So it’s been a busy couple of weeks here, so please forgive the short post today! I got back from the Vampire Diaries convention in Atlanta (see me at the masquerade ball here! And you can read about my adventures there on my new Heroes & Heartbreakers post), barely recovered from that craziness, finished one book and dove into another. (Also, FYI, Girl in the Beaded Mask is now available at eharlequin and Amazon!)
Since I got back from Atlanta and dove back into writing work, I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration. I know I’ve blogged about it here before, but this seems to be the number one question I get when people first find out I’m a writer–“Where do you get your ideas?” I always mutter something like “Well, er, everywhere, I guess,” but it’s the truth. I find ideas for settings and plots in historical non-fiction, movies, songs, paintings. I can find character inspiration in the same places, and also just from watching and listening to people. I love people-watching.
And I was very inspired indeed by the Vampire Diaries convention. I always like to come up with hero and heroine models when I start a new WIP, just to get their image in my mind and figure out what sort of people they are. Contrary to what some of my friends think, my heroes are not always Ian Somerhalder, or as my brother calls him “your vampire boyfriend.” (For my just-finished book it was Henry Cavill from The Tudors; for the just-started book it’s Daniel Gillies from Vampire Diaries–I’m not even faithful within one show, sadly). I admit though, often the hero in my mind does look an awful lot like Ian Somerhalder, and I think this weekend just added fuel to that inspiration. (And if you really want to be inspired, check him out in an HBO show from a few years ago, Tell Me You Love Me…)
But this does bring up a dilemma in my mind. I’m a huge fan of the “brainy, bookish heroine gets hottie hero everyone wants” storyline–it may be my favorite romantic plot. But how does said brainy heroine even manage to talk to said hottie hero without collapsing into giggles? (I confess, I had my photo taken with Ian S. at the convention, and almost fainted when he just put his arm around my waist and smiled at me. What would I have done if I was a Regency deb at Almacks and had to waltz with him?? Yum, Ian Somerhalder in Regency garb…). How does said hero walk down the street without being mobbed all the time? The hero and heroine would have to hide out just to get two words together, let alone the chance to make out. It’s all something I never really considered while writing a hero before.
So, now it’s your turn. Where do you get inspiration? Who would make you faint if you met them in real life? (Megan and Clive Owen? Carolyn and Alexander Skarsgard? Diane and Gerard Butler?). What have you been watching/reading lately?
“There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” –The Great Gatsby
Happy Tuesday, everyone! I am on my way back from the Vampire Diaries convention as we speak, exhausted but happy–watch for posts in the very near future about all my adventures in Mystic Falls. But today I’m talking about my April release from Harlequin Historical Undone, a 1920s short story called The Girl in the Beaded Mask,which I am sooooo excited about!
Ever since I read my first F. Scott Fitzgerald story in school (A Diamond As Big As The Ritz) I’ve been in love with this era. I love the gorgeous clothes, the music, the fancy cars, the cocktails, the sense of wild new freedom. But the 1920s were also so much more than that, a period of extreme and swift change after the horrors of World War I (which wiped out almost a whole generation of young men, and changed the way society worked in Europe forever). There is so much scope for drama and beauty in a story, not to mention beaded gowns and t-strap high heels. So I was practically jumping up and down when Harlequin gave me the go-ahead to write Lulu and David’s story.
Another thing I love is a good friends-to-lovers story, which Girl sort of is. Lady Louisa “Lulu” Hatton has been in love with David Carlisle for as long as she can remember. He was friends with her older brother and often visited the Hatton home, and he always loaned her books, took her swimming–and then danced all night with other girls. Until the war. Her brother was killed and David horribly injured. He’s turned into a recluse, never leaving his country manor, but she’s heard he will attend the infamous Granley masquerade ball, a wild, debauched spectacle beloved by all the “Bright Young Things.” So of course Lulu devises a way to sneak off to the party and find him, make him see how much she loves him, how much he has to live for–from behind her beaded mask.
Since I switch up time periods in my writing, I always try to immerse myself in whatever the setting of the next WIP will be, even for a short story like this one. Reading books of the era (non-fiction, primary stuff like diaries, even novels), watching movies set in the era and digging around on-line for images gets me in the right mood for Elizabethan, Regency, Georgian, whatever, and I had so much fun with the 1920s. (Did you know there was a version of Gatsby with Toby Stephens aka Mr. Rochester as Gatsby?? And Baz Luhrman is making a new version with Leonardo DeCaprio and Carey Mulligan…). Here are a few of the books I found really useful, if you’d like to look into the era more closely yourself:
Ronald L. Davis, ed: The Social and Cultural Life of the 1920s Stuart A. Kallen, ed: The Roaring Twenties Nathan Miller: New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America DJ Taylor: Bright Young People Humphrey Carpenter: The Brideshead Generation Mary S. Lovell: The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family (a bit later than the 1920s, but very useful for seeing how a certain segment of English society lived in the period; also lots of fun!)
And I will be giving away a free download to one commenter on today’s post! What do you like best about the 1920s? What would you wear to a “Gatsby” party???
So, today I have nothing of interest to say about anything coherent! I am:
1) Finishing the current WIP and diving into the next one, so moving from Mary Queen of Scots’s Edinburgh to Victorian London! It’s not the smoothest of transitions, and will probably require much watching of Young Victoria
2) Packing to leave for the Vampire Diaries convention this weekend! Look for an article on the Heroes and Heartbreakers blog when I get back, as well as squeal-y, fan-girl posts here and on Twitter. I am still trying to decide what to wear for the masquerade ball…
3) Gardening. Now that the temps are in the 80s here and my lilacs are blooming out, I need to clean out the vegetable beds and get them ready for lovely summer plants, yay!
