Tag Archives: Megan

Character Types

Updated on November 23, 2013 by megan

You know the aphorism that there are only seven basic plots in the world?

There are also, therefore, a limited amount of character types, particularly in romance. I have started writing a new project, and am consulting The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines, which was mentioned at a workshop at the recent New Jersey Romance Writers’ Conference some of us attended last month.

My heroine is the Spunky Kid–loyal, a team player, witty, and with, obviously, spunk. The hero is the Bad Boy, an irresistibly alluring man with a bad attitude, and a chip on his shoulder. He mistrusts everyone-until they win his loyalty.

It’s been fun to browse through the book and read about the types of people who could come alive in the pages of my writing, and also to see what examples the authors cite as to certain character type pairings. I am not normally one for using reference books, but this really seems to have hit a chord with me, and I am excited to use it for plotting this, and future, books.

Do you find yourself wanting to read about a certain type of hero or heroine? The librarian, the seductress, the charmer, the best friend, the chief, or some other type?

(Darcy here is the Chief).

Megan Frampton’s What Not to Bare: Excerpt

Updated on September 20, 2013 by megan

Hey, happy Saturday! I have a book coming out on October 14, and I wanted to share the excerpt with you guys here. First the blurb:

In Megan Frampton’s witty historical romance, a woman is judged by her gown, and a man by his reputation—until both are shed in one sexy moment of seduction.

Lady Charlotte Jepstow certainly knows how to make an impression—a terrible one. Each one of her ball gowns is more ostentatiously ugly than the one before. Even she has been forced to wonder: Is she unmarried because of her abysmal wardrobe, or does she wear clashing clothing because she doesn’t want to be pursued in the first place? But when Charlotte meets Lord David Marchston, suddenly a little courtship doesn’t sound so bad after all.

David will be the first to admit he’s made some mistakes. But when he gets yanked from his post by his superiors, he is ordered to do the unthinkable to win back his position: woo his commander’s niece. If David wants his life back, he must use his skills as a negotiator to persuade society that Charlotte is a woman worth pursuing, despite her rather unusual “flair” for color. But David does such a terrific job that he develops an unexpected problem, one that violates both his rakish mentality and his marching orders: He’s starting to fall in love.

What Not to Bare by Megan Frampton (Excerpt)

The Random House page has all the possible e-format links for purchase (it’s only available for e-readers).

Thanks for taking a gander at it!

Megan

Posted in Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged Megan | 4 Replies

Riskiness Ahoy!

Updated on September 7, 2013 by megan

Many years ago, I started working on an erotic historical with a former slave hero and a French whore. Because, you know, just having ONE risky character wasn’t enough. I set that aside for a long while, but have just returned to it, and it now doesn’t feel that risky at all, given what romance has exploded into in recent years.

One thing it remains, however, is far too serious. I need my characters to lighten up, for goodness’ sake. Because sex is intense and meaningful to these characters, but it doesn’t have to be so ponderous (that’s my fault as the author, not the characters. Poor things, they’d probably like to enjoy themselves).

It is hard, however, to make erotic moments humorous. It can come off as slapstick, and not funny at all. I don’t want to go that far, but I do want my characters to have fun.

I haven’t read that many erotic historicals, but I keep looking for ones that are both super-sexy and not anachronistic (hard to find, for sure). Of course Pam Rosenthal springs immediately to mind, as does Robin Schone and Alice Gaines.

Have you read, and could recommend, any erotic historicals? Meanwhile, I’ve got to go un-serious-fy these poor people who just want to get–well, you know.

Megan

Posted in Writing | Tagged Megan | 4 Replies

“I Ain’t Sayin’ She’s a Gold-digger”

Updated on August 7, 2013 by megan

I discovered this series earlier this week, and I am just beside myself with how funny and how generally accurate it is in its synopses and analyses. My absolute favorite kind of humor is the high-low, where something gets put through a pop culture filter, and this is the epitome of that (also why I like Eddie Izzard’s stand-up so much).

Writing is going okay; I hope to have a proposal for my editor within a week. I’m writing a Duke for the first time, and it’s definitely fun, because everyone does what he wants. And he doesn’t always want that (should I call it The Oxymoronic Duke?)

