Category: Regency

We’re all in Trouble Because I’ve been Thinking

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

Here’s what I’ve been thinking.

1. It’s important, to me, to know a lot about the historical era I write about (The Regency).

2. Some things were invented/discovered/thought of AFTER the Regency

3. People haven’t changed all that much.

4. People today have been affected by things invented/discovered/thought of AFTER the Regency.

5. Because of No. 4, people in the Regency used/believed/needed things we don’t today.

So. If you’re going to write historical fiction, you should know about the things invented/discovered/thought of AFTER the Regency so you don’t have your hero driving a car a wee bit before Henry Ford started mass producing the automobile.

Number 5 is interesting, though. There’s all these things we know nothing about that people in the Regency used every day. And it shaped their world and their view of the world.

How you interact with the spaces around you is different if there’s no electricity. When you enter a darkened room, you don’t automatically reach for the light switch and speed along into the room on your merry way.

Instead you have to go a little slower, maybe. You, or your servant, might be carrying a light source already. But it’s not as bright as electric light, right?

And if you don’t have your light source with you, then there should be one by the door. Where else would you put it? It has to be by the door so you don’t kill yourself walking about in the dark.

Since the room is darkened (assuming you didn’t bring your light with you) you have to pause to light a candle or a a lamp or something else before you proceed.

Now you’re carrying something flammable…. I’m not aware of non-flammable light sources until electricty came along (no sun, doh, the room is darkened, besides, the sun IS a flammable object) you need to be paying at least a little bit of attention to how and where you’re walking.

Your light source is also unlikely to light the entire room the way turning on the electric light does. Again, you probably have to watch your step.

We know there were clever ways to increase the amount of light in a room, mirrors, for example.

I really do sometimes just sit and think about all the ways things were different and how that shaped what people did. In the dark I can proceed to the light switch and flick. Instantaneous light fills the room. Now I can walk quickly to my destination. Also, I am not wearing layers and layers of clothes…. I am less encumbered by my clothes, I’m pretty sure, than a Regency lady was by hers.

I do my thing and turn out the light on my way out.

The Regency woman is either still carrying her light source or still followed by the servant with the light or is headed where she won’t need the light. But the light needed in the darkened room can’t be disposed of with a flick. Someone has to deal with that.

That what I was thinking lately. About all those extra things people had to do or think about. More steps. More work. More time.

Thank you Mr. Edison. And Mr. Tesla.

Posted in Former Riskies, Regency, Research, Writing | Tagged Lights, Thinking | 10 Replies

Trolling the Regency – Carolyn Finds the Best Book Ever

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

The next midnight beheld Ruth Tudor in the cave, seated upon a point of rock, at the head of the corpse, her chin resting upon her hands, gazing earnestly upon the distorted face. Decay had already begun its work; and Ruth sat there watching the progress of mortality, as if she intended that her stern gaze should quicken and facilitate its operation. The next night also beheld her there, but the current of her thoughts had changed, and the dismal interval which had passed appeared to be forgotten. She stood with her basket of food: ” Wilt thou not eat!” she demanded; ” arise, strengthen thee for thy journey; eat, eat, thou sleeper; wilt thou never awaken? Look, here the meat thou lovest;” and as she raised his head, and put the food to his lips, the frail remnant of mortality shattered at her touch, and again she knew at he was dead.

Published in 1826.

Check the contents:

This is the BEST BOOK EVER! I mean that.

Karl and his horse Nikolaus, a Mysterious Tale !
Oh, Karl, you naughty boy!

Sir Guy the Seeker?

Oh. Whatchya seeking, Sir Guy? A Gal?

Ulric the Bold?
I love a bold fellow. Ulric is awesome and you all know it.

The Black Rainbow or the Death of Charles the Bad.

Charles the Bad? Are you kidding me?

I did some poking around:

From British Short Fiction in the Early Nineteenth Century, Tim Killick, Ashgate, 2008, page 160

Legends of Terror ! was clearly aimed at a general readership.

(I added the big font. Because it needs it.)

To which I say, booh-yah.

I’m writing a heroine who loves scary stories, I swear.

How do you feel about LEGENDS OF TERROR !

Posted in Former Riskies, Reading, Regency, Research | Tagged Legends, Scary shit, Terror | 11 Replies

The SST of the 18th Century: The Express Stage from Oxford To London

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

FYI: I am still compiling the Risky Answers To Your Questions. Look for that next week.

In the meantime, in my usual roundabout and convoluted way, I came across a truly fascinating book: The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman, The Life and Times of Richard Hall, 1729 – 1801, by Mike Rendell.

Rendell is a direct descendent of Richard Hall, and Hall, it seems, not only extensively journaled his life, he was what we might call a highly organized hoarder. And because of this Rendell found himself in possession of an amazingly well documented life. Not just in journals but in collected ephemera. Hall saved just about every bit of paper he encountered. Pamphlets, broadsides, you name it, he seems to have saved and documented it.

He’s published this book (it’s a beautiful hardcover) and though I’ve only just started it, it’s wonderful. There are insights into daily life that I just don’t think exist anywhere else.

