Strange times and virtual garden parties.

Yesterday I should have been at a workshop in Hereford with members of the Marcher Chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association. On Friday I was down to give a library talk with fellow writer Jill Barry, and attend a celebration for Sue McDonagh's second Art Cafe paperback. Next Tuesday it was a research trip, with a friend, to Bristol, to the magic exhibition at the city museum.  All those were scrubbed off the calendar well before the world shrank to (mostly) four walls.

This is not actually an unusual experience for a writer/academic. Novels and theses only get written as a result of periods of social isolation, which may or may not involve some staring at walls. Although admittedly not overlaid by a pervading feeling of anxiety, except perhaps when a deadline is approaching. A lot of fellow writers are finding it difficult to concentrate at the moment. I'm currently typing/editing the second Riviera book, and am finding it therapeutic to lose myself in Bath, Bristol and the South of France and the intricacies of fooling a con man, while managing a love affair that has my protagonists apart for a chunk of the book. I had a vicarious clothes shopping expedition with my heroine this afternoon for a trip to Nice. Sadly my own research trip there will probably not be happening now, but it was still fun to shop with Nadine. As she's a lot younger than I am, we got away with buying some things I certainly couldn't wear any more.

Other than editing, a lot of reading is going on - biographies of Shakespeare (research) British Library classic crime and old favourites from off the bookshelf - comfort reading. I'm trying to make nice meals from what is in the cupboards and freezer. Heavy on the garlic, as I will not be breathing over anyone. I've brought a pot of narcissi in from the garden, delicate yellow stars and a lovely scent, and I'm sitting in the sun outside the back door, wrapped in a coat and a blanket. It could be a lot worse.

People are trying to keep in touch using social media in inventive ways. On Thursday there will be a virtual garden party for the paperback release of Kirsty Ferry's The Secret Rose. It would be lovely if you could join the Choc-lit authors for a celebration.  Keep an eye on the Choc-lit facebook and twitter feeds to stay in touch.

What ARE you reading?

Apparently Albert Camus' novel The Plague has become a current best seller, along with several others dealing with pandemic disease.  This I do not understand, as I am going all out for distracting frivolity in my reading matter right now. And incidentally my writing matter as well! I doubt I'll be visiting the South of France this summer, as planned, but I can still write about it. 

Some people are obviously of a very different mind. It's not actually unusual, as apparently Georgette Heyer's The Spanish Bride was a top selling title during World War Two. That book is not one of her more light-hearted Regency offerings, but is based on a true story of Harry Smith and his child bride Juana, set against the backdrop of the Peninsula War, that culminated in the battle of Waterloo. The re-telling of events the war is apparently very accurate and some of the book's popularity was said to arise from its appeal to male as well as female readership because of it. Obviously there is a heavy readership that wants its reading matter to reflect its life.

That is not me. I'm reading at the other end of the spectrum - romance, cosy crime, hi-tech thrillers. Anything that will take me away from reality.

It takes all sorts.

Reading around the lines

A lot of writers will not read in their own genre when they are writing, in case they absorb too much and it gets into what they are doing. I don't avoid my own genre, then worry about it, which is fairly typical for me.  At the moment I'm doing OK, as writing in two styles has given me some leeway. Reading masters in your own genre can, of course, make you green with envy and totally despairing of ever being that good. It can also be an inspiration.

I've been thinking of a few of my romantic suspense/thriller favourites, and what I get from them - apart from an exceptional reading experience, that is. Something to learn. With all of them the suspense is a given, cracking fast moving plot, plenty of action, romance - not always front and centre, but always there.

To take four of them:

Greg Hurwitz - I am totally hooked on the Orphan X series. A little heavy on the boys' toys, but hey - if I ever have to equip my own personal SWAT team, I shall know exactly what to ask for. From his writing? Wheels within wheels. The story looks as if it's about to wrap up, but you know it can't because you are only a quarter in, and he just keeps doing that. 

Harlen Coben - secondary characters. His protagonists are  often surrounded by real or found family,

Jayne Ann Krentz - how to handle the spooky stuff, as her books often have a paranormal or supernatural edge, but it's all knitted into real life - contemporary, historical or futuristic. 

Karen Rose - incredible - and very hot -  love stories,  as an integral part of the fabric.

There are more, but those will do for now. You can read for pleasure, but you can always read also to learn from masters at their art.

Words of Love

When did you last write a love letter?

Have you ever written one?

I have - but it was nearly half a century ago. These days you are more likely to be wooed (and dumped) via social media, or a text. It's a lost art.

