This week, I started work on a new book (up to page 22 now!). It’s the third of what I call my “Renaissance Trilogy,” which started with A Notorious Woman and continues with A Sinful Alliance in April (the story of Nicolai Ostrovsky). This 3rd, unnamed book, is Balthazar Grattiano’s story, and takes place mostly in the Caribbean in the 1530s. I’m hoping that imagining warm islands and sandy beaches will help me through the cold, gray winter days!

This first part of a book, the first step, Chapter One, is very exciting. All those blank pages–anything can happen! It’s also very, very scary. All those blank pages–disaster can happen. Like the first day of a long-planned, much-anticipated vacation. For this book, hopefully I’m fortified by lots of research (including the trip to visit Diane in Virginia last summer!), and by the feeling that I know the characters very well. They’ll usually show me where they want to go.

Every writer starts a story in a different way, I’m sure, but mine always seem to start with a character. Sometimes the hero, sometimes the heroine. Then I have to find them a story, a frame, and their right match. These 3 stories happened to start with heroes (2 of them heroes I never intended to write a story for, until they insisted!). But their heroines came to me vividly soon after. In Notorious Woman, there’s Marc the ship’s captain and Julietta the perfumer, both with secrets to hide; in A Sinful Alliance, Nicolai the actor and spy, and Marguerite–well, she’s a spy, too. She tries to kill him in a Venetian brothel, and then they meet again a year later at the court of Henry VIII! Balthazar, the pseudo-villain of ANW, is now seeking to redeem himself in the New World, until he meets tavern owner Bianca, a woman he may have wronged in his misspent youth…

As you can tell, I really like characters with Secrets, with a dark side they must overcome through the power of love and self-realization. I often like characters who are “outsiders” in some way, who march to their own beat despite what society might expect. Characters who are–risky, I guess. Sometimes they’re harder to get to know, but they always take me to such interesting places. Both as a writer and a reader. (BTW, Elizabeth Mahon, a frequent RR visitor, has a great blog about such real-life historical “characters” at Scandalous Women)

This particular journey, with these characters, is just starting. Wish me luck.

Who are some of your favorite characters???

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow, as Diane launches Vanishing Viscountess (and gives away a copy)! Keep up with all our characters, risky or otherwise, by signing up for our newsletter at riskies@yahoo.com…

Warning: Totally frivolous and useless post ahead! Some of you probably need a little break from the holiday craziness (like me!), so here are a few fun Internet finds to wile away some quiet moments as you plan your New Year’s Eve.

Cat Head Theater: Animated cats performing a scene from Hamlet ‘Nuff said.

A music video using scenes from Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and North and South. Kinda sappy (okay, really sappy), but fun!

An article on how to make your own green evening gown from Atonement, if you’re so inclined. And if you are, I’ll buy it from you! But will someone please give Keira Knightley a cheeseburger, immediately!!! (Bertie, can I count on you?)

Tartx jewelry–I think I’ve talked about this site before, but I just love it so am doing so again! The necklaces are beautiful, and the quality terrific, too (I own a couple of pendants, Marie Antoinette and Jane Austen, plus keep a wishlist there!)

Richard Armitage Online Because I got my own DVD of North and South for Christmas, and I’ve been watching it way more than is good for me this last week. It almost makes me want to write a Victorian-set story! Maybe I’ll rewatch P&P, too.

A short trailer for the movie The Duchess. I’m still trying to figure out if that bit with the pillared balcony is set at the assembly rooms in Bath (Diane and Deb, what do you think??)

Happy New Year, everyone! What are your resolutions? I have the usual. Go to yoga class more. Eat more vegetables (french fries don’t count). Write 10 pages a day. Okay, 8. And, for now, cut back on watching North and South. I also have a new dress for the New Year’s party, but sadly things on that holiday never seem to go like in that cheesy-but-great movie The Cutting Edge. You know–sparklers, music, a handsome hockey player-turned ice skater to kiss at midnight. But I have hopes for this year…

See you in 2008!

