This is it: the end of NaNo 2007, aka National Novel Writing Month. My status? My first attempt to write 50,000 words in a month has failed. Ouch. It hurts. BUT, I have 17,788 very good words of a story that I will continue to work on. Perhaps I’ll finish it, my very first manuscript, and when I sell it I’ll donate a portion of the proceeds to NaNoWriMo; I’m that impressed with NaNo’s influence on getting my butt in gear. I didn’t finish, but I made a great head start.

Why I love NaNo:

1) NaNo connects me to thousands of writers around the world for a month of camaraderie via write-ins, forums, and encouraging emails.

2) NaNo sends weekly pep talks from famous authors to us struggling amateurs. I really enjoy hearing about the writing process and struggle from the big guys. This year we heard from Tom Robbins, Naomi Novik, Sue Grafton, Sara Gruen, Neil Gaiman, Juliana Baggott, Deanna Raybourn, and Garth Nix.

3) NaNo gives me an all important finite deadline and goal. It pushes me to get my ideas down on paper without editing and rewriting my first chapter to death.

4) NaNo teaches kids to write. This year the NaNo Young Writers Program supported 325 classrooms, helping 18,000 children and teens bash out their first books and realize their mighty creative potential. (Yeah, NaNo helped more kids than I wrote words!) To support this I donated 50 bucks to NaNo, even before my publishing debut.

I can’t wait till next year.

I now have almost 17,000 words of my story for NaNo (extremely far away from where I should be at this point in the month!). I admit to taking last night off to read Eloisa James‘ Your Wicked Ways, which was excellent. I adore Eloisa. It is impossible to put down her books. The woman is impossibly brilliant, with a degree from Harvard, a Masters of Philosophy from Oxford, and a Doctorate from Yale. While not writing extremely well crafted plots, robust characters, and eloquent dialog, she teaches Shakespeare at University. Her books are sprinkled with references to Shakespeare and are impressively researched (would that I had graduate students to research for me!). I grovel in her general direction.

Anyways, for those of us just starting out writing romance novels, I recommend the following book:

Title: The Natural History of the Romance Novel
Author: Pamela Regis
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2003 (Hurrah! Hurrah Pennsylvania!)
Genre: Nonfiction

The cliff notes version:

Part 1: Regis defends the Romance Novel from its many critics. Romance is the most popular but least respected of the literary genres.

Part 2: Regis defines the Romance Novel as “a work of prose fiction that tells the story of the courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines.” She also defines the Eight Essential Elements of The Romance Novel, which are:

1) Society Defined: Society, its corrupt structure and/or rigid rules, is a barrier and cause of conflict that the hero and heroine must overcome to achieve their HEA.

2) The Meeting: The hero and heroine do not hit it off at their first meeting – they start knocking heads from the beginning.

3) The Barrier: External barriers such as society, family, economics, geography and internal barriers such as attitudes, temperament, values, and beliefs impede the union between the hero and heroine and are a constant source of conflict throughout the novel.

4) The Attraction: Also found throughout the novel are scenes that demonstrate the reasons that the hero and heroine are destined to be together, such as sexual chemistry, friendship, shared goals or feelings, society’s expectations, and economic issues.

5) The Declaration: The scene where they realize they can’t live without each other, though often the hero and heroine come to this conclusion separately and declare their love at different times.

6) Point of Ritual Death: The point where the HEA seems impossible at the climax of the novel. The heroine or hero is faced with death or a symbolic death but is freed from its presence. The mythical escape.

7) The Recognition: The scene in the novel where new information is revealed that lifts the barriers that separated the hero and heroine, such as the hero is really of noble blood or the cross-dressing heroine is really a female. The hero and heroine are at last free to act on their love; proving once again that true love conquers all. The realistic escape.

8 ) The Betrothal: They agree to get married and live Happily Ever After. Yay!

