Friday Interviews- Giselle Marks
Today we are fortunate to have with us Giselle Marks who writes Regency & Georgian Romance, Sci-fi/ Fantasy and poetry. However now we want to hear of her historical work in the Regency Romance field.
1) What moved you to become an author? I always knew that I could write, but my first published writing efforts were all non-fiction. I worked part time for a tiny now defunct local newspaper and I sold mostly agricultural articles to both the local and national press. I was member of a small writing club and wrote some short stories for the group. However I did not write a full length novel until I discussed some feminist scifi with a friend and although I had enjoyed the writing I disagreed that a future under female rule would turn out so pleasantly. I suggested that if women were dominantly in charge and were not physically weaker than men that our rulers would have all the faults and strengths of male rulers. I started writing the Zeninan Saga which I am now finally talking to publishers about getting out for the world to read.
I have always read across genre and although a fan of sci fi and fantasy I was very much a Georgette Heyer fan and love to read Regency romances in my spare time. At some point I decided to try my hand at writing a Regency Romance. I looked at the titles on my shelf and noticed all the wives, brides and daughters of noblemen, generals, pirates and other Regency occupations. I thought through what occupations had not been used. I chose Fencing Master and so I wrote my delicately beautiful but ���kickass��� heroine Madeline in the Fencing Master���s Daughter
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2) How did you find out about the Chocolate House project [image error]? I was honored to be asked by Francine Howarth (DWW-our fearless leader for this project who is a very well respected Regency and historical writer if I would be prepared to write a novella for a Charity anthology. I was pleased to be invited.
3) Can you tell us some of the things that attracted you to writing this? I wanted to write the story because Francine asked and it was for Charity. However actually writing it did not so much attract me as present me with a challenge. I knew from writing short stories that writing to a specific short length is very much harder than just writing a novel and then trimming it to approximate length. I had never written a novella in any genre before, I have one short fantasy story that is just under 8K but I had intended that to be much shorter. I worried that to get a beginning, middle and end of a Regency Romance into 14K might prove very demanding.
4) Tell us about your current story in the anthology. ���A Rose by Any Other Name��� is a fairly traditional Regency romance for me to write. I decided to keep to simplicity in order to produce a compact complete story in the space allowed. So I have an older hero who has chosen to remain a bachelor, concerned that his heir is about to make an unfortunate marriage to an actress. Giles Perdue, Earl of Chisolm resolves to visit Bath to buy her off. He misunderstands the situation and falls for the beautiful Rosalie King. She is however, an heiress in disguise, escaping from a forced marriage to her cousin but time is running out. Her cousin must make sure she marries him or that she dies because their family will lose control of her fortune.
5) How did the story begin to develop in your mind? First I needed a reason for Giles to visit Bath where the stories in the anthology are set. I decided a worrying letter from his nephew and heir David would get him there fast. I thought it amusing that while believing himself to be saving his heir from a misalliance that he would fall himself for the lady. Once I had that scene the rest fell in place quite quickly. I decided on Rosalie for a first name alias for my heroine because there are so many variations that can be shortened to Rose. After that the quote from ���Romeo and Juliet��� seemed an obvious title.
6) What did you find most challenging about this story? Keeping to the length required, I did have to go back and trim the length a little. However I found it hard not making Giles too arrogant and unromantic in his dealing with Rose and David Wilkins was right in rebuking me for making Rose a little too sassy and unladylike in the first draft.
7) Tell us a little about yourself? I live in the Isle of Man and I love writing. When my children grew up I decided to see if I could get some of my stories published, partly because I was not finding the stories I wanted to red among those that had been published. I write whatever my characters tell me to write and the genres I work in may increase in the future. I think it is important to try and get the history correct when writing historical romance.
8) What is your next work, and beyond that, what do you want to work on. My next work published will probably be ���Fae Tales��� which is an anthology of contemporary fairy and mythic tales written by myself and Sarah Waldock (DWW-I have been working with the very talented Sarah as an illustrator on my Ruritanian Romance project!). Sarah has produced the cover and we have both prepared illustrations in black and white. 
Having completed the writing for Fae Tales we are organizing the volume, writing the introduction and acknowledgements. I am currently half way through writing my first Georgian romance which is set a little earlier than my Regency stories. It is called The Purchased Peer and features a very traditionally gorgeous hero and a strong women named Celestina, who considers herself slighted by him.
9) In your Masqueraders Chocolate House short Story, is there an excerpt to share? Your favorite scene, a part of your life that you put into the work and think it came out exceptionally well that you would like to share.
I think this bit came out quite well, but I am not prepared to conjecture whether I put any of my life into the scene. Certainly I do not normally have Lords trying to kiss me.
Excerpt from ���A Rose by Any Other Name���
���I apologize for my nephew. I am thoroughly sorry for my rag-manners when we met, which must have created an appalling impression of me.���
���Are you going to apologize all the way home, my Lord?���
���No, I ���m going to kiss you, Rosalie.���
���Are you not going to ask my permission first, my Lord?���
���No, I thought I���d ease you around this corner into some dark shadows and then tilt your face up to mine,��� he said putting his words into actions.
Rosalie watched as he lowered his lips to hers. Her heart was beating fast and she found herself clinging to his lapels to steady her balance. As his mouth gently brushed her, she tingled all over and her pulse raced. He paused only an inch from her and she sighed in response. Then his mouth lowered once more and claimed hers. Her mind was swallowed up in the sensations of his body pressed firmly against her and the exquisiteness of his kiss. She finally registered that she should terminate this kiss, berating herself that a lady would slap Giles for his presumption, while her body just wanted more. Finally breathless, Rosalie pulled away from Giles���s kiss and leant against the wall behind her, until her pulse returned to nearly normal.