I’m going to pimp his book hard. It’s about $20 US, and I think any hard-core historical researcher would get a lot of use from this book. It’s worth having. Amazon

Anyway, what I want to mention today is this:

Richard recalled in his later retrospective jottings that his father had told him that when his father, Thomas, was a young man and required a bride, he had no choice but to go out on horseback and ride to the various villages within a journey of one day, visiting the homes of suitable persons and introducing himself to those with daughters of marriageable age. His whole world consisted of those parts of Berkshire, Oxford and Wiltshire as extended for a distance of perhaps thirty miles from his home. ‘Amazing then,’ Richard wrote, ‘to consider that in my lifetime we have seen horizons extend so markedly that a man may catch the express stage from Oxford and be in London later that same day!’ Journal, p 6

The passage about how Richard’s grandfather introduced himself to families with marriageable daughters is, to me, a reminder of how important calls were. Not just fun or polite, but serious business. Young men and women needed to meet a diversity of potential partners (church would NOT have been socially and geographically diverse enough) and without carriages or the express stage, you walked or rode within the limitations of your legs or your horse.

But it’s that last quote:

Amazing then to consider that in my lifetime we have seen horizons extend so markedly that a man may catch the express stage from Oxford and be in London later that same day!

that reinforces, for me, how much we have in common with the people who lived during the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. They experienced the same technology driven transformation of their lives, and they, too, were fully capable of feeling and appreciating the changes wrought.

I can just imagine them saying things like, why, in my father’s day, it was two days travel from Oxford to London and it was uphill both ways! I don’t know why anyone would want to go to London anyway. Nothing but thieves and cutpurses and men as like to rob you as tell you how to find the White Horse Inn.

It’s why this idea among some people that the men and women of the Regency were in some fundamentally inscrutable and unknowable way DIFFERENT drives me nuts. They weren’t.

Just like today, not everyone followed the rules. There were liars and cheaters and people who were honest, good and caring. There were bad girls and good boys and sex felt as good then as it does now.

There will always be people who reflect on the past and how immensely things have changed since those days.

Just for kicks, according to Google Maps, it’s about 60 miles from Oxford to London. If you drive, it’s an hour and 20 minutes. If you take the train, it’s an hour and 11 minutes. 400 years from now, I suppose it will take 10 minutes.

Posted in Former Riskies, Regency, Research | Tagged Express Stage, La plus ca change, Time travel | 6 Replies

“Mistorical?”

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

I think it was the fine folks over at Dear Author who coined the phrase “Mistorical” to describe historical romances that are, for lack of a better term, light on the accuracy. “Wallpaper Historical” is a similar term. Mistorical, I believe, is intended to describe not just books that are light on the factual accuracy, but books that appear to be set in a world that never existed. It’s a Meta-Regency setting as opposed to an actual-Regency setting.

The term mistorical is a bit perjorative in that it implies something that is wrong — hence the Latin prefix mis. There is a suggestion in there that perhaps the author is not aware of any errors. Although I think that’s true for some authors, I’m not sure about that as a blanket statement.

The Meta-Regency

The meta-Regency is, for me, a world that never existed and, moreover, is a world that the author and reader very likely both understand did not exist. The stories are built on a set of Regency signifiers that the savvy reader instantly recognizes and navigates.

It’s a world where a woman’s Empire gown can be removed by unfastening a few hooks, no one goes to Church or is genuinely afraid for their immortal soul, and no one blinks an eye when a woman demands to know why she can’t go to Oxford, as if the unfairness ought to be patently obvious (even though, historically, the “fairness” of that prohibition was so obvious as to not need discussion). Reform is in the air and the hero supports it. There may well be sexy lingerie, even though sexy underwear didn’t exist. There are horses and carriages, slippers and ballrooms, eleven o’clock tea and the use of the word “rather” in place of the modern intensifier of “fucking.” I rather think that’s awesome, my lord instead of Dude. That’s fucking awesome.

A Less Meta-Regency

Then there’s the historicals that exist in a Regency constructed through use of a greater set of known facts. In this sort of historical you are unlikely to find a heroine who decides to dispense with her corset in the name of fashion. This heroine might recognize the unfairness of not being allowed to go to Oxford, but she will also be aware that the weight of public conviction is against a change in the policy.

These books tend to explore the impact and meaning of these very real power legal and cultural imbalances and the ways in which the hero and heroine can both transgress those boundaries.

Tomayto Tomahto?

While I enjoy and tend to prefer historicals that are strong on the history, I also enjoy historicals that appear to be set in this Meta-Regency period. I have read and re-read certain “Wallpaper” historicals multiple times.

I’ve reached the point, however, where I don’t feel these two kinds of books should be lumped together at all. When I’m in the mood for the Meta-Regency, I wish I knew a quick way to find one, other than by author name. And when I want a book that gives me a more historically accurate grounding, I wish I could more easily find them, too.

There’s nothing worse than finding out you’ve just paid money for a Historical romance only to find you have a meta-Regency world instead.

So, where do you stand? Do you have a preference? Do you care? Opine in the comments.

Posted in Former Riskies, Reading, Regency, Writing | Tagged accuracy, Genre, History and Research | 13 Replies

Sometimes the Internet Surprises Me (Regency Related)

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

I was trying to figure out what I would blog about and I thought that, in honor of it being Wednesday (“Hump Day”) when you read this, I would find out something about camels in the Regency. So I Googeled Regency Camels. Sometimes the Internet surprises me.

The #1 Regency Camel related result?

Regency Camel Toe.

I am not kidding.

Of course I clicked. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/regency-camel-toe So should you. It’s safe for work except for the part where if you click it won’t look very work-related.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I almost died laughing. Camel toe indeed. Pink breeches!