Excerpt Thursday: Carla Capshaw

This week on Excerpt Thursday, we're welcoming back Carla Capshaw and taking a look at her newest romance, THE DUKE'S REDEMPTION. Set in Charleston, SC at the end of the American Revolution, THE DUKE'S REDEMPTION is a Love Inspired Historical January release. Join us Sunday when Carla will be visiting to answer questions and give away a copy!

He came to the colonies for one reason: revenge. Drake Amberly, Duke of Hawk Haven, won't leave South Carolina until he's unmasked the colonial spy who killed his brother. Yet the more he sees of spirited Elise Cooper, the more he's moved by the happiness she brings him...never suspecting the dangerous secret she hides.

Her faith drives Elise to spy for the rebels, dreaming only of freedom for her homeland. Then she meets Drake, and learns that love could be hers, as well. When his pursuit of "The Fox" brings him dangerously close to the truth, she'll risk everything to prove that love and forgiveness are all they need.

***

Excerpt from Chapter Two

Charles Town, South Carolina
1781

The fine hairs on Elise's arms and the back of her neck stood at attention, alerting her to the odd sensation of being watched.

She glanced around the ballroom, trying to appear nonchalant. Her breath caught in her throat when she noticed the man observing her. He was dark, she noted, handsome in a fierce sort of way. His sculpted lips turned in a half smile, but it was the long scar along his jaw that intrigued her.

Tall and broad shouldered, the stranger cut a fine figure in a black waistcoat and breeches. His stark white shirt and elegant, but simple stock stood in sharp contrast with his golden skin. He wore his black hair tied at the nape, one of only a few men in the room bold enough to refuse a wig.

His gaze captured hers. His magnetic eyes bore into her, seeming within a moment to discern her darkest secrets. He rattled her nerves, made her instantly more aware of herself in a manner that was most disconcerting. To a woman used to being in the midst of trouble, he seemed the essence of it. She decided then to steer clear of him, for in one glance she knew his ilk: pure danger in masculine form.

Zechariah patted her hand. "Elise? Are you ill?"

She blinked and looked down into her spymaster's round face. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You've nearly drawn blood."

Her gaze fell to where her fingernails dug into his linen-clad arm. She released him immediately.

Zechariah fiddled with the froth of lace at his wrist. "Get hold of yourself, girl. You'll never accomplish what you must if you're more skittish than a colt."

Elise narrowed her eyes and bit back a sharp retort. She kept her expression cheerful so as not to give away the game to onlookers, but she resented his tone. She despised his hold on her life. But he'd offered the escape she'd prayed for as part of the bargain she'd made to free her sister. For now, she could do little but accept his sharp ways. Others believed she was his ward, when in actuality he was her warden.

"I'm neither skittish nor incapable of performing my task. The man by the mantle, the dark one, he startled me is all. I turned to see him staring a hole in my back."

Zechariah observed the man covertly. "That, my dear, is Drake Amberly, the man you're to investigate. You'd do well to encourage his interest. If he were to become besotted with you, it would make your task much easier."

Elise bristled with indignation. Her instincts warned Amberly was the one man in the Colonies she should avoid at all costs. "I have a troublesome feeling about him."

"Perhaps meeting him will alleviate the sensation." His tone cloaked a rod of iron. "Allow me to introduce you."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The unease she'd labored under for much of the day increased. Her palms grew moist. The closer she walked toward Amberly, the faster her heart raced.

When they came abreast of the man, Zechariah extended his beefy paw in greeting. He spoke loudly, competing with the party's din of music, dancers and conversation. "Amberly, I'm pleased to see you've joined us. I hope the journey from Charles Town was not too taxing."

"Not at all. The river was smooth, the boat swift. I arrived before an hour passed."

"Excellent, I'm glad to hear it." Zechariah rocked on his heels, his hands clamped behind his back. "I trust the maid saw you settled?"

"Most comfortably, thank you. Your hospitality is much appreciated."

Even as he spoke with Zechariah, Amberly's eyes returned to her face again and again. Heat rose to her cheeks for no reason at all. She hoped the powder and rouge she'd applied before the party disguised her reaction.

"We're pleased to have you here." Zechariah turned to her. "Amberly, I'd like you to meet my ward, Miss Elise Cooper. Elise, this is Mr. Drake Amberly, direct from London. He'll be staying with us for the next few weeks."

No one told her he'd be a long-term guest. She offered her hand politely, schooling her features to prevent her dismay from reflecting on her face. His large, tanned hand engulfed her much smaller one. He bowed and kissed the back of her knuckles. His scent of spice and soap teased her senses. She shivered, aware her response to him was profoundly peculiar. Only the force of her will kept her planted before him.

Intense, lushly lashed eyes caught and held hers. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Cooper. I am most fortunate to make your acquaintance."

His voice was deep and smooth except for a few clipped words that reminded her of the English upper class. The observation brought her halfway back to her senses. She had to remember her orders, not allow herself to be waylaid by a handsome face.

