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Tag Archives: Megan

Spring Has Sprung

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This morning, I am heading to New England for the NEC-RWA Conference. And since this week has been chock-a-block full of everything (sick kid, real estate, insomnia) but writing, I don’t have a lot to say. At least not anything that’s not profanity-laced.

BUT the weather has finally turned warmer, and I’ve seen crocuses all over the little front yards of Brooklyn, so I am hopeful that Spring will bring a fresh breeze of creative inspiration.

So a few easy questions: What’s your favorite flower? What inspires you the most? When you feel like throwing in the metaphorical towel, what drags you back from the ‘I’m giving up’ brink?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

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Panic in New England

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Next Friday, I head to The Homeland (i.e. Massachusetts) to attend the NEC-RWA’s Annual Conference. During that time, I will get to a) ride a bus with my friend Kwana, who is insisting on teaching me knitting (our other friend, Elizabeth, cannot stand buses, so she’s training it there) b) not see Anne Stuart, who had to cancel as keynote speaker c) hang out with my friend Myretta Robens (known on my own blog as the Delightful Phone Friend), and d) look like even more of a ninny; see below.

See, during the Conference there is a party, a party where–wait, here’s the description:

‘Bring Your Fiction to Life’ Costume Party!
Fun Is Mandatory…Costumes Are Optional

Choose any character from fiction past or present…whether from a favorite book, movie, or even your own manuscript.
Someone was inspired to create this fictional character. Come and show us why!

Oh, my lord (and my panic has nothing to do with the quality of the idea–the idea is fine; unfortunately, so is my panic). So who do I pick? One of my favorite characters is MTV’s Daria (and I think I look a smidge like her, too), but–dressing up like a cartoon character for a party? A CANCELLED cartoon character? Might as well just wear the big ‘L’ on my forehead.

Hm. Who else could I be? Last Halloween, I went to a costume party dressed as Miss Havisham, which meant I donned my aunt’s old wedding dress and put some tattered cheesecloth around my shoulders. Equally lame as the Daria thing. Plus Miss Havisham isn’t really a favorite character.

Jane Eyre? Sorta plain garb, mud-soaked boots from tromping around searching her soul? I could do that, but it’s hardly going to feel like I’m at a party. Unless it was an orphan party or something.

I know you’re all wondering why I don’t mention Elizabeth Bennet, but geez, I’m not 18, don’t have Empire waist gowns lying around in my Brooklyn apartment, and I’m even less than tolerable. Back to the literary drawing board.

Godot? Harriet The Spy (I love tomato sandwiches!)? Lew Archer? Ack!

Who’s your favorite literary character? Who would you like to dress up as?

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MacGuffin

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Some of you movie fans might know the term “MacGuffin” popularized by Alfred Hitchcock:

“A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story. It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers.”

MacGuffins spur the action in romances, too (it was author Carolyn Jewel‘s post on the topic that inspired me); for example, how many women seeking their family heirlooms can you think of? The heirlooms themselves don’t matter; what matters is that she needs the hero’s help to pose as a courtesan/governess/schoolteacher in order to infiltrate the villain’s lair. Sometimes the villain ends up being the hero, so she doesn’t get his help in the first place, but you get the idea.

Or there are some spy secrets that need to be divulged to the British government to help win the war against Boney (Wellesley/Wellington being too busy arriving after 11:00 at Almack’s to help), and our h/h have to scurry across England and France to find them.

Basically, as I think I understand it, a MacGuffin catapults the everyday into the extraordinary. The best example is Janet Leigh at the beginning of Psycho; you can see she’s just stolen some money, and is on the run, but that doesn’t matter once she encounters Anthony Perkins.

My WIP opens with a man buying a woman at auction. It’s not necessarily a MacGuffin, since the reasons behind her being sold are pertinent to the story, but the fact that he bid on her (versus the farmer with the bad teeth) sets my story in motion.

Do you like big bang opening scenes? Do you care why the hero and heroine are together, or are you willing to suspend disbelief if presented with a compelling enough MacGuffin? And what’s your favorite Hitchcock movie (mine’s Notorious–a stunning Ingrid Bergman and a caddish Cary Grant? Be still, my heart!) And what’s your favorite fiction MacGuffin?

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Cover Snark; Or, Bring On The Mantitty!

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Now, perhaps you think the Risky Regencies’ Ladies are in perfect accord when it comes to everything. Not so; we would hardly be risky, would we?

One area some of us have discussed here–on- and off-stage–are romance covers. When she’s cheating on us, Janet Mullany posts as Jane Lockwood over here, and her most recent post discussed the Dishy Guy On Covers phenomenon.

This is not new. As long as people judge books by covers, alluring covers will be sold, no matter what the inside is like. Cases in point:

One thing to notice here is that most of the exploited images are of women; I’m not a vindictive person, so I don’t think it’s right that men are exploited more on our covers (good for the goose argument doesn’t hold water in the face of exploitation), but it is interesting to note.

And I doubt if hardcover books ever get these kinds of covers. Do they?

These aren’t even the most salacious of covers I’ve got in my files (I love pulp covers, btw, and have absolutely no problem with the mantitty).

Why do publishers put these on books? Because–and here’s the most obvious thing ever said–SEX SELLS. So do hot, beefcakey men and cleavage-laden women.

What I would suggest is that next time someone ribs you about the quality of the book inside the cover, whip out a copy of the Maltese Falcon, and be grateful our covers–and books–have come a lot farther than Swamp Hoyden or Pleasure Resort Women.

So where do you stand on covers (not literally; I could figure that out myself)? Do you bend back your covers in public, or show ’em off to anybody who curls a lip at your choice of reading material?

Megan

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Once Upon A Time . . . And They All Lived Happily Ever After

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Romance novels obviously draw inspiration for their plot lines from children’s fairy tales—Cinderella, where the poor scullery-maid gets outfitted in a fabulous gown and meets a handsome prince, Beauty And The Beast, where a woman meets a man whose rough exterior hides a sensitive soul, and stories where the woman must sacrifice herself to an evil being to save her family (sound familiar?), and the evil being ends up being a handsome prince.

Cara’s post about children’s books reminded me of my all-time favorite fairy story collection, which Elena also mentioned: Andrew Lang’s Colored Fairy Books, 13 in all, which gather tales from around the world, including Japan, Romania, Iceland, Africa, and India, as well as the ubiquitous European sources.

(For more information and complete texts (!) of Andrew Lang’s stories, click here. And if you ever get the chance to read one of these books for yourself, pay attention to H.J. Ford’s magnificent illustrations, which aren’t done justice recreated here on the web.)

I’m right in the middle of writing a road/marriage of convenience story, but am already beginning to think about the next book; what are your favorite fairy stories, and how would you translate them into a Regency setting?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

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