Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 118

The Intricacies of Marriages of Convenience

I may have mentioned once or twice (ahem) how much I love the "marriage of convenience" plot. I recently finished reading one of Mary Balogh's recent novels, First Comes Marriage, which I really enjoyed, and which also got me thinking again about why I find that plot so rewarding, particularly in historical romance.Obviously, you can generate a lot of plot tension simply from two strangers

Happy Birthday, Ursula!

"We turn not older with years but newer every day." --Emily DickinsonToday is Ursula Kroeber LeGuin's 80th Birthday.[Photo copyright Eileen Gunn:]"Socrates said, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul." He wasn't talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used

The Thin Dead Line

Writers talk about their deadlines all the time."I have so many deadlines!" "I don't think I'm going to make that deadline." "At least your deadline is later than mine."I think we often forget how very important those deadlines actually are, even aside from the fact that we signed a contract saying we would meet certain deadlines and by the time the book is turned in, have usually already

The Basics - Historical Research Links

I usually prefer researching through physical books - I just like to carry them around. But the Internet is a wonderful resource, especially if you don't feel like trekking out to a library.The Internet Public Library is always a great starting point. "The IPL is many things: 1) the first public library of and for the Internet community; 2) an experiment, trying to discover and promote the most

Inspiration All Around

Here are some reasons I love living in Philadelphia. All of these photographs were taken while walking along 12th Street and its near vicinity in South Philadelphia.

Ivor Gurney, "Pain"

PainPain, pain continual; pain unending;Hard even to the roughest, but to thoseHungry for beauty...Not the wisest knows,Nor most pitiful-hearted, what the wendingOf one hour's way meant. Grey monotony lendingWeight to the grey skies, grey mud where goesAn army of grey bedrenched scarecrows in rowsCareless at last of cruellest Fate-sending.Seeing the pitiful eyes of men foredone,Or horses shot,

Denise Rossetti, What Lies Beneath - Guest Post

Please welcome my guest, Denise Rossetti!#What Lies BeneathI remember reading somewhere that authors only write one story – their own. Over and over again, in every single book. I don't recall who said it – it may have been Jennifer Crusie. Certainly the 'core story' is not a new idea, but it stayed with me. I was half fascinated, half horrified. What's my 'core story'? What have I been

CapClave 2009 Schedule

I'll be at CapClave 2009 this weekend.Here's my schedule:Fantasy-MysteryFriday, 8pm, MontroseAndrew Fox (m), Peter Heck, Victoria Janssen, Jean-Marie Ward, Diane WeinsteinFrom Harry Dresden to Rachel Morgan to Sookie Stackhouse to Anita Blake, a lot of popular urban fantasies/paranormal romances seem to be mysteries. Why add a third element to the mix? What works/doesn't work when you combine

Linkgasm #1

Fear of Kindle: Don't Bet Against the Paper Barons and How Newspapers Will Survive, both by science fiction author and music critic Tom Purdom.I can totally get into the Harvard Bookstore's new bookmaking robot, known to friends as "Paige M. Gutenborg." I mean, it's a robot. How cool is that? Now if the robot could write books, too, that would be something, and we'd really be living in the

Short Stories Versus Novels

1. Do you think that some writers are inherently "short story writers" and others are inherently "novel writers"?2. If you believe that's true, are the writers of one form incapable of writing the other to a base level of competence, or is it just that they're really a lot better at a single form and should devote all their time to it? If not, what do you think about length as a factor in writing