She giggled, resorting to her role as a featherbrain. Experience had taught her a man let his guard down around a woman he considered a simpleton. "I'm charmed, Mr. Amberly. A girl could lose her head with a man as handsome as you in the room."

"Why thank you, Miss Cooper. I'm flattered."

He seemed more amused than complimented. She tapped him playfully with her fan and gifted him with a flirtatious grin. "Surely not. I've seen the other ladies swarming you tonight. Most likely you've grown weary of praise." She motioned toward the dancers behind her. "Forgive my boldness, but would you be so kind, sir? I truly love to dance. Since my escort is the guest of honor, he's obliged to take a turn with the other ladies tonight. I fear I'll be left to sit with the matrons if one of you fine gentlemen doesn't take pity on me."

"It would be my honor, Miss Cooper. However, I never acquired the skill of dancing. May I interest you in some refreshment instead?"

"You never learned to dance? How unusual," she remarked, her eyes as wide and innocent as a babe's.

"Dancing isn't a sport in large demand on a ship."

She smiled coyly. His refusal to dance might work to her advantage. Perhaps she could get him alone, away from the crowd and music that would disrupt conversation and her ability to uncover more about him. "I so wanted to dance, but I suppose a glass of refreshment will do. Why don't you fetch us a drink? I'll gather my shawl and meet you in the garden. It's such a pretty night. I see no reason to waste it indoors."

Amberly grinned. "A superb idea, Miss Cooper. To the garden it is."

Expansion & Invasion: A Cunning Plan

By Anna C. Bowling

Setting: Unspecified location, long ago. Two historical personages survey the world beyond their borders and debate what must be done.

First Historical Personage: Hey, look at that place over there.

Second Historical Personage: Nice and roomy. Think they'd mind if a few hundred of us moved in with all our stuff?

First Historical Personage: They might. They have their own stuff already, and I'm fairly sure they're using their houses.

Second Historical Personage: We like some of their stuff. Think they'd share?

First Historical Personage: Given the right incentive, possibly. Got any ideas?

Second Historical Personage: We have things that make them go "ow" if used properly.

First Historical Personage: They have owie things, too.

Second Historical Personage: Hmm.

First Historical Personage: Hmm.

Second Historical Personage: What if we asked nicely?

First Historical Personage: That might work if any of them speak our language.

Second Historical Personage: Do they?

First Historical Personage: What do you think?

Second Historical Personage: Probably not the majority.

First Historical Personage: Probably not. What we'd need is a universal language.

Second Historical Personage: Good luck with that one. Are you sure you don't want to use the owie things?

First Historical Personage: If we use our owie things, they use their owie things, and that can't end well.

Second Historical Personage: True, true.

First Historical Personage: So, the question is, how do we get them to let us move in a few hundred of our nearest and dearest (or least desirable, depending on our motives) in a way that could end well? I mean, isn't the whole invasion thing not weighted in their favor? Except for the "them" that fight back and keep us out altogether. Which, I might point out, would not end well for us.

Second Historical Personage: Ending well is a must. They have comely wenches.

First Historical Personage: That's it!

Second Historical Personage: What's what?

First Historical Personage: They have comely wenches, we have strapping young men. I know it's a rather simplistic view, but that's the genius of the whole plan.

Second Historical Personage: We have a plan? I thought we'd send in the barbarians....

First Historical Personage: No. No barbarians. Maybe a few who look like barbarians, at least before a decent bath.

Second Historical Personage: Bath? I shudder at the thought.

First Historical Personage: That might be one of the reasons you were asked to leave in the first place. Work with me here. We send in some outwardly rough specimens, preferably with tortured pasts, and they will seek out the comely wenches. Or the wenches seek them out. It can go both ways. Keep them in close quarters, and given enough time, they'll get to know each other as individuals and nature will take its course. Which will cause the parties involved to cut through the preconceived notions and things can indeed end well. Or well-ish. Depends on who's in charge of actually writing things down.

Second Historical Personage: But surely there will be some collateral damage.

First Historical Personage: Sadly, yes, but that can depend on the writers again, and it does leave the door open for sequels. Which will also end well. Even in the darkest of times, love does find a way to turn things around.

Religious Beliefs: Nice Guys, Jerks, and the Romance Writer

By Anna C. Bowling

The topic of religious beliefs comes to Unusual Historicals at a very appropriate time. Right now, I am moderating an online workshop on writing the inspirational romance, and preparing to give the message (others might use the term "sermon" or "teaching") at house church this week. Faith is an important part of my life, and that carries over into my writing. Though I haven't written for the inspirational market before, who knows what the future will bring? For the moment, I'm having fun with general market historicals and dabbling in time travel.

