Author Archives: Elena Greene

About Elena Greene

Elena Greene grew up reading anything she could lay her hands on, including her mother's Georgette Heyer novels. She also enjoyed writing but decided to pursue a more practical career in software engineering. Fate intervened when she was sent on a three year international assignment to England, where she was inspired to start writing romances set in the Regency. Her books have won the National Readers' Choice Award, the Desert Rose Golden Quill and the Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence. Her Super Regency, LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, won RT Book Club's award for Best Regency Romance of 2005 and made the Kindle Top 100 list in 2011. When not writing, Elena enjoys swimming, cooking, meditation, playing the piano, volunteer work and craft projects. She lives in upstate New York with her two daughters and more yarn, wire and beads than she would like to admit.

Jane made it real

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

I hope I won’t be drummed out of the Risky Regencies for this, but I have to confess it took me a while to warm to Jane Austen.

My introduction to the Regency wasn’t Jane Austen, but Georgette Heyer and the stacks and stacks of Regency romances by other authors lying around our house. I read them voraciously as a child, getting in trouble with the nuns at my elementary school for having one in my book-bag.

I think I was about twelve when, having read enough book blurbs that said, “in the tradition of Jane Austen”, I decided to pick up Pride and Prejudice. And embarrassing as it is to admit, I found it slow going. At the time, I was a lonely, nerdy kid and I craved the escape of fantasy, preferring the Chronicles of Narnia to realistic fiction like Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books (even though I now recognize how wonderful they are). The same thing happened with Jane Austen, since she wrote realistic contemporary fiction, using events and settings (“three of four families in a country village”) that seemed less glamorous than the glittering ton parties, duels and adventures I found in Regencies by Georgette Heyer and other authors.

As I’ve gotten older and possibly a bit wiser, I’ve come to know that reality can be as powerful, maybe more so—than fantasy. I recognize the brilliance of Jane Austen’s characterizations and the skill with which she crafted her stories on “the little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush.” I’ve come to love her portrayal of her times and I know this has affected my own writing. I enjoy rural settings very much and I don’t feel the need for all my heroes and heroines to be aristocrats.

My own daughters are learning to appreciate Jane Austen at an earlier age. We’ve read the books together, but seeing the movies does help. I didn’t see any of the Jane Austen adaptations that were available when I was growing up, which is probably just as well, as I’ve been disappointed in the 70s versions I’ve seen. But any of the more recent productions, like the 1995 Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle P&P would have provided enough visual beauty—the costumes, the settings—to satisfy my craving for fantasy. I’m sure I would have read the book with different eyes.

So how do you see Jane Austen—as the realistic fiction, as fantasy, or something else? Can you forgive me my youthful foolishness in not recognizing her brilliance on first reading? Comment for the chance to win this “Amiable Rancor” calendar from The Republic of Pemberley.

P.S. Lesley Attary, you have won an e-copy of The Persistent Earl by Gail Eastwood. Gail Eastwood will be in touch.

Posted in Giveaways, Jane Austen, Reading | 19 Replies

Writers’ Habits

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

I recently read THE IMMORTAL DINNER, by Penelope Hughes-Hallett, subtitled “A Famous Evening of Genius and Laughter in Literary London”. The book centers around a dinner party held by painter Robert Haydon whose guest list included John Keats, William Wordsworth and Charles Lamb. There’s lots of interesting background information on the participants and their contemporaries.

For example, there’s an account of Coleridge composing poetry “in walking over uneven ground, or breaking through the straggling branches of a copse-wood” while Wordsworth preferred “walking up and down a straight gravel-walk, or in some spot where the continuity of his verse met with no collateral interruption.”

Maybe it’s presumptuous, but I love it when I read about famous writers with similar habits to mine. “Thinking walks” are part of my own writing process. I’m more like Wordsworth–I like a reasonably level path, to keep my mind free to focus on my story–which is a good thing as copse-woods are scarce in my neighborhood.

Another account that made me smile was this one by Marianne Knight, one of Jane Austen’s nieces. “I also remember how Aunt Jane would sit quietly working (which meant sewing) beside the fire in the library, saying nothing for a good while, and then would suddenly burst out laughing, jump up and run across the room to a table where pens and paper were lying, write something down, and then come back across to the fire and go on quietly working as before.”

I always keep a writing pad in my purse, one by my bedside, and one on the kitchen counter for just that reason. Ideas don’t always come while I’m actively writing–perversely, some of the best ones come when I’m doing something else. Perhaps it’s because sewing and walking, both rhythmic activities, loosen up the creative process for me as they do for other artists I know.

Do you have any favorite accounts of famous writers’ processes? Are there any quirky habits you use that help you be creative, whatever your field of endeavor?