Merry Christmas, to those of you who celebrate Christmas! And happy 25th of December to everyone else!

For quite a few years now, I have included a satirical “faux holiday letter” in my holiday cards — and as this year I have the honor of writing the Risky Regencies Christmas post, I thought that instead of sharing a lovely informative bit on Christmas in the Regency, or anything useful like that, I would post my silly letter instead. So here it is! Proof of just how weird I am…

CARA’S ANNUAL HOLIDAY LETTER IN WHICH SHE EXTOLS THE SUPERIORITY OF HER STUFFED CAT AND TELLS YOU ALL ABOUT PEOPLE YOU’VE NEVER MET BUT WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY WAY COOLER AND WAY SPIFFIER THAN ANYONE ON EARTH EXCEPT MAYBE CARA’S STUFFED CAT

Hello, O Fortunate Recipient of this yearly literary gem! Here is an abstract of all the clever things I did this year; the actual paper has been submitted to Phys Rev Letters and will be peer-reviewed as soon as they locate someone who will admit to being my peer.

JANUARY: I attend the annual Jane Austen Ball. The pleated hem of my Regency gown is so brilliant that it finds a solution to global warming. Unfortunately, someone steps on my hem while dancing Mr Beveridge’s Maggot, and the solution hits a snag.

FEBRUARY: I appear as Paulina in Caltech’s production of THE WINTER’S TALE. My wig is massive enough to nearly start a nuclear implosion. Todd’s wig, however, actually does implode, creating a quantum black hole. This quantum black hole travels back through time, turning things that should be benign into hugely destructive forces (e.g. squirrels, computer solitaire, and SUV drivers who tailgate while talking on cell phones and eating pastrami.)

MARCH: As the hottest new trend involves combining two different
popular genres (e.g. the recent television hits “CSI: Shakespeare” and
“Superman vs. the Sopranos”), I write several installments of “Austen Trek: or, if Jane Austen Wrote Star Trek” for my blog. My blogmates all pretend to enjoy these (their ecstatic compliments range from “that’s really just…bizarre” to “who’s Yeoman Rand?”), but Jane Austen threatens to sue.

APRIL: I pretend to work on my new young adult novel.

MAY: Having lived in our condo for almost five years, Todd and I decide to finally put our posters up. Exhausted by our bout of decision-making, we put off the actual putting-up for another five years.

JUNE: Todd and I visit Nice, but not before 2,306,973 people tell me that they hear it’s very nice there.

JULY: The new Harry Potter book is released, making Britain the world’s second-greatest economic power, right behind Walmart.

AUGUST: Todd becomes Associate Chair of his department. This takes up huge amounts of his time which might otherwise be used for important things like watching DVDs from Netflix and writing witty comments on my blog.

SEPTEMBER: We receive our millionth charity solicitation and billionth offer to refinance; we have now papier-mâchéd an additional room onto our condo, which would look perfect except that it really needs some posters on the walls.

OCTOBER: I attend what may be the last ever Genesis concert at the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl, which is followed by an exodus of incredible numbers of people trying to trample the Kings (and Rubins and a Brun), which leads to a few lamentations on our part. Crowd control at the Bowl must be an incredible job, but whoever judges that it’s okay for us to get mobbed like that is pretty ruthless, if you ask me.

NOVEMBER: Todd and I see Ian McKellen play King Lear. My favorite part is when Lear disinherits his annoying youngest child, Pippin, in favor of Frodo and Merry, but Todd’s favorite part is when Edgar pretends to be a mad creature named Gollum who wears nothing but a loincloth and a lot of dirt.

DECEMBER: Someone informs me that just because WGA writers are on strike doesn’t mean that there’s any reason for me to not write. My explanation of how my brain refuses to cross the picket line having failed, I am now procrastinating by doing important things like writing my holiday letter and talking to my stuffed cat.

There you have it! Until next year, I remain…Cara King.

