Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 102

Underclothes in World War One

Cunningham, C. Willett and Phillis. The History of Underclothes. London: Faber & Faber Ltd., revised ed. 1981.p. 141 by the end of WWI, women's lingerie was called "undies."p. 142 for men: united garments cover to the wrists and the ankles. Pants reach to ankle, drawers to knees. Vests are undershirts, with either long or short sleeves. Nightshirts were long. Pajamas were made of flannel or

Dissonant Details

The ultimate goal of sharing one's writing is for the reader to "get" what you've written. Seen from that point of view, what you've written is less important than how the reader interprets it. So it's important to try and direct the reader's interpretation if you can.One way to do that is dissonance. As in, if two things in the story don't match up, you can grab the reader's attention for a

Edgell Rickword, "War and Peace"

War and PeaceIn sodden trenches I have heard men speak, Though numb and wretched, wise and witty things; And loved them for the stubbornness that clings Longest to laughter when Death's pulleys creak; And seeing cool nurses move on tireless feet To do abominable things with grace, Deemed them sweet sisters in that haunted place Where, with child's voices, strong men howl or bleat. Yet now those

Ivor Gurney, "The Bohemians"

The BohemiansCertain people would not clean their buttons,Nor polish buckles after latest fashions,Preferred their hair long, putties comfortable,Barely escaping hanging, indeed hardly able;In Bridge and smoking without army cautionsSpending hours that sped like evil for quickness,(While others burnished brasses, earned promotions)These were those ones who jested in the trench,While others argued

American Memory Film Collection

American Memory Film Collection at the Library of Congress.Click on the title of the topic that interests you, then click on "List the Film Titles" for the individual film. That link will give you a choice of mpeg, rm, or QuickTime for most of the films. Which you can then watch. (Some of the topics are less straightforward, and you have to hunt a little for the list of available films.)The

A Weird Dislike

It's very weird and pointless, I know, but I have an aversion to the phrase multi-published.I understand what it means. It means you sold more than one story, or one book, and had it published. It's usually used to describe writers who are making a living from their work, but not always.But why does it matter? If it does matter, why don't we say double-published and triple-published and on and

Musings on Discovering/Implementing Theme in The Moonlight Mistress

Someone asked me fairly recently about how I use theme.For me, I might think about theme ahead of time, but it doesn't really start to manifest until I've written a certain amount of the manuscript. Then I start realizing what my subconscious is trying to tell me (or maybe my conscious mind gives it a name and a shape). Like, for The Moonlight Mistress I knew wolves were a symbol of the wild, but

Safer Sex in Erotica

Lisabet Sarai blogged on safer sex and erotic romance.For me, it depends on the story's sub-genre. In a fantastical setting, I don't usually mind if safer sex is not mentioned, because in science fiction or fantasy the issue can be easily covered by the worldbuilding (everybody has an injection! everybody has a spell!) even if the author hasn't mentioned it explicitly.In historicals, I wish

Backwards Outlining

I did not come up with this on my own; I got it from Sarah Monette back in 2003.Backwards or reverse outlining is, essentially, seeing what you've already done. It's an aid to structure, and it's helped me more than once.Take your completed novel draft. Outline it. What are the major ideas of each chapter, each scene?Study your outline. What did you repeat too many times? What didn't you

Ivor Gurney, "The Silent One"

The Silent OneWho died on the wires, and hung there, one of two--Who for his hours of life had chattered throughInfinite lovely chatter of Bucksaccent:Yet faced unbroken wires; stepped over, and wentA noble fool, faithful to his stripes --and ended.But I weak, hungry, and willing only for the chanceOf line--to fight in the line, lay down under unbrokenWires, and saw the flashes and kept unshaken,