A little personal information before we get into the topic proper. I consider myself nondenominational Christian. I prefer a more intuitive sort of worship, but the DH likes more structured prayers. Among our friends, we have those of the Jewish persuasion; secular, Reformed and Messianic sorts; others who would class themselves as some combination of Buddhist, Wiccan or different pagan paths; the not-really-spiritual; plus Catholic and various protestant and non-denoms. When I wore my Blackbeard t-shirt with the infamous pirate's flag on it into a local store this past autumn, the clerk commented that it was the "time for the scaries" celebrations back in his home in India, around the same time as we have Halloween here in the USA. I've learned a lot from all of them, even though we don't agree on everything. Some things, yes. Some things, maybe. And some, well, we have to agree to disagree, and carry on carrying on.

Today, we might call such a mix of friends normal and have, as I did, an interesting discussion with the clerk over different celebrations. Some of the best conversations can be among friends of differing outlooks, sharing why they walk the path they do. In that, I think I can safely say we're blessed (or lucky, if you prefer), but in previous times (and some parts of the world even today, sadly) where different faiths might make friendships difficult, not to mention love affairs and even--gasp--marriage. Families on either side might have something to say against such a relationship, and even take drastic measures to keep it from happening, while others might prefer to find common ground and respect differences.

Henry VIII broke from the Catholic church so he might divorce his barren first wife and seek a more fertile bride...and kept on seeking. Houses in England constructed during that time might have had priest holes--secret rooms, sometimes no more than a closet or the size of a coffin, where Catholics hid from those seeking to do them harm. Catholics and Puritans didn't mix well during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and yet both found themselves faced with losses during the English Civil War.

Merely being Jewish during the time between world wars in Europe meant incredibly high stakes, never knowing when the knock on the door would end life as they knew it. Even so, bonds of friendship, love and marriage have formed across faiths for centuries, with no signs of stopping. Similarly, ask any member of a congregation, meeting, synagogue, coven, etc, about the group dynamics, and you'll hear about annoyances, betrayals, pet peeves, and bad habits, as well as heartwarming stories of support, generosity and going the extra mile. At a given moment, that depends largely on the individuals involved. This is what I've found most important in exploring a character's spirituality: the individual.

Plainly put, there are nice guys and jerks in all belief systems. While it's easy to rely on stock figures--the wise, mystic Easterner who sounds like he moonlights as a fortune cookie writer; the dour Puritan who never smiles, hates everything, and probably has never read his Bible because he's too busy smacking people with it; and so on--a writer can get far more mileage by showing the individual rather than the stereotype. For example, what images come to mind when I say "the Pope"? For some, the leader of their faith. For others, someone they wouldn't invite to dinner unless something lethal were on the menu.


For me, the first thing that I think of is Pope John Paul II wearing Bono's sunglasses, with both men looking appropriately impressed. That picture touches on a side of the man many may not think of at first, but doesn't it make him all the more human?

Which, of course, is a great tool for writers, especially those of romance. One of my favorite uses of spirituality in romance is Laura Kinsale's SHADOWHEART, where Allegretto, the hero, believing himself to be damned already, finally gives in to the heroine's pleas to go to confession. She won't until he will, and he believes there's still hope for her. He won't put her soul in jeopardy, and so he changes. Annette Blair's Amish historical, THEE I LOVE, shows an Amish community making a difficult decision to place what is right above a circumstance that might force them to do otherwise. Francine Rivers' "Mark of the Lion" trilogy shows a wide spectrum of first-century spirituality and good, bad and ugly behavior among not only the early Christian Church, but Jewish, Roman and German communities of the period.

It's the variety of the individual that makes every relationship unique, and as romance writers, that's one of our biggest goals: to make our couples stand out as lovers, so that readers will long remember them and want to visit again and again. Religion may play a small, large or somewhere-in-between part in a particular character's life, and those around them may have a wide range of faiths, but all have the same needs: to love and be loved. Individuals read our stories, and that's a special relationship, one to nurture. No matter what a character's religious persuasion (or lack thereof), if we as writers can make a reader connect with their deepest feelings, cry with their losses and rejoice in their triumphs, then we've done our job.

Introducing a red sky and purple grass

I knew I was in trouble when my kindergarten teacher told me I could not color the sky red.

"Why?" I asked, staring at my beloved crayon. "Fire engines are red."

That says something about me. Don’t tell me how to create or to write what I know. I find no fun in that. My passion lies in research and understanding something that confused me before. I love finding a tid-bit of information that I never knew, or discovering a part of history that is under-appreciated.

I was thrilled to be invited to a blog devoted to writers of unusual historicals. These authors craft true labors of love. We write stories requiring a bit more research and time than most. I bet I am not the only one who runs with scissors around here…

My back story? I work for a small museum devoted to birds and the art of bird carving. There, I teach environmental education. I am also a ranger for the National Park Service. I married the man I loved since I was twelve and just had my first child. (Abigail Sage--8 months and the next Pulitzer winner.) Natural childbirth is far less painful than writing a novel...

