Crusades, new author and screaming at Harry Potter VI

First of all, on my trying to find out more about the RWA Nationals wanderings, I encountered Ramblings on Romance where there is an active crusade to get people to watch North & South. This sort of crusade makes me very happy. And if anyone has not seen it yet (why not?) do so. Now. I had to laugh -- Kristie helpfully linked to my post back 2007 just after I watched N&S. I had forgotten that originally Simon Clare of Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife was named Gabe. It is hard to think of him as anything but Simon now! N&S is wonderful...This reminds me -- I have lent my copy to a friend who professed ignorance. I need to get it back. She is supposed to lend me all the series for Spooks (MI5 in the US) which she says is brill.

Another bit of news that I learnt was there is a brand new Harlequin Historical author -- Jeannie Lin. Her struggles to get published are awe inspiring and I am so pleased that HH bought a Chinese set historical. Fingers crossed that it does well. It is always good to have another Unusual Historical author.

Last night, it was time to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The entire family went. Luckily we had booked tickets ahead of time as the Hexham Forum had sold out. I saw other families with their grown up children obviously doing the same as us. HP VI is the best thus far. It is a bit dark and the themes are more adult. It has grown along with its original audience. My eldest really enjoyed it. Towards the end, I was half paying attention and half thinking about the ending to my latest, and so missed the build up and let out a piercing shriek at one point. It is frightening in places! If you are a fan of the series, go and see it. It has a 12A rating for a reason, and could cause nightmares amongst younger children. But it is good fun and now I have to re-read the last book as I need to remind myself where everything was found.

My work in progress will be finished in first draft form today and then I have the AA's (final check after copy edits) for The Viking's Captive Princess to do. These should clear my mind so I can properly edit HRG.

Thinking about casting a hero

Right now, having pitched the idea to my editor and had the vague approval, in addition to writing my single title thriller thing, I am currently thinking about my next M&B H. It is going to be Robert Clare's story. Robert is the son of Simon Clare and the nephew of Diana Clare. He has a big role in both A Question of Impropriety and Impoverished Miss Convienent Wife. When my then editor first read QI last year, she kept going on about how she loved that little boy. Well, now I get to have him grown up. I am a bit over excited about this.

It is just as well that I have made a timeline and I have kept notes. I want this new wip to happen in (or at least start in Sorrento/theKingdom of the Two Sicilies). I had initially thought about using the making of the first railway in Italy, but when I went back and checked my notes, the timing would have made Robert slightly too old at 35. I want him around 30. Luckily another way of doing this (an even better way to my mind) came to me yesterday. It will make far more sense and will mean that I can have a very fiesty heroine as Robert is such a strong character.

My other problem is that having used Richard Armitage as inspiration for Simon, Robert's father, I now need to find an actor who reminds me of him but is different. Cue the Sunday papers and I discovered Edward Norton who is the new face of Breil Watches.

Now all I have to do is to discover an actress who can inspire my heroine...

Hands and other body parts

Writing a sensual scene is not just about broad shoulders or faces. It is about using the entire body. This is why it was lovely to find courtesy of Donna Alward, a website devoted to Hands. In particular it is devoted to hands of male celebrities. So there are several lovely pictures of Hugh Jackman, James Purefoy and Mads Mikkelson for example. None, however of Richard Armitage or Philip Glenister -- and this is an oversight. It has to be.
But seeing the hands made me realize that I ha gone wrong with my current hero. I needed to recast him. He was in the process of being recast anyway as he went from being a plain Mr grandson of a baronet to a Viscount. But I knew I would need that Regency arrogance (my editors keep going on about this), that I own the world look. Someone who smoulders. Jason Isaacs worked -- even if his eye colour is wrong. But now at least I know the type I want to play my hero.
So when you are riting ssual scen, think of the less obvious. It may give you whole new insights.

Revisions arrive

Yesterday, my editor sent through her thoughts. As ever, her thoughts are like gold dust and will serve to make the manuscript stronger.

