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Interview with Laurie Bishop, Author of WHEN HORSES FLY!

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As a child growing up on a dairy farm, Laurie Bishop spent countless hours reading anything she could find—from Greek, Roman, and Norse myths to Robert Frost’s poetry. Then she picked up her grandmother’s copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which began her love affair with the Regency period. Laurie won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart competition for The Best Laid Plans. Today Laurie lives in her native upstate New York. She has a master’s degree in human services and counseling and is employed in social work, but her favorite job is collaborating at night with her four cats and writing partners–Kato, Pooka, Slipper and Kramer. Learn more at www.lauriebishop.com/.

Praise for WHEN HORSES FLY!

“Bishop builds the story nicely as Alex’s heart of ice begins to melt and Cora learns what the pangs of love mean. With an unruly cast, tension throughout and some surprising twists, this novel is a perfect fit for Regency lovers.” — Romantic Times Bookclub 4 Stars

The Interview

Q. How did you think of writing this particular book? Did it start with a character, a setting, or some other element?

This book originated with a scene that popped into my head pretty much of whole cloth–the heroine disembarking from a public coach in a strange place, clearly alone and poor, and encountering the hero very abruptly–by falling on him!Her attention is quickly drawn from this embarrassment to the realization that the coach is leaving with all that she possesses in the world on board. The heroine is on her way to her new position, caring for an aged cousin. The gentleman is the cousin’s son, who is not in favor of her intrusion.

The short answer is that I began with both a character and a scene.

Q. How long did it take? Was this an easy or difficult book to write?

I believe it took me approximately six months to finish. I wish I’d had more time, actually–I do need to create a good deal of the story as I write, even though I start from an outline, and I did have a struggle in the middle of the book to break through a block. That’s a lesson–you never know exactly how much time you need. I’m happy with the end result, however!

Q. Tell me more about your characters. What or who inspired them?

Cora was inspired, in retrospect, by Jane Eyre–a post-Regency character, but I could apply her situation to Cora easily enough. Cora is not as outwardly meek as Jane and is more proactive, but Jane Eyre was the seed.

As for Alexander–I didn’t create him after anyone that I can think of, but he has some of the moodiness of Heathcliff in WUTHERING HEIGHTS, although he is much better behaved! He suffers from paternal rejection and from living in the shadow of a favored (and deceased) brother, so that would produce some of Heathcliff’s angst. Anyway, I do have to keep some secrets about Alex for now…

Q. Did you run across anything new and unusual while researching this book?

I enjoyed researching the history of the area, the southeast coast of England–specifically, the vicinity of Beachy Head, Birling Gap, and East Dean. All of these places are real, and there is a very interesting history of smuggling associated with East Dean and Birling Gap. I took an author’s license to create Lord Wintercroft’s “castle” and the specific caves mentioned in the story, but the setting is authentic. I’d love to see East Dean someday–I understand that it is relatively unchanged, and still has its pub, the Tiger.

Q. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book? How do you feel about it?

My reverend is a flawed character. I can’t elaborate without revealing too much of the plot, I’m afraid. I’m very satisfied with how this worked–both in terms of realistic character development and in the turn of the story.

Q. How do you feel this book compares with your previous Regencies?

WHEN HORSES FLY is more like DECEIVING MISS DEARBORN than THE BEST LAID PLANS. It is more of a drama and isn’t meant as a comedy–although there are a few laughs in it (I hope!).

I’d love to write a comedy again, but that is something that starts with the characters and the premise. Some stories aren’t meant to be comedies. But I retain whatever makes up my voice–dialog, style, and etcetera–in my opinion, anyway! As much as possible I always strive for a period style–a rhythm and a structure that reflects the 19th century style–within certain limits. And…I have a lot of fun doing it.

Q. What are you working on now?

I am in a resting and well-filling phase at the moment, doing research, considering ideas. My next book will either be a historical or possibly a contemporary romantic suspense–so you can see I have a lot to mull over. As for writing, I am journaling and doing short sketches to solidify my ideas.

