The Writing Hour.: How to Write a Historical Romance Novel.

 

Here is a hilarious post about how to write a Historical Romance Novel by Aubree. She is very witty and fun. I wish she would write more.

1. Your heroine must be stuningly beautiful and have unusual colored eyes.

2. Your hero must the handsomest most extraordinary man that ever lived.

3. Plot doesn't not matter if you follow 1 and 2.

4. There must be a huge misunderstanding that could have easily been resolved with a simple conversation.

I think that pretty sums up most of the books I've ever read!

Read her original post here: The Writing Hour.: How to Write a Historical Romance Novel.: The first time I read a historical romance novel, I really liked it. Then I read another. And another. And I realized, I liked them a lot mo...

Organizing my Story

 

It just hit me, that in my mind my story all makes sense but the snippets here and there in my posts may seem very random. And to be honest, it is! I am a random person. LOL.

So in the spirit of organization I intend to create a page that will be a work in progress. It will contain the plot, a story line, character information and anything else relevant to the story.

This way others can make sense of the jumble that is in my brain. And at the same time it may actually help me to get more done. By having clear expectations.

I feel smart now. Thats enough work for today. Lol.

Clipper Ships

Interesting fact I found on my trip across the internet.

In the 1840’s shipbuilders started to build a new kind of vessel. It was distinguished by having three masts that had large expanses of sails. It was designed to carry small, highly profitable cargo over long distances at high speeds, but soon became lucrative with human cargo as well.

Sailing 150 miles a day was considered a good day's run only a few years earlier, Clippers traveled approximately 250 miles a day. The best clippers could travel more than 400 miles a day! How much more would you pay to travel so quickly?

I thought that the name of the ship originated the term “clip”, to run or fly swiftly, but it turns out the ships were probably named after the verb. (which in my non expert opinion was probably not a verb at that time. I think it was a colloquial term but then again who am I?)

This meant that people were able to travel between places in half the time. So, that’s why sometimes when you read a story one person sets sail to some far away destination and months later another person follows behind them on a different ship and they get there the same time or maybe even earlier. Now I know.

Georgian Women Plesantly Plump?

Isn’t it funny that every book cover depicts a slender or curvy bombshell. I mean I know it’s all about marketing and even in the book itself sometimes they refer to the heroine as being plain or average looking but having something that made them somehow irresistible anyway? But what about an overweight heroine?

 

Woman from the Georgian Period

 

Years ago I thought to write about a plump lead character. If you want to know how plump? I’d say Lane Bryant catalog plump, shapely still just bigger. Lol. But who would want to read about a fat heroine? Would you?

Georgian England refers to 1714 to 1830 when the George's ruled the land. But this was typical for a lot longer than that. (Regency, Elizabethan, Victorian, etc)

 

I feel that there were many pleasantly plump women around that time. Lets look at lifestyle. In society in that time no one exercised really, well at least not very many ladies. They were all about being dainty and not lifting a finger. They partied late into the night, ate late at night and slept in most mornings.

 

The food... I researched the typical diet. It is full of sweets, meats, and pastries! They would have to eat like a bird, literally to maintain a trim figure with that lifestyle!

 

Typical Meals of the Day:

Breakfast: toast, rolls, cheese, tea, coffee, chocolate, ale (I’ve read books that included eggs and other meats)

Lunch: ale or tea, bread, meat or cheese, pies and pastries

Dinner:  3 or 4 course meal made of any combination of fish, soup, vegetables, pastry, game, apples cakes, oranges, walnuts, creams, beef, bacon and other things

Then there was tea with friends in the afternoon where they also ate cookies and small sandwiches.

Ok, so their food was more organic and they didn't have the luxury of Burger King. What do you think?

Get Published!

I don't see what is so hard about it? I mean I get published almost everyday here on Alex Raine Writes!

All I do is write some clever and compelling script. My personal editor then checks the spelling and grammar. Although it does not do a good job of that; I still see errors. Anyways, so I write and then I have a magic button on my screen that reads "Publish" and I just press it. Voila! I am an author.

You should try it. Its not hard at all. ;-)

Edited:

Ok, seriously speaking. If you are a writer then blogging should be a natural progression for you in terms of getting your work seen by others and finding an audience. In this age of instant Youtube sensations, you could be the next viral hit. So I encourage you all to write and share.

Wattpad is a unique platform for this exact purpose. You can share your 'works' and get feedback, critiques, encouragement from people across the globe. You could even be lucky like fellow Wattpadder Abigail Gibbs who recently landed a 6 figure deal with publisher Harper Collins!

The world is your oyster!

10 ways to increase traffic to your writing blog?

 

So I’ve read many a good article with what seems like lots of good information. But you know what? It is harder than it looks.

        What I’ve done so far..

      1.       I am trying to blog almost every day.
      2.       I have joined a blog network.
      3.       I’ve opened a Facebook account and have set it up that they will update
               each other simultaneously.
      4.       I’ve opened a Wattpad account.
      5.       I post excerpts of my writing for critique on my blog anyway.

What else could I be doing?