And it’s absolutely true. I do remain Cara King. (Though come to think of it, I’m not really sure why; it probably has something to do with metaphysics…or maybe kilophysics…)

And don’t forget! Next Tuesday, we’re discussing the 1986 version of NORTHANGER ABBEY!!! So it’ll be a Northanger New Year’s Day!

Cara

I have to admit–I haven’t read much fiction this year! The reason is simple. I’ve had tight deadlines, and when I’m working on my own stuff I avoid other novels. My ego is fragile enough as I try to finish a story, I don’t need a fabulous book giving me a breakdown. I would end up spending all my writing time sobbing “My book will never be as good as this! Never, I say!” So, I buy books and put them on my teetering TBR mountain, and save them for a bribe for finishing the book before deadline. Or at least on deadline.

On my romance TBR pile right now are: Janet’s Rules of Gentility (soon to be joined by Diane’s Vanishing Viscountess and Michelle Willingham’s Her Warrior King), Elizabeth Hoyt’s second two books of the Prince trilogy, Juliet Landon’s The Warlord’s Mistress, Kathryn Albright’s The Angel and the Outlaw, and Lisa Kleypas’s entire “Seasons” quartet (yes, I’m a bit behind). I’ve also been re-reading Mistletoe Kisses for the holiday season, which includes Diane’s novella Twelfth Night Tale. It’s perfect for escaping from modern-day holiday madness!

I’ve been mostly reading non-fiction, research type books, but there have been several real gems this year. I had to cut my list down to the Very Best, and here are just a few:

Janet Todd’s Death and the Maidens: Yes, yet another book about the Shelley circle, but Todd (who also has great bios of Mary Wollstonecraft and Aphra Behn to her name) centers her story on the rarely-seen Fanny Wollstonecraft, go-between, smoother-over, overlooked first daughter of MW, who killed herself at age 22. It’s also a meditation on the role of all women in this sphere, which makes me feel lucky to have only known them through books!

Janet Gleeson’s Privilege and Scandal: a biography of Harriet Spencer, Countess of Bessborough, sister and inseparable friend of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, mother of Caroline Lamb, lover of–well, lots of people. Her life in many ways mirrored that of her sister–turbulent marriages, massive debts, illness, travel, dramatic love affairs. All written in a riveting style that turns these long-ago lives into fascinating soap opera!

Lucy Worsley’s Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion, and Great Houses: Worsley is Chief Curator of Britain’s Historic Royal Palaces (a job I envy deeply), this detailed book centered on the 17th century William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, shows her work in every loving, lavish detail of his houses and all the people who lived in them. A fabulous resource for the period. (For more of this family, check out Katie Whitaker’s terrific biography of William’s author wife Margaret, Mad Madge)

Linda Colley’s The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: I recently saw that the NY Times listed this as one of their Top Ten books of the year, which surprised me. Not because this isn’t a great book, which it is, but because I thought I had found a hidden gem, LOL! This book chronicles the obscure but extremely adventurous life of 18th century Elizabeth Marsh. She came from a seafaring family who rose to prosperity thanks to an ambitious uncle in the Admiralty. At 20, she was captured by Barbary pirates and nearly ended in the Morcocan sultan’s harem. She married a British merchant, and went through times of prosperity and high living followed by bankruptcy and a new life in India (where she spent 18 months touring the country in the company of a dashing officer who was not her husband!). And these were just a few of her adventures…

And Georgina Howell’s Gertude Bell, Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations: Another book about an adventurous woman! Gertrude Bell is not obscure like Elizabeth Marsh, but I find the details of her life fascinating. Born into England’s 6th richest family, she was a poet, historian, archaeologist, mountaineer, gardener, linguist, and politician who was vital in shaping the early 20th century Middle East (which also makes her story very timely for today).

As far as films go, for most of the year I was pretty disappointed by the movies I saw. Then, in the last few weeks, I’ve seen 4 great ones! Atonement, Juno, Enchanted, and the DVD of the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose. All very different, but all highly recommended. 🙂

So, that is my reading year in review! I just hope 2008 is just as great. What have been your own favorite reads this year? What are you looking forward to in the coming months??