Gillian Polack's Blog, page 264
March 13, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-03-13T11:11:00
It has been pointed out to me that the name of my time machine in my WIP is dull. I like it because it explains some of how it works (and saves me infodumping) but I mostly like it because it lends itself to bad jokes. It's a difficult choice - naming a time machine in the time-honoured SF fashion (calling it Wells or Lewis or Einstein or Willis or Davies or Le Guin) or having the capacity to make Star Trek puns and usenet jokes. Right now, I am opting for Star Trek puns, but I'm happy to hear the views of others on this crucial question.
What would you call my time machine if this Important Decision rested on your shoulders?
What would you call my time machine if this Important Decision rested on your shoulders?
March 12, 2011
Women's History Month: Wendy J. Dunn
Turning points – life is full of them. I can't remember my first turning point, but it shaped, and still shapes, my very identity. That turning point was when I learnt to read. Books have been part of my life beyond memory. They taught me about life through the magic of words.
Reading books soon brought me to my next turning point, yet another book. A child's book of English history, it was given to me by a friend for my tenth birthday. One chapter told the story of Elizabeth Tudor. After reading this chapter, I watched my tall, broad, bearded father behead another one of our pet chooks for the Sunday roast. It seemed I saw not my father but Henry VIII, a man also good at putting an axe to a bloody use. Far too often, my childhood home was not a happy place. I thought, Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth turned her life into triumph, why can't I? That book started my obsession with the Tudors and put my feet on the path I have walked ever since. I am who am because of my Tudor passion.
Another turning point was my marriage at eighteen. Ten months later I was a very young mother who believed she needed to sacrifice her own narrative core and authentic life, her very identity, to the roles of wife and mother.
The traumatic birth of my second son at twenty-two was my next turning point, leading swiftly to the next. Recovering in hospital, I reassessed my life and struggled to get my head above water; I did not know who I was any more. Lost, confused, I came home diagnosed with postnatal depression.
My older sister, bless her, who, throughout our childhoods and teenage years, had listened patiently to all my hopes and dreams for the future, directed my attention to La Trobe University's early leaver scheme. I wrote an essay, sat an exam, and found myself enrolled as a Bachelor of Arts student.
At the end of my first year I was pregnant with my third child. I nursed my precious new baby in the midst of study while seeking out constructive and gainful ways to keep two very active little boys occupied. Once, my baby girl grabbed my homework and ate it. Maybe it was an omen; she recently gained her Masters.
Studying at university made me passionate about Education – the key that opens many doors. I had horrible memories of my own primary education; idealistically, I thought if I trained as teacher I could make a difference. Over twenty years later, I am still idealistic. I feel privileged to be a teacher. The children I have taught over that time has taught me more than the other way around.
The next turning point of my life happened after I completed my Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Education. I started a Graduate Diploma in Arts Education hoping to claim a teaching territory more suited to my belief that creativity is the beating heart of humanity. The course did that and more – after years of reworking the first chapters, I finally finished the first draft of Dear Heart, How Like You This?.
The following turning point to change my life took ten years to arrive. During that time, thinking it was ready, I sent my novel-child out to publishers. I lacked the experience to realise the personal and encouraging rejections I received was a good sign. I was too unexperienced to realise that maybe it would be a good idea to be writing another novel, too, rather than wait for the world to acknowledge me as a writer through the publication of Dear Heart.
There were years when I was so disappointed to have my novel returned I gave up trying for months and months. Released from teaching during the summer holidays, I made time to edit the entire manuscript again. Despite all the deletions, the book grew another twenty thousand during those years.
Turning points are about timing, and life has taught me that things happen when they are meant to happen. Dear Heart was published the same year my father died, in 2002. Watching my father die, thinking that here died a man of such potential whose life had been twisted by his own lack of opportunities, that fear of change is fear of life itself, spurred me into finally signing the publishing contract I was worrying over. To be willing to face failure. Or success.
Yes - the publication of my first book opened my eyes to a hard publishing world, but also that recognition comes in many guises. Frustrated about my agent's lack of success in finding a publisher for my second novel, I decided to pursue my Masters in Writing via Swinburne University in 2008, hoping that would open new doors.
Now to my most recent turning point. After gaining my Masters at the end of 2009, I was invited to apply as tutor in the same course the following year. By August, I was accepted as a PhD student – with scholarship.
All my life turning points have brought me here – a contented lifelong learner, relishing teaching and nurturing new writers, whether at primary school or university, engaged in writing another Tudor novel for my PhD artefact, making plans to go to London in June to present my first conference paper.
Turning points don't turn you around, but turn the page of your life story. They point you in the direction of change, of real life. Of learning who you are and what you can become. Turning points make you truly live, and realise that life is the best adventure of all.
Author and playwright, Wendy J. Dunn is obsessed with Tudor History. Her first published novel, the award-winning "Dear Heart, How Like You This?" is described as "one of the best novels ever written about Anne Boleyn's life."
After completing her Masters in Writing at Swinburne University in 2009, Wendy took up a position as a sessional tutor in Writing. She became a PhD Candidate in August, 2010. Her own writing journey continues.
