Jen Black's Blog, page 6

Should we let readers hang?

 

I had never heard of the Concluding Preposition Opposition Party but it does exist. I have heard of the American dictionary Merriam-Webster and in February 24 their offices stated it is OK to end a sentence with a preposition such as to, with, about, upon, for or of.

Many of us have been taught  the dim and distant past that a structurally sound sentence can't be made with a preposition placed at the end. It is true Romance Languages, derived from Latin, cannot form a structurally sound sentence with the preposition at the end. 
English is not a Romance language.

According to Merriam-Webster a 17th century poet called John Dryden popularized the rule created by grammarian Joshua Poole and the rule has lasted three centuries. Even in the cases where an ending preposition sounds odd, it's still grammatical, if not the best stylistic option.

Example: "That's what we're talking about" does sound better than: "That's about what we are talking"? Can't disagree with that. But most people would rejig the entire sentence rather than use such a formation.

Using "with" at the end of a sentence can leave the reader hanging with nowhere to go because of the meaning of the word itself. How prepositions are used can be important. I hear sentences such as “That is what we’ll go with” as dialogue in modern tv plays and series, and meaning is clear but the phrase is hardly elegant. It may be acceptable in conversation and perhaps newspapers but authors usually aim for clarity and eloquence in their novels. Cliffhangers are acceptable, but no author wishes to leave their readers hanging at the end of a sentence!

A risky business

 Back home after a few days away on the north coast of Aberdeenshire.

It was windy and certainly cleared the head of all the winter cobwebs. The countryside is very clean and open with few trees and wide expanses of ploughed fields.  Every farm had a tractor, sometimes two, out ploughing and we guessed that what was going into the ground would be potatoes. When we were there last October we kept dodging huge wagon loads of potatoes going to market.

Just beyond the skyline in the photo the land drops away to the sea. There are some beaches, but not all are sandy and while we were lucky in October, this time we hit high tide at midday, which meant doing beach walks could turn out to be a risky business. 

The other deterrent was our dog. She revelled in the wide open spaces and went everywhere at a gallop, but she developed the habit of chasing sea birds along the tide line. Eyes glued to them, she twice ran into the sea and disappeared under an incoming wave. We decided we wouldn't risk a third time because nothing distracted her. Better safe than sorry.

A worrying thought

 

We have recentlytaken on a new satellite box which allows access to things like UKTV play and others.Scanning the offerings, I notice how many remakes there are available. I knew TheKilling was being remade for America and now I see other things too. Why isthis? Do they think today’s audiences won’t relate to the original? Are thereno good tv drama scripts available? 

I wonder how longit will be before they do a remake of Cleopatra or Lawrence of Arabia. Onsecond thoughts, films of that calibre would probably be far too expensive toremake today. I have fond memories of Ryan’s Daughter but the thought of thaton a little screen is sobering. It would be diminished somehow.

Another thing Inotice is how many tv dramas are centred on women and women’s lives. Sometimesit seems as if men are being written out of life. Police chiefs  always seem to be female on tv dramas. I wonder if "they" think along the lines of seeing it often on tv makes it acceptable and normal. If they accept that argument, then perhaps we have so much violence on the streets because we've seen it "normalized" on tv. It's a worrying thought.

More flames on the fire

 Occasionally I check for Book related news and 

this morning caught a snippet that sent a shudder through me.

It seems Omid Scobie, often known as "Meghan's mouthpiece," is writing a new book.

It will follow the story of a "young American woman who leaves a press role at the White House for one at Buckingham Palace. He will be co-writing the tome with US young adult fiction author Robin Benway, with it being billed as a "fun, fish-out-of-water romantic workplace comedy."
Scobie is 42 years old and must have made a lot of money out of writing books in the last decade. This one is going to be fiction. 


The pic is near Picton in New Zealand, just in case someone thinks it is Scotland.

To my shame...

The Best Books of 2023: Historical Fiction

(according to Waterstones.)





The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Taking inspiration from a real-life nineteenth-century imposture trial, Smith's immersive first historical novel weaves together the stories of a Scottish housekeeper with a novelist cousin, a formerly enslaved valet unexpectedly thrust into the limelight of a legal case and the missing heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.