Whatever I decide upon, it will be a book of my heart. And I’ll be sure to let you know when I do!

Thanks so much for the interview! It’s been fun.

Laurie

It’s Not About The Romance, Stupid!

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Here’s a thing I discovered when writing my first book, A Singular Lady: writing about the gentle progression towards love is really, really boring.
The only way to make a romance novel come alive is to write about everything but the romance. In other words, take two people whose circumstances, situation, personalities, etc., would normally compel them to stay as far away from each other as possible and take them on a journey, a slow, inexorable climb to the inevitable HEA. Make it as hard on them as possible. As my pal William Shakespeare likes to say,

For aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.

Bill, you got that right. Make them suffer. Make your characters stare down into the pit of despair that is their future, and pull them back only when it seems their fall is inevitable. That is what makes a compelling romance. The stuff that writers sometimes focus on–the first kiss, the first fondle, in Janet’s case, the first bondage–that is circumstantial. It happens because it has to happen, because circumstances dictate that your characters fall in love even though every single thing in their lives seems to point to the other person as being the worst possible person to fall in love with. It shouldn’t be the focus of the book, it should be an unavoidable event, caused by the characters themselves, not the need for massive boinking. A great romance novel isn’t about the romance, or even lust. It’s about making your characters complete. And with completion comes love.

Megan

odds n ends

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Have you ever come across anything that is so bizarre in your research and then not been able to find it again? Yet it’s stuck in your mind?
I read an article a year or so ago which I thought was on the Australian Jane Austen site (a fun place to visit, www.jasa.net.au, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for so maybe it wasn’t there after all). It was an article about how a regency gentleman hired a mistress. Apparently he sent his friends in, like a boy scout field trip with a difference, to approach the lady and barter terms. I don’t know why this was considered delicate or appropriate–presumably his friends didn’t test the merchandise (unless you’re writing an erotic regency historical, in which case there are lots of possibilities).
As you’ve probably guessed, I’m a terrible researcher who doesn’t bookmark nearly enough.
Unfortunately so often these odd bits and pieces could make great stories.
And the other bizarre factoid of the day: there’s a truly ghastly movie starring Barbara Streisand called “On a clear day you can see for ever.” As far as I could tell, it was about a woman who’s a sort of plain Jane in the present, but who has a time-travel experience or something where her fingernails grow about two inches, her accent goes funny, she acquires another inch or so of make-up, her hair curls like Harpo’s, and she becomes a regency beauty. Now the interesting thing was her dress was based on the one Empress Josephine wears in the portrait used for Susan Carroll’s book (there should have been an easier way to say that) in Amanda’s posting on covers. It looked, apart from its polyester-like quality, pretty good–no visible back zipper, and somehow she managed to stay in it, always a plus in something really low cut (although Todd may disagree).
And the point of this post? Well, none, really.
And “Jane Eyre” was published on this date in 1847.

Janet

Speed Dating?

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I know some people don’t see the connection when chick lit is compared to Jane Austen, but I can’t help seeing many parallels between her world and ours. Maybe one of the reasons her works are classics?

A few days ago, I watched a show involving the new concept of speed-dating. At least, I think it’s a fairly new thing, I’ve been out of the dating scene (is it still called a “scene”?) for over 17 years. Yikes! Anyway, for anyone else who is terminally behind the times (when I first got spam about Paris Hilton I thought there must have been a scandal at a Parisian hotel), speed dating apparently involves couples seated at rows of tables who get to talk for something like 8-10 minutes before moving on to another partner. By the end of the evening, anyone who enjoyed their brief time together can arrange for a longer date.

Is this a hip and clever new way of weeding out people one would hate to be stuck with for a full-length date? Perhaps. But is it so different from Regency balls and assemblies, ranging from the exclusive events at Almack’s to the public assemblies held at inns and such in towns and larger villages all over England?

Think about it. Singles at a Regency ball were expected to have a range of partners; no more than a couple of dances with just one. And given all the action and intricate movements, were they left with much more than 8-10 minutes to converse?

