Nicola Cornick's Blog, page 51
July 3, 2009
Prize Winner!
Congratulations to Beth, whom Monty has picked to win a copy of The Scandals of an Innocent in the rugged hero casting contest! Thank you so much to everyone who entered. I really enjoyed the debate and hope you did too.
For those of you wondering how Monty chooses contest winners (and over the years I've had a few enquiries) I am indebted to my friend and writing colleague Kate Walker, who first gave me the idea. Kate's adorable cats feature heavily in her blog and I thought Monty should stir hi
June 29, 2009
Farewell to the rugged look!
As you know, I'm all for blogging about hot-looking actors in period costume. Any excuse! So an article in the Observer newspaper at the weekend was a bit of a gift. Under the headline of "Farewell to the rugged look as new male beauties sweep all before them" it suggested that the leading men of film and TV are becoming interchangeable. Gone are the days of actors with such individual looks and charisma as Marlon Brando and Al Pacino and in there place are bland clones. Among the new breed of
June 26, 2009
Coming soon!
I can't believe that it is almost July! Where has the time gone? Probably on my last ditch, desperate attempts to complete my draft manuscript which is due in on 30th June! After that I'll be getting ready for the RWA Conference in Washington which I'm looking forward to very much indeed! I can't wait to meet old friends and make some new ones. I'll be offering a special conference giveaway for all readers who are going to be there and a special website contest for all readers who can't make it,
Struggling with the Demon!
The Muse. We writers refer to her a lot. She's a goddess. She's creative, inspiring, and when she's with you it's a fabulous feeling. Your ideas flow and your fingers fly over the keyboard. But sometimes she's elusive. She teases you; she's just out of reach. You struggle to grasp her and she slips from your fingers. You're left staring at a blank screen.
Well, I've had a week of staring at a blank screen. Let me introduce you to the Muse's evil twin, the Demon. Demon. It's a great word, isn't it
June 21, 2009
Literary heroes - the shock of disillusion!
In Saturday's Guardian newspaper was the snippet that the private diaries of Alison Uttley, the children's author, are published this month. I quote: "She was apparently jealous of Enid Blyton's success, calling her "the Blyton" and describing her as boastful and a "vulgar, curled woman." The columnist, Gwyn Headley, went on to recall the time that he had worked for Collins (the predecessor of Harper Collins) and was asked to escort Alison Uttley to the Children's Book Fair at the Royal Horticul
June 15, 2009
Why Yorkshire is the new Scotland!
I recently did an interview for the Single Titles website about my Fortune's Folly trilogy and the interviewer, Julie Bonello, asked me a particularly interesting question. (All her questions were interesting and thought provoking but this one especially caught my attention.)It was this:
"The trilogy is set in the fictional Yorkshire village of Fortune's Folly. Regencies usually take place in London or Bath - what made you decide to create a fictional landscape in this particular British county?
June 10, 2009
Can infidelity in a romance book ever be justified?
In a fascinating post on the Romance Bandits blog last week Eloisa James commented on readers' dislike of infidelity in historical romance and put up a great defence of why adultery need not be a deal-breaker. Hot on the heels of this came a review of my own book, The Confessions of A Duchess, which mentioned the fact that Dexter and Laura had committed adultery because when they first slept together four years before, Laura was still married to Charles.
This made me think very hard because as a
June 5, 2009
The Ghost Rider!
Okay, I wasn't going to blog about this today. I was going to say "Please join me later for my official launch at the Word Wenches Blog when the fabulous Anne Gracie will crack a bottle of champagne over my head and push me down the slipway to become an official wench." But then something happened to me this morning and I am so spooked by it, paranormal fans, that I have to share this! So here's a true story for ghost busters and ghost lovers alike!
This morning I took Monty, my black Labrador, f
June 1, 2009
Writing "Old Flame" stories
This blog post is adapted from one of the articles I have available on my website. It's about writing "old flame" stories. Both my new book, The Confessions of a Duchess, and the e-book prequel The Secrets of a Courtesan, are old flame stories in their different ways, from which you can probably gather that I'm keen on writing them! (And I love reading them too). There's something very seductive about the idea of unfinished business and what might have been, of characters learning to love and