My historical, Adelrune, is set in 1866 Austria during the brink of the Seven Weeks War. I blame a lot of it on the research for my trilogy (which continues a work of classic literature). While working on that I was slowly crafting the idea of a heroine whose emotions are expressed through music. I chose the musical theme because I used it extensively in my trilogy. I was comfortable with adding those aspects to my writing. For years I had an image in my mind of Adelrune, but I was too intimidated to place her in any of my novels. Exactly where do I use a heroine who by today’s standards would be viewed as having Asperger Syndrome?

I did not set out to design Adelrune as autistic. Some time ago a stranger read some of my work which included this character. I was asked why I created an autistic heroine. I scowled. Autistic? I thought she just viewed the world locked in her fantastic imagination. Much like I did. When I heard an interview on NPR with Dr. Temple Grandin, unarguably one of the most accomplished and noted adults with autism, I was left stunned. The way Dr. Grandin described her visual means of thinking, (by doing so in pictures) was precisely the way I had always envision Adelrune, except her world is perceived in music. Temple Grandin mentioned in this interview that she would not understand the phrase 'My neighbor did something nice for me today' until an image rose in her mind of a man holding out a bouquet of flowers. I nearly fainted. How could I have crafted a heroine so similar to this without ever knowing a thing about autism and visual thought? For example my heroine is asked at one point what loneliness is. Her reply: Schubert. Pianoforte Trio No. 2 in E Flat Major D 929 Opus 100. Second moment... the cellos... those hauntingly unhappy cellos...

Adelrune had Aspergers. Now I had an explanation for why she seemed so unique. I was never able to put my finger on it, but it made perfect sense.

But I didn't know a thing about autism and I was not a contemporary writer. I write historicals and autism is a modern doctrine. Dare I write her this way? Obviously the frame work was already there. How it got there I can never explain. Where can I set it so her genius could shine? How can I create an historical romance with such a character? At the time I was reading a book by Alan Palmer: Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis-Joseph. I came across a passage about a mentally disabled member of the family who lived in the secluded rooms of the Schönbrunn palace.

I think my brain exploded.

My heroine is by no means mentally disabled, but she would have been viewed as such in the mid 19th century. She would have to be convincing to be believed as a high functioning autistic. I would need one hell of a dynamic hero to play off of her. But who would he be? My gaze kept sliding to Palmer's book. The Habsburgs had a rich, romantic and tragic history. The Habsburg family was plagued with illness and mental disorders. There is something romantic about Austria and the Alps. Vienna was one of the centers of musical culture. Not to mention there is a certain husky allure to the music of the German language...

The rest as they say is history. Research for this book is constantly on going: Aspergers and its role in relationships and social settings, music and music theory, composers of the 19th century, and the history of the Habsburg Empire. I am not an expert in any of these fields. Like many I am simply a writer with a gift of crafting a story. Looking back to kindergarten I realize that my comment regarding the sky could be viewed today as having autistic traits. I liked the color red. I liked fire engines. So in my mind, if I liked red then the sky could be red. Why couldn’t it? It was not logical to me that the sky could not be red because it was in reality blue.

Prior to World War II, and even more so in the mid 19th century, Austrian children with severe handicaps spent most of their time in clinics or asylums. The sentence, the life, was hellish. It was Hans Asperger, a Viennese doctor, who reformed these children and made the world take notice of their unique views of the world. It was he who first suggested that everyone is a little autistic, a little 'Aspergerish' and the line that separates the normal or neuro-typical people from those with Asperger Syndrome is a little more than a line drawn in the sand. I keep that in mind as I write this book.

My trilogy is also out of the norm, and I will mention it only briefly. If done correctly, expanding upon a work of classic literature it is met with great success: Brooks’ March, Rhys’ The Wild Saragasso Sea, Berdoll’s Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and Susan Kay’s Phantom. To market such a book a writer must be an authority in their genre and understand the focus group embracing the original storyline. As a child I loved Poe, Stoker, and Leroux. And it was my love of the brilliant and mysterious writing of Gaston Leroux that drew me to join the ranks of the authors who dared to continue a well beloved classic. A fascinating and amazing man, Gaston Leroux’s books chronicling his hero, Joseph Routabille, are still viewed today as a standard for all mystery writers to achieve. Leroux’s loves of the macabre and his monstrous villains have fascinated readers for generations.

One does not pick up a pen and write a trilogy continuing Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera without an impending sense of doom. As a writer you are dickering with well established character and readers who fiercely defend their images of those original heroes and heroines. I have met an amazing assortment of people in my journey to craft that trilogy, from the support of best selling authors to experts in the field of gothic literature and Freudian thought. I am amazed at how embraced the idea is so far.

So with that I will ask what makes your heroines unique? In a world where pages leap with heroines who are feisty and independent, what do you consider a sympathetic character trait and how do you ensure the readers care?

Now if you will excuse me, I need to run like hell with my scissors.

Bis später! (see you later)
Jennifer

Shopry Interlude

Karen Mercury cannot post today because she's under the weather AND under serious deadlines. But you're welcome to come by my blog where I posted a few awesome, Muse-tingling photos from Shorpy.