      6.       Backlink really good articles. (I’m working on getting it right)
      7.       Commenting on others’ writing and leaving url in my signature
      8.       Actually completing enough writing to put “my work” on Wattpad
      9.       Write about other topics as well as my niche topic (like this post)
     10.    Improve my skills/knowledge/writing

 So, this is my game plan. It is a lot of work. It requires me to be creative in how I schedule my time. With a husband and a  demanding 2yr old I am almost maxed out!

What are your plans?

Reversing the Plot

Well, I haven't recieved any feedback. Surprise, surprise. I am partial to having an island nation included in my story line because that is what I dream about.

Maybe instead of a season in London I should reverse my story and send her to the island after failing to find a husband after a few seasons. The rest of the plot will remain the same. However it stands to reason that there will be fewer social opportunities on an island for obvious reasons.

Too many choices!! Arrgh!

Excerpt:

As she had expected, the skies seemed a bit gray, the air was cool and somehow felt damp. And what was that foul odor? She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Unwashed bodies maybe? Or rotting debris strewn in the streets near the vessel? How did people live here?

She was not accustomed to this at all. There was so much activity. On the island where she grew up the port never had more than a few boats at a time and not many more people. But this, this was almost chaos. Dock hands loaded goods on and off scores of ships docked along the wharf. 

Many coaches came and went each almost seeming to slow down and stare at her before speeding on by. She unconsciously touched her hair and smoothed her dress. Could they look at her and tell her secret? She tried her best to hide it. She had put on her best dress and had taken great pains to care for herself better than she ever had.

 She was a woman of ten and eight but this was her first time ever leaving home. Oh how she missed Papa and her home in the colony. The bright sun and the warm fragrant tropical breeze always comforted her. This was a culture shock.

Her papa was adamant that she have a season as befitting a woman of her station. But she didn’t really care about all that, she would have happily stayed at home attending to her aging father.

Instead he wrote to his sister and packed her off to England to find a husband. A husband was the last thing she really needed. She was an heiress thanks to her father’s good business instincts and spendthrift ways. She didn’t need anything; she had her writing to keep her otherwise occupied. She made up her mind to respect her father’s wishes and attend the season but at the end she would return home alone, hopefully it wouldn’t prove to be too tedious an endeavor.

“Faith, is it truly you?” She looked up a bit startled at being caught unawares. This woman could be no other than her Aunt Davinia. She looked so much like Papa that she almost burst into tears on the spot. She was shorter than Faith, as big a barrel of wine with kind brown eyes just like her fathers.  Instead she gulped in a big breath of air to fortify her and responded as serenely as she could “Why yes, you must be aunt Dora what a pleasure to finally ... oof!” She found herself locked into an embrace that almost knocked the wind out of her.

“ Oh Faith look at you! You are even more beautiful than your father described. I’m so happy to  finally meet you after all these years!” She turned around and there were a few other faces staring back at with a mixture of curiosity and surprise. “These are your cousins Lord James and  Lady Elizabeth. Both of you girls will have your coming out this season. It will be so much fun!”

 

I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave feedback.

What time is it?

So I have been so consumed by developing characters and a great plot and improving my use of dialogue that I forgot all about the time. What period is my story set in? I have always thought it to be a general historical romance set in London somewhere in the 1800’s but I really have no clue of what life was like and what existed at that time. Even though I have read countless books. I did not retain any of this information to be able to use it.

Recently I read a question by someone on Yahoo Answers asking about original or unique story ideas. There is a consensus that the regency period has been beaten like a dead horse. There are those that want to read about a different era in time, at different places. Like what about the middle east or other European countries or America? What about a later period like the early 1900’s? or earlier 1500's? I would like to give this some thought so that my story stands out and is memorable for its readers.

 
I guess for me it will come down to research. Because I am sorry to say that I don't have the time to do much so i will have to choose what is well presented and readily available.

What time and place do you think would prove an interesting read?

My story...

So I am writing a story. Its my first historical romance and i want it to be great. No matter how long it takes! I have been thinking about what to write for some time but it really all came together last night as I was drifting off to sleep. I knew Faith and her dark love interest. I created an aunt and two cousins so far. I hope to keep it simple but also interesting. I definitely have a lot of work to do.

The plot (I think)

Faith is a young woman of about 18 who grew up in the colonies(I'm thinking an island) with her father. He sends her to England to have a real season and find a husband. She is not interested in marriage. She doesn't need money and is content to write, read and care for her aging father. She meets Lucius a devastatingly handsome rogue and falls madly in love even though she is warned that he is a reprobate of the first order. She also befriends John a wonderful and caring gentleman that proves be her dearest friend. Lucius eventually shows his true colors and Faith is horrified by how evil he really is. John comes to her rescue, saves her from a terrible fate and wins her heart in the end.

So I know its pretty typical so far, but there is a twist! But I don't want to share it just yet. You'll just have to keep following to found out.

Leave your feedback.

Ok...So that wasn't even romance

Splash! I have dived into unchartered territory. So I know my previous writing was NOT historical romance. It was just something I had done years ago and I thought well why not start with that? I am working on a historical romance at the moment and I think another challenge for me is getting my facts right. There’s nothing I hate more than historical romance that is devoid of historical information. I mean that’s why it’s historical. They speak differently than we do. They dress differently. They eat stuff I wouldn’t even sneeze on. But it means more work for me to gather data and then find ways to incorporate it. It feels unnatural to write that way, but maybe I’m wrong.

What do you do?