So, while I do all this, let’s look at some pretty, pretty hats!
Speaking of great hats, and dresses, and cars, and music, next week I’ll be talking about my April Undone! release, The Girl in the Beaded Mask, set at a big, wild Gatsby-esque party in 1922. This is one of my favorite historical periods, and I was so excited to get to write this story! (I’ll be giving away a copy, too…)
What are you doing this week? What are some time periods you’d like to read more about? And which hat is your favorite???
So I now have 17 days to get to the end of this WIP! How did that happen?? Last time I looked it was January and I had weeks and weeks until deadline, but it always happens this way. Now I am living on green tea and protein bars as I try to wrap up the story arc, but I’ve enjoyed spending time with these characters in this time period, learning more about Mary Queen of Scots and life in Scotland in the early 1560s.
There are so many things I love about the Elizabethan period–the raw passion of the era that inspired such a golden age of the arts (there was never a time when more genius poets and playwrights and composers were living in one place at one time!), the clothes, the strong women, the dances, the earthiness and bawdiness. It can make such an exciting backdrop for romantic tales! And since I have no creativity left in the well at the moment, I will turn this post over to Shakespeare, the personification of the era.
Warning: Dirty words ahead! But they’re Shakespeare so they’re good for you… One of the books I got with my Christmas giftcards is a delightful look at Shakespeare’s real themes–Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns by Pauline Kiernan. I laughed so hard at some of them I almost fell off my chair. It’s too bad they don’t teach this stuff during the obligatory Shakespeare unit in high school–I’m pretty sure it would catch students’ attention in a big way….
The Introduction features a quick look at life in the Elizabethan era, the major role the theaters played in everyday life, the importance of espionage and codes, and bits like “Dildos and the rediscovery of the clitoris,” “Women win the prize for raunchy punning,” “The Bard makes up a new word or two, or three thousand and counting,” and “Shakespeare’s sexual puns sizzle” where the author states “Shakespeare’s sexual puns are sometimes simple, often complex, and range from the cheeky and playful to the blatantly filthy. A ribald joke…is invariably a means of revealing character, creating mood and tone, exploring the moral world of a play, or even forwarding the action. He can offer straightforward, obvious sexual quibbles like other playwrights of time, but he often does something more…expressing subtle, ambiguous interpretations of a character or a situation where we are not quite sure of the precise meaning. Creative, inventive, clever wit makes many of his sexual puns sizzle.” (There’s also an extensive appendix at the end listing Elizabethan slang terms for sexual acts and genitalia–very useful!)
I knew some of the hidden meanings in Shakespeare’s plays and poems from my college work, but many of these took me by surprise or were deeper than I imagined! Here are a couple of the cleaner examples I came across:
From a chapter titled “Pertaining to Dildos” from The Merchant of Venice (the play text in blue, the hidden meaning in red):
Portia: They shall think we are accomplished With that we lack. I’ll hold thee any wager, When we are both accoutered like young men I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two, And I’ll wear my dagger with the braver grace, And speak between the change of man and boy With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride, and speak of frays Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies How honorable ladies sought my love, Which I denying, they fell sick and died…
Nerissa: Why, shall we turn to men?
Portia: Fie, what a question’s that If thou wert near a lewd interpreter! But come, I’ll tell thee of my whole device When I am in my coach…
Portia: They’ll think we’re equipped with pricks which we haven’t got. I bet you anything when we’re both dressed like young men, I’ll prove the sexier of the two, and wear my false penis with its most fine erection. I’ll certainly be well-hung. I’ll turn two mincing steps into a manly stride, and speak of sexual conquests like a youth talking out of his arse, all cock and codpiece, and tell quaint lies about the cunts of chaste ladies who wanted to make love to me. Ladies who, when I turned down their advances, crouched down and begged to be f*****
Nerissa: What, shall we turn into men and f*** women?
Portia: Don’t be stupid! What sort of question is that? You’re talking like a greasy interpreter! But come on, I’ll show you all of my vagina and my dildo when I get into the privacy of my coach…
And from the chapter “Pertaining to Virginity” from The Tempest:
Prospero: Take my daughter. But If thou dost break her virgin-knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be ministered, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow; but barren hate, Sour-eyed disdain, and discord, shall bestrew The union of your bed with weeds so loathly That you shall hate it both.
Prospero: Take my daughter, but if you break her virginal membrane before all sacred ceremonies are carried out with full and holy ritual, no sweet-tasting showers of semen shall the heavens let fall to make this marriage grow. Barren hate, cruel-eyed disdain and discord shall be strewn on the union of your semen with weeds so abhorent that you shall both ending up hating to have sex.
Scary.
And that doesn’t include anything from the other chapters like “Pertaining to the Clap” or “Pertaining to Brothels”! What are some of your favorite “dirty” works in literature? And what are you planning for St. Patrick’s Day this week???
(Here are a few Shakespearean scenes to enjoy for your Tuesday! The last clip from Get Him to the Greek is not, of course, strictly Shakespeare, but Aldous Snow struck me as a weirdly modern Shakespearean character–plus the song is hilarious)
So it’s been a busy couple of weeks here, so please forgive the short post today! I got back from the Vampire Diaries convention in Atlanta (see me at the masquerade ball here! And you can read about my adventures there on my new Heroes & Heartbreakers post), barely recovered from that craziness, finished one book and dove into another. (Also, FYI, Girl in the Beaded Mask is now available at eharlequin and Amazon!)