Reading books soon brought me to my next turning point, yet another book. A child's book of English history, it was given to me by a friend for my tenth birthday. One chapter told the story of Elizabeth Tudor. After reading this chapter, I watched my tall, broad, bearded father behead another one of our pet chooks for the Sunday roast. It seemed I saw not my father but Henry VIII, a man also good at putting an axe to a bloody use. Far too often, my childhood home was not a happy place. I thought, Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth turned her life into triumph, why can't I? That book started my obsession with the Tudors and put my feet on the path I have walked ever since. I am who am because of my Tudor passion.
Another turning point was my marriage at eighteen. Ten months later I was a very young mother who believed she needed to sacrifice her own narrative core and authentic life, her very identity, to the roles of wife and mother.
The traumatic birth of my second son at twenty-two was my next turning point, leading swiftly to the next. Recovering in hospital, I reassessed my life and struggled to get my head above water; I did not know who I was any more. Lost, confused, I came home diagnosed with postnatal depression.
My older sister, bless her, who, throughout our childhoods and teenage years, had listened patiently to all my hopes and dreams for the future, directed my attention to La Trobe University's early leaver scheme. I wrote an essay, sat an exam, and found myself enrolled as a Bachelor of Arts student.
At the end of my first year I was pregnant with my third child. I nursed my precious new baby in the midst of study while seeking out constructive and gainful ways to keep two very active little boys occupied. Once, my baby girl grabbed my homework and ate it. Maybe it was an omen; she recently gained her Masters.
Studying at university made me passionate about Education – the key that opens many doors. I had horrible memories of my own primary education; idealistically, I thought if I trained as teacher I could make a difference. Over twenty years later, I am still idealistic. I feel privileged to be a teacher. The children I have taught over that time has taught me more than the other way around.
The next turning point of my life happened after I completed my Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Education. I started a Graduate Diploma in Arts Education hoping to claim a teaching territory more suited to my belief that creativity is the beating heart of humanity. The course did that and more – after years of reworking the first chapters, I finally finished the first draft of Dear Heart, How Like You This?.
The following turning point to change my life took ten years to arrive. During that time, thinking it was ready, I sent my novel-child out to publishers. I lacked the experience to realise the personal and encouraging rejections I received was a good sign. I was too unexperienced to realise that maybe it would be a good idea to be writing another novel, too, rather than wait for the world to acknowledge me as a writer through the publication of Dear Heart.
There were years when I was so disappointed to have my novel returned I gave up trying for months and months. Released from teaching during the summer holidays, I made time to edit the entire manuscript again. Despite all the deletions, the book grew another twenty thousand during those years.
Turning points are about timing, and life has taught me that things happen when they are meant to happen. Dear Heart was published the same year my father died, in 2002. Watching my father die, thinking that here died a man of such potential whose life had been twisted by his own lack of opportunities, that fear of change is fear of life itself, spurred me into finally signing the publishing contract I was worrying over. To be willing to face failure. Or success.
Yes - the publication of my first book opened my eyes to a hard publishing world, but also that recognition comes in many guises. Frustrated about my agent's lack of success in finding a publisher for my second novel, I decided to pursue my Masters in Writing via Swinburne University in 2008, hoping that would open new doors.
Now to my most recent turning point. After gaining my Masters at the end of 2009, I was invited to apply as tutor in the same course the following year. By August, I was accepted as a PhD student – with scholarship.
All my life turning points have brought me here – a contented lifelong learner, relishing teaching and nurturing new writers, whether at primary school or university, engaged in writing another Tudor novel for my PhD artefact, making plans to go to London in June to present my first conference paper.
Turning points don't turn you around, but turn the page of your life story. They point you in the direction of change, of real life. Of learning who you are and what you can become. Turning points make you truly live, and realise that life is the best adventure of all.
Author and playwright, Wendy J. Dunn is obsessed with Tudor History. Her first published novel, the award-winning "Dear Heart, How Like You This?" is described as "one of the best novels ever written about Anne Boleyn's life."
After completing her Masters in Writing at Swinburne University in 2009, Wendy took up a position as a sessional tutor in Writing. She became a PhD Candidate in August, 2010. Her own writing journey continues.
Ditmar nominations
We're in the home stretch, Australian fans (for the nominations, anyhow) - have you got yours in yet? You can check out most of the eligible works here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/2011_Ditmar_eligibility_list
You can fill in the nomination form here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html
If you don't think the Ditmar committee will recognise you as a fan and if you know me (which is proof to me that you are one, from one or other a direction) feel free to use my name as a reference.
Two more days, folks. Fill out that form now.
You can fill in the nomination form here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html
If you don't think the Ditmar committee will recognise you as a fan and if you know me (which is proof to me that you are one, from one or other a direction) feel free to use my name as a reference.
Two more days, folks. Fill out that form now.
Women's History Month: Lucy Sussex
THE MOTHERS OF CRIME FICTION AND WHY I HAD TO GO LOOKING FOR THEM
A long time ago, I was handed a research project. I was working for Professor Stephen Knight, then at Melbourne University. He was writing a book on the history of crime fiction, which meant I had the fun of being paid to read through the source matter and tell him if it was worth his attention or not. But early on in the research, he had a puzzle: there was supposedly an early woman crime writer working in Melbourne in the 19th century, named Mrs Fortune. Did she exist, or was she a pseudonym for another better-known writer, say Marcus Clarke?