A New Attitude

Last month, I blogged about writer's block and how my muse had left me for another more talented writer. This couldn't have happened at a worse time, because I had scheduled two pitch sessions at the HNS Conference on Saturday, June 9th. It didn't help to hear Bernard Cornwell say during one of his lectures, that writer's block was really just a figment of my imagination and all I really needed to do was just write. I'd tried that for weeks prior and all I seemed to be doing was crafting nonsense and frustrating myself in the process.

I arrived for the conference on Friday, June 8th, went to the Desmond hotel and met up with one of the lovely members of my online critique group. As we're mingled with fellow writers, I found myself stunned by everyone's ability to summarize their stories, and draw me in. Within two hours, not only had I learned fascinating details about Queen Margot, 16th-century America, and Nefertiti's Egypt, but I quickly realized everyone else had amazing material for their pitches and mine just wasn't going to cut it. Panic set in - time to rethink that pitch!

The next morning, I arrive with my hastily scribbled notes, still wondering exactly what I was going to say. Everything else I had rehearsed the previous night still didn't sound just right. My first session was at 10am and when my name was called--if anyone had a camera aimed on me at that very moment, it would have been the "deer in the headlights" look captured for posterity. I crept into the room and slunk into my seat.

Then the most amazing thing happened. I began to talk about what was surely someone else's book; intrigue and passion set in 13th century Spain during the last centuries of Moorish rule. I never realized eight minutes could pass in five seconds, but at the end of it, I had a request for the full manuscript. Needless to say, I was stunned. I spoke about my writing in ways that I've never done before; certainly, I hadn't been as passionate in my queries as I was in that short interview. By the end of the day, I'd completed both pitches with requests for fulls.

That experience, as terrifying as it was, re-energized me and my writing. Back went the flurry of fingers on the keyboard, and Cindy Vallar's session on Pirates at the conference even sparked ideas for the next WIP. I'd fallen in love with my writing again, and my lovely muse has been at my side since. It's so great to have her back; I missed her.

Have you had a similar experience that's given you a different perspective on your writing? Is there anything new and challenging which you've done that's taken your writing to the next level?

May The Muse Be With You.
Lisa Yarde

Historicals: What Got You Started?

It's a given that everyone who reads historicals has at least a passing interest in history, whether they were given a Regency by a friend or relative and told "read this it's good," or they picked up a novel in the grocery store because it had a bright cover featuring a guy in a kilt or a Viking, or whatever. So my question is what got you the writer started and what is it about your favorite era that made you want to write a book set in that time?

For me it was a book on Medieval history in the 6th grade. I took it home the first day of school and read the whole thing. I graduated to my mother's Georgette Heyer novels and from there my dad being stationed to Crete sparked the interest in ancient history. I got interested in genealogy and the further back I went the more I wanted to recreate what it must have been like to live during ancient times, hence my ebook Caesar's Love.

So, how did you all get hooked on your favorite eras?

Oh yeah, and do you have any favorite historical figures that you'd love to base a character on but haven't yet? Rather partial to Catherine the Great myself.

Historical Novel Society, Part II

Lisa Yarde can write about Friday night (hey Lisa! hope you're feeling better) because I missed the entire thing.

The next panel was "Rewriting the Role of Women" with Suzanne Adair, Irene Burgess, Susanne Dunlap, Sandra Gulland, moderated by Mary Sharratt. Again, they mentioned this Red Tent by Anita Diamant that Irene mentioned--Irene recommended being like that author and going on a two-year promotional signing tour, something that shut the room up immediately because it's clearly not practical for most of us. Irene Burgess, a professor of women's studies, mentioned a lot of historical heroines who seem anachronistic to readers really aren't. A lot of this comes from a lack of understanding. In the 20thC we created a lot of behaviors that were already present in women for centuries. Sandra says she got a lot of her historical information from midwifery guides. Josephine went into early menopause and was crying all the time, had intense migraines. Oops, it appears I didn't take all that many notes during that panel. I had to run to the group book-signing where I purchased Jeanne Mackin's novel about Maggie Fox, the "founder" of modern Spiritualism. To me, that's the fun part of a group signing--purchasing the other author's books and talking to them. Diana Gabaldon and Bernard Cornwell signed the entire two hours, and had lines going around the pool.

That night was a delicious banquet--the "Feast" part of "Feast 'n' Fun"--Diana Gabaldon (the "'n Fun" part) said it was the best conference food she'd ever had. She told a story about her road to publication that I think left most of us functionally depressed. She was a mother of two working at a university, apparently the world's only expert at writing bird programs in FORTRAN (or something of that nature). She realized she was almost 35 so had better start on this novel she'd always wanted to do. She doesn't write in a linear fashion; apparently she writes in chunks and pieces them all together later like a puzzle (yes, she does wind up with chunks that won't fit, and those all go into a separate file). Someone in her compuserve group said he'd recommend her to his agent. A very short story ensued: the agent took her on and within three days had five offers. And the book wasn't even finished yet. The end. Imagine three hundred people gaping, slack-jawed, in awe and stupefaction.

