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Monthly Archives: February 2008

April might be the cruelest month, but February freaking stinks. Bye, February, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

I hate February–my dad and I used to talk about “The Februarys,” that glum malaise that hit both of us after a long winter. This February hasn’t been too awful because it hasn’t been that cold, and it’s been busy, but I am so ready for Spring.

And, since I’ve been so busy (see above), I haven’t been able to write, which is doubtless adding to my glumosity. And I haven’t been able to find time to read! Which really stinks.

So what do you do when you are down in the (February) dumps?

Here are some things I do:

Look forward to Spring flowers

Find out what movies have come out on DVD. Watch them.


Buy a new nail polish.
Anticipate books by favorite authors

Plan short-sleeve outfits
Eat dark chocolate in tiny amounts

What do you do? Besides mock my inability to make my posts look nice, that is.

Happy March!

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Our Regency heroes were all dressed as girls for the first few years of their lives. Sad but true, and somehow they grew up normal; the upside of it was that they then enjoyed the formal ceremony of being breeched–that is, allowed to wear pants. And other than the cross-dressing, it wasn’t that bad a time to be a child, if you survived, and, of course, had the additional luck of being born into a family with money and education.

Children were no longer seen as adults in miniature or full of original sin that needed to be flogged out of them. Childhood was becoming recognized as a stage in life, much as the 1950s spawned the cult of the teenager, thanks to Rousseau’s Emile, a novel that explored the ideal upbringing of a child (ironically, Rousseau sent his own children to be raised in an institution, hoping they’d have a better chance in life there than as the illegitimate offspring of an impoverished writer). Wordsworth and Blake wrote about childhood as a state of mystical innocence.

Children now had their own styles of clothing, such as the skeleton suit for little boys and the late eighteenth-century styles for girls’ clothes–high waisted, simple cotton gowns–later became the fashion for adults. Books, games, and puzzles were produced for children, and not all the books were improving texts.

But even in those relatively enlightened times, and in affluent families, the infant mortality rate was appallingly high. It makes you wonder what the relationships between children and parents were like–did parents love their children without reservation, knowing they might have only a short time together? Or did parents repress their natural feelings to protect themselves from the grief to come?

In a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft I read (sorry, can’t remember which one), there was a truly heartbreaking excerpt from a letter Mary wrote after losing a child–but the thing that struck me as odd was that she referred to the baby as it. It could be a linguistic oddity–like the French word bebe not entering the language until the late nineteenth-century. But words are important, as we know. Does this reflect an attitude of the past that is quite alien to us now? Is this how the Regency produced Victorians?

And how do you feel about the portrayal of children in romances? Quoting myself, number seven in the top ten things a heroine would never say in a Regency romance (from The Rules of Gentility):

I don’t care if that adorable lisping child is the apple of the hero’s eye. If she doesn’t shut up I’ll slap her.

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Watching the red carpet show before the Oscars and seeing some of the actresses reminded me that we’ve done a lot of discussion on models and inspiration for our heroes, but not much about heroines.

Like many writers, I use pictures of actors, not only to send to the art department in the valiant hope of an accurate cover, but also to help me visualize my characters. I choose people who look right but also–at least in some fleeting cinematic moment I happened to catch despite my chronic tired mommy state–capture some aspect of my characters.

Right now, I’m using a slightly younger version of Laura Linney as inspiration for the heroine of my current mess-in-progress. She has a way of looking stressed out and lovely at the same time which is good for this particular heroine.

Also on the red carpet was Keri Russell, who happened to be the inspiration for my very first heroine: Nell, from LORD LANGDON’S KISS. Keri looked gorgeous on the red carpet and didn’t appear much older than in the photo I sent in eight years ago! I find it amusing that the hairstyles look similar, at least from the front.