And to anyone who sees a woman striding through a neighborhood muttering to herself, remember she may not be crazy. She may just be a writer. 🙂

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Jane Austen, Writing | Tagged Coleridge, Jane Austen, Wordsworth | 9 Replies

Drafting and polishing

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

About a week ago I finished the 3rd draft of my mess-in-progress. Maybe it’s my imagination, but do I hear a collective groan? Or is it just that I sometimes feel as if five years from now I’ll be announcing the completion of the 327th draft or thereabouts. Because sometimes–and particularly with this story–I wonder if I’m just repainting the Golden Gate Bridge one more time.

A happier metaphor for my writing process involves skiing. When I’ve been to ski resorts with friends, most of them like to try as many different slopes as possible. Once they’ve gotten down a slope in one piece they feel they’ve “conquered” it. Me, I like to keep at it until I get it “right”. The first few times I’m just trying to figure out the fall line, where the ice patches and moguls are, etc… Once I’ve done that, I can approach it with confidence and something I hope approaches grace.

With my writing it’s the same. Unlike other creative people who start a project–which could be a novel, a sweater or a computer program–in a spirit of fun and adventure, I’m always worrying about failure. I know, I’m a wimp! So it takes me 2-3 drafts to get a good feel for my characters and plot. Then comes my favorite part of the process: putting it all together, polishing until it feels right. And I’m finally there. 🙂

Anyway, I’m not saying that others don’t do a good job with finishing and polishing. Professionals do all the parts of the process, even those we find scary, tedious, unpleasant or whatever. It’s just that we all have our favorite parts.

So how about you? Do you enjoy starting a project of any sort? Or do you prefer the final stages, when it all comes together? How about the messy process in between? Or do you enjoy it all (in which case I’ll try not to be too envious)?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Writing | Tagged creative process | 15 Replies

Voice exercise

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

A while ago, Cara blogged about Words We Really Like and I admitted that I mostly see words as brushstrokes in a painting, important but not an obsession in themselves.

One reason is that character and plot matter more to me but another related reason is that I’m a very visual reader. When I’m reading fiction, my brain translates what I’m reading into a film in my head. If the author has done her job well, the words and paragraphs disappear. I become aware of them only if there’s a snag in the process: a typo, a grammatical error, a clumsy point of view change.

It works the same way when I write. My rough drafts don’t even approach being readable; they’re just my way of figuring out and recording the film in my head. In fact, they would probably read like a confusing screenplay–were I to let anyone see them, that is!

The problem with this process is that when it comes time to put the scenes into words, I’ve forgotten how to do it. I worry that I no longer know how to break paragraphs, how to use adverbs (sparingly!), how to interleave description with action and dialogue, etc… And what’s worse, I get this scary feeling that my writer voice is gone.

Classroom type exercises for finding writer voice haven’t worked for me. I can’t seem to do free writing with others around me (though I keep thinking I should try it in private). But the last time I felt this way I came up with an exercise that did help me. I selected snippets of well-written scenes from historical romances by a variety of favorite authors and then I didn’t just reread them, I typed them out. For me, the act of typing made me focus on the words and how they’re put together. It helped me figure out which elements of writing style felt natural to me, and just as importantly, which didn’t, because the goal of the exercise was to learn from favorite romance authors like Jo Beverley, Julia Ross, Laura Kinsale, etc…, not blindly imitate them. That would be bad!

This weekend I’m going on a retreat with some local writing buddies. I plan to use the retreat to get started on the 4th (rubber-hits-the-road) draft of my balloonist story. I’m still hunting down some research details but tomorrow I may try this exercise again, because I’m definitely feeling rusty.

Anyone else out there a visual reader/writer? Are there any exercises you’ve found helpful to develop writer voice? Which authors have strong voices you enjoy?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Writing | 19 Replies

Roger Michell’s PERSUASION

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

Does anyone want to discuss Roger Michell’s film PERSUASION? (It was released as a television film in the U.K., and as a theatrical release in the U.S. — which may make it unique!) I call it “Roger Michell’s PERSUASION” because he was the director — but of course screenwriter Nick Dear deserves as much credit as Michell for this understated, heartfelt adaptation.

I think Ciaran Hinds is very real as Wentworth — and a swoony romantic hero at the same time. Amanda Root is so true and so subtle as Anne that I don’t think I could ever picture anyone else in the part.

The silences in the film are amazingly powerful. This is an incredibly internal film.

The supporting performances are also great. I particularly adore Simon Russell Beale as Anne’s cheerful (but perhaps not too bright) brother-in-law Charles Musgrove, and Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Croft, the Admiral’s resourceful wife. (I once saw Simon Russell Beale portray Guildenstern in Stoppard’s ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, and Fiona Shaw play King Richard II in Shakespeare’s play, but I assure you I am quite unbiased!)

So, which were your favorite parts of the film? Or what didn’t work for you?

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER, Signet Regency 11/05

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged Austen, movies, Persuasion | 10 Replies