HOT, HUNKY, HEROES

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

 Because I cannot send you chocolate for Valentines’ Day, I thought I would send you another kind of  “candy” instead.  Welcome to my rogues gallery of hot, hunky, heroes from fiction and film.

Granted these are my personal faves, but let’s be candid ladies—we all have images we are particularly fond of.  Mine may reflect a taste in older men—always have thought the older the violin the sweeter the music.  But that’s not to say I won’t take a long pause to savor a sweet young thing either.

But I don’t know that my taste in men comes across in my writing.  So far my heroes have been youngish (early 20s to early 30s), well-built and mostly athletic, around six foot tall (one towers at 6’4”) and a rainbow of hair colors ranging from dark, walnut brown to ash blonde.  Strangely none of them have had my favorite auburn colored locks.

 Writing these men has been challenging:  how do you make them handsome, sexy, intelligent, witty, charming, and still realistic?  Let’s face it, romance writers are writing about fantasy men—the men we all wish we would meet or be rescued by.  So if they are a fantasy, why not make them perfect?  Endow them with everything our hearts (and our readers’ hearts) might desire?

Because perfection, quite frankly, is boring.  Even perfect looks can, after a while, pall.  (I must admit, this has not happened when I think of any of the men pictured below, but then I don’t have to live with them. *Sigh*)  But a less than perfect visage will often be more arresting, show more character, than the perfect “prettyboy” picture.

And because perfection is boring, heroes also need flaws.  Something for the heroine to fix, something for him to struggle against, something for the reader to hope he can overcome to achieve his HEA.  These obstacles, that come only from within the hero himself, give your story all or part of its conflict and interest.  How your hero deals with what life has dealt him, how he makes decisions that affect him and his heroine, how he rises above his flaws is what keeps the reader turning the pages late into the night.

So the men below, first a list of my favorite romance heroes whose faces exist probably only in my mind, then the “eye candy” I promised, are the men who, at one point or another, have made me say, “I think I’m in love.”

Here are a half-dozen heroes from some of my favorite romance novels:

1.  Rhett Butler—the epitome of suave and debonaire  from Gone With the Wind; he was my “first.”

2.  Mr. Darcy—say no more

3.  Wulfgar—hero of Wolf and the Dove (my first medieval, and his name says it all)

4.  Beowulf Malloren—Jo Beverly’s Marquess of Rothgar; dark, tormented, and sexy personified in Devilish

5.  Nicholas Delaney—the hero I love to hate from Jo Beverly’s An Arranged Marriage

6.  Sebastian St. Vincent–a real bad boy who gives up his rakish ways for the love of a shy, yet strong young woman in Devil in Winter

So I have shared some of my by favorite sexy men.  Now it’s your turn.  Who is your ultimate hot, hunky hero?  Come on, share!

Posted in On Writing | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

Hillary Clinton received some flack for her book It Takes A Village, however the African proverb upon which it is based, “It takes a village to raise a child,” has a profound truth:  we will accomplish a task better with the help of others than we will alone. 

This sentiment is especially true when the task at hand is writing a novel.  For the most part, writers write alone and the journey, while exhilarating, is treacherous. Even when your draft is finished, the adventure is not over, but merely beginning.

I tried writing in a vacuum last year.  I wrote the first draft of my current WIP; went back and “edited” it; tried to get friends or family to read it (no takers).  Then I  “polished” the sure winner.  A colleague read the first five pages and loved it.  So in March I queried.  Low and behold, three days later, bang—a request for a full.  Jubilation!

Fast-forward to August.  Still waiting for a response from the agent who  requested that full.  So I started looking for info on her.  And ran across an awesome website:  AbsoluteWriteWaterCooler. 

 http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/

Not only did they have all kinds of information on agents and publishers, they had forums where you could post your work and get critiqued.  I bit, and though my first chapter wasn’t “trashed,” my eyes were suddenly opened to things I didn’t know I didn’t know about writing.  Things I didn’t know about the business of writing.  That site became my lifeline to making my dream come true.

Unfortunately, critiques there were limited.  There was not a lot of romance being critiqued (and especially not historical romance); Query Hell was where it was happening. That was a good thing because reading massive amounts of queries and beginning attempts at critiquing helped me focus on how to use language to my best advantage. 

Again, I began to believe that the WIP was ready.  But this time I was cautious.

Someone suggested I join an online crit group, so I Googled “romance online critique group” and the first thing to pop up was Romance Critters.  Sounded like a winner to me.  And was I ever right! 