A fairly efficient way for a busy aristocrat (one of those who actually minds his estate and his duties to Parliament) to interview potential brides.

But I’m also sure it was a good way to identify the partners a lady would rather NOT take a carriage ride with the next day. The aging roué with sawdust padding out his calves (Regency equivalent of a lounge lizard). The lisping, mincing dandy. The bored rake who despises country dances? (Which I happen to think are good fun.) The bluff country squire with long stories of his hunting dogs, who steps on your delicately embroidered hem with his BOOTS since he couldn’t be bothered to change into regular shoes for a ball. Oops! I think that last one has appeared on more than one Regency cover, impersonating a Hero. I’d better stop while I’m ahead…

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Older Regency Covers

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Okay, the next time you see a modern Regency cover and get frustrated that there’s a zipper there — remember that it could be worse! Regency covers nowadays, even at their very worst, are mostly historically accurate. In the past, even Georgette Heyer had some atrociously anachronistic covers. (Though I must admit, some of them were charming.) 🙂

This Heyer I admit I don’t find so charming. If I were in a bookstore looking at the book, I would mostly find it dull and drab — as well as, of course, a bizarre choice of clothing for a novel set during the 18th century. This is a Bantam edition from 1969. The hero has a very modern hairstyle, and — well, looking it over, I think the artist may have actually intended for the picture to be of a 1969 couple. But there were so many very inaccurate covers in the 1960’s — showing that clearly many artists had no concept of how period clothes were made, and the like — that I think it’s often honestly hard to tell if the picture was mean to be period or not!

With Megan Daniel’s “Miss Pennington’s Choice” we have the Regency flapper. True, the scene is at a masquerade — but what a clever costume, to see a hundred years into the future! This was published by Berkley through their Charter imprint, in 1988. Though looking more closely, I have decided that she isn’t even a 1920’s flapper — she’s a 1988 woman, complete with 1988 makeup and earrings, in a costume. (No flapper worth her feathers would have had cleavage like that! They all wanted to look like they had the figures of twelve-year-olds.) From a marketing point of view, the cover has its assets — it is bright and lively, and conveys a scene as well as a relationship.

That’s the most recent cover I have posted here — most are from the 1960’s.

Here’s a 1977 Ballantine edition of Alice Chetwynd Ley’s 1966 “The Master and the Maiden.” Here we have a Victorian lady in 1812! And I’m amazed by the detail the artist went to to portray a vastly inaccurate costume. The gentleman is much less detailed — but equally anachronistic, I think. The scene is somber, with a bizarrely spotty background. It does convey some emotion, but it certainly doesn’t look like a fun book.

Though, to be honest, I suspect it is also a fairly serious novel — I haven’t read it (at least, not recently enough to remember it), but it begins with an author’s note saying it is based on the Luddite Revolts. No, not light-hearted stuff.

In this 1968 Ace Books edition of Elizabeth Renier’s “The House of Granite” , we have a Regency hero with a 1960’s heroine. Hmm…. The art is simple, and a little weird — bold black lines around everything, lending an almost cartoony look on first glance. On second glance, I see the artist has gotten a surprising amount of detail in. I hate her dress, and the overall look is too Gothicky for me (I was never into books with heroines in nightgowns running away, and this has a bit of that feel), but for its era, it’s not actually that bad. (Which isn’t saying much, is it?)

The SeBastian cover is my favorite, in the same way that Wickham was Mr. Bennet’s favorite son-in-law. Yes, believe it or not, this book is set squarely during the Regency. But not only is the heroine in 18th Century dress, with a faux medieval hairstyle (!), the colors of her dress are hideous. This atrocity was committed by Popular Library in 1978. And even from just a marketing standpoint, I think it’s a terrible cover. It looks childish, and the heroine looks terribly passive. But I notice that the heroines on the Ley and the Heyer covers look quite passive too — I suspect it was the style of the period….

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

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