Out of the Blue

I've been asked to join Catherine Kullman on a Regency Writing Panel on 16th June.

Not really sure what it entails yet, but planning on talking to Catherine around mid day today. I think she is much more accomplished at this sort of thing than I am. If you want to become involved, then do join before 4pm Friday, because after that, you will
be too late. 

There is much more to the Festival than Regency Writing. I think it is safe to say there is something for everyone. The programme is firming up and available to view and is to be finalised before Friday.

Hurry and join now!

Here it is...

This may not look like a book trailer for a romance, but I assure you it is. Reluctance is the story of Frances, said to be the richest widow in England, and her struggles to remain a widow. Yes, she wants to stay single, while fortune hunters abound, and simply will not give up trying to persuade her otherwise. In 1803, when a woman married, most of her  wealth went into her husband's hands. Not only that, but Frances, young and pretty as she is, does not wish to marry at all, for Marital Duties loom far too large on the negative side of any proposal she may receive. Discover for yourself how Frances solves her problem by clicking here:

amazon

"it’s a story with enough twists and unpredictable turns to make you dizzy, while Frances and Jack will alternately endear themselves to you and drive you crazy.  In any event, you won’t be able to forget these two or their story."

From a review by Margaret Chrisawn.

Characters and countryside

I love the recent change in the countryside. Fields are starting to look as they did in my childhood instead of the barren, weed and flower free zones they have been for so many years. The characters in my wip must have enjoyed flower meadows and hawthorn blossom just as I do. Buttercups are rampant at the moment.

The fact that my characters "live" not far from me, geographically speaking, means that I can easily visualise the places where I have them walking and riding, and I love that. I know a lot of research can be done via the research tools we have available today, but nothing, in my view, beats actually walking the ground you want your characters to tread. And some authors simply do not make use of Google Earth or the wonderful maps we have of this country, and I wish they did.

My current characters are suffering at the moment, and will be for some time to come - but I know I can bring them to a happy conclusion, so I am not weeping copious tears. It is a change of pace I am attempting - not adding more, but going deeper. Though yes, I suppose I am am adding more, for now I have shed the M&B contraints, I can look at subsiduary characters and bring them into play. I started out five years ago with multiple characters, and shed them all to concentrate on the H/h for M&B - now I'm back to where I started!

I am enjoying it. I think. Yes, I know I am. No more excited gasps or electric touches every time the hero walks into the room; now I can try and find out what my characters really think and feel about each other.

It may be something to do with the covers and titles of M&B Historicals these days but I am very reluctant to pick one off the shelves. If the covers continue to scream "erotica" and the titles follow the trend towards the Billionaire's Problem Bride/Her Noble Love kind of simplicity then I won't be buyng any more, which is a pity for there are some authors I enjoy - Cornick, Allen, Maitland - among the "pseudo" historicals ie, those with modern manners. dialogue and plot lines plonked down in Regency times. Yes, I know some people enjoy that sort of story, but they're not for me.

Curse words

Tea break for Viking soldiers - a picture from my collection taken at Bamburgh. It may strike you that the smaller Viking in pale green looks rather feminine - well, yes. She was indeed of the feminine persuasion, but seemed to be having a great time with the warriors.

It is typical that when I find a Re-enactment taking place near me I'm no longer working on Viking stories - though I may come back to them - I probably will come back to them - but for the moment I am knee deep in Regencies and Victorians. I split my time between them, and so far I haven't come unstuck. All my characters are of the social class that speaks in well constructed English sentences, and the great danger, as one critiquer pointed out to me, is that all my Regency characters sound the same.

Argh!

That made me think. If I took out the dialogue and studied them, would I be able to tell them apart? Perhaps not (apart from content) But...they are from the same station in life, and most dialogue takes place in the drawing room rather than the battlefield, so the gentlemen speak politely (for want of a better word). I tried adding little verbal habits early on in my first draft, but several critiquers smartly told me "repetition, repetition - no, no!"

Silly me that I am, I took the verbal mannerisms OUT! when I should have stuck to my guns. So now I am looking with narrowed eyes at my dialogue. Anybody know any really good Regency curse words? Off to the internet to check!

I finished Run Among Thorns this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since I'm proud to say the author is a member as the same Border Reivers Writers' group as me, I thought I could see glimpses of Anna showing through every now and then. She certainly has that mysterious thing called "voice," and a lovely way with landscape descriptions. Anna, I think I went by those grain silos you mention when I went to Bamburgh last weekend! I loved the proverb that gave her the title: A man does not run among thorns for no reason: either he is chasing a snake, or a snake is chasing him.

Awaiting the storm

Here's a closer view of Ullapool from Ardmore, looking south across Loch Broom. The river tumbles down from Loch Achall and into the loch where it has carved quite channel for itself. The whole town is built on a flat, raised bed of pebbles washed down over the centuries - there's an geological term but I've forgotten it. It's a pity the clouds and mist make the view so hazy - on a clear, sunny day it is amazing.

Yesterday I typed those magical words The End and sat back well pleased. That's my first Regency story completed. Now I need to hone my synopsis and cover letter skills and get the partial sent off while I tinker and fine tune the rest of it. Today we're waiting for the storm the weather forecasters warn us is coming, but so far it seems no worse that the weather we've had for the past three weeks.

When we came back from Ullapool, for example, we found my plastic greenhouse (yes, I know, pathetic, isn't it) flapping about at knee level, with 50% of the metal struts come apart. We had to take it down before the wind shot it through a neighbour's window and I've ordered a new, lean to type which should arrive this week. The garden space I'm prepared to give up for a greenhouse type structure isn't big enough for a classic greenhouse shape, but at least this one has polycarbonate panels rather than plastic and will fit neatly between the wall and the fence. Maybe I'll try growing tomatoes again this year. Dh is already bragging about his rhubarb.

A new beginning

Started reading about the Duchess of Devonshire today.

I guess I've also started the ball rolling on the next epic. I roughed out a plan yesterday and filled in some detail today - checking for names appropriate to the time period, adding motivation where it needs to go, thinking out the relative back stories of the two protagonists and what the main bone of contention between them is going to be. I think my critique partner would say that was the most important thing of all! She's most concerned that my stories have a Spine.

The Regency is not a period I've studied, so on Lynne Connolly's recommendation I've ordered The Reign of George III by Steven Watson from an online book supplier. I remember those pale blue covers with the dull red border from my days in libraries - a whole sequence of thick books covering every time period from 400AD right up to the present day. Now I want one, of course, they're out of fashion and rarer than hen's teeth in my local libraries, hence the online purchase.

I'm planning a re-read of Pride and Prejudice, and I've got the dvd too, so I can have hours of fun doing research. This time I'll read all the footnotes! I'm happy to say that dh finally got hooked into P&P the last time I watched it. Yesterday I watched the Making of P&P yesterday and one of the examples was where Lady Catherine comes to tell Elizabeth she can't marry Darcy and complains about the windows being "full west"... dh enters the room, watches, smiles, turns to me and says "We'll have to watch it again." Success!