This post was inspired by a visit to the love letters exhibit at the National Archive at Kew. It's a small but well presented display of some of the letters from the Archives. They cover all sorts of situations, people and time  periods, but the thing that is striking is that they are all quite sad. Which makes sense, because if you're writing a letter, then you're most probably apart from the one you love. The sub title of the exhibition is love, loss and longing, which sums it up very well.

We may not write letters much now, but they are a staple of a lot of books - usually historical, of course. These days it would be an e-mail, which isn't quite the same.

Finding a letter kicks off so many stories ...

Maybe it's time to write one to someone you love?

And the award goes to ...

Not me, that's for sure, as I haven't had a new book out in ages - hope that will change this year. And as for an award? I've had my share in the past and know what a high it can be. Will I ever get there again? Maybe - you always have hope.

Quite a number of romance writers will be having a weekend of hope, as the Romantic Novelists' Association RONA awards will be presented on Monday. Always interesting to find out first the short lists and then the winners, and a good place to go if you are looking for something interesting to read that maybe you would not otherwise have seen.

I'm particularly interested in a new category this year, for romantic suspense, which is where my books would probably fit. Some of them, anyway. It's an intriguing line up, as you can see below - big names and maybe a few you've not heard of before.

Roll on Monday.

THE SHORTLIST 

Evocative places

Writers and readers know the power of location. Not just for selling houses, it sells books too! How often have you picked up a book from the shelf, or nosed around it on your device of choice, because of a place name in the title. This is especially noticeable with the summer season approaching - we hope - and holiday locations in mind. A lot of my ideas of what makes a romantic suspense, or a romantic mystery were formed by reading Mary Stewart. Hands up all those who vicariously fell in love with the Greek islands from reading her books. Of course, the strong silent hero had nothing to do with it.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a pre concert talk about Beethoven and his association with Vienna. More of that in another post, later. I've never thought of Vienna as a location for a book, but of course now I am, and Mary Stewart used it in Airs Above the Ground. There are threads of a treasure hunt involving a lost manuscript floating about in the brain, but it is really going to have to wait its turn.

All this made me think of the way a place can become a shorthand for a mood. I had fun with a short list. In all of them, romance is a given.

Paris - sophistication, food, a lot of emphasis on scent and luxury

Vienna - much cooler, maybe an older couple or second time around romance. Music.

London - famous landmarks, speed, hustle, weather!

Greece - heat, beaches, laid back lifestyle

The French Riviera - one of my specialities. I always get a first image of a 1950 type movie, with sports car speeding along the Corniche. Which just about says it all.

New York. This is darker, noisy, more edgy

Anywhere in Italy - food again. Architecture, art, Icecream

And of course, Wales. I'm planning a lot of my romantic suspense to be set here, capitalising on the scenery and the Celtic heritage. Myths and mists.

I am sure you'd have a few to add.

The most deadly sin?

The concept of deadly sins - sloth, greed, envy, and the rest, have provided quite a bit of material for writers, film makers and artists as a collection - the full seven. Often in creepy thrillers.They are also the motor power of a great deal of work individually, as themes or character traits, even in romance writing. The villain can quite generously possess all of them, but even a hero or heroine can exhibit elements, with maybe one in particular  that becomes an issue of the story, where its significance has consequences - maybe that one moment when laziness led a protagonist to fail in something vital - and/or the journey to overcome what is recognised as a potentially fatal flaw.

All writers are human, or we claim to be,  so we try and write characters who are human or have a semblance of human emotions, or how will a reader identify with them? I doubt if there is a human who has not experienced all the sins at some stage in their lives, even if it is only envying their sister for her curly hair when theirs is is poker straight, and vice versa. I'm not sure if there is a sin that covers that contrary human thing of of perversely wanting that trait that you don't possess, but a lot of people are not giving up on their hair straighteners any time soon. Isn't technology wonderful?

But the thing that struck me from my reading this week, and inspired this post, was how often what might be called the sin of pride is the king pin of a lot of romance writing, and crime too. Not in an overt way, but as the underlying force for keeping secrets, saving face, not wanting to be patronised, the object of pity, to look to be  lacking in some way. How often has the heroine in the romantic suspense insisted that she can stand on her own two feet, the hero retreated from an instance when he judged himself to have failed in some way, with consequences that stretch across the book?

Secrets are the life blood of romantic suspense, and pride and self worth are a great motive for having them and keeping them.  Having had the thought, I'm going to be watching my own work, looking for times when my characters are letting a variation of pride motivate them. I suspect it might be more often that I expect.