Dragonblade Authors Unplugged

Check out this interview on Dragonblade Authors Unplugged. Meet the host, the lovely Evelyn Adams, and two other Dragonblade authors, then hook up with me around the 12-minute mark. (I'm the bobblehead in the bottom right corner. J)

He must shape simultaneously (in an expanding creative moment) his characters, plot, and setting, each inextricably connected to the others; he must make his whole world in a single, coherent gesture, as a potter makes a pot. ~John Gardner

I've talked about how I choose a setting and about how I track a setting. Today, I'm going to discuss how a setting isn't simply a place to drop your characters and let them run loose. For me, it's about much more than that. It provides an opportunity to enhance character development, to give insight into why a character is who they are without explicitly telling the reader. I think of it as backup information to help explain a character's behaviour.

Nicholas Sinclair is the second son to a wealthy nobleman, an earl. While he was never meant to inherit the title, he did grow up in comfort with the advantages that come with money. Independent and sure of himself, he sought to become his own man and joined the army.

Catherine Baring is the only daughter of a baron who lives on the neighbouring property. She is comfortable with men, having grown up with only her brother and father in her home, and, of course, the neighbouring Sinclair boys. Yet, she is not rough and tumble. She is graceful, refined, and exudes a caring and warmth.

What does setting have to do with their character descriptions? Everything.

Both Nicholas and Catherine grew up without a mother's love. While Nicholas and his brother were left in the care of servants, Catherine's father took an active role in her upbringing. Nicholas can be cold and standoffish and easy to anger, whereas Catherine is patient and all-loving. Nicholas' home, Woodfield Park, is a massive building with clean impersonal aesthetic lines. Its rooms are big, its pillars intimidating, and it is cold.

Catherine's home, Stratton Hall, is a medium-sized manse, with smaller rooms, and the warmth of wood panelling of years gone by. In stark contrast to the austere marble décor that greets you in the entrance hall of Woodfield Park, Stratton Hall has a huge fireplace, a well-used table and a wall of taxidermy that adds personality to the room. (I know, yuck, but it was a thing. I decided to think of it as bringing nature indoors.)

Nicholas's father is often found in his private set of rooms away from the rest of the house. Catherine's father is usually in his library which is just off the main entrance hall. Can you guess who of the two is the more accessible emotionally?

Nothing reflects the differences in their childhood homes more than the entrances. I'll use the pictures of two very real estates and quotes from Love Denied to demonstrate it.

Entrance at Willey Hall

The vastness of the atrium mirrored his sense of hollow, his heels clicking on the floor as he moved to the marble stairs dominating the hall. ~Love Denied

The Hall Browsholme

The hall was not a grand entrance but a serviceable room, its high-beamed ceiling echoing voices of days long ago. She laid her hat on the weathered table, its etched surface testimony to the many meals that had been eaten on it once upon a time. ~Love Denied

So, the next time you read a novel, consider the setting. Maybe it will fill in some valuable information.

An apt quotation is like a lamp which flings its light over the whole sentence. ~Letitia Elizabeth Landon

I meant to take two days off at Christmas but didn't quite manage it. I ended up working until 1 pm on Christmas Eve. It seems I am consumed by all things connected to writing, and once I begin something, I cannot let it go.

In this case it was quotes. For those of you who have followed my blog, you already know that I have a thing for quotes. Sometimes the quote is my prompt, but more often than not, I am off searching for one that fits what I have written. That approach spilled over into Love Denied, and since I like continuity, it will be part of the entire series.

While there were moments during the search for quotes for Love Abandoned that I wanted to do a head slap, more often than not I tunnelled down the rabbit hole and happily rolled around in the words of Shakespeare and Wordsworth, of Keats and Byron. They paint images of the natural world, explore love and hate, happiness and despair, and probe the depths of what it is to be human. Their cadence, their rhythm call to be read aloud, and I would find myself whispering, lost in the music of their poetry.

However, I include them in my novels, not simply to share their beauty, but to enhance each chapter. And in doing so, I centre my own writing. As I review and revise each chapter, I look for its purpose. What role does it play in the story? Does it reflect the overarching theme? Do we gain insight into a character? Does it focus on a developing emotion? Is it a plot catalyst or a resolution? If I cannot name its goal, then it must be revised or eliminated. When I can name it, I know the essence of the quote that is needed and go off on my treasure hunt.

My husband says he skips such things when he reads. I suspect many do. Still, I am hopeful that I am not alone in enjoying the bards of yore or in looking at connections between pieces of writing—in this case, my chapters and their quotes. I hope like-minded souls enjoy them as much as I do.

“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.” – Richard III, Shakespeare

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about my writing process. Do I know my story when I begin to write? (Somewhat)  Are the characters based on real people? (Sometimes) How do you know all that "stuff?" (Research)

Those are the easy answers. Of course, writing, like life, is far more complex and so much more interesting and fun than those one-word answers. So, I thought I'd share a few insights to my approach to historical romance over the next little while.

LOVE DENIED is set in rural England during the Regency era—1812 to be more precise. I love looking at old houses near and far, so it was no hardship to root around in books and the internet looking for inspiration for my setting. When I came across Willey Park in an old book, I knew instantly that I had found the perfect place to land my story.

It has the majestic structural opulence of the new architecture of the times married with the sweeping grandeur of old-world bucolic land holdings. The story is founded on old-world values clashing with new-world ideals, so this combination was exactly what I needed.

Now, I write fiction, so of course I could not use Willey Park, but its inspiration breathed life into my own world. My characters roam Woodfield Park, an imposing manse and property that was built long before Willey Park, which only began construction in 1813. However, Woodfield Park does include an addition that happens to be designed and built by the same master architect who built Willey Park, the talented Lewis Wyatt. In my far-too-fertile imagination, I like to think that Wyatt practiced the Neo-classical style on Woodfield Park before moving on to Shropshire to build Willey Park.

Check out Modern-Day Willey Park

https://www.historichouses.org/house/willey-park/tours/

“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.” ― Samuel Johnson, The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. Vol 2

One of the joys of writing historical romance is the research. I’ve been knee-deep in it lately, and I’m loving every minute. Here’s a peek at my Regency-era collection.