Part III & IV: The History of the Romance Novel, from 1740 through the 20th century

1) Pamela, 1740: the first best seller

2) Pride and Prejudice, 1813: The best romance novel ever written

3) Jane Eyre, 1847

4) Framley Parsonage, 1861

5) A Room with a View, 1908: The ideal romance novel

6) Georgette Heyer

7) Mary Stewart

8 ) Janet Dailey

9) Jayne Ann Krentz

10) Nora Roberts

THERE ARE ONLY 8 DAYS, 6 HOURS, AND 52 MINUTES LEFT TO FINISH MY 50,000 WORD NOVEL!!!!!

And I’m only on word 13,750. I’m going to have some petal-to-the-metal cramathon’s in the last few days. The muse is inspired by an imminent deadline.

National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNo, owns my soul. I feel about as haggard as Charlie here looks.

I would like to tell you that I haven’t been blogging for the past week because I’ve been madly writing my novel for NaNoWriMo, but the truth is that I have been sick. Again. Airplanes are nasty, germ-filled places. We returned from Zurich last week and this week flew to Denver for Turkey Day with the in-laws. Of course, the travel and sickness have not stopped me from reading a ton of books. And no, I don’t have reviews for you. As of today I have written 13,345 words of my 50,000 word total for NaNoWriMo. Hope is not lost.

Tomorrow is the day we in the United States celebrate my ancestors who fled England and convinced the natives to feed them. Just in time for the celebration, my maternal aunt has completed inputting the family genealogy into Geni all the way back to Pilgrim Richard Warren, who is my tenth great-grandfather. We are also descended from fellow Pilgrim and indentured servant George Soule but she hasn’t inputed his line yet. Geni is an awesome program. My dad and cousin have become addicted to it, uploading old portraits for the last three generations and spending inordinate amounts of time inputting names. I really appreciate being able to see their work online. If you need a great tool for productive procrastination, Geni is it!

This photo is of my paternal second great aunt Lena Bridget Hennessey, born in 1886 in Brockton Massachusetts. I love her outfit. Some day I will write a romance novel based on this photo. She looks concerned, yet dashing, poised there waiting for her hero to sweep her off her feet… Or maybe just rescue her from the drudgery of the shoe factory. Yes, my ancestors were poor Irish immigrants. My poor Swedish ancestors ended up in Brockton too, but they worked as maids instead of factory workers. What do you think of a romance novel set in Victorian Brockton? Doesn’t quite invoke images of elegance and regal love, does it? Why are all romance novel heroes rich? There are never romance novels about poor immigrants. Cinderella would have been a very different story if she married a local woodcutter instead of a prince. Are we implying through our fiction that money equals happiness? I’ve fallen off topic. I had better return to writing where I may ramble productively and end my procrastinating blog post here.

From the top of the snowy Alps, via cable-car over majestic craggy peaks, all I could think about was how I should be back at my hotel room writing. There are only 17 days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes left in National Novel Writing Month, and I only have 6 thousand words of the 50 thousand word goal. Corpus Bones! I’m forced to continually tell myself, “Write! Don’t Edit!”, but it’s hard. I want to read back over what I’ve written and change and format and add and subtract and improve and OMG! Onward, Ciara, onward! To edit is to retreat! Fortunately there are few distractions in the hotel room once I’ve returned from seeing the charms of Switzerland and my hubby has fallen asleep.

NaNoWriMo also has developed a Facebook application that displays a participant’s word count marker. Yes, I have installed it on my Facebook page. Perhaps then when you see me procrastinating on Facebook, or by BLOGGING, y’all can yell at me to get back to writing my story. Ha! I wanted to put this picture on the left on my blog somewhere, but can’t figure out how to add it to the sidebar. This layout is simply one of the many pick-and-choose options offered by WordPress, so I can’t make many changes.

Today’s oh-so-fun resources for writing Regency Romance novels pertain to writing dialog.

Regency Speak:

“How to Speak 19th Century” by Eric Fergusson – a short list of odd lexicon used in the 1830 book Private Yankee Doodle, some of which is used today with the same meaning and some of which is completely different.