Rom Critters became my “village.”  Because that poor little WIP was still nowhere near ready.  But my Crit Partners took the time and effort to critique it thoroughly and explain what it meant to “show not tell;” clarify what the heck a “character arc” was; enlighten me about “repeated pronoun usage” (my personal downfall).  These talented writers helped me “raise” my child from the gangly youth it was in November, to the solid citizen for which I just confidently (well, mostly confidently) sent out queries.

Critique partners are the writer’s lifeblood.  They are the people who will tell you the truth you don’t want to hear instead of the lie you do.  They are the ones who take time from their own writing to help you make yours better.  They are the friends who encourage you when you have a bad day, who commiserate when you get that rejection letter, who celebrate when you get a request, win a contest, publish a book or short story.  They are family you grow to love but may never meet.

If you have not joined an online critique group, you might want to consider that step.  Not only will the group’s critiques help your writing but, even more valuable, your critiques of their works will strengthen your understanding of how good writing is crafted.

Within the writing community, it really does take a village, with its many helping hands, to make writers’ dreams come true.

The following links have helpful information if you are considering joining an online or face-to-face critique group:

 http://www.writing-world.com/basics/critique.shtml

http://www.the-writers-craft.com/writing-critique-groups.html

What has your experience been with critique groups?  Share a comment about your “village.”

 A BIG “SHOUT OUT” FROM JENNA

TO ALL THE AWESOME ROMANCE CRITTERS:

 YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY ROCK!!

Posted in On Writing | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

The Challenges of Writing Historical Romance

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

There are certainly challenges to any kind of writing project.  The romance genre, and all of its attendant sub-genres, presents any number of challenges in a variety of combinations.  Romantic suspense combines the challenge of making romance steam while the H/H solve a mystery; sci-fi and fantasy romance dares its writers to build worlds from the ground up or create new rules for our own world, while still ending with an HEA.  Contemporary romance requires its characters and plots to blend in with todays quickly changing standards,  mores, slang, and jump-cut mentality that is part of the ever-shifting and colorful life in the 21st century.

And finally, historical romance challenges the writer to recreate, in as much detail as possible, life in times long removed from our busy world.  This genre sets up an expectation that what the reader sees on the page and in their mind as they read, is a truthful depiction of how life was lived in times and places long past.  It is a challenge not for the faint of heart. 

Even though I only started writing about two years ago, history has been my passion all my life.  I majored in history in college and have gloried in researching throughout my career.  I am truly a social historian, one who is fascinated by how people lived in times past.  And when my muse showed up on my doorstep, it was a no-brainer to figure out what I should write.  I’ve never even attempted to write anything non-historical.

But, even though I love to research, even though I love writing about life 200 to 300 years ago, the challenges of portraying that life correctly in the novel are sometimes daunting. 

Take, for instance, the area of clothing.

My current WIP is set in 1761 in London.  There are many sources to tell me what the fabric of the period looked like, what the silouette was like, what styles were in or out of fashion.  I can find these things readily, via the internet and books on period costume.  The challenge comes with translating this information onto the paper for the reader to imagine clearly.  And this is where the challenge becomes tricky.

Terminology.  If I write that my hero has put on his banyan, unless my reader is already well-versed in 18th century costume or has read a number of historicals and figured it out from context clues or has taken the time to look the term up, she is going to be confused as to just what contraption my hero is wearing at this most intimate moment.  So I, as the author, must either stop the action and explain that a banyan is a robe or dressing gown modeled on oriental garments from the same century, or simply give a context clue and move on hoping the foreign word does not jar the reader out of the story completely.

Follow this link to see what a banyan looked like and get a little more information on this sexy 18th nightwear for men.

http://costumes.org/history/100pages/banyan.htm

So why use the term banyan if it can be just as easily called a dressing gown?  Character POV and perspective.  In the 18th century men would have thought of this article of clothing as a banyan (dressing gown is a later term).  So if I am in deep POV I must use the term that the character would have thought, to be true to the period.

