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Category: Writing

Posts in which we talk about the writing craft and process

Benefits of Being Sick

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I’ve been down with a sinus infection this week, so I haven’t got much to report on research or writing progress. However, there have been some bright sides to this week.

I just downloaded my copy of Interviews with Indie Authors: Top Tips from Successful Self-Published Authors, which contains interviews with over thirty self-published authors including yours truly. Romance writers are well represented, including RWA members Marie Force, Barbara Freethy and CJ Lyons.  I’m truly honored to be in such company!

The interviews were collected by Tim and Claire Ridgway. For those interested in the Tudor period, Claire created The Ann Boleyn Files website which provided source material for several books on Ann Boleyn.  You can learn more about the book at Interviews with Indie Authors website.

I found it interesting to read about the authors’ various paths toward success in self publishing. There’s broad agreement on some issues, such as the quality of the writing, proofreading and covers.  There are also a lot of differing opinions on how to promote indie works. Some credit their success to doing a lot with social media, which is very daunting to someone juggling as many plates as I am.

But my very favorite bit of advice from the book was from CJ Lyons: “Don’t get caught up in the promotion whirlwind, your best promotional tool is writing the next book. The more books out there the more your fans will do the promotional work for you.”

I like that, because I don’t have the time nor the desire to spend half of my day on Facebook and Twitter! I would rather be writing. I’m currently looking for ways to coax more writing time out of my schedule. One thing I’ve realized being sick this week is that my daughters are capable of more than I thought. They’ve mowed the lawn (even the sloping back bit), cooked meals and cleaned. I need to use them more. What are children for?

Being sick also gave me the excuse to watch North and South (based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell–the title refers to the industrial north of England versus the rural south) with my oldest daughter.  It was fun to watch her reactions to the hero, John Thornton, played by Richard Armitage.  They mirrored the feelings of the heroine, Margaret Hale, played by Daniela Denby-Ashe.

Episode 1: I don’t like him.
Episode 2: I’m not sure.
Episode 3: Maybe he’s redeemable.
Episode 4: OK, he’s cool.

We also watched the bonus material, which included an interview with Richard Armitage. To prepare for his role, he not only read the book but also did extensive research into the background of the story. So he’s intelligent as well as hot (well, the two go together for me).

When she overheard us discussing this, my younger daughter said, “Mama, you’re sick.”
And she wasn’t talking about the sinus infection.

So what has everyone been doing this week?  If you bought any books, did social media affect your decisions? What is your favorite way to handle being sick? If you have children, do you enjoy embarrassing them and how?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Reading, TV and Film, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a reply

Contests and Top Ten Recyclables of History

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I’ll tell you about the contests at the end of this post, so keep reading.

I’ve decided to rewrite something that was set vaguely in the late 18th century (a period I find much more interesting than the Regency proper with all it froufy dresses. Is froufy a word? I guess it is now) and set it in an imaginary world. I want to keep some of the elements of the imaginary world we have already created in the Regency, so here is my Top Ten Recyclables of History:

1. Non froufy dresses. Pretty dresses, yes. Here’s one at left. It’s slightly froufy but not overly so.

2. Battling superpowers because this makes for good conflict if Country A is about to declare war on Country B at any moment for the flimsiest of reasons.

3. Men have the power but women get the last laugh.

4. Great cities with universities and cathedrals.

5. A huge emphasis on manners and propriety beneath which buzzes wild passions and politics.

6. A changing social order where you can slip and slide from wealth to poverty and back again.

7. The beginnings of change with the use of steam and scientific enquiry.

9. Servants, because I’m interested in them.

10. Tight pants for guys. I’m sure this is something you don’t need a pic for because it’s already imprinted on your brain but I’m giving you one anyway. This is Napoleon, looking less short and fat than usual, and heavens, could that boy fill out a pair of pants, in the artist’s imagination at least. Maybe he was keeping a spare handkerchief, or battalion, or something there. (This is what happens when you do a search on google images for regency tight pants. Go on. Try it.)

So now it seems the question is what else do I need to make this a convincing world that is like Europe and the Near East in the late eighteenth century but different? Nope, no dragons or other paranormal elements. What would convince you? Or what have I missed out that you’d like to see?

And now, trumpet fanfares, CONTESTS!

I’m thrilled to offer an eARC of Julie Anne Long‘s next release A NOTORIOUS COUNTESS CONFESSES which comes out at the end of October. It sounds fabulous. So help me build my imaginary neo-Georgian world, or just stop by and say hello or whatever,  and your comment or question will enter you into a drawing. The usual restrictions apply. Contest ends tonight at midnight, EST.

And you can also hop on over to Goodreads to enter to win a signed copy (recycled tree product) of HIDDEN PARADISE which is being released in about a month’s time.

Posted in Giveaways, Reading, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 43 Replies

Elementary?