The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Grose et al, courtesy of Project Gutenburg. A much, much longer list of Regency-era slang, most of which would not be used by any sort of proper lady, but could make a quite colorful addition to your dialog. I plan on adopting a few into my everyday 21st century speech. Watch out!

Example:
BLOWEN: A mistress or whore of a gentleman of the scamp.
Regency speak: “The blowen kidded the swell into a snoozing ken, and shook him of his dummee and thimble”
Translation: The girl inveigled the gentleman into a brothel and robbed him of his pocket book and watch.

“The English Language and Literature Research Guide” from Yale University. Not a specific list of words, but of famous works of the Romantic Age authors and poets. Read the works of leading literary figures of the day (ie Jane Austen) and take notes on their language and lexicon. Obviously this is a more time consuming approach, but you could always skim. Besides, reading the classics is good for you.

“Lord Livingston, I presume?” Learn about the British Peerage system and how to address a Peer, his wife, his sisters, his eldest son, his younger sons, his daughters, his horses… no, really. It’s all rather confusing. But better to look it up than have your readers call you on it!

Saturday, November 3:
Tokens and treasures, yesterday’s pleasures
Cheap imitations of heirlooms of old
Dented and tarnished, scarred and unvarnished
In old Portobello they’re bought and they’re sold

Portebollo Road, Portobello Road
Street where the riches of ages are stowed
Artifacts to glorify our regal abode
Are hidden in the flotsam in Portobello road.
You’ll find what you want in the Portobello Road

From Disney’s Bednobs & Broomstick, which was stuck in my head most of the week. Portobello Road Market is, indeed, just like the song. Knicknacks of all shapes and sizes spill out of stalls lining the street. It was great.

Rachael and I had high tea in a modern tea shop nearby and we visited the Victoria & Albert Museum, a museum of cultural history of sorts that was founded with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition of 1850 (which would be an interesting subject for an historic romance novel!). I was really hoping to see costume history at the V & A, but they only displayed a small portion of their costume collection. Online they have an extensive collection of fashion history photographs and some fascinating feature articles such as Corsets and Crinoline.

Incidentally, while at Rachael’s I read Twice the Temptation by Suzanne Enoch that has two stories, one historic and one contemporary, both centering around a cursed heirloom necklace. In the second story the heroine is responsible for a touring jewelry exhibition by the V & A, which made seeing the V & A all the cooler, but unfortunately the V & A jewelry exhibit was closed for renovation while we were there. I liked the historic story better than the contemporary one anyway.

Sunday, November 4:
We took the train to Cambridge, which is lovely, where I saw my friend Tracy. The college house system sounds just like Hogwarts and the town looks like Hogsmead. I even took my photo next to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station on the way there! We had high tea again (yum) and advised Tracy on what romance novel she should read for her first foray into the genre. She wanted something light as a break from her Bioengineering PhD studies. oof!

Monday, November 5:
I walked through Hyde Park. Yay! Now I can imagine it in every Regency Romance where the hero and heroine ride down Rotten Row, or walk through the gardens, or fall into the Serpentine (Kate in the Viscount Who Loved Me!). I saw a rider in traditional riding costume (wearing Hessians?) and I remembered that the top thing I wanted to do in London was go for a horse ride in Hyde Park. Phooey to remember on my last day. I couldn’t find the stables, but I did find the phone numbers for two stables that hire horses for riding in the park. Next time for sure! I followed the rider down Rotten Row for a bit, simply because I was so excited to actually see someone riding in Hyde Park, until he started cantering, at which time I was left in the dust.

Later I took the Tube to Covent Garden, saw Covent Garden Market, walked to the British Museum, strolled down Drury Lane, and toured the Royal Theater Drury Lane – all popular Regency Romance locations.

I admit, sadly, that I didn’t write much on my trip, but I got a lot of research done for my book! I read a lot at Rachael’s, partly because I got sick and partly because I couldn’t resist digging into Rachael’s collection of romance novels. I discovered two new yummy authors I really like: Kasey Michaels and Eloisa James. And I had fun. I would love to go back someday. You could stay years in London and not see everything!