The answer to that puzzle was 'Yes', and an enduring research interest in early crime fiction and the women who wrote it. Mary Fortune would prove to have written over 500 detective stories, in a series that lasted for forty years, the longest early serial in the crime genre, worldwide. She was also a bigamist (her second husband being a policeman), had an illegitimate child, and a truly bohemian existence—at a time when women were supposed to be paragons of virtue.
But she was hardly isolated as a pioneer in the crime genre. The popular belief is that crime was invented by Edgar Allan Poe, refined by Wilkie Collins 20 years later, and then came to an early fruition with Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. This genealogy admitted one mother of genre, American Anna Katharine Green, whose first detective novel was a bestseller in 1878. In fact, Mary Fortune preceded her, as did other, very interesting women.
Consider these other mothers of genre:
• Metta Victor, who wrote the first American detective novel, The Dead Letter, in 1866, and was also a mother of nine children.
• Mary Braddon, the major rival to Wilkie Collins, who had six children out of wedlock with her publisher, whilst being a bestselling author of novels featuring murder, mystery and detection.
• Catherine Crowe, who had a bestselling novel Susan Hopley; or, Circumstantial Evidence, which begins with a murder, ends with its solution, and has no less than three female detectives. It was published in January 1840, four months before Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, popularly considered the originating text for the crime genre.
Add women and stir is a putdown of feminist research into history (with the emphasis on his). In my case the intent was stirring in the Australian sense, causing trouble. A study of the mothers of the crime genre had never been done, partly because of the huge amount of primary texts—over 5000 crime novels in English alone were published in the period 1800-1900. Even after I identified the principal mothers, a host of other authors begged for attention. For reasons of space, I had to leave them out of what became Women Writers and Detectives in Nineteenth-century Crime Fiction: the Mothers of the Mystery Genre, which was published in England by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2010.
But consider this fact: that in an era where women were typically categorized as demure and house-bound, without control over their own fertility, and forbade access to professions such as law and the police, they still wrote crime fiction that competed with, and frequently surpassed, that of their male counterparts. As Val McDermid said in her preface to the book, they made up for what they lacked in experience with vivid, and even bloody imagination.
Which is a lesson every writer, regardless of genre, should consider.
I had good fun delving through the archives and rare book libraries researching the book, learning a lot about women and their stories—and also, if we don't watch out, how easily the history of women can be forgotten. In an ideal world, I shouldn't have had to write the book. But I'm glad I did, because I gained so much, in terms of knowledge and the inspiration these brave, gifted and tough women can be to all of us.
Lucy Sussex is an award-winning, ground-breaking Australian writer. My favourite story is the one she did for me for Baggage. Or maybe it's My Lady Tongue. Or those doll stories... or...You can find out more about her on her home page.
Gillian
A long time ago, I was handed a research project. I was working for Professor Stephen Knight, then at Melbourne University. He was writing a book on the history of crime fiction, which meant I had the fun of being paid to read through the source matter and tell him if it was worth his attention or not. But early on in the research, he had a puzzle: there was supposedly an early woman crime writer working in Melbourne in the 19th century, named Mrs Fortune. Did she exist, or was she a pseudonym for another better-known writer, say Marcus Clarke?
The answer to that puzzle was 'Yes', and an enduring research interest in early crime fiction and the women who wrote it. Mary Fortune would prove to have written over 500 detective stories, in a series that lasted for forty years, the longest early serial in the crime genre, worldwide. She was also a bigamist (her second husband being a policeman), had an illegitimate child, and a truly bohemian existence—at a time when women were supposed to be paragons of virtue.
But she was hardly isolated as a pioneer in the crime genre. The popular belief is that crime was invented by Edgar Allan Poe, refined by Wilkie Collins 20 years later, and then came to an early fruition with Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. This genealogy admitted one mother of genre, American Anna Katharine Green, whose first detective novel was a bestseller in 1878. In fact, Mary Fortune preceded her, as did other, very interesting women.
Consider these other mothers of genre:
• Metta Victor, who wrote the first American detective novel, The Dead Letter, in 1866, and was also a mother of nine children.
• Mary Braddon, the major rival to Wilkie Collins, who had six children out of wedlock with her publisher, whilst being a bestselling author of novels featuring murder, mystery and detection.
• Catherine Crowe, who had a bestselling novel Susan Hopley; or, Circumstantial Evidence, which begins with a murder, ends with its solution, and has no less than three female detectives. It was published in January 1840, four months before Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, popularly considered the originating text for the crime genre.
Add women and stir is a putdown of feminist research into history (with the emphasis on his). In my case the intent was stirring in the Australian sense, causing trouble. A study of the mothers of the crime genre had never been done, partly because of the huge amount of primary texts—over 5000 crime novels in English alone were published in the period 1800-1900. Even after I identified the principal mothers, a host of other authors begged for attention. For reasons of space, I had to leave them out of what became Women Writers and Detectives in Nineteenth-century Crime Fiction: the Mothers of the Mystery Genre, which was published in England by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2010.
But consider this fact: that in an era where women were typically categorized as demure and house-bound, without control over their own fertility, and forbade access to professions such as law and the police, they still wrote crime fiction that competed with, and frequently surpassed, that of their male counterparts. As Val McDermid said in her preface to the book, they made up for what they lacked in experience with vivid, and even bloody imagination.
Which is a lesson every writer, regardless of genre, should consider.