Yes, I know I have been waiting since late January, but thoughts like these are worth waiting for. They are clear and precise. She has picked up on inconsistencies in the back story, and shades of meaning. And it does not look like there will any big shifts in scene order.

This means I have done my usual -- namely print off the manuscript. Now, I will go through and reread the story so that I know what I wrote, and as I read, I will hold the revision thoughts in my mind. Then I will go through and make the changes. Then I will reread and see if anything else needs to be changed. Finally I will go through at random twice more -- once to tighten on tension and once to tighten on Point of View. Then hopefully, it will be ready.

Revisions are fun because they are about making the story stronger. They are probably my favourite part of writing. No, I lie -- my favourite part is when I know the story has been accepted for publication. And I am just pleased to be working on this one again...

I had a great post from Anna Louise Lucia -- an advanced copy of her book Run Among Thorns. It looks great. Unfortunately my dd has started reading it and has hidden it as she says that I have revisions. My dd does not agree that the female model looks vaguely like Anna. She says that Anna has a far pretty face and much more interesting hair.

Should I watch North & South again as Richard Armitage helped to inspire my hero? The last episode is so fantastic. Hence the photo from BBC's Robin Hood.

How Jack Stanton came about

As several of you have been so kind as to say that you like Jack, I thought some might be interested to know how his beginnings.

Back in May 2006, I went down to lunch with editors. I was very excited as I had never been to The Offices before. One of the things an author gets to do is to see the Editorial Director if she is in. She is a totally lovely person btw. But my knees were knocking as she asked if I had ever written a story about an engineer. I had to say no.
At lunch, I mentioned the conversation to my senior editor and we got talking about Brunel and other Victorian engineers such George Stephanson and his son Robert. We also discussed how they wanted me to move on from Romans and write Vikings etc. I did mention that a self made man would make an excellent hero if handled properly. But felt at the time, I was being very politely urged towards Vikings.
A few days later, I received a phone call -- could I possibly make that Victorian civil engineer a Christmas story? And could it be in the North with more than a hint of the Industrial Revolution as Helen Dickson was doing hte companion piece set in the South? I said yes and began to do the research in earnest.
While I knew about North and South and Richard Armitage, I did not watch it until after the book was finished. This is mainly because I did NOT want to be influenced by it at all. There was a case of North and South being used in a M&B book and by an author in the early 1990s as source material and there were Consequences.
When I did finally watch it, I let out a huge sigh of relief because Jack could have been played by Richard Armitage. Actually at the time, I was more taken with Toby Stephens. The odd thing is that my current hero Simon who also is a self-made man type started off as more RA but appears to be transmogrifying into TS...Who knows.
But it was really that chance conversation with the Editorial Director that started it all. And civil engineers are such great heroes, particularly in the early Victorian era.

Richard Armitage v Philip Glenister -- enneagrams

Carrie Lofty put the idea for this blog into my head after her comment about Richard Armitage's protrayal of John Thornton. Adam also popped up to say that he has done a fan site for The Cranford Chronicles. One of the things it includes is the start for Cranford on the BBC -- 18 November 9 pm and a variety of interviews, including one with Philip Glenister.

Now I have no idea if Philip Glenister will be playing the hero in Cranford, (Simon Woods who plays Dr Harrison is a candidate as is Alisitar Petrie who plays Major Gordon) but I bet he will stealing scenes just as he did in Life on Mars where he played DCI Gene Hunt.

Both Gene Hunt and John Thornton are alpha personalities. Both like the leadership roles they have but they approach them in different ways.

Gene Hunt in that tv series is ultimately a 8. He cares about people once they become his. He is the King of the Jungle on his patch and he looks after people. He has a disregard for rules, because his main purpose to protect his team. He enjoys the challenge and wants to determine the course of his life. He is tough, but he has integrity. He dominates the screen. Protect and defend are really his watch words. He goes along with the status quo if it suits his purpose.

