Elena will be away from the blog for a while. Her husband is ill and facing a long recovery. Elena’s time needs to be spent tending to him and to her children. While she is away we’ll be tapping guest bloggers to fill in for her on Wednesdays.

Please share your support for Elena here. We’re not asking her to respond, but we know that your good wishes and prayers will lift her spirits.

Thanks so much from the Riskies

Elena blogged yesterday about the first time and I’m blogging today about the Meet Cute (with or without a hyphen), the very first meeting of hero/heroine.

Although Wikipedia defines it as an element of screwball comedy or romantic comedy, I think it’s a staple of romantic fiction, because it determines the elements of hero/heroine interaction. Rarely do a hero/heroine meet and find that everything is compatible between them straight away. Austen gives us a prime example of the Meet Cute when Darcy first encounters Elizabeth: She is not handsome enough to tempt me.

So we get Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s reaction to each other, their misconceptions about each other, and, miraculously (if we knew how Austen did this academia would grind to a halt, the mystery solved) their attraction to each other despite themselves.

Since I have a sinus infection that is making my nose look like a banana (misshapen, not yellow) I’m going to invite you to share your favorite Meet Cutes of all time in romance, and share with you the Meet Cute from my WIP. I think this scene will stay, although I’ve just figured out the plot and a lot of stuff has to be rewritten:

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.. there is someone sprawled on a chair. He wears plain black—very fashionable for a gentleman, of course—but on this man it looks as though he intends to fight a duel and possibly conduct the funeral service over his unlucky opponent all in the same day. His dark hair is unruly, also eminently fashionable but in a way that, along with his unshaven chin, suggests he has but recently risen from his bed.

Goodness.

He is lean, dramatic, handsome as the devil, and I suspect the bed was not his.

A rake!

Will my reputation fall around me in tatters if I approach him?

I regard the soggy handkerchief in my hand and regret that the bosom of my gown, fashionably brief, does not allow for extra cargo.

While I have been staring at him I have in fact been moving toward him, like a mouse fascinated by a snake, so I arrive in front of him as he looks up—his eyes are shadowed, naturally, his eyelashes dark and lush, his face lean and bony—and gazes straight at my bosom.

He yawns.

And hop over to History Hoydens today where our very own Amanda McCabe is talking about sixteenth century navigation!

The next chapter in my mess-in-progress is a deflowering scene. Yes, my heroine is a virgin and I feel a bit out-of-date, given the popularity of courtesan and widowed heroines. I enjoy those stories, but I can’t help it. The heroine of this story just is a virgin, though not for long. 🙂

I’ve been thinking about other “first time” scenes I’ve read in historical romances and also the comments I’ve read on review sites and reader discussion boards. They are all over the place! Some readers can’t believe scenes in which the heroine is nervous and traumatized and the hero apologetic. At the opposite end, some readers say it’s not believable for a heroine in a historical romance (or sometimes even any woman) to really enjoy her first time.

I’m guessing some of these attitudes trace back to those readers’ personal experience. Me, I have my usual response to any credibility issue: It depends.

The physical experience must have varied then as it does now.
As for the heroine’s emotions, that could depend on how much she knows. A while back we discussed the question of What did they know? and concluded there were some ways young women could learn about sex, though some likely came to the marriage bed ignorant. How the heroine would feel would also depend on how well she knows and trusts the hero, and how far they’ve gone already. Also on the spontaneity of the scene; in heat-of-the-moment sex, she wouldn’t have time to get nervous the way she might on a wedding night.

I find a little anxiety very natural. Even if the heroine hasn’t been warned it would hurt and advised to “think of England”, even if she trusts the hero and is hot for him, she might still have the normal fears anyone could have when doing something for the first time. Will it be fun? Will I be good at it?

I think a bit of nervous anticipation can make the sex more exciting. I can believe that a heroine is eager, but I find it harder to believe if she is bold and skillful, without some interesting explanation of how she got that way. A little vulnerability makes things more real and therefore hotter. And as for virginal heroes, they can be a blast. So horny and so very anxious to please… 🙂

I think some of this still applies to couples in which neither is a virgin. If it’s their first time, or even their first time after a long separation in a “second chance at love” type of story, there’s still that tension of how it will go and where it will lead. And there’s another kind of heat when people are good at it, and know it.

So what do you think? What sorts of first time sex scenarios do you find believable? Most hot? Or not?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

It seems to me that most dedicated readers are passionate not only about books, but about books — so let’s talk books!!!

So…how do you prefer yours?

Do you prefer the way hardcovers stay open in your lap?

Do you like the lightweight portability of mass-market paperbacks?

Do trade paperbacks (that is, the larger paperbacks) seem to you the perfect compromise?

Do you ever smell the paper of your books?

Pet the covers?

Line up all the books on your shelf perfectly evenly?

And while we’re on the subject, how do you read?

Do you break the spine of your paperbacks, to make them stay open? Or do you prefer a near-pristine book?

If you’re in the pristine book category, have you ever read a library copy of a book you already own, so you could keep your own copy undamaged? 😉 (I confess that I have!)

And do you like to eat while you read?

Drink tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?

Lie in a hammock? Relax by the fire? Sit on a sunny park bench?

All answers welcome!

Cara
Cara, who has smelled many a book in her time…

Now it’s my turn to be embarrassed. I just checked to see how I did on my Reading Resolutions for 2008 and see that I reached less than half my goals. Well, that leaves me some goals for this year, at least. 🙂

I didn’t end up reading as much romance as I wished. The problem is that when I’m writing or reading romance, I want to identify with the heroine and fall in love with the hero, but I can’t be in more than one imaginary couple at once! So I read during breaks in between drafts and on vacation, but my mess-in-progress has given me so much trouble I have not taken many breaks!

I did get to Laura Kinsale’s DREAM HUNTER and talked about it in my post on Lady Hester Stanhope. Now I have only one Laura Kinsale (SEIZE THE FIRE) left unread. Her website has a temporary image as a placeholder. It’s an exquisite image, but I’d love to see news of a new release!

As far as general fiction goes, I continued with my book discussion group. However, since many members were having trouble keeping up, our selections this year were selected based on brevity. Though I don’t think a book needs to be long to be gripping, somehow none of the selections excited me. And very few members read them anyway, which wasn’t the case when I first joined the group. Maybe it was me??? Anyway, I’ve decided life’s too short and I’m going to just read on my own now.

Another resolution I fell down on was to read more period fiction. I did, however, read a few more biographies, including GEORGIANA, which I talked about in an earlier post. Her life was certainly as exciting as any novel.

Another resolution was to read more fantasy. I’ve now read the first two books in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series and look forward to more. They are brilliant and I adore the characters.

I also made great inroads on the Cornwell’s Sharpe series. I recently finished SHARPE’S FURY, following Sharpe through the Battle of Barrosa in 1811, so I’m about half way through the series.

In the areas of creativity and inspiration, I didn’t get to Joseph Campbell’s HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES (a new goal for this year) but I did enjoy WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. There’s lots of gold there, though it’s a bit wordy. A friend raves about the audiobook, which is a bit condensed, so that might be a good option for any of you who are curious.

And I still have not read anything about crop circles. Maybe this year…

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Have you made any reading resolutions for 2009?

Anyone else singlehandedly take down a book discussion group? 🙂

Elena
www.elenagreene.com