Another word is petticoat.  Today we equate this word with an undergarment.  In the 18th century it is also an outer garment, the skirt of a two-piece ensemble.  The link below will take you to the site for a facinating project on constructing clothing from the middle of the 18th century.  It gives examples of petticoats, both undergarments and outer garments.

http://brocadegoddess.wordpress.com/exhibition/

Another challenge regarding clothing is how to get your hero and heroine out of their clothing for that steamy first bedroom encounter.  You have to account for them taking off every piece of clothing, but you cannot take all day to describe the disrobing.  And considering how much clothing they wore, and how hard it was to get into and out of their garments (ladies were often either pinned or actually sewn into their clothing), one wonders how the fires will stay lit long enough for them to accomplish any sort of tryst. 

Below is a video from one of my favorite period movies, Dangerous Liasions, set in the mid-to-late 18th century that demonstrates just how complicated it was for the upper class to get dressed in the morning. 



It was a time for beautiful clothing, exacting manners, and dangerous liasions, which makes the 18th century one of my favorite challenges in writing historical romance.

What is your biggest challenge in writing romance?  Is it plot, character, research, setting or something more?  Come share a comment on how you overcome your hurdles in the romance genre.

Posted in On Writing Historical Romance | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Revision is NOT a Four Letter Word

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

All writers know that revisions are a necessary evil, a vital (though sometimes tedious) part of the process of writing a book.  Unfortunately, many writers do not see it for what it actually is:  another opportunity for them to be creative.

Now, if you all you are changing in your manuscript are small phrases, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and grammar issues, such pains-taking corrections can be less than exciting.  I tend to think of this type of revision as a “polish”:  your manuscript is almost literally walking out the door and you are making sure its buttons are fastened, its hair is combed, and it doesn’t have spinach caught between its teeth.

Sometimes, however, a hiatus is needed—a vacation from your manuscript. If you are getting weary of working with your current WIP—after months of rounds of writing, critiquing, re-writing, and re-critiquing—set your work aside and let it percolate.  This can actually lead the writer to a stronger conception of their work.  Coming back to your novel with fresh eyes and a willingness to embrace change can truly work miracles.

The revision that excites me most is the one where I truly re-vision a major portion or concept of the work.  Seeing the work in a different light, or thinking about it “outside the box” that I originally put it in, often takes the manuscript in a better direction simply because I am not limiting myself to my original vision of it.

This process is, however, fraught with pain and fear.  Pain because I have to sacrifice ideas, scenes, language, dialogue that I have become incredibly fond of.  The first book I wrote, my medieval, will have approximately 8-10 chapters cut when I revise it this summer.  I know this, and have been putting it off because I like an awful lot of what’s in those chapters.  But the harsh reality is that the major story conflict starts at the end of chapter 9.  Their courtship, while a conflict in and of itself, is not the major conflict in the book; the conflict emerges after they fall in love.  And at its current length of 160K, the book needs pruning.

But there is also fear.  Fear of making a mistake.  Fear that this re-visioning will weaken rather than strengthen the book.  That is a very real risk with every revision, and not a light one.

There is the hope, however, at the end of so many tunnels. 

As I wrote this blog, I recalled some advice a friend recently gave me, suggesting that I think about breaking the book in half and creating a two book set.  Now I’m wondering if perhaps it could be done as a three book set—chronicling the whole story:  boy woos girl and gets her, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again in the end. 

Hmmmm.  A new vision.  A re-vision.  And anticipation of rewriting a story I love suddenly escalates.  Can’t hardly wait for summer now.

Below are a couple of links that may help make revisions easier.  They give advice and strategies from some of the top writers in the business.

 http://www.indiereader.com/zine-article.htm?id=52

http://inkyfreshpress.com/2010/12/writers-on-the-art-of-revision-natalie-whipple-katherine-center-stephen-king/

Stephen King’s book On Writing is a personal favorite of mine.  He has another, earlier book, Danse Macabre, that also has great information on writing, especially for the horror genre.

How difficult is it for you to revise your work?  Do you look forward to revising or do you drag your feet?  Please share a comment about your take on revisions.

Posted in On Writing | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

ENTITLED

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

Names, as I have commented before, are extremely important to writers.  Names of characters are keys to their characters.  Even more so are the names or titles of our books.

Many authors find it easier to create 75, 80, or 100k word works than to come up with the 1 to 6 words necessary for a great title.  And for our books to sell, yes indeed, that title has to be great.  Research shows that unless you are a “name” author, the title (and cover art) are what grab the reader, pull them to the bookshelf in Walmart, or Barnes & Noble, make them take the book off the shelf and read the blurb on the back.  If you’re really lucky, they’ll take a peek inside.