John Thornton on the other hand is very much more a 6. He likes to follow rules. Either rules he has made for himself or rules society has made. He cares about his factory, but he demands his workers follow rules. He is a hard man but he is honest. He is searching for security for himself and to a certain extent for his workers. You see this in the way he refuses to risk the factory on a speculative gamble. It is only after he loses that security that he is able to break some of the rigid rules -- most importantly being able to take the risk and confess his love.

I suspect Richard Armitage is a team player -- someone who learns his lines, gets on with it and is fairly punctual. If not, he knows why he is breaking the rules. In short he tends to play people who know the rules and are more comfortable with authority. He strikes me as being more comfortable playing characters who are in the 6 range.

I suspect that Philip Glenister, although disciplined, enjoys stealing scenes. I suspect he will improvise if it is going to make a better scene. I think he feels very strongly about the shows he is in and is not adverse to speaking his mind when the authority might differ. In short, from what I have seen of his work, he strikes me as being far more of an 8.

I could be completely wrong this but hopefully, it sort of demonstrates the differences between 6 and 8.

Bits, pieces and ennegrams

First and foremost, Philippa Ashley has a very inspirational (and illicit) photo of a certain Richard Armitage. Hint he has his shirt off. It is worth taking a look.

Yesterday, I dragged out my book on ennegrams again. I wanted to make sure that I knew my main character better and understood why he had behaved in a certain fashion. He is a five with a six wing. Basically, he attempts to control his life by concentrating or focussing on certain technical projects and avoiding hurt that way. Fives will often know all there is to know about things in their chosen field but really very little about the things that they think they are not good at. In this case -- relationships. It explains why he basically ignores his son for example, preferring instead to spend time perfecting an engine. The description fits Simon, so I was pleased about that. Knowing what type he is means that I make sure that his growth arc follows a certain pattern. A five under stress behaves in a similair fashion to the domineering 8, so I should hopefully have no problem with making him alpha and keeping him true to his character type.

One of thegreat things about enneagrams is that they do allow me scope to expand my characters and to explore different types.

The heroine at the moment seems to be a 3 with a 2 wing. Charming, concerned about others and good a t social situations.

My author copies of A Christmas Wedding Wager arrived yesterday, just after I did a massive posting of review copies of Christmas by Candlelight. In the flesh as it were, ACWW is very Christmassy with a green back.

The ducklings are fine and the weather continues to be unseasonably warm. Grain, in particular wheat prices have been going up and so suddenly feed is much more expensive -- about 30% more expensive. There again, it has not gone up in price for years. I foresee more expensive food prices in the weeks and months to come. The harvest was not good in the UK due to the strange summer weather conditions.

Monday morning musings

This weekend was spent with a cold. I retired to bed and managed to finish the Bridgeton series by Julia Quinn. All of them are enjoyable, but my favourites were The Viscount who Loved Me and To Sir Philip with Love. I know On the Way to the Wedding won the Rit, but it was not one of my favourites. Quinn is a great story teller and her Regency World is a fun place to visit, even though she has a lot of unknown unknowns in her work. It is a strength of her story telling ability that one is willing to overlook them when in a lesser storyteller, they would have grated.

Slowly but surely I am working through my admin. The newsletter with a contest to win Christmas by Candlelight -- the UK version of A Christmas Wedding Wager than includes Helen Dickson's Wicked Pleasures will be out shortly. I also have to send off my Rita entries and my RNA Romance Prize entries.

6 October marks the return of Sir Guy of Gisbourne or is it Robin Hood to the BBC? My problem is that Robin is a bit wet for my tastes and last season there was very little sexual tension between Marian and Robin, but when the screen sizzled when it was Marian and Sir Guy. Should Richard Armitage have played Robin? Should someone else have played Robin, somone who is a far stronger personality than Jonas whatshisface?