Sunday morning the first panel was "Bringing Pirates to Life," with my pirate editor Cindy Vallar, and Jim Nelson. Jim believes it's OK to use secondary source material to get an overall idea of your big picture, but you must use primary sources for the details of what happens to one guy. He is amused at our fascination with pirates. It's as though in 2020 we will all dress up like gangbangers, because in the interim they've gained an aura of coolness. But pirates ran the show back then. They were mostly in warm areas because they could fall down, pass out drunk, and not die: that was good.

In the 16th and 17thC pirates all emerged from geopolitical struggles. In the early 1600s the French moved into Hispaniola (now Haiti). They were savage woodsmen. Smoking meat over a fire called a "boucan" led to their moniker of "buccaneers," a term you should never use for anyone other than Caribbean pirates of this era. Soldiers eradicated the buccaneers and drove them to Tortuga. Now they became a large cadre who hated the Spanish. Cindy discussed a lot of technical details I didn't take notes on, since it’s all fresh in my memory from having just written a pirate book. One thing I didn't know is they always wore striped stockings. She did mention she's not big on the nautical details, and was recently stumped working on some gal's big "storm at sea" scene since she didn't know 90% of the technical stuff. I'm going to get her for that. Later. Beforehand I made her promise not to call on me, but forgot to make her promise not to TALK about me.

Next up was the Sitting Room Only "Writing Love Scenes: How Much Sex is Too Much?" with Diana Gabaldon, Chris (C.C.) Humphreys, and Jade Lee. Diana said her books have been categorized as everything from horror to Gay/Lesbian. Jade Lee said being a romance writer, she's seen it all. She wanted people to remember that in romance, there are different ways of rating how sexy a book is. There are chili peppers, HOT/BURNING scales, etc. Homoerotic stuff is also very hot right now, even though she doesn't understand why. (I do.) Diana said the female idea of how two men are together isn't accurate. We make it all tender and kissy, and that's not how guys really do it. Diana read aloud a homoerotic scene from one of her Lord John books that concluded with a hearty, "Yes, I AM a nasty beast."

Jade mentioned how big Ellora's Cave is, for those not familiar with it. Some of those women make $10k per month, "IF you are able to do it." (I think I know what she meant--I am physically incapable of writing a pure erotica. I wish I could!) When she first started out, she received rejections for being "too hot." Nowadays, she has to take "erotic" out of her press literature because now, though she hasn't changed, her writing is relatively mild. Now she's only three chili peppers. Chris opined that he wants to see more thigh boots of the sort he uses in his Jack Absolute novels.

For Diana, a sex scene should show emotional intimacy between two people. People were appalled when, in her later books, she depicted people in their 50s having sex. "Oh my god!" But she wanted to tell a story about how to maintain a long-lasting close supportive marriage, the story of what makes two people stay married for fifty years. Sex is integral, it's a power issue in marriages; sex heals after stress and loss. Sex must further the plot. Chris thinks you should show something different in a sex scene that demonstrates a fresh aspect of a character. For instance, show the same soldier being tied up in the same way, but this time whipped by dwarves. In romance, said Jade, each sex scene is a plot point. The first plot point is the first kiss, then at least one sexus interruptus, and so on. Each publisher has different requirements. Once she was told by an editor not to stress the required three orgasm scenes, to just phone them in. Chris thinks men are more restrained when writing sex scenes, unless they're going for the "throbbing blue veiners." They’re more restrained for fear of offending. Then I had to leave because my feet were killing me. Another two years until the next HNS conference!

Historical Novel Society Conference, Albany NY

Historical Novel Society Conference
Albany NY, June 8-10, 2007

Friday night there was a dinner banquet at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. Bernard Cornwell was the keynote speaker and unfortunately I didn't make it thanks to the evil incompetent sadists of O'Hare International Airport. Cornwell was eloquently hilarious, apparently.

So the first panel I dragged myself in to see Saturday morning was "Fictionalizing the Already Famous" with Jeanne Mackin and Brenda Rickman Vantrease. Jeanne said that bad fiction is telling the same story over and over, thus perpetuating myths and legends about a historical figure--for example, the myth that Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake." (She never said that.) If you're going to use what Irene Goodman calls a "marquee name" in your fiction, readers already have preconceived ideas, so you have to keep digging to find the fresh character.

Jeanne asked us to mention which historical figure we felt like at that very moment, and I thought "Timothy Leary" because I felt on drugs after no sleep for two days.

The already famous are emblems, so you need to keep building and refreshing them, not building up the same lies over and over again. Kosinski said "Only in fiction can we tell the whole truth."

