Perseverance - Writer's Friend or Foe

When asked about success as a writer, I often mention perseverance as key.

Persevering to the end of a story is certainly something that every beginning writer needs to accomplish. There is nothing more satisfying than writing the end even if it is the first draft.

It certainly requires a huge measure of steadfastness to write book after book when no one is buying what you write.

Submitting those books to editors and agents despite the pain of rejection is a special kind of perseverance.

It's all good right?

Well, I have come to realize that sometime perseverance can be a bad thing.

For example, writing and re-writing to perfect prose, so that it is never finished, is a problem.  Some blame it on perfectionism, but I have come to realize that the same dogged determination evidenced above is part of this too.

And what about sitting hour after hour staring at the computer to meet a deadline or finish the word count set for the day. There are serious health aspect to this kind of perseverance. The body was built to move.

And what about the hours you spend never talking to anyone while you finish the manuscript. Even a writer needs to speak to real people one in a while.

So, persevere by all means, but in moderation. The goal isn't everything. How you get there is important.  And definitely have fun along the way.


The Gilvrys of Dunross

Until next time….

Montacute House Part VII

I frequently find myself gazing out of the windows when visiting one of these great houses.  Here is another view showing the garden and at the end of a wall, one of two pavilions which were designed as extra bedrooms.

I would love to have been one of the guests assigned to one of these rooms. Imagine the quiet. Though it would be a hike for breakfast.

I

A huge feature of Montacute is its Long Gallery. An important room, used for exercise by the family in inclement weather and I would guess, the odd ball.

It is in a room like this that I imagined Merry playing battledor with Caro's young son Tommy in More than a Mistress, though I had invested that gallery with suits of armor. I needed something for them to tie a string to.

Interestingly enough, several bedrooms lead off this gallery.

I took this picture to show the length of the gallery. These days I would think a gym would be pleased to have such a space for a running track.

At the southern end of the gallery there is an oriel window. It is hard to see it because of the drapery.

But here it is from the outside. Just beautiful

And here is another view. Not all of these gardens are as they were in the Regency owing to the the vagaries of fortune, but they are still beautiful to see.


Until next time....

There's an App for That

So exciting. Romance Writers of America has put together a new app to help readers find their favourite authors and new romance novels.  The link to the app is in the logo.  I have also added it to the right margin in case you need to find it again.  This is a new venture and still a work in progress, but check out your favourite romance author or genre. Find new books.

Try it, and let me know what you think.  I'll pass along any comments.

Until next time

Regency Fashion August 1814

Hot days of summer here in the Northern hemisphere.  What are you wearing at the beach?

I bet it looks nothing like this.  Our ladies of 200 years ago might have had the prettiest ballgowns, but I bet you wouldn't swap your bathing suit for this one. Though to be honest it is  a walking dress too.  I liked seeing the cliffs in the background and the bathing machines lined up on the beach. And that must be a towel over her arm.

Reminds me a bit of a scene in my next book Captured Countess out in December.  Our heroine, Nicky, is learning to swim -- with the King.

All right, here is the official description. But I am not sure what Carcassian refers too? Circassians perhaps?

From La Belle Assemblee:

Carcassian Ladies’ Corset Bathing & Sea-side Walking Dress 

High dress of rich Indian or Parisian chintz, made in a form peculiarly novel and elegant; it is trimmed with chintz bordering to correspond, or a rich silk trimming. Long sleeve, with the fullness let in at the top. The collar is extremely novel and beautiful, and the trimming most tastefully disposed, so as to give the appearance of a shirt to the pelisse; it is loose in the body, but fastens in to the waist.  

We forbear a particular description of this elegant and convenient dress, as it must be seen to be properly understood; we have only to observe, that it is made in a form never before introduced, that it is equally tasteful and becoming; it enables a lady to dress herself in a few minutes without assistance, prevents the chance of taking cold by the long delay in dressing; and, when dressed, to look as completely fashionable as if she had employed the longest time at her toilet.  