���I think Martha would say I ought to slap you, my Lord,��� she finally said breaking the fascinating contact with his eyes, which seemed to bore into hers.
���She probably would,��� he said bending forward to kiss her again, but this time she turned her face away.
���No, my Lord, you promised I would be safe with you, yet you are trying to compromise me.���
���I was trying to discover if you liked my kisses and the answer was definitely yes.���
���Then now that you have answered your question, can we please speed our paces, so that Martha does not worry unduly?���
���Martha expects us to be a little slow in returning. You have had many offers of marriage and other offers from the young pups. I wondered whether you were opposed to men in general or simply to losing your independence. I fully understand you not wishing to marry, but I am sure we could enjoy a friendship together.���
���I am sorry, my lord. I had no intention to lead you on or give you undue encouragement. I will admit to finding you attractive and you are clearly an experienced lover. However you are wrong in assuming I despise marriage. So far I have had no offers I would consider accepting, but I cannot marry for another six months without my guardian���s permission.���
10) Who do you think influenced your writing, this work, and who do you think you write like
I read across genre and I suppose I have been influenced by many writers but aside from Georgette Heyer I don���t think any other Regency writer or writer of the period has particularly influenced me. I have always tried very hard not to emulate any other writer and I hope I have achieved that. I write like me, others may make comparisons, I cannot.
11) Who do you read? What are the things that a reader can identify with that you have grounded yourself in.
The truth of what I read is a bit complex. Of course I read historical romance, I only read modern romance if I am proofing it for another author. I also read historical fiction (non- romance) and historical fact, although some of it very biased. In addition I read literary works, detective, medical and forensic mysteries, adventure, thrillers fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, horror, mythology, poetry and even some scientific work. I may have missed some genres I read, but I do read widely. I have tried to get a reasonable historical background to the Regency and Georgian period, their language and I try to check my facts as accurately as possible. I like to people watch and I have tried to use my understanding of people to assist making my characters more believable.
12) When writing, what is your routine? I am not sure I have one. I write most days but it is not always fiction. There are articles required to promote my books and those of friends, reviews for books I have read and sometimes a few poems. If I stop writing for more than a week for some reason it is harder to get back into. It is better to write something even if it is only fifty words a day. If I am writing a novel, I pick up where I left it the day before. I usually reread and edit the beginning of the chapter or the end of the previous chapter; then when I reach the end I continue to write. I write until I want to stop. If I have other work that is required to be done, proofing, blog posting then I may choose to stop after a certain number of words or at a set time. Most evenings I stop, cook and read to relax.
13) Do you think of yourself as an artist, or as a craftsman, a blend of both? I probably think of myself more of a craftsman than an artist. I consider as a working tradeswoman of journeyman status. Not a novice but producing work that is of worth, yet still with plenty to learn in my chosen craft.
14) Where can we find out more about you and your writing.
Tales by the TreeThe Chocolate House [image error]
Touched by Shadow Caressed by Light
There are a host of places to find Giselle
Her webpage:
http://ginafiserova.wix.com/gisellemarks
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GiselleMistress?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Marquiss-Mistake/308305032645395
https://www.facebook.com/mythicmiscellany
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The Chocolate House-All for Love
A Sensual blend of Chocolate, Romance, Murder & Mystery at “Masqueraders”.
The beautiful City of Bath, famous for its Roman Spa, its Abbey, its Pump Room & Assembly Rooms, and Sally Lunn���s bun shop, is a place made famous within the literary world by the likes of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, and other authors of Georgian and Regency historical novels. Thus Bath is renowned as a place for intrigue and romance, but few readers will have stepped across the threshold of Masqueraders���, a notorious and fashionable Chocolate House, that existed within the city from 1700 to the latter part of the reign of William IV. What happened to it thereafter, no one knows, for sure. Nor does anyone know why Sally Lunn���s bun shop disappeared for decades until it was rediscovered.
So it could be said, essence of chocolate drifting on the ether denotes where the seemingly mystical Masqueraders��� once existed, and it is that spiritual essence that has brought authors together from around the globe, to pen a delightful collection of Georgian & Regency romances, that are, all, in some way, linked to The Chocolate House. We sincerely hope you will enjoy the individual stories, and be assured all the royalties earned will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London.
The stories:
A Rose by Any Other ��� Giselle Marks.
A Fatal Connection ��� Elizabeth Bailey
The Runaway Duchess ��� Francine Howarth
Death at the Chocolate House ��� Susan Ruth
A-Pig-in-a-Poke ��� Jessica Schira
A Little Chocolate in the Morning ��� David W. Wilkin.
My story (As the author and owner of this Blog, I feel I can tell you more) is the story of Charles Watkins the Marquis of Rockford (for those who want the nitty gritty, ask and we can discuss the very specific creation of name details that went into this) who has recently come into his title and estates, his father dying just about a year before. Now he is to return to London after his mourning is over to use his seat in the House of Lords in aid of the war against Napoleon. He is not in Town to seek a bride though the dowager Marchioness should like that he attain one.
No, certainly not the schoolmate of his younger sister Emma, Lady Caroline Williamson, the daughter of the Earl of Feversham. A girl as young and silly as his sister, he would never wed, and certainly not fall in love with. But rescuing her from the clutches of a man who was old enough to be his own grandfather, that he could do with ease, and perhaps Panache.
Available at Amazon Digitally for your Kindle or Physically in Trade Paperback