This is Liv Tyler, who has the moody sort of beauty I wanted for THE INCORRIGIBLE LADY CATHERINE. They gave her the Obligatory Regency Cover Smile but it was all right for the scene depicted and the artist captured the eyebrows. I was less happy with the hero–in my mind I saw him as looking like a sexy blacksmith (though in gentleman’s clothes). I’ll spare you the result…


I sent in a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow for Juliana in THE REDWYCK CHARM. In the cover, her hair is red because she had dyed it at that point in the story. In any case, it’s not a bad likeness. I think the hero looked pretty handsome though that flip of his hair is a bit odd.


Sorry about the graininess of this picture; I can’t find the original one of Jo Anderson I sent in as a likeness for Penelope in SAVING LORD VERWOOD. It was hard to find a red-haired actress who fit the part. As it turns out, I need not have bothered because they somehow transformed her into a blonde. I’ve heard of authors changing their manuscripts to fit the cover but as Pen had already appeared in the two previous books as a redhead I wasn’t going to do it! Anyway, this cover was actually one of my nicest with a dishy looking hero, so I won’t complain any more.


For LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, I chose Michelle Pfeiffer. Like Michelle Pfeiffer’s character in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Lady Dearing is the Wrong Woman–or more correctly, thinks she is, because of course she does get her happy ending. The cover image for this book was absolutely tiny but the heroine looks more or less right. The hero is absolutely wrong–not only does he NOT look anything like Colin Firth but he’s also got a pretty awful mullet. I’m glad the image was tiny!


So how well do you think these covers depicted my heroines? Which actresses do you use or would you like to see as inspiration for heroines?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

I beg your indulgence today. I’m going to sound a little bit grouchy, so please forgive me, and assume it’s all because

(1) Johnny Depp, Amy Ryan, and the green dress didn’t win the Oscars they deserved;

(2) I spent so long caring for my sick husband (days! maybe even a week!) that my mind has irretrievably gone;

(3) I’ve secretly been a grump all along, and have finally lost my ever-so-thin veneer of niceness due to normal wear and tear;

(4) I’m suffering from severe lack of tea; or

(5) I’m currently being forced (by a secret government agency) to read a book lacking in either proper grammar or any respect for history, and am the worse for it.

My post today is, you see, on how to be sharp.

SHARP WRITERS:

SHARP WRITERS don’t develop a pathological fear of either adverbs or the past perfect tense. And if they do, they don’t start using the simple past tense in place of the past perfect, or adjectives in place of adverbs.

SHARP WRITERS never write any of the following: alot, alright, “he drug her down the stairs” (believe it or not, I’ve seen this nonexistent verb tense several times recently, in published books!), Jane Austin, Lizzie Bennett (Austen spells it “Lizzy Bennet”), or “here here!”

SHARP WRITERS find out what words actually mean before using them. (Yes, words like literally, embark, pigtails, castle, and unique do have actual meaning.)

SHARP JANE AUSTEN MOVIE FANS

SHARP JANE AUSTEN MOVIE FANS may enjoy learning that the following actresses, all of whom have appeared TV or film versions of Austen’s works or of other Regency-interest works, were all just nominated for Olivier Awards (the most respected award for London Theatre):

Kelly Reilly, who played Miss Bingley in the 2005 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, was nominated for playing Desdemona in OTHELLO at the Donmar Warehouse.

Anne-Marie Duff, who played Louisa in the TV miniseries ARISTOCRATS (1999), was nominated for playing Joan in SAINT JOAN at the National Theatre.

Penelope Wilton, who played Mrs. Gardiner in the 2005 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, was nominated for playing Ella in JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN at the Donmar Warehouse.

Fiona Shaw, who played Mrs. Croft in the 1995 PERSUASION, was nominated for playing Winnie in HAPPY DAYS at the National Theatre.

Speaking of Austen adaptations, please join us next Tuesday (March 4) to discuss the Olivier/Garson version of PRIDE & PREJUDICE, and March 24 to discuss the Kate Beckinsale EMMA!

There you have it!

Question for the day: What would you like to add to my “Sharp Writers” list? (All answers welcome!)

Cara
Cara King, who once saw Fiona Shaw play Richard II

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