North Woods by Daniel Mason

A novel with the quality of a spell, this mesmeric tale takes a single house in the woods of Massachusetts and those who inhabit it across four centuries to explore the countless ways in which the past lives on in nature, memory, language and the human heart.

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

A luminous epic that spans a quarter of a millennium and begins in fourteenth-century India where a girl is tasked by a goddess with giving women agency in a patriarchal world.

The Glutton by A. K. Blakemore

In this rich and absorbing tale of depravity, pleasure and class, Blakemore serves up another glorious evocation of the past, as a hungry peasant embarks on a curious crusade in revolutionary France.

Sharpe's Command by Bernard Cornwell

Another unputdownable entry in the mega-selling Sharpe series as Britannia puts her faith in our maverick hero to defend her troops from French forces in early nineteenth-century Spain.

The New Life by Tom Crewe

A tender and powerful tale of passion, progress and personal freedom that re-imagines the lives of the two men who published the first English medical textbook on homosexuality, Crewe’s beautiful novel is filled with nuance and forensic insight into love.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

A tour de force of historical storytelling, as a fleeing servant girl finds herself adrift in a world she can scarcely comprehend.

The Armour of Light - The Kingsbridge Novels by Ken Follett

A sweeping story of industrial unrest, oppressive government and the spectre of revolution in the tinderbox of the late eighteenth century

Wolves of Winter - Essex Dogs by Dan Jones

The siege of Calais and pirate ships spell new dangers for the Essex Dogs as the Hundred Years' War rages on in the second part of the gripping trilogy from the popular historian and broadcaster.

Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

The bestselling author of Ariadne and Elektra brings the formidable Atalanta and her adventures amidst the Argonauts to vivid life in another sweeping re-imagining of Greek myth.

Weyward by Emilia Hart

A woman fleeing an abusive relationship heads for Weyward Cottage and makes a startling discovery about her ancestors in this bewitching debut perfect for fans of Bridget Collins.

Well, there you go. The first ten and to my shame I have to say I have not read any of them!

How popular is historical romance?

 

Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods. Walter Scott began it all in the early 19th century. with books like Ivanhoe and Rob Roy.

Some say  historical romance dominates the romance genre. Others disagree.

Historical romance novels set in particular time periods usually offer rich character development plus descriptive prose. Some say that anything in a setting prior to 1950 is categorized as historical though those who were born before that date beg to differ!

The most popular eras are:
· Medieval Period· Viking Age· 17th Century Scottish Highlands· Colonial America· Regency England*· Victorian England· American Civil War· American Western Expansion· Early 20th Century *Regency historical denote stories between the time period of 1811-1820, during the Regency Era of England, sometimes expanded to 1795-1837. The emphasis of the story is often on the society of the times and usually imitates the dialogue habits of the time, but like the entire genre, swirls around a relationship that has a happy-ever-after conclusion.

(This list from the internet has taken American sales and habits into consideration, and because of the massive population in that country, they tend to swamp the lists.)

Kathleen Woodwiss and her book The Wolf and the Dove, which I read many years ago, is an example of the common belief that historical romance is full of women in corsets desperate for love in a patriarchal society. Older book covers of the genre have done little to help. Covers today tend to focus on the heroine wearing an exaggerated ball gown and do offer a heroine who has more on her mind than finding love
.

How popular is fantasy?

 As an ex-librarian I used to read the Bookseller.

Part of the job, and book selection was always a good part!

But now I find it is hiding behind a subscription wall just like the Guardian, Publishers Weekly and many more. So my attempt to discover the Top 20 books of fiction in 2023 was foiled. It's not desperate, but a trifle annoying. I can get a list from Amazon with no bother at all, but I suspect the titles will be vastly different.

I wanted to check and see how many fantasy books were now making inroads in the historical fiction market. Time travel and time swap novels have grown considerably in the last year or two. I read my first Urban Fantasy series last month, and thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm tempted to add fantasy elements to the story I'm attempting now.

