Grace’s answer to “Hi Grace, I've always wondered of the original 24 manuscripts, which one did you put pen to paper f…” > Likes and Comments
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I think you've just set a record for the most historical romance manuscripts written per year - an average of 4.8 per annum - and have they all been published?
I think Barbara Cartland has me beat by a mile. Didn't she turn out something like a book every month, for a total of 700+? Even if they were short books, that's still amazing productivity... and she wore a pink boa!
Surely 4.8 manuscripts of 50,000-100,000 per annum is still a record. And doesn't BC write contemporary books?
She wrote mostly Regencies, I think. I do love to write though--my writing chair is my happy place.
I checked Wikipedia and it says that she mostly wrote stories set in the Victorian era. By the way, as I was asking in an earlier post, have all 24 manuscripts been published yet or have you still got a few up your sleeve?
The broom closet is empty. Everything I wrote prior to publication is on the shelves (thank goodness!).
But if your broom closet is empty, then what were the other original stories beside the Lonely Lords and the Windhams (12 + 3 = 15)?
OK... let's see... Add to the fifteen A Single Kiss, Noah, the three Jadeds, Lady Sophie, the two novellas for Percival and Ether, and (I'm not positive about this one), Bridegroom. I think those were all in draft, or in progress when The Heir came out.
So A Single Kiss was the only contemporary story you wrote during the pre-publication years?
Yes, and even that's a stretch. I wrote a novel for my master's thesis in Conflict Studies, and had a guy lawyer who loved the American legal system, and a gal lawyer whose life had been badly mangled by that system. In a loose sense, that novel became A Single Kiss.
I've heard of student filmmakers turning their final year projects into feature films before, but never anyone turning their thesis into a novel O_O
Also, when did you come up with the idea of including the descendants of your Regency heroes in your contemporary stories?
That just sorta... I was writing the opening to Kiss Me Hello, and it was in a stable, and I'd certainly seen a lot of Nick Haddonfield in a stable... so there was Neils, and what the heck, he LOOKED like a Haddonfield, talked like a Haddonfield, loved horses like a Haddonfield.... I'm not sure (yet) where to go with that, but I let it stay as a "twinkle" for the readers who'd come across my historicals. The idea of Michael and Brenna's descendant (The Laird) having financial woes came from a Scottish friend's situation. When last seen, his lordship--a hereditary earl--was living in the gatehouse and renting out his castle, cause... pence and quid. I only "knew" one Highland lord with a castle, so I prevailed on Michael and Brenna for a hero. They obliged!
Surely if the Brodies had such financially astute ancestors as Deirdre and her father numbering among them, they would've had the ability to avoid falling into the financial abyss often experienced by the aristocracy :(
You might think so, but between Brenna's day, and the present, Scotland endured the potato famine, which ruined more than one clan laird (I'm thinking especially of the MacLeod's of Skye, who bankrupted themselves to keep their people from starving), the financial ups and downs of the Victorian age, the Great Depression, and so forth. The industries that guaranteed prosperity in former ages haven't all stood the test of time. Our hero (Elias Brody) inherits from a playboy uncle, whose fortunes waxed and waned, and Elias is not so much poor, as short of cash. Maybe he'll channel those canny ancestors to solve his problems.
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Doris
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Feb 14, 2016 04:05PM
I think you've just set a record for the most historical romance manuscripts written per year - an average of 4.8 per annum - and have they all been published?
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I think Barbara Cartland has me beat by a mile. Didn't she turn out something like a book every month, for a total of 700+? Even if they were short books, that's still amazing productivity... and she wore a pink boa!
Surely 4.8 manuscripts of 50,000-100,000 per annum is still a record. And doesn't BC write contemporary books?
She wrote mostly Regencies, I think. I do love to write though--my writing chair is my happy place.
I checked Wikipedia and it says that she mostly wrote stories set in the Victorian era. By the way, as I was asking in an earlier post, have all 24 manuscripts been published yet or have you still got a few up your sleeve?
The broom closet is empty. Everything I wrote prior to publication is on the shelves (thank goodness!).
But if your broom closet is empty, then what were the other original stories beside the Lonely Lords and the Windhams (12 + 3 = 15)?
OK... let's see... Add to the fifteen A Single Kiss, Noah, the three Jadeds, Lady Sophie, the two novellas for Percival and Ether, and (I'm not positive about this one), Bridegroom. I think those were all in draft, or in progress when The Heir came out.
So A Single Kiss was the only contemporary story you wrote during the pre-publication years?
Yes, and even that's a stretch. I wrote a novel for my master's thesis in Conflict Studies, and had a guy lawyer who loved the American legal system, and a gal lawyer whose life had been badly mangled by that system. In a loose sense, that novel became A Single Kiss.
I've heard of student filmmakers turning their final year projects into feature films before, but never anyone turning their thesis into a novel O_O
Also, when did you come up with the idea of including the descendants of your Regency heroes in your contemporary stories?
That just sorta... I was writing the opening to Kiss Me Hello, and it was in a stable, and I'd certainly seen a lot of Nick Haddonfield in a stable... so there was Neils, and what the heck, he LOOKED like a Haddonfield, talked like a Haddonfield, loved horses like a Haddonfield.... I'm not sure (yet) where to go with that, but I let it stay as a "twinkle" for the readers who'd come across my historicals. The idea of Michael and Brenna's descendant (The Laird) having financial woes came from a Scottish friend's situation. When last seen, his lordship--a hereditary earl--was living in the gatehouse and renting out his castle, cause... pence and quid. I only "knew" one Highland lord with a castle, so I prevailed on Michael and Brenna for a hero. They obliged!
Surely if the Brodies had such financially astute ancestors as Deirdre and her father numbering among them, they would've had the ability to avoid falling into the financial abyss often experienced by the aristocracy :(
You might think so, but between Brenna's day, and the present, Scotland endured the potato famine, which ruined more than one clan laird (I'm thinking especially of the MacLeod's of Skye, who bankrupted themselves to keep their people from starving), the financial ups and downs of the Victorian age, the Great Depression, and so forth. The industries that guaranteed prosperity in former ages haven't all stood the test of time. Our hero (Elias Brody) inherits from a playboy uncle, whose fortunes waxed and waned, and Elias is not so much poor, as short of cash. Maybe he'll channel those canny ancestors to solve his problems.
