Monthly Archives: March 2013

Love moderately?

Updated on March 7, 2013 by Elena Greene

This is the advice Friar Lawrence gives Romeo and Juliet: “Therefore love moderately; long love doth so.” It sounds kind of stingy, as if you have to dole out your love a little at a time or you’ll run out.

I guess his point really is that Romeo and Juliet’s level of drama is leading them into trouble. When writing romance, we want to tap into that sort of intensity. But just as the idea of reforming a rake is dangerously close to the unrealistic fantasies some women have of fixing an abusive lover, the idea of not being able to live without someone comes close to unhealthy obsession.

These tropes are edgy; maybe that’s why they’re so powerful.

So on one hand we have powerful emotion combined with the immature prefrontal cortex development of teenagers. It’s great for tragedy, but not for the happy ending we want in a romance novel.

On the other hand, there are mature characters who could live without each other, if need be. Is there a loss of emotional intensity?

I don’t really think so. I think we can still feel the love, even while admiring the strength of characters who move on despite their heartache.

But sometimes there is a powerful need that makes it all work. Laura Kinsale creates characters so scarred that my fellow Kinsale fans and I joke they would need years of therapy in real life. It’s not weakness to need help healing from major trauma. So it’s intense and satisfying that the hero or heroine can help the other.

But to keep it from edging into codependency, I want to know that at some point, near the end of the story or at some point beyond, the wounded one will be strong, too. I want to know he or she would eventually live a happy life even if the other were killed in a carriage accident.

Although romance writers don’t do that at the end of the story, however much they might be tempted in the often-frustrating middle.

What do you think?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.Facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged tortured heroes, tortured heroines | 5 Replies

Coaching Days of England

Updated on March 4, 2013 by diane

I bought a new research book!

This is not exactly a surprise, because I often buy research books, sometimes because a Risky recommends them.

I first saw this book for sale in an antique shop in Middleburg, Virginia. The cost, as I recall, was about $300 (but you can buy it for as little as $11.07). That was a bit too much, even for my research book obsession! This weekend, though, my friend (and book-pusher) Mary Blayney offered me her copy.

Actually she said, “Would you like a coffee table book? It is as big as a coffee table.” All I had to do was buy her dinner.

The book is Coaching Days of England (1966) by Anthony Burgess, and it is full of color and black and white prints from the 18th and 19th centuries.

You can get an idea of how big it is by the ruler I placed on the cover.

Here’s a peek at what I purchased!

Color Prints

North-Country Mails at the Peacock, Islington

The Duke of Beaufort Coach

I’m not the only one who loves this book. Somebody actually made a YouTube video about it.

Have you ever seen this book? Do you think it was worth the price of a dinner?

Check my website this week for my new book cover and a sneak peek!

Posted in Regency, Research, Risky Regencies | Tagged coaching, Mary Blayney, Regency | 14 Replies

A Rainy Day in the Country

Updated on March 2, 2013 by Myretta

So, you’re at a house party somewhere in the country (because, where else would you host a house party?) and it’s raining. It’s been raining for days. There’s no chance of a walk, a ride, a little shooting. No impulse to sit in the garden. You’re sitting around the drawing room gazing at the other guests and trying not to yawn. If your hostess has prepared for such an eventuality (and one might hope she would), she will be able to offer you a selection of indoor pastimes.

Fish token

There is, of course, the inevitable card table. There were many types of games available to the Regency house party. And I’m sure the hostess would be able to provide fish (gaming tokens) so that you may gamble on the outcome.

Filigree tea caddy

Not into card games? Perhaps you’d like to do some needlework. Surely you brought yours with you. Or you can take up some that is undoubtedly provided for your sewing pleasure. Not into needlework? How about filigree (or quilling). You probably have to be better coordinated than I am to do this successfully. This is narrow strips of parchment, vellum, even paper, rolled in spirals and scrolls and edge-glued to a flat surface. These can present patterns formed by their exposed edges which remarkably resemble metal filigree. You can produce some pretty amazing things with this technique.

No doubt, the gentlemen are off in the billiard room, smoking and gossiping (although they’ll tell you they never gossip). Maybe you’d like to join them? It must be more interesting than needlework. Maybe they’ll teach you something you don’t know or let your try their cigar. It might be worth a visit.

Perhaps your host and hostess have arranged something special for this house party. Perhaps you and your fellow merry-makers are not sitting around yawning. Perhaps you’re rehearsing for the private theatrical to be staged later in the party. Is it Lover’s Vows as they were rehearsing in Mansfield Park before Sir Thomas came home and spoiled all the fun? Or something even more risque?

Of course, there will be dancing, there will be eating, there will be music. I’m sure Miss Bennington has a lovely voice and Mrs. Lesley is a virtuoso on the pianoforte. And if they’re not, they’ll perform for you anyway.

What would you be doing on a rainy day at the Earl’s estate? Billiards? Risque rehearsals? Or something quieter? Perhaps sneaking off to the library in search of a good book.

Posted in Regency | 5 Replies