So the naming of books, as T.S. Elliot says of the naming of cats, is a difficult matter.  Some writers agonize over the decision and still are not satisfied with the result.  I have had various experiences with my own attempts at titling.

My current WIP started out as “The Marquess Makes a Mistake.”  I suppose it has something going for it in that it has alliteration and it certainly gives you the basic conflict in the book–the Marquess makes a mistake and has to work to overcome the problems that ensue from that mistake.  But even my 14 yr old said, “I think you can do better.”

So I spent an entire afternoon brainstorming title ideas.  I wanted to give an idea of what the book (a Historical Romance) was about, so I was throwing out things like “The Marquess Must Marry,” and felt I was really close with “To Marry a Marquess,” but they didn’t give a hint of the underlying scandal that threatened throughout the novel.  Plus I wanted one of those titles that could be used for a series, like Mary Balogh’s Simply and Slightly series.

I went back to “The Marquess Makes a Mistake.”  And thought the second book could be called “The Marchioness Makes a Marriage.”  That would work, kind of.  But the plot of the third one didn’t work.  I was stuck. 

So I went back to the idea of the scandal that threatens the H/H during the book.  It took scandal to bring them together.  And an idea popped.  Only Scandal Will Do.  That felt right.  Not too long, gives a hint of what’s going on in the book, the word scandal should be eye-catching.  It worked alone, and it would work with the other books.  I loved it.

Unfortunately, I may have to give it up.  According to Judi McCoy, author of fourteen romance novels and currently writer of the DogWalker Mystery series, editors/publishers quite often insist on changing the name of your novel.  Bummer.  All that work for nothing!

Not exactly.  By making the title the absolute best it can be, it will hopefully catch the eye of the agent or editor.  And that’s a big step toward getting the work noticed. 

Keep working, brainstorming, trying different ideas and combinations.  Persistence works.  It just takes one spark to create the perfect title that will speak to straight to the heart of the reader.  We writers have that spark within us.  Light it up, ladies.

These links lead to great articles regarding the creation of titles in general:

http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/titles.shtml

and of romance novels in particular:

http://www.writing-world.com/romance/title.shtml

Have you had problems creating the perfect title for your novel?  Please share a comment.

Posted in On Writing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

SEVEN

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

Seven is considered a lucky number by most.  According to numerology that is because it is the paring of the numbers 3 (representing the holy Trinity) and 4 (which is the number of the earth) creating the perfect number 7 and harmony between the two realms.

For writers, however, seven may be unlucky–or at least confining.  Seven is the reputed number of plots we all have to work with when crafting our work.  Seven.  How can anything new ever be written?

Aristotle tells us that plot–at least in dramatic literature–is the most important element.  Plot is the specific sequence of events that moves the reader from the beginning of the work, where the status quo has not been changed, to the resolution where some change has usually occurred.  Without plot we have a character study, which can be entertaining, grant you, but still, most people want a little action.  Especially in a romance novel.

Follow this link to a listing of the seven plots in literature:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=210539

and this link is a commentary on Christopher Booker’s different take on the seven plots:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501385_2.html

Whether or not you prefer one list over the other, the point I keep coming back to is the number 7.  According to most people that’s all the different plots we have to work with.  How can that ever be enough? 

Surprizingly, it is enough because the writer brings with her the one thing that explodes that 7 into an infinite number of possibilities:  imagination.  Plot, when it all boils down, is a guideline, a blueprint for what happens in the story.  And story is very, very different from plot.  Story is what happens, who it happens to, and how it happens in the work.  Combinations of these elements, fired by our imagination, are what has created the millions of works of fiction throughout the ages. 

And what is even more encouraging is that because each writer is an individual with individual experiences to bring to the table, individual wisdom to be imparted, individual likes and dislikes to be emphasised or hidden, the writer suddenly has an almost infinite number of stories at her fingertips to pluck and set down, limited now only by her talent to compose and the time it takes her to do so.

My favorite example these days of one plot treated different ways is the ultimate romance plot:  boy meets girl and they fall in love.  They have problems, they come up with a solution to the problems.  This is the plot of  Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  This is also the plot for Twilight.  The first time I described Twilight as “Romeo and Juliet with vampires” I got stared at quite a lot and not in a good way!  But it’s true.  Same plot, different imagination  at work.  I have described my first ms is “Romeo and Juliet with the bubonic plague and a happy ending.” 

I believe it likely that all romance writers have a Romeo & Juliet, a Holy Grail , a Jaws, a Castaway in their repertoire, just waiting to be given the chance to spring to life. 

