The World Keeps Changing

Historical fiction and sci-fi/fantasy authors have a huge advantage over authors of contemporary fiction: the past is pretty much not going to change, even if you are looking at it from a new angle, and planets or worlds that are author-created won’t change much without the writer knowing it.

July Word of the Month

Happy Fireworks and Love My Country Day! Hope everyone stays safe and wise and no fireworks end up on anyone’s head. It’s getting hotter all the time in southern California so I’m going to stay inside with the fan on. Yeah, AC is way too expensive out here where we really need it. I have a small jar where I put spare change. That money is pledged to my air conditioning fund. Which brings up the word for July.

Sex Behind the Scenes

As a writer of hot, mostly erotic, romances in historic settings, I need to research a lot of ways for my characters to indulge their needs without breaking their social norms. Since Regency etiquette severely restricted the opportunities for sex among all classes except maybe the lowest, invention and inspiration need to go hand in hand to make a story believable. Also, a writer must use creative license sparingly.

Austen Unabridged

Apparently, all my life, I have been reading and listening to works by Jane Austen that are abridged. I read somewhere that the abridged books are best because Miss Austen tended to preach her fondest ideas which applied to her own time and would bore the modern reader. I have just discovered that this is not the case. I am listening to Pride and Prejudice, Unabridged, and discovering nuances that make the whole thing more well rounded.

How Did They?

If you write historical fiction or if you write something that has ties to the past, you may need to do some research to find out what people did back then For instance, in Regency England there were few hospitals and while doctors made house calls, they were not well trained in stuff we take for granted today. Like cleanliness.

Invention

Plato wrote in The New Republic that Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I agree on a small scale, such as you are in a public restroom and the stall doesn’t have a working latch. You get a big enough wad of paper or the cardboard from the seat liners and wedge that between the door and frame. Or the well-known dad’s solution to ripping the tapes off a diaper: Duct tape the thing on.

Regency and Victorian Servants

Last time, I looked at the history of servants, which is tied closely to slavery. Not just in the southern states of the USA, but all over the world. Today, I want to look specifically at the Regency and Victorian servants. Very little changed for the serving class between those eras.

Senses and History, Part Two: Touch

In a Romance novel, the sense of touch is important. The touch of his hand on her cheek, the touch of his breath as he leans in to kiss her, the touch of fire in her body as she recognizes her attraction to him. The touch of her satin gown as he slides it off her shoulders. The soft fur of the cat which insists on sitting on his lap.

Senses and History, Part One: Sight

Many of my blog ideas come to me while I am walking my dog or doing gardening. These are also the times when the best story plot twists arrive in my brain. Sadly, I usually lose those because I don’t write them down or my hands are too dirty to pull out my phone and make a verbal memo. I’m totally waiting for my brain implant that Bluetooth’s me to a central computer network.

 

Winners Write History

Oppressed people always touch my heart and soul. Maybe in a past life I suffered through slavery or resettlement or pogroms. Maybe my belief that what happens to any one person on the planet happens to all of us sways my feelings. But for whatever reason, I carry it as a burden.