I had good fun delving through the archives and rare book libraries researching the book, learning a lot about women and their stories—and also, if we don't watch out, how easily the history of women can be forgotten. In an ideal world, I shouldn't have had to write the book. But I'm glad I did, because I gained so much, in terms of knowledge and the inspiration these brave, gifted and tough women can be to all of us.
Lucy Sussex is an award-winning, ground-breaking Australian writer. My favourite story is the one she did for me for Baggage. Or maybe it's My Lady Tongue. Or those doll stories... or...You can find out more about her on her home page.
Gillian
gillpolack @ 2011-03-12T11:23:00
Today is all about catch-up. On top of various other things last week, we had burning off and my body reacted to it bigtime. I'm a more slender human being today, which means that the worst is fixed. It also means I will be spending less time in bed (I got suddenly sick of sleeping all the time just twenty minutes ago, and stripped the bed so that I'm forced to stay up for a bit - I'm still a step beyond fatigue, however) and working harder and yes, I'm even up to making jokes. It'll take a week or two for the effects to wholly dissipate, but then, it'll take a week or two for me to get back to normal after my cousin's death. I am resigned to an interesting fortnight. I really ought to resign myself to an interesting life and be done with.
I think all the really good news (and there *is* really good news) can wait until after this slew of nasties has gone.
This is my 5364th entry. Not a significant number: I just haven't been given a tally of them until now.
More Women's History Month later! (right now, though, more coffee)
I think all the really good news (and there *is* really good news) can wait until after this slew of nasties has gone.
This is my 5364th entry. Not a significant number: I just haven't been given a tally of them until now.
More Women's History Month later! (right now, though, more coffee)
March 11, 2011
Women's History Month: Pamela Freeman
Here's a forgotten woman of history for you: Mrs Harry Bonney.
Never heard of her? Although that's the name she preferred, she's better known as Lores (pron. Lory) Bonney, and she was one of the first great pilots in Australia.
She was the first woman to fly from Australia to London (in 1933) and the first person to fly from Australia to South Africa four years later.
For many years she held the Australian long distance flying record.
Why haven't you heard of her?
Well, because she didn't die, basically, and because she stopped flying during World War II. She was well-prepared, fully-funded (by her husband and Shell Oil), and lucky. She made it through several close shaves but always emerged with her poise and her frocks intact.
Also, she arrived in London not long after Amy Johnson had successfully made the Lond-Australia flight, and the Brits weren't nearly as impressed by this colonial flyer as the Australians were by Johnson. (And maybe it's because she was happily married and used her husband's name – not so attractive to those looking for feminist role models.)
What I love about Lores Bonney (and I was lucky enough to meet her and interview her when I worked for the Powerhouse Museum) was that she didn't confine herself to flying. At 65, she went down the Amazon by canoe. At 70, she went to Japan and became the first Westerner to be accredited as a bonsai master.
Incidentally, she never learnt to drive, because her father made her husband promise Harry would never allow her to before he would consent to their marriage. Harry kept his promise – but he paid for her flying lessons, and bought her a Gypsy Moth instead!
Her advice to me (and Karen Miller, who was with me on that day) was the best advice I've ever been given:
Don't let them tell you you can't do it.
Pamela Freeman is an Australian writer whose first adult fantasy series, the Castings Trilogy (Blood Ties, Deep Water, Full Circle), is published globally by Orbit Books. Pamela is also an award-winning author of 19 children's books. Her most recent children's book is Lollylegs, from Walker Books, which is published here and in the UK next month. Pamela's new adult fantasy novel, Ember and Ash, will also be published in March and she is working on a fantasy series for children for Walker Books. [She also has a secret passion for green bunnies (but don't tell her I told you! Gillian]
Never heard of her? Although that's the name she preferred, she's better known as Lores (pron. Lory) Bonney, and she was one of the first great pilots in Australia.
She was the first woman to fly from Australia to London (in 1933) and the first person to fly from Australia to South Africa four years later.
For many years she held the Australian long distance flying record.
Why haven't you heard of her?
Well, because she didn't die, basically, and because she stopped flying during World War II. She was well-prepared, fully-funded (by her husband and Shell Oil), and lucky. She made it through several close shaves but always emerged with her poise and her frocks intact.
Also, she arrived in London not long after Amy Johnson had successfully made the Lond-Australia flight, and the Brits weren't nearly as impressed by this colonial flyer as the Australians were by Johnson. (And maybe it's because she was happily married and used her husband's name – not so attractive to those looking for feminist role models.)
What I love about Lores Bonney (and I was lucky enough to meet her and interview her when I worked for the Powerhouse Museum) was that she didn't confine herself to flying. At 65, she went down the Amazon by canoe. At 70, she went to Japan and became the first Westerner to be accredited as a bonsai master.
Incidentally, she never learnt to drive, because her father made her husband promise Harry would never allow her to before he would consent to their marriage. Harry kept his promise – but he paid for her flying lessons, and bought her a Gypsy Moth instead!
Her advice to me (and Karen Miller, who was with me on that day) was the best advice I've ever been given:
Don't let them tell you you can't do it.
