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Use Your Freedom Of Choice

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Hi everyone!

As usual, I have very little on my mind besides coffee, Clive Owen/Richard Armitage and napping.

But this week, I have startled myself with my productivity, and have realized, yet again, that many of my books share one underlying theme: The Freedom Of Choice (not Devo, damn your earworm!).

My heroines always have to decide for themselves what they want, not be guided by anyone, even if it’s the super-hawt hero. And they usually decide to take a risk, to stretch beyond their own comfort zones, to get what they secretly desire (hint: It’s the super-hawt hero).

I wrote this earlier this week:

“What would you like me to do first, Christian?” she asked, leaning in to whisper in his ear. He held himself rigidly pressed against the back of the divan, hard and unyielding.

“This is your challenge, Violet,” he replied in a low voice. “You decide.”
She pondered for a minute. What did she wish him to do to her? That would work as a starting point, wouldn’t it?

It had to. Because sitting this way, without moving, was making her legs cramp, and leg cramping was not conducive to seduction, at least as far as she knew.


So–what issues push your buttons? If you’re a writer, have you identified your themes? If you’re a reader, what themes pique your interest the most?

Megan

PS: Yeah, random hawt-guy pix. What about it?

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Finding the way

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I don’t write that often about how I write because for some time I’ve had a superstitious fear that if I attempt to analyze what I do I’ll somehow destroy it. It’s not broke, so I don’t try to fix it.

But I’ve been thinking about this following conversations with other writers with whom I agreed that venturing into the unknown is part of the process. To write well, and above all, to write consistently and regularly (not to mention adverbly) requires a letting go, a surrender to something that just feels weird. So a bear enters the story (as it did in A Most Lamentable Comedy, on sale here with free shipping–was that good for you too?); a quirky character arrives and you don’t know quite what they’re doing but you feel they have to stay so you leave the scene in, just in case, and later they prove to be a major player in resolving the plot; and so on.

It’s hard and frightening to let the process, the unknown, take over which I think is why so many of us dither around with deadlines looming. The procrastination factor means that eventually you have to dive in and let the angels or demons of the creative process take over. And there’s always the fear that, yeah, I love this character, but what if they never do anything significant to forward the plot? Or what if my editor wants me to take him or her out?

The irony of course is that once you’ve got beyond the fear and doubt and procrastination, it’s great. It feels wonderful once you’re in the Zone and the story starts writing itself. And there are also the practical considerations like making the daily wordcount and meeting deadlines. So why all the avoidance?

I think fear is a necessary part of the process. We don’t know exactly how the creative works (even if it can be explained in terms of hormones or electrical impulses) and we should treat it with respect. At the same time we have to learn to trust our instincts and accept that we can make the story work, fill in the (in my case, gaping) plot holes and find solutions.

I suspect it’s pretty much the same for other creative endeavors and also for athletes. What do you think?

Over at agent Lucienne Diver’s blog today talking about bad girl heroines, HEAs, and offering a copy of A Most Lamentable Comedy as a prize!

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My Favorite Historical Novels– Non-Romance Division (You can Play Too!)

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I am the absolute worst at memes which strike me as

  1. No different from chain mail
  2. Fun

So, at the same time I think wow, that would be fun to list [Insert Meme here] I also think all six of my friends will HATE me for dumping this time suck on them. So I end up never doing them because of the requirement of forcing innocents to participate and also never having the required number of vict… er…. friends.

But I got to thinking that lists are kind of fun. So, herewith, my highly personalized list of Historical Novels I Liked A Lot. You’ll probably notice that some of my choices were not historical when they were written. It’s my list so I can do that. Also, because it’s my list, I get to include books that maybe aren’t considered literature.

  • Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
  • Villette, Charlotte Bronte
  • Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
  • Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole
  • Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
  • The Makioka Sisters, Junichero Tanizaki
  • Connigsby, Benjamin Disraeli
  • The King Must Die, Mary Renault
  • Fire From Heaven, Mary Renault
  • The Last Days of Pompeii, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • The Silver Chalice, Thomas Costain
  • The Marble Faun, Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • The Black Tulip, Alexandre Dumas
  • Beowolf (but not until long after I was done reading it.)
  • Captain Blood, Rafael Sabatini
  • Robin Hood

I know there’s more, but that’s my beginning list.

And since I said you can play too, what are yours? Do your own blog post or opine in the comments or both.

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In or Out?

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Yesterday, I had another whole post planned out then–well, life intervened! It was a crazy day, full of bathroom repair mayhem. In addition, Blogger was very slow, and I decided to wait until the morning to post something. I’m on my way to work, so that planned post can wait until next week, and I am going to throw today’s topic to you! On the addictive site Go Fug Yourself, they often have reader polls on certain outfits, which I have a ridiculous amount of fun taking part in. Now it’s your turn to pass judgment on certain historical ladies and their style choices. Who do you think is In, and who is Out?

And I will give away a signed copy of the UK edition of To Catch a Rogue (not out in the US until next spring!) to one random commenter–no matter what your opinion is!

Empress Eugenie: In or Out?
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire: in or Out?
Princess Charlotte: In or Out?
Berthe Morisot: In or Out?
Queen Elizabeth I: in or Out?
Therese Tallien: In or Out?
Princesse de Lamballe: In or Out?
Maria di Cosimo: In or Out?

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged | 22 Replies
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