write a heroine whose cups runneth over.

Which heroine would you most like to look like? If you were writing a super-heroic you, what feature(s) would you change?

Megan

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Brrr, I’m cold

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OK, I admit it. I’m still in my odd nightwear and wearing a wonderful shawl which I affectionately call the horse blanket because it is so very large. The heat isn’t on yet because my office is sunny but my feet are cold…

We have another big storm in the forecast for the Washington DC area this weekend. Here I am digging out the last one, wearing the most unflattering pants in the world and my Attila the Hun hat. Pic courtesy of my husband who was safely inside. I quite enjoy digging out because I get to chat with the neighbors but I didn’t expect to do it again.

So how did Regency ladies, in their flimsy muslins, fare in the winter? Those elegant Georgian fireplaces look great but might not throw out a whole lot of heat; or more likely, they’d be hot enough to necessitate the use of a firescreen (to protect the complexion, not to prevent wax makeup melting–that’s a myth) while your back froze.

I’m pretty sure women could resort to woollen petticoats, although I haven’t been able to find a whole lot of evidence of any existing. In the eighteenth century, and later in the nineteenth century as skirts became full again, quilted petticoats, like this gorgeous example from Williamsburg, were worn.

In the Regency, of course, shawls were in fashion, like this amazing red wool twill with embroidered panels. I found it at vintagetextile.com, a site well worth looking at (and for breeding covetousness).

At the same site I discovered this gown from 1800, made of silk faille, that looks warm even if it isn’t. Wouldn’t this be a great dress to make a heroine stand out in society…

Outside (the thought of wind whistling up however many petticoats, whatever they were made of, makes me shiver) the well dressed woman would wear a muff and/or tippet. You’ll be glad to hear that muffs became smaller than this monstrosity. She isn’t carrying a hedgehog.

And she’d probably wear pattens, still around since medieval times, to protect her feet from the mud and muck of the street, although walking on ice in these must have been hazardous.

How’s your winter weather and what do you like to wear when it’s cold, indoors or out?

SSP: Title and release date–October 2010, Jane & the Damned (HarperCollins); and Improper Relations is still on sale, with free shipping worldwide, at bookdepository.com.

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Scholarly and Scandalous

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I do not at all pretend to be scholarly and I am way too boring to be scandalous, but I’ll use these words to write about what has captured my interest these last couple of days.

First, take a look at this article in the New Haven Register, They’re Teaching a Romance Novel Course at Yale But It Is Not What You Think

The course is being taught by our Regency Pals and Yale alumni, Andrea DaRif (Andrea Pickens/Cara Elliott) and Lauren Willig.

Description of the course from the college syllabus: The Regency romance tradition from the works of Jane Austen to modern permutations of the genre. Discussion of novels in textual, historical, and sociological context through examination of changing tropes and themes.

The romance community has known about this course for some time (follow links in Andrea/Cara’s website), but it is fun to see it getting wider press. A Google search shows that lots of sites are picking up on the Register article.

Sarah at Smart Bitches mentions the course, as well as a documentary film in progress about the making of romance novels being made for PBS’s American Experience (Can’t wait to hear more about that one!).

One of the things I love about the Yale course is that it is focussing on REGENCY Romance, which I think is a first in the small but growing trend to include study of romance novels in Engligh programs. It is the first Ivy League school to have such a course. Apparently 80 people tried to sign up for the course, which only had 18 spaces.

I was an English major in college and I would have loved to take such a course. I always thought reading my way through my major was the cushiest way to earn a degree, but it would have been even better to read what I loved. Even more, it would have been a delight to discuss the books I love in a serious, scholarly way.

We’ll have to check in with Cara and Lauren at the end of the course to see how it went.

While we are on the subject of academia, I also learned about a blog by a George Mason University Jane Austen scholar about Grace Dalrymple Elliot, the subject of Jo Manning’s wonderful biography, My Lady Scandalous. Moody both lauds Jo’s achievement, yet is dismayed by the book’s title and presentation, which seems to me to be designed for popular consumption.

Moody particularly objects to the use of the word “scandalous” in the title, making the point that it depreciates Elliot as a strong woman of her time by defining her in terms of her sexual history rather than her own achievements. I’m sure I’m not representing her opinion accurately, but it was an interesting blog and and interesting debate with Jo Manning in the comments section.

I do think it a truth that women of the late 18th-early 19th century who wound up as courtesans were considered scandalous at the time. Freedoms we modern women take for granted – being able to leave destructive marriages, having the freedom to have a sexual life, the right to earn a living and keep custody of our children – were not available to women in Regency times. Yet strong women like Grace Elliot still existed and managed to live amazing lives.

If you were designing a course in Regency Romance what authors would you have the students read?

Do you have a pet peeve about how historical women are viewed by us today?

Visit Risky Regencies this Saturday, Feb 6, when our own Cara King returns to tell us about her Regency Ball!

Check my website for my latest news, like the fact that The Wagering Widow, re-released in a double book, Regency High-Society Affairs Vol. 12 (free shipping from Book Depository and a discount, too). Plenty of time to enter my contest for a chance to win two copies of The Marriage Bargain, my Diane Perkins book.

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