Brenda said Michelangelo looked at a piece of marble and saw his character in the block. He merely chipped away at it until the person was freed. The drama is in the first cut, the first rough draft, and like Michelangelo you need to learn what to leave out. Someone asked how to interest readers who are not enthralled with your particular era or setting, and Brenda thinks you need to catch them off balance--you need to have a new approach, not the same old "let them eat cake."

Irene Goodman was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. They must not have set up 300 chairs because it was SRO—standing room only. Irene talked about being in second grade and students were asked to choose between two study subjects--animals or "the olden days." She was the only one who didn't choose animals. Her mother would yell at her to go outside and play, and she'd yell back, "But I'm already up here playing with my friends!" Her historical "olden days" friends.

When she went into publishing, there were a few anomalies like Jean Auel, Colleen McCullough, and John Jakes, but they were considered the exceptions to the rule--historical fiction was a dead zone. Now, Irene said, The floodgates are open! Now you have atrocious in-laws, jealousy, trophy wives, drop dead gorgeous women, and history is full of sex! The sky's the limit, as long as it's well told and has the necessary hook.

Now you have historical fiction shelves in bookstores in the nebulous section titled "Literature," which means anything from Mark Twain to Jackie Collins. There are sub-genres: historical thrillers, historical mysteries, historical romance (and some is quite good, she added--and like TV, some is bad). You just have to know where to look.

Some subjects seemed unmarketable until a writer broke the barrier. Australia was stupid until The Thornbirds came along. Right now England is the smart place to set a historical since the TV advent of "The Tudors," even though they changed France into Portugal for no good reason.

Next up: "Sharpe Practice: Writing a Historical Novel" by Bernard Cornwell. He said the entire panel would revolve around "All right, who has a question?" The first question was, "Why is it so difficult for an American author to get published or taken seriously in England?" Cornwell hated Cold Mountain. He said there is no way men talk to each other like that, so damned serious all the bloody time--men joke together. He wrote a Civil War series after he'd moved to the States, and we were so fond of pointing out "mistakes" that weren't, but nobody would listen to him because he was British.

He said we're writing historical entertainment--leave history to the historians. Write an exciting story, but write A STORY first and foremost. You read a history book and you don't say "Wait, I can't go to sleep, I've got to get to the end of Chapter Five!" But you do when you read a historical STORY. The worst thing you can do is to make it obvious that you copied facts down from notecards. We entertain. You have to chuck 95% of your research in order to TELL YOUR STORY.

Some Americans criticized one of his American stories by claiming "baseball wasn't invented yet," when he knew it was, but his hands were tied in refuting it, because he didn't want to get involved in all that bitchiness.

Someone asked what does he do when he has no inspiration. He laughed and said, Inspiration does not exist! You write by being a writer. You sit there, you write, and you stop in the evening. Writer's block doesn't exist! We all have bad days--that's not writer's block. You write through it, even though it might not be your best work. You don't hear a nurse claiming she has nurse's block, do you? 'I can't come into work today, I have nurse's block.' No one put a gun to your head, 'Be a writer now, dammit!' It's a job of privilege and we should be glad to have it. The dress code is pretty easy, too. Ben Franklin wrote naked. Cornwell encourages this habit, for some of us.

"How much research is too much? How do you know when it’s not enough?" Cornwell doesn't know where to draw the line. You copy from one book, that's plagiarism. You copy from forty books, that's research. Your first draft is like a huge mountain. When you get halfway up there, you look back and you see a better route to the top. The first draft is the biggest job, that's getting the story down right. Don't worry about style or length! He recommended typing out a few pages of your favorite book. In his case it was Forrester, some Horatio Hornblower thing. Put these pages in a drawer. When he went back to look at his pages, he was all, "Oh my god! What crap!" Then he realized, "Holy shit, that’s Forrester!" You can easily see how overly-critical you're being on yourself.

Is he a plotter? No. Someone once said, "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are." The joy for him is in finding out what happens, the process of discovery along the way. Seeing what his characters decide to do, since he is one of those who views them as living breathing people. He holds conversations with them. People often ask him why he feels the need to have a major woman character. Why not? 70% of his readers are women. The successful writer doesn't write for men! The three most popular subjects in the world are golf, cats, and Nazis, so someone wrote a book called "Golfing for Nazi Cats."

What sells? THE STORY. Tell a good story. Write the book YOU want to read. If you write to the market you're guaranteed to fail. You SHOULD be saying "Bernard Cornwell is no bloody good, I can do better than that!"

Drink Jameson Whiskey, though not until you're done with your day's work, or it's all downhill from there.

Here's how to trick an editor. Put in something stupid that you're completely prepared to give up, and defend it to the death. Let her have her way at the end. Then she'll be too tired to fight the other stuff.

Writing is intuitive. You either have a gift for storytelling, or you don't. Cornwell doesn’t believe in groups, creative writing classes, crit groups. You write alone. The only critics you have to please are #1 yourself, #2 your agent, #3 your publisher, and #4 your readers.