Play God.  Take one of those seven plots as your bones, sculpt the flesh with your circumstances and complications, and breathe life into it through your diverse characters.  All of a sudden, you have a work as different from all the others as you are from other writers.

Seven plots?  Do I really need so many choices?

What has been your favorite plot to work with?  To read?  Do you have a preference for a quest? For man or woman against society?  Have I left out your favorite?  Let me know!

Posted in On Writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The New Love of My Life

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

When I told my husband what was at the top of my Christmas list for 2010 there was dead silence on the phone, followed by “Oh, my God!  You said you’d never want that!” 

No, not a divorce.  And not another man in my life.

A Kindle.

(This is my Kindle in the video!)

Yep, I broke bad this Christmas and threw tradition to the four winds.  I did not ask for a single book (usually the most wanted things on my list) only a Kindle.  And yes, I had scoffed at them right after they came out.  A friend of ours was showing one off and I looked at it politely, but said to my husband, sotto voce, “I will never want one of those.  I love the feel of a book in my hands.”

The latter sentiment still holds true, but the former is gone with the wind.  I LOVE my new Kindle. (It’s sitting beside me right now on the computer desk, a picture of Charlotte Bronte as the current screen saver, just waiting for me to take it to bed.)  My husband may, in fact, find it to be his biggest rival.

I had never considered getting one before because I had been sadly behind the times in learning about the ebook market.  I didn’t realize how many really wonderful writers are available only through ebooks and how easy it is to get those books if you have a Kindle (or Nook or other electronic reader). 

The advantages to Kindle ownership have simply overwhelmed me.  I can’t stop thinking about them.

#1 – You are NEVER without a book.  I was floored to discover that I only have to hit a button and Amazon.com is at my fingertips, ready and eager to sell me as many novels as I wish for, IMMEDIATELY.  No more “Oh, I finished that one.  Now I have nothing to read.”

#2 – It’s green!  Not the body of the Kindle, which is grey, but the medium itself.  No more trees need be sacrificed to feed my voracious appetite for books.

#3 – It hold thousands of books (I think).  Or at least a whole lot.  Which means I will never have to buy another bookshelf.  They currently line the walls of my home like wallpaper, but I can start a campaign to buy a lot of the books I have as ebooks and then I can donate my paperbacks and hardbacks (well some at least) to the thrift stores.  I wonder what color my walls really are?  Perhaps I’ll have a clue by next year.

#4 – It represents a whole new market for my novels.  If I cannot get an agent, I can query epublishers who don’t require one.  And articles are springing up regarding the use of Kindle & such devices spurring on sales in romance and erotica because the anonymity is attractive to many people.

For a link to one of these articles click here:

http://www.onpublicspeaking.com/kindle-romance-fastest-growing-segment-in-e-books/4603/

My Kindle will make my reading experience this coming year more pure pleasure than ever before.  And first thing tomorrow I am going to throw away my tiny little purses and invest in one that is big enough to carry my Kindle with me wherever I go.  One simply must get one’ s priorities straight!

Do you have an electronic reader (or was I the only clown without one?) and if so how has it affected you as a reader?

Posted in On Reading | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

“I Solemnly Resolve…”

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Jenna Jaxon

New Year’s Day is, of course, the day we make our New Year’s Resolutions.  As most of you have found, I’m sure, the fewer resolutions, the greater the chance of keeping at least one of them.  Therefore, this year I’m limiting myself to three, and they are completely different than any other resolutions I have made before.  No more “I will lose weight.”  If I do, I do.  A resolution on it has not helped in the past.  No more “I will eat healthier.”  This one I sort of do anyway (except for an addiction to butter and chocolate, but they’re supposed to be good for you in moderation, right?).

This year my resolutions revolve around my writing, which is the passion of my life right now.  And, as romance readers and writers already know, passions usually produce problems.  So my New Year’s Resolutions are designed to address and conquer the problems brought about by my incessent penchant for writing.

Resolution #1:  By the end of 2011 I will have received either 100 rejections (includes letters, emails, or no response) or a contract from an agent or publisher.

I am serious about getting my worked published and this is the year I will do it.  That’s a nice bold statement, full of confidence and committment.  Will it happen?  Truth is no one knows.  That’s why I’ve given myself an alternative.  If I am not published, but I have garnered 100 rejections  I will know that I have done everything possible to get the work out there.  And if 100 agents or publishers have passed on it (and it really won’t take that many for me to get the message) then there is something wrong with what I’m putting out there.  Back to the drawing/crit board and find out where the hell I went wrong.  But I will be proactive about my writing. 