After Stockholm’s quaint 17th century buildings painted in rose, yellow, peach, and red, London is relatively grey and colorless. I admit, I am disappointed. Compared to Stockholm, London isn’t very picturesque. However, it has one or two other things to recommend it, namely tons of historic sites, cultural icons, and romance novel settings. It is warmer than Sweden too, and it hasn’t rained yet this week! Ickiness alert: the pollution here is bad, and although you can’t see it with the nekid eye, you find it clearly in the black gunk that accumulates in your nose every day. Ew.

As you may remember, this is my very first trip to London. Did I immediately head for the Tower? Buckingham Palace? Big Ben? No, no and no. It is highly doubtful that my characters stood in line for a Beefeater tour. The best way to understand a character is to see the city as they saw it; to walk the winding streets and darkened alleys; to sit in green parks and watch the people scurry past; to study the built environment as it would have appeared during the 19th century. What would they have seen? Heard? Smelled? Where would they have lived? Shopped? Played? Cities are living, breathing, adapting organisms that have a profound impact on our personality, actions, and lifestyle. Understand the city, and you understand the soul of its people, be they historical, fictional, or present day.

As Churchill so succinctly put it, “We shape our buildings; thereafter our buildings shape us.”

Tuesday, October 30

On Tuesday I took the London Walks tour of Historic Greenwich, mostly because it started out with a boat ride down the Themes, which was lovely. The boat guide pointed out famous pubs and locations used by Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist, such as where the criminal mastermind Fagin lived and died. Greenwich itself was slightly dull, perhaps because the guide didn’t share much in the way of interesting history lessons, but I did set my watch by the official ball that falls at 1 pm. (Pictured left: the Queen’s house with its view to the Themes framed by buildings of the Navel hospital.)

I ran back to the City for a much more interesting afternoon walk of “Old London, the Medieval to Georgian City“, which could be renamed “Churches of Christopher Wren and the Great Fire of 1666″. Our tour guide Hilary was fabulous. Old London is pretty much the financial capital of the world, so don’t expect a lot of old architecture aside from the churches.

In the evening we took the “Hidden Pubs of Old London Town” tour in which we saw the home of Dr. Johnson (author of the first dictionary), the location of Sweeney Todd’s barbershop (He shaved the faces of gentlemen/Who never thereafter were heard of again./He trod a path that few have trod,/Did Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -Sondheim), and Twinnings (tea merchants since 1706).

Wednesday, October 31

Halloween. In the morning I took a tour of “Shakespeare’s and Dicken’s London – The Old City” by the marvelous actor Shaughan who regaled us with monologues from both writers’ works and a song. In the afternoon I toured Old Hampstead Village where the middle class escaped the noxious fumes of the city and saw the Admiralty House that P. L. Travers wrote into Mary Poppins (pictured left). Who knew it was real? The Admiral apparently built his home the the exact dimensions of his ships’ deck and really did set off canons from the roof. Hampstead was an attractive brick village, but the guide was sparing on the historic details of the place. I really could care less where the Spice Girls or Riddley Pearson live.

Thursday, November 1

First day of NaNoWriMo and I write a grand total of zero words, because of course I came down with a cold. I managed to go out for the morning for a lovely and very informative tour of Mayfair, neighborhood of everyone who is anyone in a Regency romance novel (and Beau Brummell, Regency fashion leader). It was very different from what I’ve been imagining all this time! It is still a swanky place to live – the most expensive digs in the world, populated mostly by Americans and Middle Easterners. Many of the buildings are empty, bought only as property investments, adding a layer of blight and neglect. Apparently it is also a high class red light district – and always has been. In the late 1700′s the most infamous light-skirt, Kitty something, charged what would in today’s dollars be 300,000 pounds for her services. I think I need to right that into my book. Ha! Our guide, Richard, was awesome, very informative, and very open to questions.

I walked around Bond Street and saw Boodle’s, Brook’s, and the building where Almack’s used to be in Pall Mall in the afternoon, then came home and slept. Friday I slept. Being sick sucks.