Since I’m celebrating my return to the classic historical romance with my new Avon release SOME LIKE IT WICKED this month, I thought I’d share some of my techniques for dealing with those who just don’t “get” our genre and aren’t shy about revealing their prejudices. You can use these techniques with readers and reporters.
Several [...]

Before I get started, I want to state up front that I’m not a Grammar Queen. I’m not sure I could diagram a sentence and sometimes I screw up my tenses. But I’ve got the basics down (I think, I hope) and I really hate it if I send an email or do a [...]

For me, the right names convey period. Almost any names is possible in any time and place, but some are a lot more likely. We wouldn’t expect an Edna to be a teenager, or a Tiffany to be in a nursing home. Both are possible, but if we do the equivalent in our novel we [...]

5. Lastly, I do spot research. Sometimes the story demands knowledge I don’t have. I’m what I call a “fly into the mist” writer, which means that I don’t pre-plot my books. I develop my characters and their situation, but then I let them tell their story. Most books surprise me, not in the romantic [...]

Most books are fairly general, but any good research book has a bibliography or notes, and that’s where we strike gold. First, these enable us to check the source of information, because we can’t always believe what’s in print. Especially when something seems unlikely, it must be checked. (It is, of course, by our foundation [...]

You may have noticed that comments have gone missing and this post went up late. I had it posted on time, however, due to the updating of our host everything was reset. If you are inclined, please comment again on the past weeks posts.
Thank you for sticking with us during this difficulty.
Admin
****
4. Once I know [...]

How do I do my job of researching for a novel?
I’ve written over thirty historical novels, and I only write in three periods — the early Anglo-Norman years, the mid-eighteenth century, and the Regency. I set all my books in my native England. Therefore, when I start a book now I can build on a [...]

Writing a historical novel is a strange process, for it has to violate that old rule, “write what you know.” The writer of contemporary fiction can attempt to stick close to her own reality, but no matter how much research the historical novelist does, she writes about a foreign, even alien world. [...]

In all fairness, Julie Anne Long was the first to linked her latest release and the song POP! (from the Music and Lyrics movie).
HR) The Perils of Pleasure (POP) is now on the shelves, but for those who live under a rock, please tell us about it.
JAL) In POP, we meet Colin Eversea, the [...]

It’s that time of year again where I hear a lot of rumblings about setting and maintaining writing goals.  With that in mind, I thought I’d talk a bit about how I set my weekly, monthly and yearly goals, and what I do to help me achieve them.  (without even getting out of my pyjamas!)
First [...]