Actually it was this realisation that led me to change the hero slightly in the ms that I just turned in. I knew Simon, the hero of the one I am starting today was going to be based on Richard Armitage, but he is such a strong character that he dominates. Brett had to be based on an equally strong character but a different ilk -- so once I changed actors to James Purefoy I was fine.

It is not so much that I base my characters on the actors but rather that I could see them playing the part. An actor brings a slightly different approach to each role. And sometimes, a lot can be achieved by firing your actors and hiring someone else for the part IF your characters are not behaving as you wish.

Finished and off to my editor

My current work in progress, entitled in my contract Regency Duet 1 has been delivered to my editors! Hooray! Hooray! I know it will be a really strong read once they have let me know their thoughts.

Now a scarred Richard Armitage/John Thornton type gets to be my next hero and I am seriously looking forward to it.

I listened to the BBC Radio 4 programme on M&B yesterday. A number of other bloggers including Trish Wylie, Kate Walker, Natasha Oakley and Teach Me Tonight have already commented on it. They basically gave a fair assessement.

I do think Joanne Carr's comment to the presenter as she was critquing the offering was really apt -- you did not pay very much attention to what we were saying in the workshop.

Sometimes, people are so blinded by their agendas that they don't pay much attention to what other people are saying. That was the big failing of the programme.

I do thank God that we are no longer considered to be authoresses but as writers or authors. An authoress sounds like someone who dines on ortolan and drinks pink champagne before writing purple prose with a pink quill. Authoress does found quite frankly patronizing. It belongs to another era.

And one of the other problems with the programme is that it attempted to do too much. Was it a history of M&B or was it an attempt to look at M&B today? If it was a history, why not mention Ida Cook, the M&B author who quite famously used the proceeds of her writing to save Jews from Nazi Germany?

I rather thought the How to book from the 1960s was a relic of the past. And issues and themes that are vexxing authors today are not the same ones that inspired authors in the past.

Right, my house is a tip. There is a ton of admin to catch up on and I have another book due before Christmas.

Unusual Historicals on casting heroes

Today I am blogging at Unusual Historicals about the inspiration behind some of my heroes and how sometimes I have had to recast them. Please go and have a look, and tell me what you think.

Recently I have had to recast my current hero to a James Purefoy type as the image of Henry Brett was not quite working for me. Would he be strong enough to take on the second hero who is definitely modelled on a Richard Armitage type?

As an aside, I think that this is the part of the problem with Robin Hood, Richard Armitage as Sir Guy steals the show. He is far too strong and Robin comes across as the weaker character.

Anyway, I am about ready to go dow to the Midlands and to go visitng historic houses, in particular historic houses with priest holes. Normal service on this blog will resume on Tuesday.

North and South, Richard Armitage and me

A confession -- now that I have the title thing working. Until last week, I had not seen the BBC production North and South with the wonderful Richard Armitage. I had seen Richard Armitage in Monet, and in Robin Hood. I knew about the obsession that he tends to engender in some women, but had slightly missed it. My editor when she asked me to do this regency duo, said that oh I could have an industrialist as a hero -- you know use Richard Armitage again.

I thought I had best actually watch the series. It is compulsive viewing. I was going to be good and watch one episode per day. I watched the first episode on Thursday and then had to watch ALL the remaining episodes on Friday. The last episode is -- wow.
The major reason for watching it is Richard Armitage. The part of Jack Thornton could have been played by Sean Bean as well, but Richard Armitage did a great job. In fact he was totally gorgeous. And as I know Phillipa Astley sometimes reads this blog -- Pip I now understand why you were compelled and why he has fuelled so many fantasies.
I don't know if Gabe will end up being based on Richard Armitage or not. For one thing, John Thornton is far too near to my Jack Stanton, the hero of A Christmas Wedding Wager. Gabe needs to be different than Jack. Gabe has to be his own man. Gabe is the second hero in the Regency duo. But I do like the hard integrity of RA in North and South.

But if you have not seen North and South, and you like alpha males, see the series. He really is a hero to die for. SIGH.