Posted in TV and Film, Writing | Tagged Megan | 2 Replies

The Many Voices of Megan Frampton

Updated on July 5, 2013 by Myretta

Most of you who follow this blog probably know that Megan Frampton is fun and quirky, has excellent sartorial taste, and mostly wears black (presuming that those last two are not mutually exclusive). You have probably read some of her writing but, unless you’ve read it all, you don’t know the breadth of her talent. So, today, I’m going to give you a little taste.

Those of you who have been following Megan for a while, probably remember A Singular Lady, her maiden publication, a trad Regency from Signet in 2005 (right before Signet stopped publishing Trads). This is Megan’s trad voice: a bit formal with an undertone of humor, something you would definitely recognize as “Regency.”

If you’re new to Megan, you might not know that she also writes women’s fiction as Megan Caldwell. Her first book, Vanity Fare, was published by William Morrow late last year. The Amazon description of Vanity Fare calls it “a charming tale of food, family, literature, and romance in which a 40-year-old newly single Brooklyn mother embarks on a culinary writing career and finds herself at the center of a deliciously tempting love triangle.” And so it is. This fun book showcases Megan’s sharp, snarky, engaging contemporary voice. This voice is highlighted in the interstitial material (a specialty of Megan’s) in which the heroine writes copy for a new bakery across from the New York Public Library, using literary references. Each chapter is headed by a bakery item such as sourdough bread called Middlestarch, The Bun Also Rises, Dorothy Parker House Rolls, Lord of the Tea Rings, Tender is the Bite, and more. This easy way with puns becomes lighter and easier in the body of the book:

If he were a baked good, he’d be Irish soda bread. Not that I knew he was Irish; but I imagined he’d be delicious, filling, and packed with a few surprises. In the bread’s case, it was raisins, and I wondered what his would be: a shoe fetishist? Nah, he’d probably dismiss something like that as foolishness. A closest reader? Ditto.

An incredible lover? Now that I could see. He’d be thoughtful, unselfish, and get the job done — and done well — in as businesslike manner as possible.

But, if you’re at this blog, you’re probably interested in Megan’s Regencies. Let’s start with Hero of My Heart, published by Loveswept in April of this year.

Hero of My Heart is is the story of a drug-addicted marquess and a vicar’s daughter who is being sold on the block by her no-good stepbrother. Our marquess steps in, buys the girl, and decides to save her by marrying her.

If he could just get her to Scotland, just get her to shut up for long enough to realize he was doing this for her own good, for her ultimate survival, it would be fine. He could ensure her safety, give her all his unentailed funds and property, and then disappear. It would be a final act of contrition to atone for all that he had done.

In this book, Megan serves up a well-written, Regency road story with a side of angst. Her voice is elegant and true to the period and, occasionally, we see a little hint of the irreverent contemporary author.

But, if you’re longing for a Regency story with a bit more of Megan’s quirky voice, I have a treat for you. In Baring it All, a Loveswept Historical short story just out this week and What Not to Bare, a full-length historical romance from Loveswept, out in October of 2013, you will find a delightful combination of well-researched Regency Historical, with the lighter voice of Megan’s contemporary novels. No, it’s not first person and no, it doesn’t sound contemporary, but you can forget about the angst and enjoy Megan’s wonderful humor.

Baring it All is the story of a couple who have entered into an arranged betrothal. The heroine is in love with the clueless hero. The hero is… clueless.

She could almost hear the conversation: his father pronouncing at the breakfast table, “Son, you have to be married sometime, and it might as well be someone you know. Lady Violet is an excellent choice.”

To which Christian probably mumbled through his toast, “Fine, excellent. Can you pass me that notebook? I think I’ve discovered a shortcut for Pythagoras’s tetractys. Oh, and I’ll take care of that other thing next week. ” That “other thing” being asking Violet to marry him.

See? A felicitous combination of a solid grounding in the period with Megan’s witty voice. This, and What Not to Bare are a new voice for Megan that I think you’re going to love.

Posted in Reading, Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged Megan, Megan Frampton | 5 Replies