How does he go about writing battle scenes? He wrote a battle scene once that had three sides--it was just too bad not one of them was French. If your battle is famous, the reader already has the terrain fixed in his head. You have to find another reason to visit that place, and you're limited to what the hero can see and smell. He recommends reading John Keegan, The Face of Battle. In another battle scene there were two peaks to a mountain that only confused the issue, so he eliminated one of the peaks. Anything that helps your reader to visualize it clearly.

Part II from Karen on Tuesday!

Has Anybody Seen My Muse?

My muse has been a constant companion for all the years I've been writing. It's outlasted most of my serious relationships. Any creative flight of fancy it inspired, I was along for the ride. "Hmm, a novel about passion and intrigue in Moorish Spain; and I should spend a couple of weeks in Spain to do my research? Let's do it!"

Flash forward to a month ago. In the midst of upheaval at home, frustrations at work and really nasty cold, I realized my muse had gone missing. No more fingers clacking away on the keyboard to finish the novel, no more mad dashes off to the library or local Borders for new research. Author friends reassured me, "Don't worry, it'll come back."

I can only assume it's left me for a more talented, driven writer. So what have I done about it? First, I tried not to worry, convincing myself that I needed the break. So I went on vacation, went to the movies, caught up on the latest celebrity gossip, hung out with friends, knowing that if I gave it enough time, my muse would return. Then of course, guilt set in. "I really should be at home working on that novel." But instead of staring at a blank screen on my computer, I pulled out the old photo album and looked at some of those great pictures I'd taken of Spain. I also went on Wikipedia to edit some of the on-line articles about the historical figures in my novel, all the while thinking, "I've really got to finish this novel and get it in the hands of the right publisher. Too many inaccuracies about these people; maybe I can set the record straight."

Well, it's June and I'm still waiting for that good old friend of mine to return. Since I've been assured by my writer friends that this happens to everyone, what do you when your muse has left you? How do you try to get that inspiration back?

Lisa

Fact & Fiction

Late this afternoon I returned from a tiring trip to Haiti for the day job and realized it was my blogging day at Unusual Historicals. I was going to blog about romance and history, but there's a little girl I met whom I can't get out of my mind.

I travel to Haiti and other poor countries as part of my work for a large international charity. While in Haiti this week, I met a restavek girl.

Restaveks are children who are given or sold to families in exchange for food, board and education. It comes from the French term meaning, "to stay with." Restavek children are frequently starved, beaten, sexually abused and do no attend school. They are nothing more than child slaves.

The young girl I met this week lives as a slave. To protect her identity, I'll call her Julie. She gets up at 6 a.m. to get water (many poor Haitian homes have no running water and fetch it from a standpipe) and then walks an hour to a feeding program. She gets food, brings it back and then cleans and does chores. At night she goes out on the street at 7 p.m. to sell light bulbs. She returns at 9 p.m.

If Julie doesn't sell enough light bulbs, she gets beaten. Julie talked to me through a translator and tears started dripping down her cheeks as she whispered how she was whipped with an electrical cord. She showed us her scars.

Julie hasn't seen her mother in four years. Burdened with hunger and five other children to feed, Julie's mother moved to an area where she has land and left Julie with a friend who promised "to take care of her." The friend sold her into slavery.

Julie's mother doesn't know where she is.

As Julie cried as she told me how she was beaten, I cried, too.

Restavek children inspired my third Egyptian historical, THE COBRA & THE CONCUBINE. In the story, Badra is sold into slavery at age 11, raped and beaten by a cruel sheikh. She eventually escapes, and finds happiness with the man she loves. After hearing the stories of restavek children, I wanted to create a happy ending for a child sold into slavery who finds true love in the end. This is why I write romance; because real life doesn't always deliver happy endings.

Authorities have been notified about Julie and there is a place where she can live that is solely for former restavek children. For me as an author, fiction sometimes is created from fact. Sometimes it startles and saddens me to see how both blend.

Badra in THE COBRA & THE CONCUBINE had her happy ending.

I hope and pray that Julie, the restavek slave girl, has one as well.

Places to Write

I had this blog all planned out. I was going to write about my trip to Puerto Rico and how the beach view has inspired me to finish my current WIP. This is a writing vacation, but I've been here since Thursday morning and have yet to do more than veg and lay by the pool. OK, I've figured out the ending to the story, too.

However, it's been a trial getting online. With that frustration, I've realized how addicted I am to the internet. It's not pretty.

I'm staying with a friend who has an apartment in San Juan, with her own computer. (She doesn't live here, only visits.) Even though it's not wireless, last year we had no problem getting online. This year, nothing worked. The monitor died, the cable ethernet didn't hook up to my laptop, it was one thing after another. We literally just got on now.

Still, Puerto Rico is a beautiful place to write. What inspires you? Can you go someplace outside your office, or do you prefer to stay within something familiar and with less distractions? Does a walk along the beach help you think, or cause your mind to wander?