Pamela Freeman is an Australian writer whose first adult fantasy series, the Castings Trilogy (Blood Ties, Deep Water, Full Circle), is published globally by Orbit Books. Pamela is also an award-winning author of 19 children's books. Her most recent children's book is Lollylegs, from Walker Books, which is published here and in the UK next month. Pamela's new adult fantasy novel, Ember and Ash, will also be published in March and she is working on a fantasy series for children for Walker Books. [She also has a secret passion for green bunnies (but don't tell her I told you! Gillian]
On women in spec fic
I want to direct other women who write spec fic to Jeri's post. We've been complaining for a while about inequities, but we're short on solutions (I'm very short on solutions - this might be might be something to do with my actual height being five foot and three inches). There was a big kerfuffle over awards last year, and a bunch of us have been noticing and commenting on the reviewing situation and certain tables of contents.
I don't know if an equivalent of Sisters-in-Crime would work for us, or if we're too delightfully idiosyncratic, but bears thinking about and Jeri has given us something to start that thinking happening.
I don't know if an equivalent of Sisters-in-Crime would work for us, or if we're too delightfully idiosyncratic, but bears thinking about and Jeri has given us something to start that thinking happening.
Women's History Month: Jeri Westerson
Gillian asked me to write a post about my passion. Well, I've got two. One is history. And the other is writing. Lucky me, I get to combine them when I write my medieval mysteries.
Publishing my novels was something that was a long time in coming. Through over a decade of hard work, perseverance, and support from a lot of women in the same boat, I finally saw the fruits of my labors.
I don't write about women much in my novels. I always had a rather male-centric writing style, but I certainly benefitted from association with women. Specifically, Sisters in Crime. Sisters in Crime or SinC is not a group of manic nuns. Instead, it's an international organization of women crime and mystery writers who share their woes, their stories, their successes with like-minded women on listservs and in person in chapter meetings all over the country and at various mystery fan conventions and writing conferences. It's tough as a would be author to slog through the mire of the publishing industry. I don't even see how it's possible to get published in the traditional sense with an agent and big New York publisher without some sort of help. For me, that help came in this organization. Writing is a very solitary job. You sit in an office alone, writing for hours at a time with nothing but your keyboard and your imagination. And though I do enjoy this solo enterprise, you can't succeed in a vacuum. It takes the eyes of critique partners and perhaps a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes my mail delivery was full of rejections. It's hard to take that alone.
Twenty-five years ago, mystery author Sara Paretsky saw inequality when it came to reviews in the major publications. Mystery novels written by women were being snubbed when it came to reviews. Why the inequality? In some cases, male reviewers flat out refused to review books written by women. Are you shocked? So was she. She networked with other female mystery novelists and ended up developing Sisters in Crime.
Today, the main mission of Sisters in Crime is to "promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry." It doesn't mean we exclude men from membership. Oh no. They are our "misters" in crime. But each year, SinC surveys various periodicals throughout the country and does the numbers. The survey shows how many men and how many women authors are reviewed. Unfortunately, the numbers are still unequal, even though more women than men write mystery novels and more women than men buy them.
I don't mean this to be a big advertisement for Sisters in Crime, but it has been the one place where I have truly gotten some meaningful help in my long search to get published. Through the information I gleaned and the networking I did, I was able to get a handle on this difficult and challenging industry.
And what finally happened, you ask? In 2007, I sold my first book, VEIL OF LIES. Now in 2011, I am looking forward to the publication of my fifth novel. Write on!
Jeri Westerson is the author of the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series. She is also the president of her chapter of Sisters in Crime in Orange County, California. You can read excerpts of her novels or follow the discussion guides at www.JeriWesterson.com.
Publishing my novels was something that was a long time in coming. Through over a decade of hard work, perseverance, and support from a lot of women in the same boat, I finally saw the fruits of my labors.
I don't write about women much in my novels. I always had a rather male-centric writing style, but I certainly benefitted from association with women. Specifically, Sisters in Crime. Sisters in Crime or SinC is not a group of manic nuns. Instead, it's an international organization of women crime and mystery writers who share their woes, their stories, their successes with like-minded women on listservs and in person in chapter meetings all over the country and at various mystery fan conventions and writing conferences. It's tough as a would be author to slog through the mire of the publishing industry. I don't even see how it's possible to get published in the traditional sense with an agent and big New York publisher without some sort of help. For me, that help came in this organization. Writing is a very solitary job. You sit in an office alone, writing for hours at a time with nothing but your keyboard and your imagination. And though I do enjoy this solo enterprise, you can't succeed in a vacuum. It takes the eyes of critique partners and perhaps a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes my mail delivery was full of rejections. It's hard to take that alone.
Twenty-five years ago, mystery author Sara Paretsky saw inequality when it came to reviews in the major publications. Mystery novels written by women were being snubbed when it came to reviews. Why the inequality? In some cases, male reviewers flat out refused to review books written by women. Are you shocked? So was she. She networked with other female mystery novelists and ended up developing Sisters in Crime.
Today, the main mission of Sisters in Crime is to "promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry." It doesn't mean we exclude men from membership. Oh no. They are our "misters" in crime. But each year, SinC surveys various periodicals throughout the country and does the numbers. The survey shows how many men and how many women authors are reviewed. Unfortunately, the numbers are still unequal, even though more women than men write mystery novels and more women than men buy them.
I don't mean this to be a big advertisement for Sisters in Crime, but it has been the one place where I have truly gotten some meaningful help in my long search to get published. Through the information I gleaned and the networking I did, I was able to get a handle on this difficult and challenging industry.