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My kids started me watching the new Sherlock series from BBC America. It’s a modern retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories. I like it a lot, not just for the cleverness of the adaptation or for the mental puzzles of figuring out who did it and how, more for the characterization and relationship between the brilliant and rather autistic Sherlock (played by Benedict
Cumberbatch) and his more easily relatable friend, John Watson (played by Martin Freeman).

Going backwards in a way I don’t usually do, I am now reading all the original stories. What still interests me most are the relationships between the characters and also the motives of the criminals. Somehow, reading these stories is helping me think about villains, which tends to be hard for me.

A while back there was a test that was purportedly designed to identify psychopaths (this has since been debunked on Snopes). I failed it miserably and although that might be reassuring to my friends and family, maybe it just proves that I have trouble thinking in the same way as the perpetrator of this particular Internet hoax. I know I can’t think about villains as easily  as writers of detective stories and thrillers do. Not all villains are psychopaths either, but even so, they may need to be capable of premeditated harm. I think it takes a certain skill for basically decent people to envision that.

Back to Sherlock Holmes. Have you seen the new series and what did you think?  I haven’t seen any other film adaptations. Are there any you’d recommend? Did you know that Sherlock Holmes never actually said the words “Elementary, dear Watson”?

What are your favorite sorts of villains either to write or read about? And if you haven’t taken it before, here is a link to the psychopath test. Let us know whether you figured it out!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged , | 11 Replies

Back to the Regency

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Currently, I’m working on a Regency-set historical featuring the Most Stunning Man Alive and a woman who is–not. In fact, she is renowned for her bad clothing sense, so much so the MSMA has problems speaking properly when he is near her.

It’s so much fun! And it allows me to indulge in all those color combinations I’m pretty sure I rocked back in the ’70s–teal and fig, for example, or many bright patterns.

Tom-Hardy-Wuthering-Heights

My hero isn’t quite Beau Brummell, but he is not as outrageous as the heroine.

One of the best parts about writing something like this is the etymology–I found I was able to use the word ‘oxymoronic,’ while I couldn’t say someone was in the limelight (1826, so close!).

I love language, a love no doubt fostered by my dad, who had Francis Grose’s 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue around the house when I was growing up, long before I knew what the Regency was or that I would one day be a writer.

So I’m off to get some more words in on the current book, but am wondering–do you have a favorite word or words? Do you have words you misuse? (mine are brackish and miasma).

Megan

 

 

Posted in Regency, Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged | 9 Replies

Are They . . . Or Aren’t They?

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This year, my son is going out trick or treating for Halloween dressed as the Grim Reaper. Apropos of nothing, but it does demonstrate the allure the Dark Side* has, even for six year-old boys (maybe especially for six year-old boys).

Villains. In some romances, villains are two-dimensional characters set on one thing (Revenge/Rape/Disgrace/Financial Gain/Name Your Poison). They are obvious in their intentions to everyone but the oblivious hero and/or heroine, and they are what makes some well-written love stories go down the tubes for me.

And you would think writing about evil would be so easy! And fun, too! After all, Milton spends oodles of time writing about Satan, and Satan comes off as much sexier and fun than the other guy. Satan talks about his choice of Hell as a residence:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav’n

For me, the best villains are those characters whom you can’t tell are villainous from their first appearance on the page. What are their motivations? How will they attempt to achieve them? And then, when the book is over and all is revealed, you can reflect on how the villain fooled everyone, including the reader. Shakespeare says it better than I do:

And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With old odd ends, stol’n forth of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

Villains who end up being heroes or vice versa appear in Edith Layton’s False Angel and The Duke’s Wager, Mary Jo Putney’s The Diabolical Baron, Falling For Chloe by Diane Farr, Lady Sophia’s Lover by Lisa Kleypas, Bliss by Judy Cuevas . . . the list goes on and on (for more villains, check out All About Romance’s Special Titles Listing on Villains, which gives details about who becomes a hero/heroine in subsequent books).

I think that uncertainty is why we are fascinated by Harry Potter’s Professor Snape (the six year-old and I are reading Prisoner of Azkaban now), as well as Gollum from LOTR. My own private obsession, HBO’s Deadwood, features a masterful villain in the character of Al Swearingen–he’s murdered, stolen, and lied, not to mention swearing all the time, and yet there are times when you root for him.


Villainy can be scandalously sexy.

Which is why, this Halloween, you’ll be seeing many more devils**, witches, vampires, and werewolves than Good Samaritans, pilgrims progressing, Mother Theresa, and Gandhi.

Thanks for coming over to the Dark Side with me for a moment,

Megan

*Cara, I promise I had nothing to do with my son wanting to dress in a long, black robe.
**After six years of being a witch, my son made me switch to dressing as a lady-devil. I bought my red sequin horns, tail and pitchfork yesterday.

Posted in Reading, Research, Writing | Tagged | 7 Replies
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