The principal novelty, however, consists of Mrs. Bell’s new invented Circassian corset, which unites the advantages of being conductive to health and comfort, by being made of novel materials, free from superfluities, such as steel, whalebone, or any hard substance; so that ease, gracefulness, and dignity are given to the female form in a manner perfectly novel and original. It gives relief and protection to pregnant ladies, and at the same time adds dignity and beauty to the appearance.  

Head dress Chapeau Bras. Slippers of pale green; and gloves to correspond.

Now some of you may be interested in the comment on the corset.  Novel materials. One can only wonder. And the fact that she can dress herself after bathing means this outer shell comes off before she takes a dip leaving her in that corset and her chemise?

Until next time

History versus Story

Or: Does it have to be right?

As the writer of period stories this is an issue I often struggle with. How accurate do I need to be? How much creative licence can I take in my stories.

Over time I have vacillated from the utter fear of getting it wrong, and embracing the concept of: story trumps all.  But as we all know, a pendulum, when it stops swinging, always ends up bang smack in the middle of its arc.  Oh, I do love a good metaphor.

Over time I have come to recognize that I am writing stories for entertainment. Stories set in an earlier time period whose history we know about. Some of that history was learned long after the events actually happened, some of it well known at the time.  Genre fiction has the expectation that it will transport the reader to another place and leave them with a feeling of having had an enjoyable experience.  It is not designed to teach or moralize or guide, any more than Two and Half Men was supposed to teach us how to behave or Big Bang Theory is intended to turn us into nuclear physicists.  Yes, these programs comment on aspects of life today and make us laugh not only at the characters on screen, but also at ourselves. In the first instance, they likely shock us, as we secretly wish we could be as bold as Charley, and in the latter, we might wonder at our own lost innocence as displayed by Sheldon. Or not.

It doesn't matter.  We are entertained.

A period novelist has to get major facts right about his or her era, as does a genre fiction period author. But the stories are character driven. The story is about the people on the page, not the political climate or the economic reality. Those are backstory. And like all backstory, needs to be fed in as and when required. In my opinion, a  fiction author needs to let the imagination fly free, while remaining within the bounds of her world. Somethings are easy to get right, the buildings, the clothing, even the flora and fauna which I have expounded on at length in this blog.

But are there hundreds of Dukes and earls running around in the Regency doing heroic or unheroic things? No. Certainly not.  We all know that. Readers and historians alike.

In my next book, Captured Countess, coming out in December 2014, there is a plot by Napoleon's agents to kill King George. Did it happen?  Well it might have. How do we know for certain it did not? Could some as yet undiscovered cache of documents reveal that it did? It is in the realm of the possible.

Did the characters who set out to foil the plot really exist? No, they did not. But the King was at Weymouth that summer.  Napoleon did plan to invade England. So the setting and the backstory is accurate, but the story is unashamedly all my own.

I often hear complaints that covers are not period accurate.  Here are two covers for books in the same series, "Rakes in Disgrace".

The cover for the Gamekeeper's Lady couldn't be more accurate for the Regency period, both in style and setting.  The second cover, for the second book, More Than a Mistress is way too early. The shoes, the gown, reek of a pre-Regency era, but the scene it represents.... is right out of the book. Both covers are evocative of the story.

Each book sold as well as the other, because in the end it was all about the story inside the cover.

So, to writers and readers I say, enjoy the story along with a soupcon of history. Use it to spice the broth so to speak.

I will address a few issues that I do think writers of period stories in my genre ought to get right and some others that I think might be borderline.

What do you think?

Until next time......

Montacute House Part VI

It is always fascinating exploring the nooks and crannies of someone elses' house, and Montacute House has a great many.  For a writer it is always handy to have pictures of odd corners. You never know when you might need a spot for your characters to lurk or meet.




  Our next stop, way of stairs and passages,  is the library, once the Great Chamber where the Elizabethan family would have received their most important visitors and dined in state.



 It became a library in 1791.




During the regency and after it became as we see it today, with the original Elizabethan chimney peice and frieze and the stained glass window.

 I particularly like this set of rolling steps which were u8sed to access the higher shelves of the book presses.










This next item, a porch of sorts was added to the library much later. It used to be the entrance to the parlour.
Intended to intimidate wrong doers who appeared before the magistrate, no doubt.

The motto says  "Do This".


Until next time