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Category: Writing

Posts in which we talk about the writing craft and process

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a day where people with–and without–Irish heritage take time to drink green beer and shamrock shakes.

Right. Go on with your bad selves and all.
So anyway, speaking of self-identification, I’ve been revising my Regency-set historical, and my heroine is a vicar’s daughter, raised in a small village, who ends up marrying a marquess.
Imagine how off-kilter one would feel entering into the ton; not only would you not speak in the same accent, you wouldn’t know the families, nor the customs, nor even how to behave during a dance (I do presume she knows how to dance in the first place). It’d be like being a brand-new entrant to a family that had known each other forever, had their own in-jokes, vernacular, and habits. She has to ask herself if she wants to continue to belong to this world, given she feels so out of place and knows her husband has married far beneath him.
Of course you know how it ends, but meanwhile–what do you do when encountering those incredibly awkward situations? What should my snappish, smart heroine do?
Posted in Reading, Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged | 1 Reply

Drive’s Loving Hero

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So last night I saw Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, which did not do well at the box office and got mixed reviews.
I loved it. It’s based on the book of the same name by James Sallis, which I read, and so I was prepared for the darkness, the protagonist’s reticence, the violence. What was conveyed so wonderfully, however, was the developing relationship between Gosling’s character (who’s never named, either in the movie or the book) and Irene, played by Carey Mulligan.
They never say out loud how they feel about each other, but just a few minutes of watching the film and you know.
Eventually, Gosling’s character does something extraordinary for Irene, only he never says it. It’s that kind of selflessness that is the defining moment for the hero in my current WIP, a Regency-set historical. He’s selfish and arrogant, so when the heroine figures out he’s done something selfless, she knows he truly loves her, and that’s when she commits her heart to him.
Gosling’s character and my hero could not be farther apart from each other in terms of personality, but the choice they make for love is the same. Amazing.
Megan
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Collecting Quotations

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I love to collect inspirational quotations. I even subscribe to an email Inspirational Quote of the Day. Today’s inspirational quote:

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”
— Robert Fulghum
(author of All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarden)

Another favorite of mine:

It is never too late to be who you might have been.–George Eliot

This got me thinking to search for some inspirational quotes from “our” era, the Regency:

Let’s start with–who else?

“There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.”
–Jane Austen (Mansfield Park)

Here’s another:

“Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about any.”
–Duke of Wellington

This one will surprise you:

“The highest of distinctions is service to others.”
–King George IV

The Poets:

“He ne’er is crowned with immortality Who fears to follow where airy voices lead.”
–John Keats

“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”
–Lord Byron
(It was hard to find a quote of his that was not pessimistic or cynical)

“I can give you a six-word formula for success: ‘Think things through – then follow through.'”
–Sir Walter Scott

The Brontes:

“There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.”
–Charlotte Bronte

“I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.”
–Emily Bronte

“But he that dares not grasp the thorn Should never crave the rose.”
–Anne Bronte

What are your favorite inspirational quotes or quotes from the Regency?

(The painting is The Artist in the Character of Design Listening to the Inspiration of Poetry by Angelica Kauffmann 1741-1807)

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged | 6 Replies

Class Warfare

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Many of the Riskies–probably all, when I review all of our books–have had our heroes and heroines cross class lines to find love.

Right now, I am revising a manuscript where a genteel woman meets and falls in love with a member of the aristocracy. And I am reading Loretta Chase’s Silk Is For Seduction, where a dressmaker meets–and presumably falls in love with–a member of the aristocracy. A duke, no less.
Now, we’ve all discussed how dukes are very thick on the ground in our romances, and that it would be near impossible for a duke to actually marry someone who didn’t share some of his aristocratic blood lines. So just pretend the hero or heroine is a member of the aristocracy, but not as high as a duke; can you suspend disbelief enough to think they’d fall in love? I know it happened in real life, if rarely, and could those couples look forward to a married life of ostracism from the ton? How different would their worlds be?
In my heroine’s case, she’s never left the small village where she grew up, and now she is heading for London, where she will be introduced as the hero’s wife. I’m wrestling with how much she would know already, in terms of polite behavior, and if she would be absolutely freaked out upon encountering London. She does take things in stride, generally, but it would still be a shock.
Last question, do you like reading romances where the couples cross class lines? Which are your favorite?
Thanks!
Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged | 8 Replies

Tapped. Out.

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I approach writing my weekly Risky Regencies posts as I do my fiction writing: I let my mind wander and seize on something that seems like it might go somewhere. Usually, it works, at least enough for me to get something tapped out on the keyboard.

But today? I am Tapped Out. I officially have NO IDEAS for this post. Which means, unfortunately for you all, I’ll have to let my mind wander as I type, not just show the finished product.

Yesterday, my son, my father and I went to the Bronx Zoo, which is truly spectacular. It made me think about what zoos were like in the Regency–pretty pathetic things, I think, and I am pretty sure they were called “menageries,” not zoos, and can you imagine how poorly the animals were treated? Horses were treated well, they had to carry the Men on their Important Hunting Expeditions, after all, but other animals did not get very good treatment. No wonder our heroines always befriend cats and dogs and the like.

I was also thinking about what made a plot good–sure, there’s that catch in the throat when you’re not quite sure the author is going to live up to the expectations of a romance, and are they really going to get together, because sheesh, it sure seems like there’s no way they can get out of this mess, not without a lot of deus ex machina. And when they do, you’re almost pathetically grateful to the author for making us breathe easier. Mary Balogh is the queen of this, and she makes my heart stop almost every time I read one of her books. Who does that for you?

And the weather–our heroes and heroines did not have the benefit of central air, heat, or Polartec fabric. It’s gorgeous here on the East Coast now, and the crocuses are starting to spring up and the weather will be in the 70s today, and it fills one (meaning me) with a feeling of enthusiasm and joy. I wonder if our heroes and heroines felt the same, only moreso, because they were confined inside their drafty houses? Or did they combat their winter lassitude by doing all sorts of outdoorsy things that put a sparkle in their eyes and a healthy pink blush in their cheeks? Did they even talk about seasonal depression?

Now, here’s the class participation part: When your mind wanders, what does it wonder about? What authors make your breath catch in your throat? And is it Spring where you live? If so, what’s the part you like the best about Spring?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Posted in Reading, Regency, Writing | Tagged , , | 6 Replies