If that means attending more workshops, joining more writing groups, going to more conferences, then I will be there.  This is the year I will make it happen.

Resolution #2:  I will read outside my genre.

For the past two years I have almost literally read nothing but historical romance.  I love historical romance with a deep abiding passion.  It transports me to times and places I will never see and lets me experience (albeit vicariously) things I will never be able to do.  But as much as I have loved being immersed in it, I believe it is time to expand a little more again and see what else is available in the wide world of reading.  When I posted my reading list the other day, I was saddened to see that I had not read a Stephen King novel all year.  I used to LIVE for the publication of a Stephen King novel.  I was afraid that I would actually die before his Dark Tower series was finished and I wouldn’t be able to know what happened to Roland, Eddie, Suzannah, and Jake.  So I am determined to take the blinders off this year.  I will probably start with King’s Under the Dome, which as sat gathering dust since I got it for Christmas last year.  Right after I finish the HR I’m currently loving (Glee) on my new Kindle (also loving).  If anyone has suggestions for my 2011 list of books to read, please comment and tell me below!

Resolution #3:  Try to better balance writing time with family time.

This may be the toughest of my three resolutions.  I’m sure all you writers out there have struggled with this delimma.  I am so one-track-minded about writing I would rather deny my family than my muse.  And I have come to see that this is not working in my household.  My two teenaged girls need Mom more than ever, if not to go out and have fun with, at least to listen to them with their frivolous and serious issues.  Hubby is more understanding, except when he’s not.  He’s proud of what I’m doing–he tells all his friends about my historical novels and that I’m trying to get published.  But when I’ve let the house go (and I mean really Let It Go) because I just had to a) finish this chapter; b) crit another chapter; c) answer this email; d) research this particular phrase, he gets Annoyed and lets me know it.  So Resolution #3 is the one I’m going to try hardest to keep, to be there more for my real family than I am for my created family.  Wish me luck with that one.

So 2011 is going to be filled with challenges for me.  What is going to challenge you this year?  How will you resolve to change your life for the better?  Please leave a comment and let Jenna know!

Posted in On Writing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

New Year’s In the Past

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Jenna Jaxon

We all know about how to celebrate New Year’s Eve, right?  Parties, Times Square, watching the ball drop, drinking champagne, dancing until the wee hours.  But did they celebrate the same way in 18th century England?

This question came up when I was writing the second book in my House of Pleasure series called Only Marriage Will Do and it quickly became a thorny problem.  There’s not a lot of information on New Year’s celebrations for that time period, and I needed some kind of celebration for the final scene of the novel.  So what’s a writer to do?  Be creative and make it up?  Change the need for it in the book?

I am always leery of making up stuff that someone somewhere is going to read and say “That’s not right!  They didn’t do ____.  They should be doing _____.”  Even though I might never know I was totally wrong, I would always have that suspicion.  And the timeline for the novel really needed this scene to take place on New Year’s Eve. 

So this writer buckled down, worked the internet, went to libraries and came up with a lot of information on the history of New Years.  And for New Year’s Eve 2010, I thought I’d share.

The traditions of New Year’s celebrations go back at least to the ancient Romans.  Their celebration, which took place during a festival called the Saturnalia, was a time of partying and drinking to pay homage to Saturn, the god of agriculture and time.  Our tradition of partying probably originates with this celebration.

For a cool link on the Saturnalia go to http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.html

But 1700 or so years later, what were they doing on New Year’s Eve  in London specifically?  I seemed to find information on almost any place but London.  In the colonies there was no formal type of celebration, but according to a Colonial Williamsburg site there was a good bit of rowdy behavior, violence, and vandalism.  Happy New Year indeed!

At least by 1761 Londoners were celebrating in December-January.  Until 1752 Britain had celebrated the New Year according to the Julian calendar, when it was held on March 25, about the time of the vernal equinox.

I finally broke down and consulted Wikipedia, my least favorite source, but there was a reference that I could work with that had a named source.  In the late 17th century Christmas was celebrated with lavish dinners, merry-making, masquerades, and parties.  Because 18th century London loved masquerades, I decided that would be an appropriate celebration for my New Year’s scene and indeed it worked out very well in the novel.  And I learned a lot about New Year through the ages.

