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Category: Writing

Posts in which we talk about the writing craft and process

All the family gathered ’round

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With all the holiday family-togetherness, and talking here about what a Regency Christmas might be like (no crowded malls! no animatronic Santas singing Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer!), I started considering romances which also feature relationships other than the main, h/h thing. Namely–family relationships.

We do see them a lot. You know, the ones where 30 siblings find their perfect loves in 30 books and have a big, happy reunion at the end of Book #30. My own family gatherings are seldom like this, and I imagine most family gatherings in the Regency weren’t, either. With my own family, someone is always not speaking to someone else. Someone gets drunk and cries and/or shrieks. The dog eats pizza and throws up on the carpet. My cousin’s kid takes his diaper off and runs around naked. You get the picture. It’s not so pretty. Hmm-now that I think about it, family reunions in the Regency probably weren’t like THAT, either. Georgian, maybe. 🙂

But there are books (even ones in mega-series!) that can capture the timeless best of families and friends. Their loyalty, their unconditional love, the way they might pick on you mercilessly but God help any outsider who dares to do the same. Family problems and stories never really get solved–they just go on and on, and we learn to live with them, and they become part of us. Some authors have captured these dynamics so well. Mary Balogh’s “Slightly” series. Mary Jo Putney’s Rogues. Gaelen Foley’s Knights. To name just a very few. (I’m sure I could find more if my shelves weren’t blocked by a Christmas tree and a heap of presents waiting to be wrapped). Jane Austen, of course, was ALL about family dynamics, and no one (with the probable exception of Shakespeare) had a greater grasp on the timeless give- and-take exasperation of relatives.

In my own books, I have lots of friends who have “made” families together, a few sisters, a couple of brothers, a mother or two. An aunt and uncle who are surrogate parents. Strangely, I find it harder to write about brothers than sisters, even though I have no sisters of my own. Families have made my characters who they are. They teach them how to love–or not to love!

What are some of your favorite “family” books or series? Why do you love them? Or hate them?

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged | 6 Replies

Angsty Angst

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I read in many genres, but one thing that stays consistent throughout all the genres I read is that I like there to be many, many dark moments.

I like it when I read something and I get that scared whoosh in the pit of my stomach as one of the book’s characters does or says something that moves them irrevocably towards a terrible end (although it’s not irrevocable, is it, since this is a romance, and we have an HEA. But at that moment it seems irrevocable).

I think that’s why I like Mary Balogh so much; her dark moments are so agonizingly painful for one or both of the characters. It’s too easy, as a writer, to want to keep things easy for your characters; after all, you created them, you like them, and they feel like friends (not to be all woo-woo, but that’s how I feel, at least).

But as writers, we have to make things difficult, or the ultimate payoff won’t be as sweet.
Some of my favorite authors–Anne Stuart, Stacia Kane, Karen Marie Moning, George R.R. Martin (still waiting for the payoff there), our own Carolyn Jewel, Brent Weeks–are amazing at tearing their characters apart as they try to reach some form of happiness.

Do you like the superdark moments in books? Which authors do it the best?

Megan

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Too little, too much, or just right?

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Balloonists Close Up

Since I had a long break from writing due to the combination of holidays and the flu, I’ve gone back to line edit the completed parts of my balloonist story. Editing helps me to get back into the flow of the story; I’m looking forward to getting to new material next week.

Around the same time Megan posted Anachronism vs Anomaly, I was editing a section of the story with a lot of sex scenes. I mean lots. It took until almost the middle of the book for my characters’ attraction to overcome all the reasons they shouldn’t be together. But once they got going, I’m not sure I could have stopped them, even if I wanted to.

The discussion in Megan’s post was about all the activities right up to the actual deed, but it brought up a more general issue of what is believable in Regency-set romance. I’ve had these discussions before with other authors and with thoughtful readers. We’ve talked about what we know based on our research (but people didn’t generally write about sex) and what might have been (we’re writing fiction, after all). We’ve talked about keeping the awareness of the social consequences given the time period.

I have to say a lot of input I’ve specifically gotten from readers is more about their personal preferences. Some have complained about too much sex in my traditional Regencies. Although they complained about accuracy, I’m not sure that was really the issue, since most of the sex scenes were in the context of marriage. I think it was more a matter of comfort level. I’ve also had readers advise me to “sex it up” some more.

The problem is that once I’ve started a story, how soon, how often, how far the sex will go is driven by my characters, their experiences, and the story setup. A widow who thinks she’s infertile will act differently than an inexperienced heroine hoping to make a respectable marriage. The only way to really sex it up or down would be to write a new story.

I know some readers prefer to connect the dots between a fade out and smiles over breakfast the next morning. But I personally feel that it’s more powerful to show the sex as long as the scene is also revealing things about the characters and their relationship.

So I’m just forging on with the story, trying not to worry 1) that there’s not enough, 2) that there’s too much, 3) that it happens too late in the story, 4) that there’s too much in this one part, 5) that there’s not enough in the rest. (As you see I haven’t thought about it much.) I’m just hoping some readers will “get” my characters and enjoy the ride.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Regency, Writing | Tagged | 6 Replies

What did happen

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Apologies to anyone who tried to get onto the Riskies recently and couldn’t. Some of us could, some of us couldn’t, but eventually we sent Carolyn out with a blunt instrument and she clubbed something at FB until it lay as a mangled, wretched mess.

So I thought the least I could do to show my appreciation is to continue the saga of the mysterious letter to our hero, which, as you may remember, had a faint violet scent (oh good one, I typed violent first).

My lord, the letter read.

Your proposal interests me greatly.I shall call at three, if that would be at all agreeable.

C

The Earl of Haque dangled the letter between his fingers as he regarded the visitor his butler had announced as Mr. Crewe. “A perfume factory in this house?”

Crewe grinned through gapped teeth. “You said you was agreeable, my lord. Your idea, in fact. Lots of extra rooms, you have here. Close to the canal.” He fingered a priceless Chinese vase on the mantelpiece. “Oops. Sorry.”

Haque tugged the bellpull to summon a footman to deal with the fragments.

“Besides, it’s the least you can do for your brother, innit?”

“Brother?”

“Twin brother.” Crewe beamed. “Identical.”

“Identical?” Haque glanced at the mirror above the mantelpiece, which reflected his blond, well-tailored, six feet of pure lithe muscle [insert suitably heroic description here] and Crewe’s five foot nothing of dark hirsuteness. Something was wrong, very wrong.

“Yep. And I’m the eldest by five minutes.” Crewe produced a handkerchief soaked in his product and blew his nose. He sank onto the sofa, apparently overcome with emotion, and something screamed and fled for the door.

“That was the cat,” Haque said, looking around for a suitable weapon. Yes indeed, the canal was very near, and …

“My lord, a lady has come to call,” said the butler, insinuating himself into the drawing room.

So now what happens?

Posted in Frivolity, Writing | 4 Replies

Answers to Sunday’s lit quiz

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And (drumroll)…here they are:

1. A.S. Byatt, The Virgin in the Garden. An earlier book and not so well known as Possession.
2. Ah, so near and yet so far…Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.
3. Well done, Elena, who was almost there, and who will be allowed to sharpen pencils today–Villette, by Charlotte Bronte. That one was my favorite, too. Wow.
4. And the romance excerpt, from Beast by Judith Ivory.

Janet

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged , | 4 Replies