Research and Re-writing History

My very first historical romance, a Regency romance that I co-authored with my pal, Kim Bowman, is due to release tomorrow. A Lot Like A Lady became our passion and took over our lives back in December when we first started plotting and researching. And OH! The research. And more research. And even more research. And as we wrote, we had a kind of ongoing research, which extended even into the editing phase, as our editor, author and historian, J. Gunnar Grey, would ask us to elaborate on scenery and other details that helped make the story. I think at one point, somewhere in the middle of the project, Kim and I wondered if we’d lost our sanity. My own kids asked what was wrong with my speech as I even found myself speaking with the more flowery and formal style of the period.

But finally, we got through the process, and the final result will be available to the public tomorrow. Am I exhausted? Oh, definitely! Writing and editing Lady was more tiring than writing my romantic suspense or my contemporary romance I’ve, even though I research just as much for a novel that takes place today as I did for the Regency romance. But when I research a novel that takes place in the present, I’m researching the familiar using familiar terms. As we researched for the historical, we learned all new names for clothing, lighting, actions. The list is endless. In the end, no doubt we have cast just a bit of our modern shadow on this historical – we were not there in person, and it’s not likely to find a 200-year-old person to interview. But we did write a story that was as true to the time as we could from our research, and we truly hope that those who read it will forgive us any historical inaccuracies and sit back and enjoy reading what we absolutely enjoyed writing.

My advice to writers? Research. Whether it’s historical, contemporary, futuristic, paranormal, alternate reality…research until you can’t do any more research…and then research some more.

A Lot Like A Lady, coming March 27!

5 Great Lines from Tessa Dare, A Night to Surrender

5 Great Lines from Tessa Dare, A Night to Surrender

1

Tiny spoons were incompatible with a state of sensual turmoil.

2

“I’m so sorry to disappoint you,” she said, breathing hard. “But it would take far more than that to scare me.”

A quick flex of his arms, and their bodies collided. And he whispered, just as his mouth fell on hers, “God, I was hoping you’d say that.”

3

“The Blushing Pansy,” his cousin read aloud, in a tone of abject horror. “Tea shop and confectionery.”
Bram swore. This was going to be ugly.

4

“No, no. Don’t make that face. Every time I propose to you, you make that twisty, unhappy face. It wears on a man’s confidence.”

5

“No, Susanna,” he said. “I cannot love you just a little. If that’s what you want, you must find a different man.” His green eyes were breathtaking in their intensity. His thumb brushed her bottom lip. “Because I can only love you entirely. With everything I am, and everything I ever will be. Body, mind, heart, soul.”

—
Ava Delany
The Fetish Club Series, The Homecoming Series, and The Beginnings Series.
Look for my newest release- A Surprising Day – on Kindle, Allromanceebooks, and many other places where ebooks are sold.

5 Great Lines from J.D. Robb, Promises in Death

5 Great Lines from J.D. Robb, Promises in Death

1

“A pity it was so early in the day and I couldn’t treat myself to the roller coaster. We’ll have to come back, you and I, and make up for it.”
“Sure, when I’ve lost my mind and want to rush screaming through the air in a little car.”

2

Eve-”…he said that being involved with a cop, being in a relationship with one … He said every day you have to block out the worry. Fear,” she corrected. “He said fear. Is that how it is?”

Roarke- … “I fell in love with who you are, with what you are. I took on the whole package.”

“That’s not answering the question. Or, I guess, it is.”

“How can I love you and not be afraid? You’re my life, Eve, my heart. You’re asking, you’re wondering if I ever worry, if I ever fear, that one day Peabody or Feeney, your commander – a cop who’s become a friend – will knock on my door? Of course I do.”

3

“Do little pink fairies sing and dance in your world, Peabody?”
“Sometimes, when it’s very quiet and no one else can see.”

4

“I see you’ve destroyed another police vehicle. Perhaps you now hold the record.”

5

Eve-”I think it’d be embarrassing to be dead in the Hoochie-Coochie River.”

Roarke-”Chattahoochee”

“What’s the difference?”

“Quite a bit, I’d think.”

—
Ava Delany
The Fetish Club Series, The Homecoming Series, and The Beginnings Series.
Look for my newest release- A Surprising Day – on Kindle, Allromanceebooks, and many other places where ebooks are sold.

Notes From the Editor

By Kay Springsteen

The publishing industry has been through so many changes – with many more still to come – it would be impossible for the old masters, the authors of the typeset era, to recognize some of the requirements for manuscript submission today. When you add in that each publisher has its own specific preferences regarding file format, font type and size, line spacing, and margins, you might see your manuscript go through many variations depending on the number of publishers you submit to.

For submitting, it is best to locate the guidelines for the publisher to whom you are sending your work and follow these to the letter. This is often the author’s first test. If you can’t be bothered to format your document the way their guidelines call for, why should they want to look at your work? Even if you are completely word processor ignorant – that is, you know how to turn on the computer, open the program and begin typing, and you do all that with a sequence of sticky-note instructions – you will still have to learn how to format your document for your chosen publishing target. And, should your story be accepted, you will have to learn to work in the editing phase using track changes and comments. So take a class in Word Processing, my recommendation would be for this class to be in MS Word, since it is the program most called for by publishers.

But there are other things you should be aware of…things that will make your editor particularly pleased (and a happy editor means a happy edit, which makes for a happy author). For instance, be aware of the tools on your word processor. And turn most of them off. I’m editing a manuscript right now which the author wrote with something called smart tags turned on. These are tags that label street names and what Word perceives might be street names and give the writer the option of looking up the street on a map and acquiring directions. There is absolutely no need for this in fiction and it is best left off since it has the potential for creating problems when the manuscript goes for final formatting. Likewise, unless the publisher states otherwise, turn off curly or smart quotes. And since most publishers use first line indent, turn this on, and set it for 0.5 inch from the left. Then ignore your tab key for the rest of the manuscript.

You also want to be careful about using features and fonts that can potentially slow down the reading flow. Emphasize too may words with italics or apologetic (aka “scare”) quotes, and the read will feel choppy and jarring. Put in too many parenthetical statements (with parentheses or with the em/en dash) and your story will appear to have attention deficit disorder. Too many ellipses and you have a slow thoughtful story that hints at long (insert yawn here) pauses. If you want to determine the smoothness of your manuscript, read sections with these formats aloud – even record yourself reading it – and you will get a sense of the pauses and emphases you’ve perhaps unknowingly written in.

These are just a few of the formatting and mechanical issues editors find themselves presented with on a daily basis. But if you work on even one of these things, your editor will require less chocolate to work on your book.

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5 Great Lines from Courtney Milan, Unraveled

5 Great Lines from Courtney Milan, Unraveled

1

“No man is broken because bad things happen to him. He’s broken because he doesn’t keep going after those things happen.”

2

“The truth is simply this: you can find a better man than I. God knows you wouldn’t have to look very hard. But I don’t believe you can find one who loves you more.”

3

The dog looked up in entreaty. Liquid brown eyes begged: Take me with you. I’ll be good. Oh, the lies that dogs told.

4

He’d fashioned himself into one hard edge. He was all blade and no handle. If she held him close, she’d risk being cut.

5

“You’re perfectly right. There’s no two ways about it. When you leave, it will slay me.”

—
Ava Delany
The Fetish Club Series, The Homecoming Series, and The Beginnings Series.
Look for my newest release- A Surprising Day – on Kindle, Allromanceebooks, and many other places where ebooks are sold.