And what finally happened, you ask? In 2007, I sold my first book, VEIL OF LIES. Now in 2011, I am looking forward to the publication of my fifth novel. Write on!
Jeri Westerson is the author of the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series. She is also the president of her chapter of Sisters in Crime in Orange County, California. You can read excerpts of her novels or follow the discussion guides at www.JeriWesterson.com.
gillpolack @ 2011-03-11T13:19:00
It's Friday and I think you all deserve two WHM posts today. I might do two on Monday, as well, given it's Canberra Day.
In other news, things are still going triple the normal pace at the same rate of bad things to good things. What this means is that I now have several rather nice things to jubilate about, when the bad stuff decides to go away. I'm maintaining my Red Queeness, but it requires much focus. Also coffee.
I have two lists for today - one is the 'can't avoid' and the other is the 'really ought to do.'
In other news, things are still going triple the normal pace at the same rate of bad things to good things. What this means is that I now have several rather nice things to jubilate about, when the bad stuff decides to go away. I'm maintaining my Red Queeness, but it requires much focus. Also coffee.
I have two lists for today - one is the 'can't avoid' and the other is the 'really ought to do.'
March 10, 2011
Women's History Month: Kate Forsyth
In search of Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force
Although my body is here in my study, in Sydney in the 21st century, my mind and my soul have spent most of the past year in Versailles, at the magnificent and corrupt court of the Sun King, in witty Parisian salons, and imprisoned within the walls and locked doors of a Benedictine nunnery.
I never expected to find myself immersed in the grand siècle world of King Louis XIV. I thought I was writing a quite different novel. But sometimes authors set out to write one story, and find themselves instead in thrall of something quite different, a tale that demands to be told.
So it was with me and Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force.
I first became interested in Charlotte-Rose when I was researching the history of the Rapunzel fairytale. I had wanted to write a novel which retold the story of Rapunzel for many years, and so I had begun to search out other retellings of the tale, plus any essays or articles that I could find. One day I read an essay entitled 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair' by the US writer Terri Windling, published in Endicott Studio's Spring 2006 Journal of Mythic Arts.
Terri Windling explained how the Grimm Brothers' story 'Rapunzel' had not been a folktale passed down orally from generation to generation, but in fact a retelling of an earlier tale, 'Persinette', written by the French writer Charlotte–Rose de Caumont de La Force, which was itself a retelling of an earlier Italian story, 'Petrosinella', published by Giambattista Basile in 1634.
Terri Windling wrote: 'La Force and other writers of the period championed the idea of consensual, companionate marriages ruled by love and civility ... The emphasis on love and romance in their stories can seem quaint and saccharine today, but such stories were progressive, even subversive, in the context of the time. La Force herself was an independently–minded woman from a noble family who caused several scandals in her quest to live a life that was self–determined. She fell in love and attempted to marry a young man without parental permission. When his family locked him up to prevent an elopement, she snuck into his room dressed as a bear with a traveling theater troupe! The couple escaped, and married — but the law eventually caught up to them and the marriage was annulled. She then got caught publishing satirical works critical of King Louis XIV. La Force was exiled to a convent for this crime — where she wrote her book of fairy tales and a series of popular historical novels. Eventually released, she spent the rest of her life earning her own living through her writing.'
I was utterly intrigued by this story. A woman who would disguise herself as a dancing bear so she could rescue her lover was exactly my kind of woman! I was also struck by the fact that she wrote "Persinette" – a story of a girl locked away in a tower – while incarcerated in a convent herself. I began to think how I could use the story of Charlotte-Rose as a kind of framing device for my retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale.
I began to research her life. It was not an easy task, as most biographies of her are even briefer than the passage by Terri Windling above. However, I discovered that a French academic, Michel Souloumiac, had written a biography of her entitled Mademoiselle de la Force: Un auteur méconnu de XVII siècle (A Disregarded Author of the 17th century). No copies of this book were available via the Internet, and the book had been self-published. I tried to find a way to contact the author, but was to find all the usual avenues – personal websites, facebook, twitter – of no help at all. My task was not made any easier by my very poor French. Finally, I managed to find a copy of the book for sale on a French website and – with the help of a French translator – was able to obtain a copy of the book and have it translated into English. What a treasure I discovered! Charlotte-Rose's life story was even more extraordinary than I could have hoped for, filled with romantic intrigue, scandal, cruelty, and black magic.
Charlotte Rose de Caumont de la Force was born into an aristocratic family in 1650, the younger of two sisters. Her father – who died when she was only a baby - was the seventh son of the Duc de la Force, a proud and fervent Huguenot who had fought against the king in the bloody religious wars of the early 17th century. Her mother was King Louis XIV's second cousin, and the chatelaine of a medieval castle in Gascony, the Chateau de Cazeneuve, which had once been the prison of Queen Margot, infamous as the catalyst for the St Bartholomew Day's massacre. Charlotte-Rose was born at the Chateau de Cazeneuve and had a happy and adventurous childhood there.