My New Year’s Eve will be spent at home, with my husband and some much needed together time.  Private celebrations are sometimes the best (wicked smile).

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

How will you ring in 2011?

Posted in On History | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

What I Read in 2010

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Jenna Jaxon

Taking the suggestion of another blog I follow (see below), today’s post gives you and idea of what I read in 2010.  And until I started pulling books off the shelves (yes, sadly until this Christmas all my books have been paper or hardback) I didn’t realize how much I had read in 2010. 

Granted, a lot are re-reads.  I enjoy re-visiting my favorite characters, becoming immersed in their trials and tribulations once more.  And often I learn more about writing when I read the second time around, because the first time I’m so caught up in the story I just want to know what happens and so do not look at the craft that has me turning pages at a furious rate.

Listing my reads will give you not only an idea of how much I read throughout the year (most are read during three periods–summer, Christmas break, and Spring break) but what my tastes are,  in historical romance at least.  That is all I read last year and it must be the first time in twenty years that I did not read a Stephen King book.  One New Year’s resolution is going to be to widen my reading list, but I’ll leave that for another post.

What I read in 2010: (* denotes particular favorites)

Jo Beverly

Lord Wraybourne’s Bride, The Stanforth Secrets, Chalice of Roses (Anthology of Jo Beverly, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, Barbara Samuel), The Secret Duke

Re-Reads

A Lady’s Secret, The Secret Wedding*, St. Raven, The Rogue’s Return, Lady Beware, Winter Fire, An Most Unsuitable Man, To Rescue A Rogue, Hazard, Forbidden, Devilish*, The Demon’s Mistress, The Dragon’s Bride, The Devil’s Heiress*, Dangerous Joy, The Determined Bride* (Novella)

Mary Balogh

New Reads

Slightly Scandalous, Lisghtly Tempted, Slightly Sinful, Slightly Dangerous, Truly, A Precious Jewel, Dark Angel, Lord Carew’s Bride, The Heart of Christmas (Anthology with Nicola Cornick, Courtney Milan), It Happened One Night (Anthology with Stephanie Larens, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Candice Hern)

Re-Reads

At Last Comes Love, Seducing An Angel

Kathleen Woodiwiss (all re-reads)

The Flame and the Flower, Three Weddings and A Kiss (Anthology with Catherine Anderson, Loretta Chase*, Lisa Kleypas*), Married at Midnight (Anthology with Jo Beverly*, Tabya Anne Crosby, Samantha James*) * denotes favorite novellas by these authors that actually made me read their full works

Samantha James – Scandal’s Bride* (Novella)

 Joanna Lindsey

New Reads

A Rogue of My Own, Love Me Forever, A Pirates Love, Captive Bride (absolutely hated this book–her first book I think and the writing is not what it eventually became)

Re-reads

Say You Love Me, No Choice But Seduction, Love Only Once, Gentle Rogue, Tender Rebel, Marriage Most Scandalous

Lisa Kleypas

New Reads

Suddenly You, Lady Sophia’s Lover, Dreaming of You, Worth Any Price,, Married by Morning*, Love in the Afternoon

Re-Reads

Secrets of a Summer Night*, It Happened One Autumn, The Devil In Winter*, Scandal in Spring, Seduce Me at Sunrise, Tempt Me at Twilight, Promises* (Novella)

All the rest of my list are new reads where I was trying out new authors.

Mary Jo Putney (great find)

The Wild Child, Loving a Lost Lord, Never Less Than A Lady, One Perfect Rose***(Winner of the Kept-Me-Up-All-Night-Had-To-Finish Award)

Loretta Chase – Lord of Scoundrels, The Mad Earl’s Bride* (Novella)

Kat Martin – The Bride’s Necklace, The Devil’s Necklace, The Handmaid’s Necklace

Madeline Hunter – The ROmantic, By Arrangement, Secrets of Surrender

Victoria Alexander – Desires of a Perfect Lady

Eloisa James – Desperate Duchesses

Alexandra Hawkins – All Night with a Rogue

Stephanie Laurens – Impetuous Innocent, The Untamed Bride, The Elusive Bride, The Brazen Bride (about 3/4 thru but losing interest)

That’s my list and I’m sticking to it!  So, what did YOU read in 2010?

Check-out what others read:

http://ajandcharli.blogspot.com/

www.MartzBookz.blogspot.com

Posted in On Reading | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments