World War One Recruitment Posters

I love looking at the material culture of the First World War as well as reading the rhetoric of the period. These recruitment posters are a good example of how men were convinced to enlist in the armed forces. Guilt and comraderie seem to have been used in equal measure.

This is an Australian poster--note the soldier's "digger" hat and the ghostly figures of men dressed as athletes and ranchers in the background.

















Here's a Canadian poster. Kaiser is emphasized, as if at any moment the Kaiser planned to invade Canada, perhaps to increase the sense of threat to a country that had an ocean separating them from all Fronts of the war. The famous poem "In Flanders Fields" was written by Canadian surgeon John McCrae.



















During World War One, Ireland was still ruled by England, and home rule had been delayed by the war. Many Irish served in the British army already, and more joined up in the hope that it would further the cause of independence from England. At the Somme, the 36th Ulster Division suffered 5,500 casualties, while being the only division to achieve their objective on the first day of battle.
















A now-iconic symbol for American recruitment.

Normative Heterosexuality and the Alpha Male Fantasy

Normative(Adjective): of or establishing a norm or standard.


Romance novels feature vast numbers of heroes who are so-called "alpha" males - usually taken to mean men who are better-looking and stronger than other men, with more dominant personalities, and usually some other advantage as well, such as high social rank, large amounts of money, or superpowers. They are usually coded as more protective of women as well, and that protection is linked to strong possessiveness. Love for the alpha romance hero is often tightly bound up with possession of the heroine, ownership of her sexuality, and protection of her from other males or other outside threats. By the end of the story, this potentially stalkerish behavior is usually mitigated somewhat; the heroine has insisted she retain her career, or that he let her know before he duels with enemies, or that she will keep her own money separate from his vast fortune. However, in many cases, the mitigation feels like a token to me.

I'm not a big fan of the Alpha Hero.

I know. Bad romance reader, no biscuit. Alpha Heroes are the very backbone of the genre, they go all the way back to Gilgamesh, they are all that is right and proper in the world of gender relations, women are meant to be swept off their feet by men and if the men don't do that then they're not really men. The alpha male is normal. Not!

To me, it all goes back to false ideas of gender roles drawn from the old "men hunt, women nurture" stereotypes that are just that: stereotypes, that bear little resemblance to real life. I feel the societal emphasis on assigning men to the role of provider can actively be harmful--who wants to be thought of solely as a dispenser of money or food? Just because those stereotypes exist does not mean that we are obligated to operate by those rules, even in, and especially in, our fantasies. And I wish that the published fantasies available to us, as readers, offered more variety. We should be able to consider options other than the normative.

That's what my thinking on this comes down to: our fantasies. Not men, but how we fantasize about them, and what those fantasies do for us. Romance novels embody fantasies of love, of sexuality, of gender roles. It's important to me to note that things we enjoy in fantasy are not the same as things we want in real life ("forced seduction," anyone?). Liking the fantasy of the alpha male is not a bad thing. However, I can't buy into it, no matter how I try. Oh, I enjoy Dukes of Slut and Navy SEALs, but unless those characters show profound vulnerability at some point, and respect for women as people and not just as possessions, for me the fantasy dissipates. However, many people love the alpha male and don't want to read a romance without him.

So why is this particular fantasy so popular? Is it, perhaps, less about the alpha male hero than about the heroine, and her need to be cared for and protected even to the point of violence? The heroine/reader's need to feel special, the only person who can Tame the Beast? Or do we, the readers, actually see ourselves as the alpha males in the fantasies we read? Both? Neither? And how do more familial fantasies fit into our lives? How are the Secret Baby and the Single Parent romances important to women?

I'm sure there's no one answer. But I plan to keep thinking about these issues.

Related Posts:

Why I Don't Like Vampires.

Romancing the Beast.

Female/Female Romance.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Ultra-Brother!

Edmund Blunden, "Concert Party: Busseboom"

Concert Party: Busseboom

The stage was set, the house was packed,
The famous troop began;
Our laughter thundered, act by act;
Time light as sunbeams ran.

Dance sprang and spun and neared and fled,
Jest chirped at gayest pitch,
Rhythm dazzled, action sped
Most comically rich.

With generals and lame privates both
Such charms worked wonders, till
The show was over – lagging loth
We faced the sunset chill;
And standing on the sandy way,
With the cracked church peering past,
We heard another matinée,
We heard the maniac blast

Of barrage south by Saint Eloi,
And the red lights flaming there
Called madness: Come, my bonny boy,
And dance to the latest air.

To this new concert, white we stood;
Cold certainty held our breath;
While men in tunnels below Larch Wood
Were kicking men to death.

--Edmund Blunden

Moonlight Mistress excerpt - Food

Welcome to Snippets Saturday!



While driving from Germany to France, Lucilla Daglish asks Pascal Fournier about his first sexual experience.

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Pascal paused, as if remembering. "The widow Jacques stood behind a table that was dusted with flour. She wore an apron, decorated with flowers, and a cap over her hair, of the same fabric. She didn't wear these things in the front of the bakery. It is hard to explain. It was as if I saw her in a negligee, to see her in these items that she wore for baking in her own place, where none saw her."

"I understand," Lucilla said, remembering the first time she'd seen a man other than her father or brother in shirtsleeves.

"She asked after my studies, and told me that she herself had left her home in Picardy to marry Monsieur Jacques when she was just sixteen, and she had never regretted this decision. She did not think I would regret it, either."

"Did you?"

"No. She was the first person who had told me this." ...

"Tell me what happened next," Lucilla said.

"She asked me for help in removing her apron. The knot was too tight."

"You believed her?"

"I did," Pascal said. "I did not see myself as she did. I went to help her." He paused. "She smelled of baking bread. Her nape was bare. I wanted to lean closer and lick it, perhaps even bite. I could see myself bent over her. I had never had such a desire before. I had to look away, but I could still smell her. When I touched the knot of her apron, I also touched her skin. It was hot and damp, from the heat of the ovens. As I untied the knot, I could not help but touch her with my fingertips, again and again."

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c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Pre-order on Amazon.com.

More excerpts.

My blog post on food in fiction.

Read more food excerpts at these blogs:

Cynthia Eden
Lauren Dane
McKenna Jeffries
Michelle M Pillow
Moira Rogers
Sylvia Day
TJ Michaels
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Marissa Scott
Maura Anderson
Shelley Munro
Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Kelly Maher
Lacey Savage
Mark Henry
Shelli Stevens

Writers Never Run Out of Blog Topics

Since I've begun this blog, I've started to notice more and more bloggers who complain that they don't have anything about which to blog.

My first thought is always, "then don't blog," but of course that isn't a good answer if you're blogging because you've set yourself a goal, or because you promised to write a guest post for someone, or some other reason that makes blogging feel more like a necessity than something fun.

For the record, I think blogging is fun. I wouldn't bother, otherwise. I've been blogging since I opened a LiveJournal account in the summer of 2001, though that journal is much more personal than this one, and encompasses a wider range of topics. I've made over 4,000 posts (not all of them are public). (Admittedly, some of those posts are just statements of the previous night's wordcount.)

Here are my thoughts on what to do when you can't think what to write in your blog. Some are less serious than others. Some of my suggestions that aren't terribly serious can actually be treated as serious suggestions, and might result in interesting posts. Also, these topics can be used more than once. Your answers will change over time, as I've noticed from looking back at how I wrote about writing before and after I first sold, and as I gained more confidence as a writer.

1. What are you working on? How do you feel about it? Are you attempting anything new with this project? Is the new thing difficult for you? What made you attempt the new thing?

2. What inspires you? What do you do when you are having trouble starting a project? (See how this one ties into having trouble blogging?) What keeps you going while you write? How do you make it through to the end of a project?

3. Pick a specific issue of writing craft and describe how you handle it, the parts that are easy for you and the parts you haven't yet mastered.

4. Where are you now? Where is that, in comparison to where you were six months ago? A year? Five years? Ten? How have your goals changed?

5. Write about books or writers that have influenced you, either through reading or through direct contact. Who are your mentors? Who are your mentors whom you've never met? What book do you wish you'd written? What book do you wish you could write that isn't quite the book you wish you'd written?

6. And now for something completely different: spend a day or a week or a month writing about your research trip to Grand Rapids or Paris or Nairobi. Write about stories your family told. Write about strange experiences you've had.

7. Tell your own story. Most writers have blogged about their path to publication, often more than once. Find a new angle. How did others help you achieve that goal? What happened after your first sales? What do you wish you'd done differently?

8. Query your audience. You don't have to ask them about writing or reading. Ask them if you should henna your hair. Ask them what their favorite food is. Ask them what they want you to blog about. And answer the question yourself, as well.

9. Picspam! Choose a selection of pictures, and write about them. They might have a common theme, as when I post World War One research photos, or you might make the connections yourself. Write your thoughts. Write some facts. Write a story.

10. Invite guests. Your friends have unexpected knowledge or talents. Show them off.

More suggestions?

Related post: 5 Blogging Inspirations.

Revision Metaphors

Sometimes I look back at what I've written in my zero draft. I see heaps of words lining the road. The heaps have shape, but they don't yet have architectural value. They're not smoothed and stacked. Sometimes I want to go back and tidy up those heaps, maybe build a little dome or pyramid for them to settle into. I have to wait until I've got a full manuscript before that will be a really useful thing to do. I won't have an idea of the whole shape until I have a whole story.

Sometimes I think of the draft like a woven blanket. Revisions involve going in and tightening the weave, closing in gaps in plot and weaknesses of prose, pulling tighter and tighter until the novel is virtually waterproof. Sometimes I have to pull threads free altogether, and weave thread in different spots, then tighten again. Sometimes the new threads are in entirely new colors or textures. Sometimes, and this is most painful, I have to cut a section free and then mend the blanket around the whole, fixing every thread the excised section previously affected, thread by thread.



It's all much easier when you're working with something you already have. Hence the importance of the "crappy" draft. Even if it's crappy, it still exists. You can't edit a blank page.

Writing and editing are both difficult for me, but in completely different ways.

Related Posts: Revisions Take Time.

Digesting Critique.

Dissecting Critique, Dissecting Manuscripts.

Food in Fiction

I like to put food in my fiction.

First of all, people eat. What they eat can say a lot about their character, and about the world in which they live, and about their interactions with other characters. Does Oscar make breakfast for Max? If so, does he make Max's favorite (chocolate-frosted sugar bombs dipped in Nutella) or Max's least favorite (kippers with catsup)? Does Oscar even know what Max likes? What does that say about them and their relationship?

Second, eating makes wonderful stage business. Several pages of straight dialogue can be broken up with the small actions of choosing an apple, washing it, peeling it. The food eaten and how it's eaten can give clues about the character: someone nervous might fiddle with the apple, polishing and polishing, but not eating. Someone else, feeling friendly, might offer a bite of the apple to his companion. The speaker might be angry and focus on peeling her apple while not looking at her companion at all.

I once got into trouble with this. Every time the characters needed to talk, they were eating something, and they talked frequently. Mostly, they were eating and drinking the same thing, over and over. I ended up making a joke of it--the repetition became characterization--but it could easily have become tiresome, and probably was to some readers. Unless it's a novel about eating, like Kit Reed's Thinner Than Thou, the characters shouldn't be eating all the time.

When revising Moonlight Mistress, I discovered that characters ate omelettes three times. Even though omelettes made sense on all three occasions, and the characters in the scenes varied, I changed one scene to crepes instead.

For putting realism into a scene, though, sometimes there's nothing like food.

However, note that if the written food sounds really delicious, the reader might stop reading to go and eat.

Related Post: Moonlight Mistress excerpt, involving food..

Reviews, the Sweetest Pain

"Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good." --Samuel Johnson

I think writers often worry too much about how their work will be perceived, or rather, how they imagine their work will be perceived, before it's even finished. They worry about how other writers will see their work: hackwork, work of genius, cutting-edge, supreme prose-stylist, unputdownable.



And how will readers see it? Bland, nothing new, boring, not bad, entertaining, good fluff, best book ever. "I will never read this author again!" "This author is now an autobuy!" If you're lucky, you'll get both opinions in the same review. I can't even remember how many times I've been pointed to wildly conflicting reviews of the same book. They might even both be right. A lot depends on the perspective from which the book is being viewed.

Worrying about it can stop you-the-writer in your tracks. It's good to try and be a better writer, I would never argue that. But I think it isn't generally a good thing to be too self-conscious about how one's own prose is perceived by others, to the extent that one is paying more attention to what one imagines others will think than to what one is actually doing. Easier said than done, of course.



This is one reason why it's probably a good thing to ignore reviews of your work. For the most part, I haven't done this, but I keep thinking I ought to. Once the reviews arrive, I'm already done with the book, and have been done with it for almost a year, and have moved on. In fact, I might be done with the book after it, as well. By the time those reviews start showing up, good, bad, or indifferent, there's nothing much I can do about the book.

"Writing is like sex. The more you think about it, the harder it is to do. It's better not to think about it so much and just let it happen." --Stephen King

We'll see if I can take my own advice in the future. I fear I'm not strong enough to resist for long--even though any critique in reviews comes too late, there's the draw of reading commentary on your work by someone who's read it, and cared enough to write down their thoughts on it. This draw is very tempting when you've spent months with little or no feedback about the thing, the novel, that is consuming your life.

"If all critics agreed, only one of us would have a job." --Mary Kalin-Casey

Related Post: Striving for Perfection.

The Art of War - World War One Poster Art

Today's post is what is sometimes referred to as "picspam." I find WWI-era posters fascinating. Here are a few interesting ones. I'll post some recruitment posters later this month.

Posters aimed at financing the war were very common. Here's a German war bond poster.


Here's one for the Russian liberty loan.



Money was needed for relief of refugees and other victims of the war.




This American War Bond poster is unusual because it's a photograph rather than a painting.












Sentimental appeals were quite common.








Familiar figures were appropriated for the cause as well.











Appeals continued ever after the war ended.

Edmund Blunden, "Can You Remember?"

Can You Remember?

Yes, I still remember
The whole thing in a way;
Edge and exactitude
Depend on the day.

Of all that prodigious scene
There seems scanty loss,
Though mists mainly float and screen
Canal, spire and fosse;

Though commonly I fail to name
That once obvious Hill,
And where we went and whence we came
To be killed, or kill.
Those mists are spiritual
And luminous-obscure,
Evolved of countless circumstance
Of which I am sure;

Of which, at the instance
Of sound, smell, change and stir,
New-old shapes for ever
Intensely recur.

And some are sparkling, laughing, singing,
Young, heroic, mild;
And some incurable, twisted,
Shrieking, dumb, defiled.

--Edmund Blunden

Edward Thomas, "This Is No Case..."

This is no case of petty right or wrong
That politicians or philosophers
Can judge. I hate not Germans, nor grow hot
With love of Englishmen, to please newspapers.
Beside my hate for one fat patriot
My hatred of the Kaiser is love true:
A kind of god he is, banging a gong.
But I have not to choose between the two,
Or between justice and injustice. Dinned
With war and argument I read no more
Than in the storm smoking along the wind
Athwart the wood. Two witches' cauldrons roar.
From one the weather shall rise clear and gay;
Out of the other an England beautiful
And like her mother that died yesterday.

Little I know or care if, being dull,
I shall miss something that historians
Can rake out of the ashes when perchance
The phoenix broods serene above their ken.
But with the best and meanest Englishmen
I am one in crying, God save England, lest
We lose what never slaves and cattle blessed.
The ages made her that made us from dust:
She is all we know and live by, and we trust
She is good and must endure, loving her so:
And as we love ourselves we hate our foe.

--Edward Thomas

Jackie Barbosa Guest Post - Confessions of a Sub-Genre Slut

Please welcome my guest, Jackie Barbosa!

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Confessions of a Sub-Genre Slut


Before I get started, I'd like to thank Victoria for giving me a chance to blab about myself on her blog. Of course, the downside of guest blogging is that one has to think of something to blab about. Naturally, I procrastinated as long as possible, hoping I'd have a clever idea. Then, I reached the point where I couldn't wait for a clever idea to come along, so I settled for something else.

Okay, first things first. I write romances. Dirty romances, although the degree of dirtiness does vary somewhat from story to story. As a reader, I like my romances hot and more than a little filthy, and that's what I try to deliver as a writer, too.



But when I first started writing romance, I thought I'd confine myself to writing historical romances. My original critique partners laugh at me now, because I used to swear over and over again that I'd never have an idea for a contemporary romance. Or for a paranormal. Or (inconceivable), a YA. Nor did it occur to me that I'd ever venture into ménage or m/m.

Boy, have I learned. Never say never!

Now, it's true, my print debut, Behind the Red Door, is definitely a historical romance and it's pretty "straight," as is the current proposal my agent is shopping for me. But somehow, on the way to writing those historical romances, I also wrote three contemporaries (two novellas and one short story, which isn't even a romance—it's pretty much straight erotica), a paranormal Christmas story, and a historical m/m/f ménage that's probably one of my favorite stories I've ever written.



Even worse, I am starting now to have fantasies about writing a middle grade/YA series. I mean, it won't even have SEX in it! What is the world coming to?

The truth, I'm afraid, is that I'm a sub-genre slut. I've realized that it's not enough to do just one. I've got to do them all!

What about you? As a reader or a writer, do you stick to just a few sub-genres, or do you like to read/write across all of them with a complete lack of abandon (if not a lack of discrimination)? Do you have a favorite sub-genre, or is it more about the individual book? I'd love to know!

Please post your thoughts. I'll draw from all the commenters and one lucky winner will receive a copy of Behind the Red Door and along with the ebook novella of his/her choice.

Guestblogging at Romance Junkies

I'm guestblogging today at Romance Junkies about "Historical and Paranormal: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together."

I'll re-post it in this blog later on.

How To Write A Novel (in 72 easy steps!)

I long ago came to the conclusion that the trickiest part of writing a novel is figuring out how you write novels. You being yourself, a particular author with a particular method of working. All writers know, or should know, there is no absolute right way to do anything. Every writer works in a different way, and I've heard others say every novel they write is written in a different way from the one before.

I think I've figured out what works for me. Note everything I say here is in reference to me. It may or may not apply to you.

I didn't figure out my process until my third try at a novel. Each time I tried a different approach. (Incidentally, each of the three tries was a different genre, but I don't think that has much bearing on what I'm saying here.)

The first time, I just started writing one evening, with no real plan, and then proceeded to polish that first chapter to within an inch of its life before I went on to another chapter, and so on. I got to a certain point and some of my readers pointed out many flaws with the plot, and after deciding I couldn't fix them, I ditched several chapters and characters and started over from a spot in chapter two. I ditched large amounts of writing in search of a coherent plot, and kept trying to make the plot more and more complex so it would be "good." Eventually, I had the beginning, a bit of the middle, and an ending of sorts; I'd gotten frustrated and written the high points of the story.

My lesson learned: If someone tells me to start over, even more than one someone, say no. Unless I truly hate what I'm working on, which has never been the case. Starting over leads to unneccesary complication and thus to confusion and eventual frustration. Perfection is elusive and won't appear from banging my head against a wall.

Second try, I thought I'd go for a straightforward fantasy quest-style plot; that would be easier than science fiction taking place in two separate environments. I made up a very basic outline and some characters, and did a lot of research to use as the basis for my fantasy cultures, a new and exciting thing for me. I wrote an opening chapter. I wrote some other chapters. Some of my readers told me what was wrong and that I needed to start over from a different place in the story. All very true, but see above. I rewrote the opening couple of chapters at least three times, I can't even remember now, and began to get bored. Then I decided to avoid all my confusion of the first try and made a detailed outline, breaking each chapter into five scenes that would be about a thousand words each, with a total of about fifteen chapters. I started writing to the outline. About chapter seven, I didn't like the way things were heading. I didn't need some of the stuff in the outline; it wasn't working as I had thought it might. But if I didn't stick to the outline, well, I wouldn't have stuck to the outline. I ground ahead with the outline, bored and angry and dissatisfied. Then I stopped writing altogether.

My lesson learned: Once again, do not listen if someone tells me to start over. Do not outline in anal-retentive detail, because I don't have the skill/practice to do so and take everything into account. I don't know everything at the beginning, like some writers do. I cannot follow an outline rigidly, because I will become bored and feel I have no room for inspiration, and I will shove aside great ideas because they don't fit in a pre-determined frame, feeling the whole time like I've killed something.

My third try was a historical novel. I had collected a lot of information about WWI some years before I started the fantasy novel, and had some characters, but they were in search of a plot and also I thought a historical would be too difficult to write. I put the notebook of research aside. A few years later, I joined a new workshop, the one which eventually became The Nameless Workshop.

Then I started thinking about the characters again, and wrote a scene for two of them. Then I tried to write a short story using the few ideas I had. I workshopped the short story and got excellent comments. I applied them and the story still didn't coalesce. A reader suggested it needed to be a romance, an idea I'd considered in the beginning but then put aside because I wrote science fiction and fantasy. Apparently, I also wrote romance, too. Sort of. (Back then, I hadn't read much Romance, but now I have, and have gained a clearer idea of the genre.)

My method with this novel was based on something I learned at the very first meeting of the new workshop, which was [drumroll] Give yourself permission to write shit. This is not as easy as it sounds, but if accomplished, can be very freeing, like I imagine Zen archery feels. It involves writing the whole draft before even allowing myself to consider going back and changing anything. So, I did that. And I think it's my method.

In more detail: I didn't outline, beyond knowing in my head where the characters came from and where I wanted them to end up. I wrote many chapters of draft with practically no plot in them while I figured things out about the characters and what plotlike things I could do with them in future. I allowed myself to have fun, and when I wasn't having fun, I looked forward to the next fun bit as a reward. I reminded myself not to be scared (it didn't always work, but I tried). When I felt like I needed structure, I made a vague mental outline of four chapters or so at a time. I kept writing, no matter what. Major changes were forbidden until the rewrite.

My lesson learned: this is the method for me! It's fun! I feel smart! I laugh in the face of outlines! I figure things out as I go along! It's the perfect method for my somewhat convoluted thinking patterns. At least for that novel, it was. *sigh*

I still follow this method, though since I am writing novels under contract now, I construct a synopsis and possibly an outline while I'm in the early stages. The key for me is knowing what to leave vague in the synopsis, so I can have fun figuring it out later, and also allowing myself to bend the synopsis if that best serves the story. While the manuscript is in progress, I also usually keep a list of scenes, so when I start writing each day, I don't have the excuse of not knowing what I need to write next. This method seems to be working so far.

The answer to how you can learn to to write a novel is, in my opinion, write a novel. And then, write another one.

Related Post: Zero Drafting.

The Art of Letting Go: Finishing the Novel.

Novel Beginnings: On Opening Sentences.

Minx Malone Guest Post - Inspiration

Thanks, Victoria, for allowing me to hang out with you today. I wanted to talk about something that is equally relevant for writers and readers alike: inspiration.

I used to be inspired mainly by dreams. I would wake up one day with a great idea or find myself daydreaming at work (bad, I know!) and come up with a new book title that rocked. I never questioned where these ideas came from until recently. I found myself wondering where exactly my subconscious mind was getting these ideas and even more importantly, what would I do if the ideas stopped?

It sparked an interesting question - what inspires me? What is it that excites me, intrigues me, challenges me enough to create something new? When I'm in the midst of writing I can't analyze where the creativity comes from all I can do is be happy it's there. But over time I've been able to identify a few things that help the muse along.


1) Google - strange as it seems, being able to find information about anything and everything has sparked my creativity a time or two. I've read some weird things on the Internet which have led to unusual plot twists or just interesting background info.


2) Other People - I've heard some juicy snippets of conversation just standing in line at the supermarket or waiting in the post office. People on cell phones apparently think no one else can hear them :)



3) Work - a lot of writers refer to their day job as the "dreaded day job" but I enjoy mine. Sharing gossip with coworkers has led to many interesting ideas, the most recent of which is my new series Desire Incorporated.


I got my idea for the Desire Incorporated series while helping out with a filing project at work. Even though the filing wasn't fun, it definitely sparked some fun ideas about the kind of company we'd ALL love to work for. The first book in the series is about a temporary assistant named Ava.

Ava Kincaid took the temporary job at Desire Incorporated because she desperately needed the money, not because she was secretly hoping to see her ex-boyfriend Gavin Sloan again. She's already been there, done that and gotten kicked in the teeth. She just wants to do her job and go home.

But when they meet up in the halls of Desire, the chemistry between them is as strong as ever. Suddenly she's doing way more than filing...

I loved writing this book and was actually sad to see it end. So now I'm writing a second book set in the same universe called The Intern. Not sure what inspired that one but probably just my desire to spend time with the characters I've come to love so much.

Sometimes we are inspired by the strangest things. But no matter what inspires you, use it to fulfill your dreams and appreciate that inspiration for what it is.

A gift.

Minx

P.S. I'm hosting a contest this month at my website. Everyone who signs up for my newsletter will be entered for a chance to win a copy of The Temp. So come on over and sign up for regular updates about the mischief I get into!

Selling Stories to Editors

An interesting question came up on a newsgroup I was reading. Of course all writers write for themselves, to some extent. But what if you discover you have the gift of writing stories a particular editor likes and will buy? How does that affect your output? Do you keep writing that sort of story until the editor will no longer buy it? Or until you get tired? Would you preferentially write the stories you knew would sell?



I've done this, written towards an editor's taste, and it has resulted in sales. Once the sale happened the same day. But at the same time, I use that taste as a kind of springboard to give me ideas; I'm not a natural writer of short stories (few are, I think) and having some idea of where the story's headed makes me more inclined to write a short story in the first place.

Here's a real-life example: I wrote a story for me, and sold it. Then I wrote a sequel, and sold it to the same editor; still writing for me, but knowing I had a good chance of selling it. Then for the next year's anthology, I tried something completely different both from what I knew of the editor's taste and from what had been previously published in that anthology. It didn't sell. The next submission I sent in was another sequel, in the same style as the two previous stories; still for me, since I wanted to know what happened next to those characters, but also striving to match the editor's taste. That one didn't sell, either.

I don't think writing to an editor's taste is bad at all. I think it's sound marketing strategy. But one should have joy in of the writing as well, or what's the point?

Tomorrow, a guest post from writer Minx Malone.

Siegfried Sassoon, "The Effect"

The Effect

'The effect of our bombardment was terrific.
One man told me he had never seen so many dead before.'
--War Correspondent.


'He'd never seen so many dead before.'
They sprawled in yellow daylight while he swore
And gasped and lugged his everlasting load
Of bombs along what once had been a road.
'How peaceful are the dead.'
Who put that silly gag in some one’s head?

'He'd never seen so many dead before.'
The lilting words danced up and down his brain,
While corpses jumped and capered in the rain.
No, no; he wouldn't count them any more...
The dead have done with pain:
They've choked; they can't come back to life again.

When Dick was killed last week he looked like that,
Flapping along the fire-step like a fish,
After the blazing crump had knocked him flat...
'How many dead? As many as ever you wish.
Don't count 'em; they're too many.
Who'll buy my nice fresh corpses, two a penny?'

--Siegfried Sassoon, Counter-Attack and Other Poems, 1918

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover Outtake Excerpt

This is an outtake from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover. It's the beginning of a substantial menage scene which was cut mostly for pacing reasons; it involved the Duchess Camille, Henri, and Lord Maxime. I later auctioned a single, signed printout of the scene to benefit marriage equality in the United States.

This version has been altered to fit your television set, ummm, the age rating on my blog.

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After Camille's bath and meal, one of the blue-garbed manservants escorted her into the depths of the castle, to a door carved with sea creatures who writhed across panels and wrapped around the handle. The door had no lock or bar, and when Camille pushed it open, it swung heavily but silently, revealing a tableau out of sybaritic fantasy.

Steam rose in lazy coils from the pools, blurring the outlines of the two men who sprawled naked on the hot floor. Maxime's head was cushioned by a crumpled towel. Henri's rested on Maxime's hairy thigh. His lean muscularity seemed slender and youthful next to Maxime's heavier, more massive build. He was idly stroking himself, his eyes half-lidded, his skin rosy in the heat.

Maxime had seduced Henri. Camille pondered this fact as she gazed silently at Henri and what he was doing. She flicked her gaze to his face and met his eyes. He'd been waiting for her to look at him. He wanted her, not Maxime. Maxime had seduced Henri, but had not won him.

Henri licked his other hand, slowly, and lowered it to grasp himself. He glanced down, back at her, then down again, until her eyes followed his hands.

Maxime stirred, and Camille held up her hand. He subsided, except for reaching down to flutter his fingers through Henri's hair.

She would draw this, when next she had the chance to sit down with her sketchbook. She could see the charcoal shadings in her mind, the hard outlines of male bodies in the indirect light of colored lamps, the whole softened by steam. Henri rested one hand on his belly now. The other hand teased himself. His chest rose and fell as he sucked in a quick breath. Droplets of water on his skin caught the light.

There was a bench near them, holding a stack of towels. Camille sat and leaned over Henri, close enough to see fine details. He met her eyes, his gaze so open she almost had to look away. She clenched her fingers in her skirt's folds. She could hear the heavy silk crush, and remembered Henri's hands snagging on another skirt, at another time. He'd smelled of horses, and she'd wanted to bury her nose in his clothing just for the memories of freedom and love that scent brought her.

Henri asked, "Would you like to join me?"

"Or us?" Maxime said. He thumped his fingers lightly against Henri's skull. "Though I think you and Henri, here, have taken all I have to give for now. I don't think I could get it up even for a roomful of scarf dancers."

Perhaps it took a roomful of scarf dancers to wear him out, Camille thought. Where had he found the energy for Henri, after the afternoon they'd had together?

Henri sat up and said to Maxime, "You may join us if Her Grace wishes. Isn't that right?"

Camille straightened, furling her skirts across her lap. "Absolutely. Though this is his home, I hold the highest rank. When Maxime is restored to his position, of course, he will be my equal. But for now, I can do whatever I like. And I think I should. Don't you?"

"If it would please you, I would be glad to do as you command," Henri said.

"Maxime?"

He smiled and ran his hand over himself, stroking lazily. "Tithing to you will be such a pleasure," he said. "Please, direct me as you will. Shall I lick Henri? You'd like that, wouldn't you? There are delicate places I could lick. It might be interesting to see him feel my tongue in places he's kept hidden. I didn't get that far earlier."

Camille looked to Henri with a question on her face. He said, "I'd like to touch you, but before that, I remember how you enjoyed what Sylvie and I did for you."

"You are experienced with men?" Camille asked, trying not to show her surprise. Of course, Henri was a man himself, and it looked as if he'd been successful with Maxime earlier.

Henri's face went red. "I had hoped you would tell me what to do."

Maxime chortled. "What a mind he has, Camille!"

He sounded intrigued, and she knew him well enough to catch a hint of arousal in his voice, as well. She caught his eye and crooked a finger for him to sit up. "Then you are willing to help provide him with experience?"

Maxime's grin widened. "I don't mind in the least. It would be a waste to discard so many years of practice without passing it on to such a fine pupil."

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c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.


More excerpts.

Read more outtakes by following authors:

Cynthia Eden.
Lauren Dane.
Leah Braemel.
McKenna Jeffries.
Moira Rogers.
Sylvia Day.
Vivian Arend.
Mark Henry.
Shelley Munro.
Jaci Burton.
Mandy Roth.
Eliza Gayle.

Andrea Barra Guest Post: Romance, Academia, and Me

Please welcome my guest Andrea Barra, PhD candidate in Sociology.

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Romance, Academia, and Me by Andrea Barra

I would be lying if I said I went into graduate school with any sort of idea of what I wanted to study, let alone what I wanted to write a dissertation about. As fate would have it, however, I hit upon a topic fairly early in the process. (This may seem like a benign statement, but as anyone who has ever pursued a PhD will tell you, it's a huge deal.) I took a class on the Sociology of Culture and was left with the ever-plaguing, open-ended research paper to complete by the end of the semester. I whined and moaned about it for most of the semester, not sure which of my many popular culture obsessions I should write about. One afternoon, in the middle of procrastinating by reading a romance novel, I finally thought…well, there you go! Problem solved. I was reading my topic.




Through that paper, I was first introduced to the famous (infamous?) study by Janice Radway, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Culture. As I read it, all I could think was, she is not talking about the romances I know and love. When I delved deeper, I realized that in Sociology romance novels and reading were poorly neglected subjects. It's as though after Radway and others of her time (most notably Tania Modleski and Ann Barr Snitow), the discipline said, 'yup, that's it…case closed'. But, as nearly twenty-five years have passed since the publication of Reading the Romance, I am working on showing that there's another case to be tried and more to be debated about the place of romance in society and the women (and men) who read it.

Fast forward nearly four years from that first revelation about the scholarly lack on romance novels to a dissertation in progress. Again, I would be lying if I told you that proposing to write a dissertation on the romance novel industry was the easiest thing I've ever done. I am (and have been) extremely lucky in my advisors for the amount of support I've received to pursue this line of research. There are many (and certainly some within my own department) who would poo-poo such inquiry as less than sociological or less than important. The easy answer I've learned to this is… "Romance is the largest market share of paperbacks in this country. Millions of people read it. How is that NOT sociologically important?"



The first academic conference at which I presented some of my early findings, people snickered. Yup, they snickered that I was researching romance novels. I've gotten the 'bodice-ripper' comments, the Fabio comments, the 'my mom reads that trash' comments. In that way, I can sympathize wholeheartedly with you romance authors out there. It is a difficult and exhausting process to defend the 'worthiness' of such a maligned piece of popular culture. I joke that sometimes it might be easier to tell other academics that I kick puppies for fun rather than tell them my dissertation is about romance novels.

But, what I've learned is that there can never really be ENOUGH research about romance novels and what they mean to our lives. And yes, I say "our" because of course romance has played a huge part in my own life and journey. While it may sometimes be difficult to reconcile the romance lover and the academic in myself (especially as I discover some aspects of the romance industry and culture that I wish were different or more progressive), I no longer feel those two parts of myself have to be mutually exclusive.



I learned that valuable lesson through my interviews. The most fantastic part of embarking on this project has been the interaction with authors and readers. Listening to romance lovers talk about reading, authors they love, the writing process, the problems and pitfalls of the genre, and their own passionate defenses of romance has been both intriguing and inspiring. It has helped me keep going when I was certain I could not think or process another darn thing about this industry. The dissertation process is long and arduous and often without a lot of reward. Knowing that I'm attempting to not only tell, but to understand the (excuse the pun) love affair with romance has encouraged me to keep moving forward. I research and write about romance because it's where my heart is. If I manage to bring some academic legitimacy to it at the end of the day, that's nothing but an added bonus.


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Thanks, Andrea!

Tomorrow, as part of Snippet Saturday, I'll have an outtake from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom, and Their Lover.

Harper Lee Has a Backlist of One

Whenever I begin to worry too much about goals, and success, and output, and all that, I remind myself: Harper Lee.

Harper Lee wrote a novel.

It was her first novel.

She was past thirty years old when To Kill A Mockingbird was published in 1960. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. In 1999, it was voted "Best Novel of the Century" in a Library Journal poll.

She began another novel, but never finished it.

She published some essays, but never published any more fiction at all.

Yet I defy anyone to say Harper Lee is not a writer.

Tune in tomorrow for a guest post from Andrea Barra, PhD candidate in Sociology: "Romance, Academia, and Me." She's researching and writing about romance and the romance community.

Related post: The Desire to Publish.

Reading and Writing Erotica as a Feminist Act

Recently, I followed a link to a fascinating-sounding blog post on erotica only to find that I had already read the post almost a year ago, and had in fact commented on it. I still stand by my comment, and decided I should post it in my blog.

I'm about to be all high-falutin' about what I affectionately refer to as smut.



I think that demonstrating women's sexuality in erotica, erotic romance, whatever, to a public audience verifies the existence of female sexuality (woman as actor rather than than object–think how many advertisements show a passive woman sexually displayed) and helps bring female sexuality into public discourse. Better dissed as "chick porn" than ignored and suppressed.

I also hope the mere existence of erotica aimed at women encourages women to think or write or talk about their own sexuality, thus validating that they have sexual identities to themselves, to their partners, and to society. And I hope stories about varying sexualities can subtly lead to more acceptance of difference in general.

At the same time, I think erotica should be fun and not preachy, and not grim. My route to that is genre; I'm happiest when reading erotica/erotic romance that's been flavored with something else, like spaceships or crazy archaeological adventures or car chases. It shouldn't be ashamed of itself. And we shouldn't be ashamed of ourselves for reading it and liking it.

Related Posts: Why Writing Romance and Erotica Is Like Being Good in Bed, by Cecilia Tan.
Female/Female Romance.
Making It Good and Preliminary Thoughts on Two Types of Erotic Novels.
Erotic Journeys and Bodice Rippers.
Carol Queen quotes. Simon Sheppard quotes.

The Desire to Publish

What makes people want to have their fiction published?

I've thought about this often: how some people burn for publication and others don't; how for some, feedback from readers is a requirement, while for others simpy to write is enough; how a (paid) published writer will often get less feedback than the average fanfiction story; how a writer can fall in love with the semicolon.

There's something about the paper, for me. I handle cotton rag paper and feel like it's the biggest luxury in the world. My favorite pens can inspire a feeling like lust in my fingers. Seeing my words on a page, all clean and black and physical, gives me a frisson. My words in print, the feel of a stack of pages I've written--all these things are a thrill. A friend of mine sums the feeling up as, I made this.

The excitement from the actual physical process and results of writing is a little less these days. My stories have appeared in anthologies, and I get my copies in the mail, but I have little interest in opening the book to find myself. I usually read my author bio instead, to make sure there are no typos or other egregious errors. I don't always do even that. Then, sometimes, I will read the other stories in the volume, especially those by writers whom I've come to know. But my own story? The excitement came with the sale, with that first notification that someone wanted to give me money for art. Sending in the contract, getting the check, the books, giving a reading--not the same buzz as "Congratulations! Your story XY has been accepted!" Receiving the contributor copies just means I have to find somewhere to store them.

It's true, I was overwhelmed with excitement when I held my first published novel in my hands. I felt as if I was about to bubble over, and made embarassing high-pitched squealing noises. Perhaps because, unlike an anthology, the book was mine and mine alone? Or because I'd invested so much more time and effort in the book, because of the longer length?

But back to the urge for publication. It must be the validation I crave above all. I wouldn't write if it didn't make me deeply happy and fulfilled to do so, and I love it when people tell me they like what I've written (though sometimes praise embarrasses me a little, why?) and I love mentally spending my paycheck many times over, but the best thing, the thing I seem to need most, is the assurance that my story has some kind of objective value. Comments don't always give me this feeling. I don't have enough self-confidence to always take praise at face value. Yet at the same time, I know my writing has a certain level of objective value. I was paid money for it. In our capitalist society, money often is equated with value.

Of course, there is no such thing as totally objective value. Selling a story has to do with writing skill, of course, but also with following submissions guidelines but not too slavishly, the editor's taste, the mix of stories needed for the anthology or magazine or whatever, random luck, etc., etc.. A little halo does not ascend from on high and surround a story with a glowing aura if it's worthy, or even if it merely sells. I know this. But to whatever crocodile brain part of me it is that squeals with delight or merely sighs with relief, none of that is at issue.

I still wonder why I need this particular validation and others don't.

Jeannie Lin Guest Post: Feminism in the Tang Dynasty

Please welcome my guest Jeannie Lin, Golden Heart finalist for her historical romance novel Butterfly Swords, which has, as of 7/15/09, sold to Harlequin Mills and Boon!


My muses -- four extraordinary women of the Tang dynasty. The characters at the top of each panel mean roughly: literacy, beauty, domination, heroism.

Feminism in the Tang Dynasty: The Footbinding Dilemma

I write historical romances set in Tang dynasty China. The period has always fascinated me: court intrigue, sensual silk costumes and dashing swordplay. But readers want historical accuracy and because this period is not well known to romance, I have received this one question so many times in contests and critiques: How can these strong, independent women exist in a society that dictated women's feet were bound at an early age so they could barely walk?

The answer is easy historically, but not so easy on the written page when a reader doesn't have the benefit of Google at their fingertips. Footbinding was not adopted until more than a hundred years after my story takes place and was only then practiced by a small portion of society. But how do I convey that within the context of the story? Because it hasn't happened yet, I can't even drop in some convenient infodumping to take care of it.

Each historical time period has its own challenges, its own "footbinding dilemma." The challenge that every historical romance author has to face when writing for today's women is the question of how believable are these feisty, headstrong heroines who seem to fly in the face of convention for their time? Many popular historical periods are male-dominated eras when women were allowed less freedom in society. Of course there are icons of feminine empowerment throughout all periods and across all cultures, but these are held up as exceptional women who defied convention and broke the mold. But I contend that the strong historical female is less of the exception than people believe.

It's actually very easy to make that argument for the time period that I write in. The Tang Dynasty (618 A.D. - 907 A.D.) spanned three hundred years and is not only considered a Golden Age of Chinese civilization, but also a period of uncommon liberation for women.

Written records indicate that women not only were involved in business transactions, but held the highest offices in the empire. The most notable being Empress Wu Zetian, who eventually took on the title of Emperor and founded her own dynasty. Under her rule, her personal secretary, Shangguan Wan'er gained fame as a talented poet and writer and served as one of the most powerful ministers in the court. After Wu Zetian's death, her daughter, Princess Tai Ping, and her scheming daughter in-law battled for power in the imperial court. Early Chinese history has women like Hua Mulan, Li Xiu and Liu Jinding fighting battles and leading armies. Notice how there's much more than the one "Mulan" that we've heard about in Western culture, courtesy of Disney.

The interesting thing is that the Chinese heroine was already an icon during ancient times. She wasn't romanticized by future, more liberated historians. There's a reason you see so many females in movies as kick butt, kung fu hotties. Because they really were out there, appearing in legends and historical accounts from as early as 500 BC. The Chinese invented paper -- they wrote all this down.

With so many fiery women to serve as role models for my heroines, it's no wonder the Tang dynasty is such a muse for me! Considering the tradition and historical details, I find it very believable that my heroine Ai Li could forge her own path through the empire armed with a pair of butterfly swords. It's one of my deepest wishes to share a piece of the glory that was. It wasn't all about subjugation and footbinding. Historical research provides a richer, much more exciting picture of women through the ages.

But all the research in the world doesn't matter if the writing can't convince readers.

Writers need to deal with the commonly held view that women were marginalized throughout history. Knowing the facts does not exclude us from having to craft authentic characters and believability comes down to the very intimate relationship between the reader and the words. Which brings me back full circle. How did I solve the footbinding dilemma?

I didn't.

I concentrated on improving my writing until, hopefully, this one roadblock wouldn't stop a reader from being sucked into the story. In the end that's all we can do. Write a compelling story that convinces people these characters are flesh and blood and real. Isn't that what history is anyway? The accepted version of the story that got written down. And don't tell me that recorded history, the serious textbook stuff, doesn't always have a touch of romance.

Jeannie Lin's website.

Doing What Interests You

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."

--Katherine Hepburn

Tune in tomorrow for Jeannie Lin's guest post "Feminism in the Tang Dynasty: The Footbinding Dilemma."

Edward Thomas, "The Owl"

The Owl

Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved;
Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof
Against the North wind; tired, yet so that rest
Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof.

Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,
Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I.
All of the night was quite barred out except
An owl's cry, a most melancholy cry

Shaken out long and clear upon the hill,
No merry note, nor cause of merriment,
But one telling me plain what I escaped
And others could not, that night, as in I went.

And salted was my food, and my repose,
Salted and sobered, too, by the bird's voice
Speaking for all who lay under the stars,
Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice.

--Edward Thomas (1878-1917)

Ann Aguirre Guest Post - On Worldbuilding

Please welcome my guest Ann Aguirre, author of futuristic romance and urban fantasy.

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Some people make exhaustive lists before they start writing. They chart things and color code them and write them on cards. I'm not one of them.

For me, world-building comes as an extension of character development, and I only know things about my world that my character does. The details come in a sieve-trickle, revealed as they become pertinent to the story. Of course, once a fact has been established, I'm committed to keeping things consistent.

A few people have asked me how I built such a gritty, realistic universe from scratch in the Jax series. The truth is, that's just the world Jax lives in. I didn't consciously plan anything; that was just the world she lives in, and she tells me what I need to know as we go on. One day, I would very much like to go through the Jax books and create a compendium, listing the planets I've created along with descriptions of the terrain, size, climate, and population. I'd like to write a more detailed history and timeline than what can be reasonably created in the books. I'd also like to include a cast of characters, including a brief bio on each one. If this sounds like source materials for an RPG, then you're not far from what I'd like to do for the Jax series. This is where the people who do all that extensive planning beforehand may have the advantage, however. I'll have to go through the books to assemble all that information. The people who make charts, graphs, and color-coded cards have it at their fingertips already.



But that's not to say either method is right or wrong; there is really only the question of what works best for you. For me, planning everything beforehand takes the joy out of the process. I need the pleasure of discovering as I'm writing the book; otherwise there's precious little motivation for me to finish. I feel as though I've already been there, done that (at least in miniature), and it becomes a chore instead of a joy. So if you need to make a few notes before you begin, chart things in depth, or just write, as I do, it's all good.

The Corine series is less intensive because it's based on our reality, just one step to the left, where magic, spirits, zombies, angels and demons are alive (or undead, as the case may be) in the world. However, again, consistency is key. Once you've established a rule, you absolutely must have good reasons if you make an exception, and you must explain to the reader why this doesn't apply to this character or this situation. Otherwise, you're just abitrarily changing your own canon and expecting the reader to go along happily with your ret-con. Often, this comes across as lazy writing.




If you need a place to get started, Patricia Wrede has come up with a very comprehensive guide to help you do just that. You can have a look at that here. The questions, though designed for fantasy, can be used for SF as well, though obviously you're going to be designing more than one. I think SF tends to be less detailed because you may create and visit many planets rather than really designing an uber-detailed single world. But whatever you do, however you do it, I hope this has helped.

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Thanks, Ann!

Striving for Perfection

Striving for absolute shiny perfection is the worst thing for me.

No, really. My idea of perfection is just a little too perfect. I could go mad, trying to write the Platonic ideal story; I know I could. I could work and work and work on the same story until the stars grow cold, and never feel as if I was finished with it.

So I don't try to make any single story perfect. I know it's never going to happen. My brain can always think of something more that's required.

What I do instead is work my way towards perfection bit by bit, story by story, going around and around the mountain by a spiral path, every once in a while doing a little freeclimbing. In the back of my mind as I sit with pen in hand or fingers on keyboard is "this time, there will be no dialogue without purpose!" or, "this time, I will not go overboard when describing clothes in a static manner!" or, "this time, I will eliminate sixty percent of character navel-gazing!" I go for improvement. Constant improvement.

I also think that I improve in steps; I reach a plateau, struggle against it, and then surmount that level. A story I wrote three years ago might have been as "perfect" as I could manage, but since that time, my skills have improved. I'm aiming for a new level with today's writing. If this continues, I will never write a perfect story.