Then, in the spring of her 10th year, His Most Catholic Majesty King Louis XIV came to visit the chateau on his way to Spain to meet his new wife, Maria Theresa of Spain. Two years later, he had Charlotte-Rose's mother dragged off to a convent against her will. The baroness of Cazeneuve was a devout Protestant; she was to be incarcerated until she recanted her faith and was baptised as a Catholic. Since she died in the convent, it seems as if she refused. Charlotte-Rose and her sister became wards of the king.
At the age of 16, Charlotte-Rose was summoned to court to serve as one of Queen Maria-Theresa's ladies-in-waiting. She scandalised the court with her wayward behaviour, first taking as her lover Moliere's protégé, the actor Michel Baron, and then becoming engaged to the Marquis of Nesle. When the marquis's family took him away from court, in an attempt to break the engagement, the marquis attempted to drown himself. In the struggle to save him, his cousins accidentally tore away a pouch he wore about his neck. At once the marquis became calm, and lost all desire to kill himself for love of Charlotte-Rose. Indeed, he lost all desire for Charlotte-Rose at all. On investigating the pouch, toads' legs and a bat's wing were found wrapped in a parchment inscribed with magical words and symbols. Charlotte-Rose, the court whispered, had obviously ensnared the marquis with black magic.
She was eventually called before the Chambre Ardente, the French Inquisition, and questioned, but no charges were laid. The French court was at that time convulsed by the Affair of the Poisons, a scandal about poison, murder, satanism and infanticide which had implicated the King's favourite mistress. Whether it was Charlotte-Rose's kinship with the King or whether the King feared what further investigations would reveal about those closest to him can never be known, but Charlotte-Rose was lucky not be burnt at the stake like many other women at that time.
Then Charlotte-Rose fell in love with a much younger man, Charles Briou. When his family kidnapped him and locked him up in their chateau, Charlotte-Rose did indeed disguise herself in a bearskin and visited the chateau with a travelling troupe of actors. She was able to speak with her lover and make a plan for his release. As soon as he was free, the couple eloped and for ten days were blissfully happy. Charles's father had Charlotte-Rose charged with unlawfully marrying a minor (even though they married a month after he had turned 25), and the court found in his favour. The marriage was annulled and Charlotte-Rose was charged a thousand gold louis.
Desperately poor, Charlotte-Rose turned her hand to writing. She wrote a series of 'secret histories' – historical novels that told the 'true' story of people such as the scandalous Queen Margot who had once been imprisoned in her home, the Chateau de Cazeneuve. Her books were enormously popular – even though most had to be published outside France to escape the king's censors – and Charlotte-Rose became a cause célèbre. Rumours that she had become the Dauphin's mistress and the publication of some satirical Noels displeased the ageing and now fanatically devout king, and she was given the choice of exile or the convent. Charlotte-Rose chose the convent, and spent the next eleven years locked inside its high, stone walls. While there, she wrote her collection of fairy tales and a number of other 'secret histories'. The money she earned through her writing, plus her growing literary reputation, at last secured her freedom, though she was not permitted to return to court.
When I began discovering Charlotte-Rose's story, I thought hers would be a framing device for my real story, the retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale. Charlotte-Rose refused to be sidelined, however. Her personality was so strong and her voice so clear to me, she ended up running away with the story. She was born ahead of her time, a strong-willed and intelligent woman who was determined to be the mistress of her own fate.
Kate Forsyth's novel Bitter Greens will be published with Random House Australia next year. It interweaves a retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale with the life story of one of its first tellers, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force.
Although my body is here in my study, in Sydney in the 21st century, my mind and my soul have spent most of the past year in Versailles, at the magnificent and corrupt court of the Sun King, in witty Parisian salons, and imprisoned within the walls and locked doors of a Benedictine nunnery.
I never expected to find myself immersed in the grand siècle world of King Louis XIV. I thought I was writing a quite different novel. But sometimes authors set out to write one story, and find themselves instead in thrall of something quite different, a tale that demands to be told.
So it was with me and Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force.
I first became interested in Charlotte-Rose when I was researching the history of the Rapunzel fairytale. I had wanted to write a novel which retold the story of Rapunzel for many years, and so I had begun to search out other retellings of the tale, plus any essays or articles that I could find. One day I read an essay entitled 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair' by the US writer Terri Windling, published in Endicott Studio's Spring 2006 Journal of Mythic Arts.
Terri Windling explained how the Grimm Brothers' story 'Rapunzel' had not been a folktale passed down orally from generation to generation, but in fact a retelling of an earlier tale, 'Persinette', written by the French writer Charlotte–Rose de Caumont de La Force, which was itself a retelling of an earlier Italian story, 'Petrosinella', published by Giambattista Basile in 1634.
Terri Windling wrote: 'La Force and other writers of the period championed the idea of consensual, companionate marriages ruled by love and civility ... The emphasis on love and romance in their stories can seem quaint and saccharine today, but such stories were progressive, even subversive, in the context of the time. La Force herself was an independently–minded woman from a noble family who caused several scandals in her quest to live a life that was self–determined. She fell in love and attempted to marry a young man without parental permission. When his family locked him up to prevent an elopement, she snuck into his room dressed as a bear with a traveling theater troupe! The couple escaped, and married — but the law eventually caught up to them and the marriage was annulled. She then got caught publishing satirical works critical of King Louis XIV. La Force was exiled to a convent for this crime — where she wrote her book of fairy tales and a series of popular historical novels. Eventually released, she spent the rest of her life earning her own living through her writing.'