I did this once with Magician's Bride and it didn't have a riotous reception. One reader said she thought it was more suitable for the children's market. Well, maybe that was because there was no sex in it as far as I recall and it appears sex has to be in everything these days. Whole generations seem to be hard wired for sex and it is hard to avoid (should you wish to do so!) on tv and in adverts. 

Not to worry. I shall continue to try and find a  list that I can access and see what I discover about historical fiction plus fantasy.

It's a puzzle

 

It sometimes puzzles me why we have so many charities in the UK.Avoiding the heart-rending appeals during tv advert breaks has become almostimpossible without a lot of channel flicking. There are charities to whom Idonate a couple of times a year, but I do not sign up to give money weekly ormonthly.

In 2023 168,850 charities were registered in England and Wales. The averageamount which people give to charity per month was 27 British pounds, comparedwith 24 pounds in 2019/20.

Those most likely to give are women, and the most charitableage group were those between 65 and 74. What also puzzles me is why people areso against increased tax in this country. If they are prepared to give all thismoney to charities, why not give via income tax? Perhaps it is a matter ofchoice, but it seems to me that extra pennies given by the taxable populationwould be far more efficient method than randomly selecting a charity. I supposesuch a move would mean many charity workers would lose their jobs, but then,when I donate to charity I hate to think of my money going to support some veryhighly paid Chief Executive of whichever charity, just as I also hate to thinkof those rich folk who pay almost no tax because they deal through off-shoreaccounts and the like. And then there are the workers who come here and sendthe bulk of their income “back home” where it does no one in this country anygood at all.

There is a lot that needs sorting out in this country.

"Goodreads is broken."

 Saw this today:

"Goodreads is broken. What began in 2007 as a promising tool for readers, authors, booksellers and publishers has become an unreliable, unmanageable, nearly unnavigable morass of unreliable data and unfettered ill will. Of course, the internet offers no shortage of bad data and ill will, but at its inception Goodreads promised something different: a gathering space where ardent readers could connect with writers and with one another, swapping impressions and sharing recommendations. It’s an idea that’s both obvious (the internet is great at helping like-minded people assemble) and essential (reading is a solitary activity, but there is great joy in talking through a book afterward). In fact, Goodreads is still an essential idea — so much so that it’s worth fighting to fix it...

Source: New York Times (free access)" 

I have to say I never got to grips with Goodreads. I never understood how to use it to my advantage as an author. But then, I was unaware it was never designed (as the article says) as a tool for authors but only as a place for readers to talk about books read. 

The site still displays the old covers I had for my self-published books because although I have much better covers now, I didn't find a way to change them on Goodreads. Essentially, I gave up trying to do so, thinking I needed a Master's degree in IT. It would be nice if Goodreads morphed into something I could use. Here's hoping!

 

Raunchy Readers

Spottedan article I thought many writers and readers might find worth reading, especially if they remember (and enjoyed) books that came out in the eighties. Iknow I did! 

Jilly Cooper has a new book out this year, and though for me footballis not such an attractive topic as horse riding maybe if I read the book, Imight change my view!

ClareThorp says:

“If the covers areiconic, it's what's beneath them that has made Cooper one of Britain's mostpopular and biggest-selling authors for the last four decades. Cooper writesirresistible sagas of sex and shenanigans among England's rural upper-middleclass society, featuring dashing cads, ambitious women, and a supporting castof horses, hounds and huge country houses. The behaviour is bad, the sexcopious, the parties raucous and the overall mood… well, rather jolly. Hercharacters manage to be deeply melodramatic, while never taking themselves tooseriously.”

“Turner – who playsCampbell-Black – has said making it has been the most fun he's had on any jobin his career. A dose of pure pleasure is what many of us are craving atthe moment, and, thankfully, it looks like Cooper will be spreading joy forsome time yet.” Regrettably, Aidan Turner’s words are locked away behinda subscription wall but some of you will be able to read them.

Read the whole article : By Clare Thorp 10th November 2023

From Riders to Tackle! – how Britain loves Jilly Cooper's raunchy novels - BBC Culture