Occasionally, I think, "My God, this story is amazing! I am so brilliant!" but I instantly slap myself down. Because it isn't amazing. Well, it might be, but if I think that while I'm in the midst of it, I'll blow it, being swept up in my own perceived brilliance and forgetting that other people are going to read this story, too. Afterward is when I can believe it might be amazing, when I can look over it and think, "That's not bad at all." And even then, it won't be amazing to everyone.

There is no perfection. Why would I bother to write, then? We'd all be busy canoodling in a Platonic glow.

It's a battle, also, between making deadlines and making Art. I want to write something that's the absolute best it can be and polish until it's so beautiful I can hardly look at it, and only then send it out into the world. I want to not care about anything but the work and making it shine and sing and all that other metaphorical crap.

And then I think, who do you think you are, Michaelangelo? and what's wrong with fun, simple stories? and geez, overthinking, much?. Striving for perfection is good. Doing it to the point of madness means I'd never finish anything, never send anything out, never hear other opinions on my work.

It's best to just get to work on the next project. Because, in the end, forward and upward won't happen unless the words go on the paper.

Related Posts: How To Write a Novel (in 72 Easy Steps!) and Zero Drafting.

Tune in tomorrow for guest Ann Aguirre, who will be posting on worldbuilding.

The Faces of World War One

This post originated as a guest post for Lust in Time in December, 2008.

I rarely use photographs to give me character ideas, though occasionally after the story is in progress, or finished, I realize the character looks like a particular person. I do use photographs a lot, though, to both see details of clothing and weapons and to just get a feel for the period, and sometimes for inspiration. I like portraits best. I wonder what the people were thinking, and what their lives were like.

Here are some photographs of real participants in World War One, which I referred to while writing Moonlight Mistress for Harlequin Spice.

Albert Ball, a British flying ace who did not survive the war:



An unnamed Gurkha (Nepalese) soldier, who served in the British Army and has a very nice blade:



Reginald Arthur Brett, an American soldier:



Because of the colonial empires of England, France, and Germany, there were many soldiers from Africa serving on the Western Front, i.e., in the trenches, as well as in Africa itself, and Indian troops were deployed by the British very early on; they, too, served on all fronts.

Here are some Sikh soldiers in France; bicycles were used quite commonly by soldiers:



Sar Tinder from Senegal, serving with the French, in one of the color photographs from the period:



Related Post: Synergy in Writing and Research.

On writing The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

This post originated as a guest post for Lust in Time in December, 2008.

The inspiration for The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover was in a contest; I think it was in 2001. I am often inspired to write something by a call for submissions, even today. There was a five dollar fee, and you had to submit the story on a diskette, so it was rather a pain, but the prize was $1000. I believe the theme was "danger," though I might be remembering wrong; it doesn't matter now, because the story didn't make the final cut, and then the contest folded before final judging ever began, and I was left with a story on my hands, about an Empress and a stableboy named Jirin.

In 2004, I finally sold the story to Jim Brown at LL-Publications for an e-anthology titled Eternally Erotic. Jim worked with me on the story, and it's thanks to him that the setting became less fantastical and more like eighteenth-century France. The Empress became a duchess and the stableboy's name changed to Henri. Perhaps most importantly, I added the possibility of a happy ending, when the original story had ended on a cliffhanger.

First, I named the duchess Camille, so she wouldn't have to spend an entire novel being addressed by her title. And though the original story was from Henri's point of view, for the novel I would need to get inside the Duchess' head.

When writing an outline for the novel, I knew immediately that the two characters from the original story wouldn't be enough. I was working on the assumption that there should be a sex scene, or a partial one, in every chapter, and I knew I'd find that easier if I could vary the partners and the goals of the scenes. For example, the first chapter has a "first time" scenario with the duchess and Henri. If I had more characters, I could also have a "first time" scenario with Henri and someone else, which could serve a different purpose in both Henri's relationship to the duchess and in the plot.

The original short story referred to other characters who weren't seen: the duke, the duchess' maid, and her eunuch guards. The duke was of course the villain of the piece, the reason the story began. As soon as I tried to picture the maid, I realized she would need to be a much sharper, more sarcastic character to contrast with the seriousness of the duchess and her plight, and the innocence of the stableboy. As part of that idea, I decided the maid would dress as a boy while on the road, an homage to all those Georgette Heyer novels I've read. Because her personality was in many ways at odds with the other characters, she became a third point of view character as well.

I decided on a pair of eunuchs. It easily followed that they would be extremely loyal to the duchess, and could be involved with her sexually as well, in the classic fantasy of "woman pleasured by two men." I liked the idea very much, eventually giving them their own subplot: They're in love! But their love is forbidden! Which doesn't stop them from consummating it anyway!

Finally, I thought more on the stableboy. The duchess was clearly the leader in this relationship, tired and embittered from years of an unhappy relationship. Therefore, Henri was the ingénue. Almost everything about his character snapped into place with that realization. I particularly enjoyed playing with the tropes of the innocent as applied to a young male character, when in romance that role is usually assigned to a female.

Finally, there needed to be The Other Man. I never seriously considered Maxime as a rival to Henri, but for my own amusement I did feel an erotic novel needed a character who was, shall we say, well-endowed. The rest of Maxime's character and role developed later in the writing process.

Once I had the characters, the outline took shape. I already knew the plot. The duke is going to kill the duchess. She flees. Eventually, she defeats the duke. The tricky part was creating sex scenes that showed changes in the relationships between the characters, all while moving the plot towards the final goal of the duchess' victory. However, as I tend to figure things out as I write, my outline didn't necessarily show that movement. For instance, one chapter's summary read simply: "Camille ponders how to find out if Henri trusts her, and how to make him her lover." Or "The Duchess, while riding the next day, remembers an encounter with Maxime in her youth, before she married the Duke." Some of the chapter summaries were more detailed, but all of them left plenty of room for invention. In the process of writing, I changed not only minor plot details, but also some major ones, including changing an off-camera coup d'etat into the final action scene.

I'll sum up the various pairings in The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover. I had a lot of fun with choosing these scenes and playing with erotica tropes to see how far I could push the envelope of genre expectations.

There are, of course, several sex scenes between the Duchess Camille and her loyal stableboy, Henri; but Henri also has an unexpected encounter with a bathmaid and several encounters with Sylvie, the duchess' maid, including once as a performance for the duchess' benefit. Sylvie enjoys herself with the duchess and, later, with a brothel owner, Master Fouet, who also obtains a valuable service from Kaspar, one of the eunuch guards. Both of the eunuchs, Kaspar and Arno, pleasure the duchess, and later in the story have their own love scene. The duchess remembers her first affair, in her youth, and later consummates it with Maxime. Alas, I didn't have room for Maxime's projected scene with Sylvie, and his scene with Henri was cut for pacing reasons.

As one review stated "something for everyone."

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover at Amazon.com.