I was utterly intrigued by this story. A woman who would disguise herself as a dancing bear so she could rescue her lover was exactly my kind of woman! I was also struck by the fact that she wrote "Persinette" – a story of a girl locked away in a tower – while incarcerated in a convent herself. I began to think how I could use the story of Charlotte-Rose as a kind of framing device for my retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale.
I began to research her life. It was not an easy task, as most biographies of her are even briefer than the passage by Terri Windling above. However, I discovered that a French academic, Michel Souloumiac, had written a biography of her entitled Mademoiselle de la Force: Un auteur méconnu de XVII siècle (A Disregarded Author of the 17th century). No copies of this book were available via the Internet, and the book had been self-published. I tried to find a way to contact the author, but was to find all the usual avenues – personal websites, facebook, twitter – of no help at all. My task was not made any easier by my very poor French. Finally, I managed to find a copy of the book for sale on a French website and – with the help of a French translator – was able to obtain a copy of the book and have it translated into English. What a treasure I discovered! Charlotte-Rose's life story was even more extraordinary than I could have hoped for, filled with romantic intrigue, scandal, cruelty, and black magic.
Charlotte Rose de Caumont de la Force was born into an aristocratic family in 1650, the younger of two sisters. Her father – who died when she was only a baby - was the seventh son of the Duc de la Force, a proud and fervent Huguenot who had fought against the king in the bloody religious wars of the early 17th century. Her mother was King Louis XIV's second cousin, and the chatelaine of a medieval castle in Gascony, the Chateau de Cazeneuve, which had once been the prison of Queen Margot, infamous as the catalyst for the St Bartholomew Day's massacre. Charlotte-Rose was born at the Chateau de Cazeneuve and had a happy and adventurous childhood there.
Then, in the spring of her 10th year, His Most Catholic Majesty King Louis XIV came to visit the chateau on his way to Spain to meet his new wife, Maria Theresa of Spain. Two years later, he had Charlotte-Rose's mother dragged off to a convent against her will. The baroness of Cazeneuve was a devout Protestant; she was to be incarcerated until she recanted her faith and was baptised as a Catholic. Since she died in the convent, it seems as if she refused. Charlotte-Rose and her sister became wards of the king.
At the age of 16, Charlotte-Rose was summoned to court to serve as one of Queen Maria-Theresa's ladies-in-waiting. She scandalised the court with her wayward behaviour, first taking as her lover Moliere's protégé, the actor Michel Baron, and then becoming engaged to the Marquis of Nesle. When the marquis's family took him away from court, in an attempt to break the engagement, the marquis attempted to drown himself. In the struggle to save him, his cousins accidentally tore away a pouch he wore about his neck. At once the marquis became calm, and lost all desire to kill himself for love of Charlotte-Rose. Indeed, he lost all desire for Charlotte-Rose at all. On investigating the pouch, toads' legs and a bat's wing were found wrapped in a parchment inscribed with magical words and symbols. Charlotte-Rose, the court whispered, had obviously ensnared the marquis with black magic.
She was eventually called before the Chambre Ardente, the French Inquisition, and questioned, but no charges were laid. The French court was at that time convulsed by the Affair of the Poisons, a scandal about poison, murder, satanism and infanticide which had implicated the King's favourite mistress. Whether it was Charlotte-Rose's kinship with the King or whether the King feared what further investigations would reveal about those closest to him can never be known, but Charlotte-Rose was lucky not be burnt at the stake like many other women at that time.
Then Charlotte-Rose fell in love with a much younger man, Charles Briou. When his family kidnapped him and locked him up in their chateau, Charlotte-Rose did indeed disguise herself in a bearskin and visited the chateau with a travelling troupe of actors. She was able to speak with her lover and make a plan for his release. As soon as he was free, the couple eloped and for ten days were blissfully happy. Charles's father had Charlotte-Rose charged with unlawfully marrying a minor (even though they married a month after he had turned 25), and the court found in his favour. The marriage was annulled and Charlotte-Rose was charged a thousand gold louis.
Desperately poor, Charlotte-Rose turned her hand to writing. She wrote a series of 'secret histories' – historical novels that told the 'true' story of people such as the scandalous Queen Margot who had once been imprisoned in her home, the Chateau de Cazeneuve. Her books were enormously popular – even though most had to be published outside France to escape the king's censors – and Charlotte-Rose became a cause célèbre. Rumours that she had become the Dauphin's mistress and the publication of some satirical Noels displeased the ageing and now fanatically devout king, and she was given the choice of exile or the convent. Charlotte-Rose chose the convent, and spent the next eleven years locked inside its high, stone walls. While there, she wrote her collection of fairy tales and a number of other 'secret histories'. The money she earned through her writing, plus her growing literary reputation, at last secured her freedom, though she was not permitted to return to court.
When I began discovering Charlotte-Rose's story, I thought hers would be a framing device for my real story, the retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale. Charlotte-Rose refused to be sidelined, however. Her personality was so strong and her voice so clear to me, she ended up running away with the story. She was born ahead of her time, a strong-willed and intelligent woman who was determined to be the mistress of her own fate.
Kate Forsyth's novel Bitter Greens will be published with Random House Australia next year. It interweaves a retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale with the life story of one of its first tellers, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force.
